I had one error, which based on a discussion on the club forum (including a contribution from Peter Biddlecombe) I think wasn’t really an error. I think the ‘correct’ answer for 25 is BELT, but I had PELT, which works just as well. I thought that BEAT might also be a valid answer, but on reflection I don’t think it quite works as a synonym for ‘speed’, even if the musical meaning is not a million miles away. Of course it may be that PELT was the intended answer and I’ve made a stupid mistake somewhere else!
The other clue that caused me a lot of trouble was 29ac. I could see what it ought to be based on the definition, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out the wordplay, so I hesitated. In the end I just bunged it in, and only worked out how the clue worked when I came to write this blog up today (yesterday to you).
Another quirky but highly enjoyable puzzle from Harry.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*.
Across | |
1 | Deviant epic-writer smart to charge thus? |
PERVERSE – a writer of epics charging on the basis of volume might not be so smart if tempted into writing in a turgid and prolix style, but Dickens got away with it so what the heck. | |
5 | One wearing woven pants for all to see |
ON VIEW – (WOVEN)* containing I. | |
10 | Army fixer Spooner delivers at the double |
POST HASTE – or ‘host paste’ as the Reverend might have it. | |
11 | Loathsome types spinning drunk around trailer |
TOADS – reversal of SOT around AD. | |
12 | One charged with bit of rowdiness in sports club |
IRON – ION (one charged) containing R |
|
13 | Question contest held in tempestuous winter |
INTERVIEW – (WINTER)* containing VIE (contest). | |
15 | Contemporary Christmas for materialists? |
PRESENT DAY – the second part of this clue could equally have read ‘Christmas for children’. | |
17 | A pound coin and where Bow lass might keep it |
ONER – or “on ‘er”. I can’t say I’ve ever heard a pound coin referred to as a ONER, and it’s not in any of the usual dictionaries. It can mean a pound (ODO) or a £1 note (Chambers) though, which is close enough. The Chambers definition is strange, because it’s not marked as no longer in use. | |
19 | Fruit and crackers |
NUTS – DD. BANANAS doesn’t fit. A nut is a fruit in the same way a tomato is, i.e. technically. | |
20 | Female running heat over new steel plates |
FALSE TEETH – F, (HEAT)* containing (STEEL)*. A term I haven’t come across before. | |
22 | Where a babe might get her food order at West Point |
ABOUT FACE – the first part of this clue is very much a definition by example. | |
24 | Submissive lady making duke tense |
TAME – DAME (lady) with the D (duke) swapped for a T (tense). | |
26 | Enthusiasm over a crippling speed limit? |
OOMPH – O, 0 MPH. The idea of a ‘crippling’ speed limit strikes me as a bit odd, but if such a thing exists this certainly qualifies. | |
27 | A poor place to swap hands in a prosthetic store? |
ALMSHOUSE – a prosthetic store might be an ARMS HOUSE: swap the R for an L. | |
28 | Plain fish and a revolutionary way to stuff it |
TUNDRA – TUNA containing a reversal of RD. | |
29 | Stroke sexy posterior to drive little soprano wild |
DROP SHOT – DR (drive), (SOP)* with HOT (sexy) behind (posterior to) them. I struggled to see the wordplay here, partly because of the indirect anagram: a strict no-no to a Ximenean, and something I don’t think you’d ever see in the daily puzzle. When the instructions are as clear as this I can’t see anything wrong with it, but it’s something I’m not used to looking for. |
Down | |
1 | Two secretaries, one’s got kids |
PAPA – two personal assistants. | |
2 | Mourners certain to be put out by him? |
RESURRECTION MAN – (MOURNERS CERTAIN)*. A comic-book superhero, apparently. Edit: see comments for a more sensible explanation. | |
3 | Sexed-up hen parties dance with abandon |
ENHANCED – (HEN)*, (DANCE)*. | |
4 | Current husband suspicious about rice dish |
SUSHI – reversal of I (current), H, SUS. | |
6 | Kind adult that’s spent millions supporting knight |
NATURE – N (knight), |
|
7 | It spread via a lout in the Royal Marines |
ITALIAN VERMOUTH – (VIA A LOUT IN THE RM)*. Another (partially) indirect anagram. | |
8 | Village harlot moving from NYC to LA? |
WESTWARD HO – a HO is a harlot, NYC to LA is of course WESTWARD. A village in Devon. | |
9 | Late sun dancing across river in pale shades? |
NEUTRALS – (LATE SUN)* containing R. Colours with names like ‘dimity’ and ‘clunch’. | |
14 | Active union fight to imprison rubbish attorney |
UP AND ABOUT – U, BOUT containing PAN (rubbish), DA. | |
16 | A tough career abroad |
TEARAWAY – TEAR (career) AWAY (abroad). | |
18 | Frame son and person of small stature at university |
STITCH UP – S, TITCH, UP. | |
21 | An artist slicing sweet cherries |
ETCHER – contained in ‘sweet cherries’. | |
23 | Wheat always brings in two grand in Rome |
EMMER – E(MM)ER. A type of wheat I hadn’t heard of. | |
25 | Smack or speed |
BELT/PELT – but not BEAT. DD. |
K, you’ve got a typo at the first clue: PEVERSE.
Edited at 2016-11-20 06:06 am (UTC)
The comic hero Mitch Shelley (Abnett, Lanning and Guice) was somewhat later, 1997.
45 mins for me COD & WOD 2dn RESURRECTION MAN
LOI DROP SHOT (Ikea without instructions)
DK HO as “harlot” though I must have heard it said by non-RP speakers and always assumed it was their quirky way of pronouncing “whore”. Is that where it originates from, I now wonder?
RESURRECTION MAN was unknown too but I assumed it was a film title that everybody knows but me.
I can’t say that I noticed the indirect anagram but might have spotted and queried it if I’d been in blogging mode. SOP is a standard abbreviation for “soprano” indicated by “little” and it’s visible in the clue so I don’t consider as heretical a breach of the “rules” as if we’d been expected to think of a word and then anagram it.
Edited at 2016-11-20 06:31 am (UTC)
Edited at 2016-11-20 08:40 am (UTC)
This was generally a toughie for me, though, with my notes say “2 hours-ish”. LOI were the unparsed DROP SHOT, and ITALIAN VERMOUTH, which is one of those “crossword-only” things I’ve started to look out for, but didn’t expect to find in that particular format…
Edited at 2016-11-20 10:38 am (UTC)