Solving time : 21 minutes, though I was starting to despair about 15 minutes in looking at a half-empty grid on my blogging day. Fortunately getting a part of two of the long answers helped out. This was an interesting one for me, since I expect the two long anagrams in the acrosses were meant to get you started, but in my case neither were familiar terms (though I think I recall seeing 14 across somewhere before). A flash of inspiration to get 7 down and I have a complete grid.
So this may be actually difficult, or I was just not on the wavelength, would love to hear your thoughts.
Away we go…
Across | |
---|---|
1 | SUBEDIT: B.Ed. in SUIT |
5 | DROWSED: WORD(promise) reversed, S(small), ED(boy) |
9 | LOCUS STANDI: (LAD,IN,SCOUTS). I was waiting to find out it was LACUS DTONSI or something like that |
10 | ARC: hidden |
11 | MILLE,D: MILLE is a |
12 | GEARED UP: G(reat) E(xpectations), ARE, and then DUP, the Democratic Unionist Party |
14 | CLARENCE HOUSE: A in (HERCULES,ONCE)* – apparently the official residence of the Prince of Wales |
17 | SQUARE-BASHING: SQUARE(old-fashioned), BASH(hammer), IN(home), G(uard). That is unless you’ve got something better to do |
21 | 0,VERS |
23 | ESTATE: wondered about this, got it from the will part, but it can also mean an area for producing tea or coffee |
25 | our acrossly omission de jour |
26 | CHEEK-BY-JOWL: B(black) in CHEEKY,J then OWL. An outstanding chance and another word that I know thanks to Monty Python’s Flying Circus |
27 | LINE-OUT: possibly sounds like LIE NOWT. |
28 | TRENTON: R in TENT, ON(working). The capital of New Jersey |
Down | |
1 | SOLEMN: SOLE MAN without the A |
2 | BU |
3 | DISREPAIR: S in DIRE PAIR – this one made me laugh |
4 | our down omission, ask if you can’t carry it out |
5 | DANCERCISE: Desperate DAN and then C(cape) in CERISE. Where’s my spandex and fluffy headband |
6 | OSIER: ROSIE with the R moved to the bottom |
7 | SPANDAU: PANDA in SU |
8 | DECIPHER: anagram of (HARD PIECE)* without the A |
13 | HERB ROBERT: I had never heard of this plant (I guess clued by SIMPLE – botanical term for not divided into leaflets) and the wordplay was a beast! HER, then R in BOB(since 15D is HAIRSTYLE), then sEcReT |
15 | HAIR(musical),STYLE(title): and DA for Duck’s Arse reappears (yes, definition by example, but it has “possibly”) |
16 | ESPOUSAL: US in (EL,PASO)* |
18 | U,NEATEN |
19 | GO ABOUT: double definition |
20 | FELL IN |
22 | SEC(moment),CO: a painting on dry plaster |
24 | SKAT |
As we say … let the dog see the rabbit.
Edited at 2011-08-25 12:52 am (UTC)
There are some great clues in this puzzle, like the ones for ‘herb robert’ ‘cheek by jowl’, and ‘dancercise’. The inclusion of ‘Trenton’ is very non-UK-centric, if anyone is interested.
I was held up for a while on ‘Clarence House’ because a ‘C’ looked like an ‘L’, and I was left with an ‘L’ and an ‘E’ to put on the end of ‘Claren-‘ – probably wasted ten minutes on that.
This was more of a study than a sonata.
I rather enjoyed it, especially SQUARE BASHING for that ‘Home Guard leader’ to give ‘-ing’. Is this original? If it is, it’s a brilliant spot.
Last in .. ESTATE
Kudos to the setter for getting CHEEK BY JOWL into the puzzle (I always think of Geoffrey Palmer when jowls come up). CLARENCE HOUSE is perhaps best known to most Brits of a certain vintage as the long-term residence of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. On reflection, I think I rather liked it with its retro originality, musty law courts, barnets, Jane Fonda video vibe and all. 62 minutes.
I’m thinking, of course, of that ‘erbal tea pronunciation which has always intrigued me. Is that ‘erbal Pan-American? Or localised? Is it another case of Americans preserving a pronunciation lost in parts of the UK?
Could someone who knows about these things tell me? Thank you.
In the 19th Century, it was normal to pronounce hospital, hotel and herb without the h. Nowadays “aitch anxiety” has led to all of them acquiring a new sound, a beautifully articulated aitch at the beginning. America has perhaps hung on to its aitchless herb because it has less class anxiety attached to pronunciations.
As suspected, then, the ‘Americanism’ is the more traditional.
“Class anxiety” is a new one on me. Now I know about it I’ll probably start feeling it.
I got SECCO from the wordplay.I’ve always thought of a sec as being a shorter period of time than a mo and therefore they might not be interchangeable although I’ve no idea whether there are any actual grounds for this assumption.
At 23ac, I thought such places for cultivation of crops were called ‘plantations’ but Chambers and COED provide the required meaning of ESTATE although Collins does not. This clue is interesting following discussions on Tuesday about DBEs. Tea and Coffee are of course only two examples of what may be seen on an estate but ‘or what you will’ opens up wider possibilities, making a change from the usual ‘perhaps’ or question mark to excuse the DBE (or not, in Jimbo’s case), whilst also providing an alternative definition of the answer. Clever stuff!
And what’s more, having taken subscribers’ money they appear to have no interest in sorting it out. Not an experience to recommend.
Unlike essexman and like ulaca much of this went in from wordplay, which is always more enjoyable so I thought it a first class puzzle. In this my enjoyment was greatly enhanced by my ignorance, because I didn’t know DROWSED, LOCUS STANDI, SQUARE BASHING, DANCERCISE, SECCO, HERB ROBERT or SKAT. I also constructed TRENTON from wordplay, and although I didn’t consciously know it I somehow associated it with New Jersey. Funny thing, the mind, what?
My last in was ESTATE too. I thought “place for tea or coffee” was a bit loose but I liked “or what you will”. I thought for a while we might be looking for an oblique reference to Twelfth Night.
Isn’t mille French for a thousand?
Paul S.
Paul.
Changing the subject slightly – is this a record? I had a “Reply to your comment” email today for puzzle no. 23456, which I posted on 1st December 2006. This was a bit over a month after the community blog first started! It was just a gibberish spam so I deleted it, but I wonder if anyone knows why these idiots would spam such an old post?
“Simple” for the plant always catches people out the first time they see it so store it away for next time good people.
Nice!
Like-able but devious, this one. CoD to um… let’s say marching up and down the square.
Or, after dark, will dubious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?