Solving time: 21:08
Hope this is the last Championship puzzle I have to blog for a while. Didn’t find this terribly hard. No omissions as the puzzle’s been around in the public domain for quite a while now. Would prefer a fresh number rather than having to blog a now rather old one.
[Note time of posting. 8:00 WST = 12:00 UTC. Is this now a record?]
Across |
1 |
INDICIA. {Clive of} INDIA, inc CI (101). Signs in general; or, in particular, the bulk-mail stamp substitutes that nearly did for philately. |
5 |
ALCOCK. L{eft} inside A,COCK. Cock: to turn up or to one side. I shall refrain from jokes about Sammy Davis Jr. |
8 |
DISPLEASE. DISEASE (complaint) inc P{ai}L. Def: put out. |
9 |
SLING. Two meanings. |
11 |
TEENY. Two meanings. |
12 |
COSTA RICA. COST (price paid), A{f}RICA. |
13 |
RADIATOR. Two meanings. |
15 |
BIFFED. Reverse FIB (story), FE{u}D. |
17 |
IN TOTO. IN (wearing), TO{ron}TO. Where Dorothy hid her stash. |
19 |
COSECANT. C{l}O{i}S{t}E{r}, CAN’T. |
22 |
APPALOOSA. APPAL (dismay), O{ver} x 2, reverse AS (when). |
23 |
TITAN. IT (the very thing) inside TAN (colour). |
24 |
END UP. {s}END-UP. |
25 |
TOSCANINI. TOSCA; then NI{obe} loses her honour (OBE) twice. |
26 |
GYPSUM. GP (doctor) inc Y; SUM (amount). |
27 |
SEA SLUG. S{pac}E, A, SLUG (bullet). |
Down |
1 |
INDETERMINATE. 1, anagram of END, TERMINATE (end). |
2 |
DI’S,TEND. Def: balloon. |
3 |
COLEY. COLE (Porter); {railwa}Y. |
4 |
AT ANCHOR. Sounds like ‘a tanker’. |
5 |
AVERSE. AVERS (states), {agre}E. |
6 |
CAST ASIDE. Anagram: ass{o}ciated. |
7 |
CAITIFF. CAI{n}, TIFF (disagreement). |
10 |
GRAND,STANDING. |
14 |
ANTELOPES. Anagram: opens late. |
16 |
MOLASSES. {g}OL{d} inside MASSES. |
18 |
TEPIDLY. Anagram: {w}ild type. |
20 |
ANTHILL. AN,TH{r}ILL. |
21 |
BOTTOM. Reverse: MOTTO (saw), B{achelor}. |
23 |
TRA-LA. Included in ‘AusTRALAsia’. (See title). |
Edited at 2012-11-21 01:13 am (UTC)
COD to my last in BOTTOM ahead of the empty pail and the creature from outer space.
I’m off for Thanksgiving. I’ll be back for the Monday puzzle, which Ulaca will be blogging.
I saw my first ever live performance of Twelfth Night last night, which will be helpful for future crosswords. Must get to a production of The Merchant of Venice.
>which will be helpful for future crosswords.
And for past ones. For instance, you should now be in a position to solve this clue from the 1977 London B Regional Final – which, I’m afraid to say, scuppered my chances that year: “Vice held dagger of this (4)”.
Edited at 2012-11-22 12:37 am (UTC)
Edited at 2012-11-21 08:59 am (UTC)
(Maybe I’m just grumpy today: major dental extraction plus a pile of exam papers to mark.)
Edited at 2012-11-21 11:44 am (UTC)
I wonder, will someday somebody not have heard of Neil Armstrong? John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew the first transatlantic crossing just after WW1 – a fantastic achievement at the time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTABfsEuOM
I like the JFK story, thanks kevingregg.
I DID remember stumbling over APPALOOSA, entering CAITIFF simply because I knew it was a word but not how it connected to cur, and that BIFFED was my last in because I couldn’t be sure until I had worked out the wordplay.
Alcock and Brown are very much amongst my heroes: the image of Brown (I think) climbing out onto the wing to chip off the accumulating ice lives long in a Boys Own memory. I suspect that flying their Vickers Vimy was a much more difficult feat than it appeared on flight simulator, plus I could crash into the sea and not get wet.
Made things difficult for myself by putting 24a End Up in at 23a and then trying to make the Atlas clue fit 24a E?D?P!! All told, a bit of a struggle and not my best performance…
I’m surprised at all the problems with cosecant. I can still remember all the relevant opposite/adjacent/hypoteneuse combinations from ‘O’ Level maths mnemonics.
Based on the 2 puzzles so far I still think I’d have preferred to have been in prelim B.
Also, as a recently retired maths teacher, cosecant seemed obvious to me.