Firstly, apologies for not doing this last week, particularly as it’s something of a milestone that only comes round once every three years or so. Shame they didn’t do something with it – I was expecting a Nina at least, but if it’s there I can’t see it! No solving time, as I spent three days mulling over 26A before finally hitting on the answer. I doubt if I was the only one who struggled with that clue though.
| Across |
| 1 |
ON THE STUMP – double def. I wasn’t familiar with the phrase, but Chambers gives it as “engaged in a political campaign”, so surely the clue should say “before vote”? |
| 6 |
WASP – another double def, the first is an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. |
| 9 |
OTELLO – O TELL + O, the opera was by Rossini (1816) or Verdi (1887). |
| 10 |
ELLA – E + ALL rev. Not sure if I approve of “Miss” to indicate a girl’s name though. |
| 11 |
ROOT GINGER – (got in)* inside ROGER (= I understand in radio comms). Great clue. |
| 12 |
DODGE CITY – D (last letter of recalled) inside DOGE CITY. |
| 19 |
SMALL-TIME – SM (Sergeant Major), then LT inside A LIME. Definition is just “petty”. |
| 22 |
HISTRIONIC – RT rev. inside HIS + IONIC (which is an order of architecture). |
| 23 |
ABET – first letters of Toast, Eggs, Benedict, Apple in reverse. |
| 25 |
INTIFADA – hidden reversed in “hAD A FIT NIftily”. This was the Palestinian uprising to Israeli occupation which began in 1987. |
| 26 |
FAZE – “phase”. This one certainly “threw” me too! I must have trawled through the alphabet a couple of times before I saw it. |
| 27 |
FREE PARDON – nice cryptic definition. |
| Down |
| 1 |
OPEN-ENDED – PEN END in OED. |
| 2 |
TOGGLED – GG inside TO + LED (light-emitting diode). |
| 3 |
SHAMROCK – SHAM ROCK, e.g. fake diamonds are called paste. |
| 4 |
UNSPORTSMANLIKE – (sprinkles amount)*, an unlikely-looking anagram if ever I saw one! |
| 5 |
PLOUGH – three definitions. To plough also means to fail an exam. |
| 6 |
WEEKNIGHT – a minute sir is a WEE KNIGHT. Ho ho. |
| 7 |
SOLVENT – SOLVE + NT |
| 13 |
GET-AT-ABLE – TATE rev. inside GABLE. |
| 15 |
EYESTRAIN – YES inside retina* |
| 16 |
BLACKTOP – BLACK (threatening) + TO + P(ounce). American word for asphalt. |
| 18 |
OKINAWA – O KIN AWA’ (no kin away in Scottish crosswordese!) |
| 20 |
INBOARD – (Rob and I)* |
| 21 |
PILAFF – L inside PIAF + F(ine). Edith Piaf was a famous French singer. |
I can’t remember the solving experience, but I had written my solving time as 45 minutes. I gave several clues my maximum ‘three tick’ rating – ABET, INTIFADA (brilliantly twisted syntax), FREE PARDON and the deliciously excruciating OKINAWA.
1ac – I think ‘after vote’ means ‘chasing votes’, so makes sense.
I gave this an Anax QED rating of Q-0,E-9,D-8
26:28 for me, so at least I kept under half an hour (the old championship limit), but I might have been starting to panic in competition conditions! (Though looking at it again now, it doesn’t really seem all that difficult, so perhaps I was just having an off day.) All in all, a very enjoyable puzzle.
Have only just attempted this one. It was worth waiting for.
SWAMP – short word and many possibilities that is. FAZE at 28a did for me as these darned 4 letter double definitions (this one with a homophone as well) often do. FAZE = PHASE = STAGE. Humph.
There are 4 omissions from the blog:
8a With advantage, means to bring side on (8)
EDGE WAYS. I did toy with EDGEWISE for a bit but SHIMROCK must be a rock-climbing technique rather than an Irish emblem?
14a A paying audience for rock with bands (5)
A GATE. A bit of geology – hurrah.
17a Barking like a Dalmatian (5)
DOTTY
24a Letter from Greek essayist and lawyer (6)
LAMB D.A.