Solving time 25 minutes
A far better puzzle than recent offerings with some testing wordplay. I found the eastern half easier than the western and solved in a circle starting in the NE and finishing in the NW. CINEASTE and SPELEOLOGIST may not be everyday words for some but I suspect FOURPENNY ONE is going to cause some head scratching. It’s a phrase I haven’t heard for years but was common currency in my father’s generation. Clued as it is by reference to old currency makes it I suspect quite difficult.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CINEASTE – C(IN-EAST)E; CE=Church of England; IN EAST=a piece of their mythology; a movie buff; |
| 5 | BHAJIS – B-HAJIS; B=British; HAJIS=people who have completed a Hadj; fried onions in Delhi; |
| 9 | WHEATEAR – W(HEAT)EAR; round=HEAT (as in running races); WEAR=river of Durham; a songbird; |
| 10 | CRATER – CRATE-R; an old car is a CRATE; Barringer Meteor perhaps; |
| 12 | SPELEOLOGIST – (pigs let loose)*; one who studies holes in the ground rather than good wines; |
| 15 | AMASS – tea=Assam then move “am”=morning to give AMASS; |
| 16 | LARCENOUS – (a cruel son)*; |
| 18 | BAMBOOZLE – BAMBOO-Z-L(ay)-E(ggs); gull=fool; |
| 19 | BREVE – B(REV)E; empty bottle=B(ottl)E; old musical notation; |
| 20 | HELD,TO,RANSOM – (the old Romans)*; what minority parties do in coalitions!; |
| 24 | NOT,BAD – NO-TBA-D; number=NO; yet to be given out=TBA(to be advised); 500=D(Roman notation); |
| 25 | WORD,GAME – promise=WORD; plucky=GAME; “hangman” is a word game useful for wiling away boring lectures; |
| 26 | SUSSED – historic county=Sussex then replace “x” by “d=Duke”; |
| 27 | DEFRAYAL – DE(FRAY)AL; |
| Down | |
| 1 | COWL – COW-L; Jersey=breed of COW; |
| 2 | NEED – sounds like “knead”=work; |
| 3 | ANTIPASTO – A-N-TIP-AS-TO; hors d’oeuvre in Sorrento; |
| 4 | TRAILBLAZERS – TRAIL-BLAZERS; lag behind=TRAIL; “pioneers get scalped” – old management maxim; |
| 6 | HARPO – HARPO(on); reference harp-playing Arthur “Harpo” Marx 1888-1964, one of the nicer show business people who chose not to speak in his films; |
| 7 | JETTISONED – JET-(is noted)*; |
| 8 | STRATHSPEY – YEP-SH-TARTS all reversed; a dance like a reel but slower from the Highlands region of Scotland; |
| 11 | FOURPENNY,ONE – Old Bob=old shilling=12 old pence=3 sets of fourpence; very old slang for a haymaker; |
| 13 | LAMB,SHANKS – Elia=(Charles)LAMB; Henry=Hank; a cut of meat=fare; |
| 14 | CARMELITES – CAR(M-ELITE)S; M=van of “moisturising”; cream=ELITE; order of monks and nuns; |
| 17 | EMBROIDER – (bride more)*; |
| 21 | deliberately omitted, ask if you can’t tease out the solution; |
| 22 | NAVY – NA(v)VY; “navvy” is slang for a labourer; |
| 23 | FELL – two meanings; 1=reference nursery rhyme Jack and Jill 2=a hill; |
Sorry to ramble but this is an enthusiasm that has come to me late much to my surprise, and something which gives huge pleasure for all that this site is daily reminder that I am not as smart as I thought.
FOURPENNY ONE, my CoD, is almost certainly one for the silver solvers. I’m sure I remember being “fetched” one in my youth
Note to Jim: 9ac should be WHEATEAR (8 letters)
I knew this was going to be at least moderately difficult when ‘strathspey’ was my first in.
Curiously, I spotted that ‘old Bob’ must be a shilling early on, so I was prepared for the answer, which I did in fact understand after thinking a bit. Dickens, maybe? ‘Speleologist’ was not difficult if you let the anagram do the heavy lifting.
The clue I liked best was ‘not bad’, very clever use of a common abbreviation which is seldom seen in puzzles. I was a bit annoyed when I finally saw how ‘amass’ worked, since Assam is my morning drink of choice.
I didn’t know the cave specialist at 12ac or the pilgrim at 5ac but there were alternative routes to each so I wrote in the answers with confidence.
I spent some time thinking 11dn had to be FOURTEEN (12d in the shilling plus 2) and wondered if the word lengths were wrong again, until the penny dropped (as it were).
Got Harpo without working out the wordplay and just couldn’t figure out 2d. Was thinking NEET (Not Employed, in Education or in Training) but was very doubtful.
Guessed Lamb Shanks & then wikipedia’s Charles Lamb after.
I have alot to learn oh wise ones!
Otherwise I found this easy… apart from the difficult ones. Pleased to get 11 and 12 without ever having heard the terms but defeated by Strathspey and Wheatear so needed this blog. I’ve been following for a while and will sign up as soon as I can find a username that hasn’t been taken!
Nice to hear of your progress Barry. I’m still trying to do an AZED every Sunday, and my ‘Times’ efforts are intermittent. Like Pete mentioned earlier, I do a few clues over breakfast, and some at lunchtime etc. If I complete, it is usually in the evening, when this site has usually gone quiet. Hopefully, there will come a time when I can get more clues in the morning and the puzzle takes a smaller proportion of the day (I don’t want to make myself too unpopoular at home, when Sundays are spent skimming through Chambers and Bradford!).Must give the quick crosswords a visit every now and then.
Chuckled at HARPO and also enjoyed the clue to NOT BAD. I have a speleologist for a son, so look forward to sharing the pigs let loose joke with him some time.
I was lucky to finish this one because I justified Carmelite as an anagram of cream followed by the Spenserian traffic lites stopping traffic. I was also sorely tempted by hazy for “in the shade” at 22 but the implausible hazzy for labourer caused me to search further and get navy.