Not too hard, solved in 13:02. The setter’s a bit of an egotist, as you can see FAB ME spelt out in the unches down column 6! Mind you, some of the wordplay deserves the accolade, and I still can’t figure out one of them. Sorry for the late blog, but it’s New Year’s Day, we had visitors, yada yada yada!
| Across |
| 1 |
GIST – GT (great) around IS (takes place). I suppose so, just about: “The Olympic Games IS in London in 2012”, passes the substitution test. |
| 3 |
FELLOWSHIP – I’m guessing from the definition “club”, but this was my last one in and I still don’t see how it works. Standing by with the self-kicking boots… |
| 9 |
ACROBAT – TABOR (drum) + CA (circa, about), all reversed. |
| 11 |
HOARDER – A inside HORDE + R(ight) |
| 12 |
HOBGOBLIN – HOBBLIN(g) around GO |
| 13 |
HOOTS – SHOOT (film) with the S moved to the end. |
| 14 |
CONTEMPORARY – CONTRARY around (OP (work), M(ass) and E(nergy), all reversed). |
| 18 |
PREPONDERANT – (report panned)* |
| 21 |
OVOID – 0 (ring) + VOID (useless). |
| 22 |
QUARTERED – RED (Communist) after T(ime) inside (s)QUARE (in accord minus the first letter). |
| 24 |
CRUMBLE – C(hapter) + RUMBLE. |
| 25 |
HANDS-ON – HAN (Chinese) + DSO (Distinguished Service Order, i.e. a medal) + N(ot). Very clever clue, took me ages to see how it worked. |
| 26 |
WUNDERKIND – UNDER (serving) + K(ing), inside WIND (trade, as a type of, I suppose). Far too clever for its own good, this one! |
| 27 |
LENS – LEANS without the A. |
| Down |
| 1 |
GRAPHICS – (Grip cash)* |
| 2 |
SARABAND – not very well hidden in tSAR ABANDoned, but it surprised me by its obviousness, so nowhere near the first I got! |
| 4 |
EXTOL – EX + LOT reversed. |
| 5 |
LOHENGRIN – LO + HEN + GRIN |
| 6 |
WEATHER-BEATEN – A(nswer) inside WET, + HERB (sage, perhaps) + EATEN. |
| 7 |
HADRON – HAD + (researche)R + ON. Has Brian Cox joined the Times setting team recently? We had virgin neutrons in the Club Special last month, whatever next? |
| 8 |
PHRASE – “frays”. |
| 10 |
BIODEGRADABLE – ODE inside BIG R.A., + B(orn) in DALE. |
| 15 |
PIPSQUEAK – (quips)* inside PEAK. |
| 16 |
LACROSSE – ACROSS (over) + (scor)E, under L (fifty). What a lovely clue. |
| 17 |
STUDENTS – STU(n) (shock mostly) + DENTS (has an adverse effect on). |
| 19 |
MOSCOW – MO + SCOW. |
| 20 |
COLUMN – COL (pass) + UM (hesitation) + N(ew). |
| 23 |
ASHEN – HE (man) inside the middle letters of (Sp)A(in) (mis)S(ing) (Cor)N(ish). Utterly fiendish wordplay, but I got it in the end. What am I missing in 3ac? |
My take on 3ac was FELL=showed dismay [? Well, one’s face can fall, anyway], O=over [guessing that’s from cricket], W(S)HIP=spades in ‘defeat’.
A reasonable enough puzzle but like the other Christmas offerings that I did a bit on the bland/mild side.
I came to exactly the same conclusion about 3A as kevingregg and dorsetjimbo, though I had to look up “fell” in Chambers to find out how it could mean “showed dismay”.
This wasn’t the only clue I had to wait until after I’d finished before unpicking how it worked, and I find it surprising – almost amazing – that dorsetjimbo should describe this puzzle as “a bit on the bland/mild side”. I certainly wouldn’t, and as I regard myself as a reasonably competent solver, I suspect the man on the Clapham omnibus would find it a tough (though I hope pleasantly tough) Christmas work-out. Anything tougher would probably have landed the editor with a flurry of complaints that he was behaving like Scrooge!
I have nothing to offer the fellowship, I was satisfied that it was a club.
Thank goodness the aussies can still play one-day cricket!