Time taken to solve: I’d like to claim 20 minutes which would be excellent for me but in truth I have to add another 20 or thereabouts for solving 25ac and satisfying myself that it was right. Apart from that I’d have said it is an easy puzzle with some very obvious answers and virtually no requirement for any specialist knowledge.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | FORESAW – FORE sounds like ‘four’ then SAW for ‘cut’. ‘Crew’ = ‘eight’ is quite common in puzzles with reference to rowing but I can’t remember meeting ‘four’ in this context previously. |
| 5 | BOLSTER – Two meanings, support and a type of pillow. |
| 9 | DOG-COLLAR – G for ‘good’ and CO for ‘company’ inside DOLLAR. I’m not sure if this term for a clerical collar is used beyond these shores. |
| 10 | VIOLA – VIOLA is one of the main characters in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ also there’s the string instrument played with a bow. |
| 11 | LATTE – LATTE |
| 12 | INCURIOUS – INCUR, IOU S |
| 14 | Deliberately omitted as I’ve had enough of politicians for one week. |
| 17 | UNCONVENTIONAL – Anagram of ‘non-U act in novel’ |
| 21 | CABRIOLET – Anagram of ‘I locate’ around B(ritish) R(ail) |
| 23 | TUTOR – T(ime) inside ROUT reversed |
| 24 | MORSE – References to Samuel Morse who invented the communications code and to the real-ale loving detective and cruciverbalist created by Colin Dexter. |
| 25 | PRESCHOOL – My last one in. It took me as long to think about this as the rest of the puzzle put together. I was led astray by ‘see’ into thinking of cathedral cities and I suspect that but for this I would have spotted the obvious much sooner. |
| 26 | NETTLED – NETT for ‘final’ as in a payment after tax etc then LED. |
| 27 | TURNKEY – N’ for ‘new’ inside TURKEY. It’s an old term for a gaoler. |
| Down | |
| 1 | FIDDLE – As in ‘fiddle or doctor the books’ and ‘fit as a fiddle’. |
| 2 | Deliberately omitted. |
| 3 | SPOKESMAN – Anagram of ‘P’ for ‘power and ‘makes son’. |
| 4 | WILLIAM TELL – WILL,I AM, TELL |
| 5 | BAR – Double definition. |
| 6 | LOVER – L(eft),OVER – Our cricket reference of the day. A maiden over is one in which no runs are scored. |
| 7 | TWOSOME – Double definition. Two golf players, also a courting couple may be referred to as ‘an item’. |
| 8 | REASSES – RE,ASSES, |
| 13 | CONSTITUENT – CONS for ‘Tories’ then ‘T’ for ‘time’ followed by anagram of ‘unite’ and finally a further ‘T’ for ‘time’. |
| 15 | SPORTS CAR – SPORT,SCAR |
| 16 | DUTCHMAN – DUTCH is thought to be Cockyney rhyming slang ‘wife’ taken from ‘Duchess of Fife’. It’s possibly best known from the music hall song ‘My Old Dutch’ made famous by Albert Chevalier. According to Brewer’s the reference in the song is actually to a Dutch clock that has a face that reminded singer of his wife’s! I’ve seen the original song sheet and this is baseless, however there is a reference in ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ that might suggest a clock related derivation provided one knows that Dutch Clocks are actually German: ‘I seek a wife! A woman, that is like a German clock, Still a-repairing; ever out of frame; And never going aright, being a watch, But being watch’d that it may still go right!’ |
| 18 | CABARET – Hidden answer. |
| 19 | ARTWORK – AR(TWO,R)K – ARK for ‘rescue vessel’ or similar is becoming a bit of a chestnut. |
| 20 | ORALLY – Double definition. |
| 22 | IDEAL – I,DEAL |
| 25 | PAD – Double definition. |
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