Timed at 33:25, and tricky, to say the least (apart from the SW corner, which I found
really tricky). In fact, very much the sort of puzzle which you always worry will arrive on your day for blogging: lots of obscure knowledge required, and cunning wordplay to be unravelled. Still, good for the soul once in a while.
Across |
1 |
SILVERBACK – cryptic def., hand over a note and get some silver back, possibly some copper as well. |
6 |
CALF – double def., calf (skin) and what one finds inside one’s stocking between the ankle and the knee. |
10 |
REMOTES – M.O.T. in (SEER)rev. |
11 |
BOHEMIA – [Made + 1] in BOHEA. |
12 |
BASE METAL – Maiden in (BEATLES)*. |
13 |
RODEO – cryptic def. |
14 |
PROMO – PRO + MOment. |
15 |
PER CONTRA – (CANREPORT)*; a legal term, apparently. |
17 |
OPERATIVE – OPERATIc (Figaro being the Barber who is to be married) + VersatilE. |
20 |
TIMID – TIM + aID. Until I had the checkers, I was not egocentric enough to choose Tim as the obvious man. |
21 |
EAGLE – bEAGLE. |
23 |
NOTARISED – (ANEDITORS)*. |
25 |
CROQUET – Runs in COQUET. This could work the other way round, of course, which led me to attempt to force in the made-up PRIQUET before I got 14 down. |
26 |
ROSEATE – ROSE + ATE. I’m sure I was not alone in starting with RED____ and getting nowhere. |
27 |
LAMA =”LLAMA”. |
28 |
BRIDGEHEAD – BRIDGE + HEAD. |
|
Down |
1 |
SCRUB – double def. |
2 |
LIMESTONE – LIME’S TONE. |
3 |
EXTEMPORANEOUS – (POEM)* in EXTRANEOUS. Got there eventually after attempting to make anagrams of (IMPROVISEDPOEM) and (POEMCOMPOSEDIN) with predictably ineffective results. |
4 |
BUS STOP – BUSS (=kiss = smacker) + TOP. |
5 |
COBBLER – double def. “Man (working) at (a) last” is an old one but I took ages to spot it; and while I knew the fruit crumble-style pudding (which wasn’t required), I couldn’t bring to mind the sangria-type drink (which was). |
7 |
ARMED – hARMED. |
8 |
FRAGONARD – (FORAGRAND)*. |
9 |
CHARLOTTE RUSSE – [CHAR (fish) + Left + OTTER (fish-eater) + (USES)*]. |
14 |
PROVENCAL – PROVEN CALifornia; nice lift-and-separate, though once you realise that France doesn’t have states, of course, it’s more obvious. |
16 |
TIME SHARE – TIMES (paper) + HARE (runner). |
18 |
IGNITER – (G.I.)rev. (“American serving”) + NITER (i.e. nitre as it would be spelled by this mythical American GI). Top-notch self-referential clue. |
19 |
ENTERED – [N.T. in EmpirE] + RED . |
22 |
GROOM – double def. I vaguely remembered seeing the term “curry-comb” which is something used in a stable to care for a horse’s coat, and then the penny dropped for “man of the match”. It’s my wedding annversary tomorrow; luckily I have already remembered to book a suitable restaurant and buy flowers, thus ensuring there will be another one. |
24 |
DREAD – Real in DEAD (completely as in “dead right”, “dead on time”). |
I assumed a silverback must be some sort of note like a greenback or a pony, but you are obviously right, and it just means silver back..
… and quite a deal of fun from the incredibly economical clueing. Had a fair idea what I was in for watching the puzzle come off the printer: “Change for gorilla? (10)”. Sounds like a line from the Goon Show; as does the next one: “Leather stocking filler (4)”. Also noted several well-hidden defs; but hats off especially to “in effect” at 17ac. The best bit of wordplay has to be “Tea cups” at 11ac. Wonder if the setter has heard of Iron Maiden (12ac) — that would have gone down well I thought.
Didn’t know the painter so needed checkers for that. Took a while to see the “niter” trick at 18D. Thank you setter.
The origin of ‘bridegroom’ is interesting. It is an assimilation of ‘guma’, ‘man’ into the surviving word after ‘guma’ became extinct
I echo the sentiments of others here; extremely slick clueing and enjoyable to boot. I liked CALF but COD to BOHEMIA for its tea cups.
One wrong unfortunately. I put SHRUB instead of SCRUB for 1dn, thinking it was an anagram of BRUSH, with the attached WOOD being the definition. Had it been that, it would have been the sort of wordplay that I abhor; but we have occasionally had such clues in the past, so I don’t feel too bad about my error.
We had Bohemia with bohea as part of the clue earlier this year: 24976 14 March. Definitely worth remembering. I’m pretty sure “last” as a cobbler’s whatnot has come up in several different guises as well.
How odd that Falooker started with the clues that stumped you.
For what it’s worth cobbler clues get a lot worse. In the FT the other day SNOB was clued as “Crispin the old blackleg”. Crispin is the patron saint of cobblers. “Snob” is both a term for a cobbler and an old word for blackleg. Obvious really.
On reflection, a lot of this puzzle should have been much easier to solve.
Je suis now en France et tout est tres bien. Les natives sont basically amiables. Aujourd’hui je commence (a manger).
It is also remembered for one of the more insightful lines to come from films “The Italians suffered the Borgias and produced the Renaissance. The Swiss had nothing but peace and produced cuckoo clocks!” I have had trouble taking the Swiss seriously ever since.
By coincidence, he was misspelled Orson Wells in Murdoch’s flagship Australian newspaper “The Australian” earlier this week.
Some good clues here, but — and I know it is a silly bit of pedantry — I hate clues of the form [def] with [wordplay] (or the reverse) as in 21ac (Hunter with dog needing no introduction). OK it can be justified, but you never see any of the well-known good setters doing this.