Greetings blogophiles. An opportunity came up tonight I couldn’t refuse and so the regular crossword writeup is going to be a few hours late (I anticipate around noon UK time). So have at it in comments. and I’ll be back soon to try to make sense of things.
And we’re back – I tried solving this late last night but my state wouldn’t allow it – came back in the morning to polish things off in relatively quick time. Still not sure about 2 down, hopefully something will come while I write this up.
Some inventive clues here and maybe a debut for 12 down?
Away we go
Across | |
---|---|
1 | PROMETHEUS: PRO(for) then THE U.S.(America) after ME |
7 | ROOM: Remove the top letter from GROOM |
9 | LANDLINE: LAND(to get), LINE(job) – haven’t had one of those since 2004, don’t miss it at all |
10 | TEMPER: TEE(support),R surrounding MP |
11 | STAGER: last letters in thE caretakeR after STAG |
13 | THINNESS: INN inside THE S.S. |
14 | HOME STRAIGHT: anagram of (HORSE,THAT,IM) and the last letter of ridinG |
17 | TENNIS PLAYER: |
20 | BALMORAL: LAB(party) reversed then MORAL |
21 | FIESTA: FIE! then ST(pious sort),A |
22 | our across omission |
23 | COOKWARE: (A,WOK)* in CORE(essential) |
25 | MESS: double def |
26 | ENTERPRISE: ENTER(board) and then a RISE of 1 P (wonder if the setter works for the State of North Carolina too?) |
Down | |
2 | REACTION: I think this is CREATION(world) with the C moved down a few places? |
3 | MAD: D under the center of xMAs |
4 | TRIER: TRIGGER without the G’s(goods) |
5 | ELECTRA: LECT |
6 | SETTING,UP |
7 | REMONSTRATE: RE, then N inside MOST(maximium),RATE(speed) |
8 | ODESSA: hidden reversed in pASSED Out |
12 | GUESTIMATES: I’M ATE surrounded by GUESTS – it’s in Chambers, not sure why |
15 | our down omission (though I put in BRIDGETON first) |
16 | GESTURES: sounds like JEST, then RE in US |
18 | ILL,1,CIT |
19 | SAVAGE: AG(silver) in SAVE(husband) |
21 | FLOUR: sounds like FLOWER |
24 | WAR |
I liked the big rodent, and RACKETEER has an old-style Times pun feel to it. Why don’t tennis players have nicknames, like Roger ‘The Racketeer’ Federer? Or do they?
Edited at 2012-10-11 09:03 am (UTC)
Otherwise lots of very fine clues and some excellent surfaces.
We had Prometheus and Electra today and Andromache not long ago. If I was competing in the Finals next week I’d be reading the mythology lists in Bradford’s!
Not sure I have met WANT AD before but the anagrist sealed the deal. Took ages parsing BALMORAL thinking BALL was the party in question. Fortunately I knew the play “Prometheus Bound” so 1ac went straight in.
Felix Mendelsshohn-Bartholdy
My lowbrow musical knowledge helped with 22: Sheryl Crow’s 1994 top 5 smash “All I Wanna Do” contains the line “the bartender looks up from his want ads”.
Never seen WANT,AD before – only ever “wanted”. Pity about the DBE at 18D. We do seem to be getting a basin load of mythology at the moment!
My time was not very good, as I raced through the top half and got thoroughly stuck on the bottom. I eventually broke through on ‘tennis player’, but still didn’t understand the cryptic.
WANT AD This is a familiar term to me, so I’m guessing it used to appear in the local newspaper. I don’t think I remember it from this song, which recalls the days of ridiculous trousers and big hair.
Edited at 2012-10-11 02:25 pm (UTC)
Benchley’s Law of Distinction, however, might support Tuco’s view:
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_My_Line%3F
In my haste to achieve a fast time I entered “Jestures” instead of Gestures.
The phrase “more haste and less speed” has never made great sense to me. Perhaps I should have written, “While speeding, in an attempt to achieve a fast time, I entered “Jestures” instead of Gestures. I should have used more haste and less speed.”
It’s a bit clumsy though. Sounds like a police report!
(If my musing in this way is considered inappropriate for this blog please can one of the regulars/moderators let me know. Still finding my way with the blog’s etiquette.)