Solving time : 9 minutes 11 seconds on the club timer, good for top spot for now, but I suspect not for long – my last in being an anagram that I think most of the regulars will see the first time. There’s a little bit of sneakiness here but everything appears to be clearly signposted with some nice surfaces so I’d recommend this one as a good one to get new solvers involed.
There was a little bated breath as I hit the submit button as 19 down went in entirely from wordplay, and I wasn’t 100% on the ending of 14, which fit the definition fine, but now I have to think about wordplay as I write this up.
Away we go…
Across | |
---|---|
1 | COPING(holding one’s own),SAW(understood): one of those saws with a thin blade and a big hoop behind it |
6 | 0,AS,IS |
9 | LEVER: EVE is in the middle of left and right |
10 | URSA MINOR: Paddington is a little bear |
11 | MANKIND: KIN in M,AND(also) |
12 | ATHWART: H in AT WAR, then T (the end of West) |
13 | REVISED VERSION: (OR,DIVINE,VERSES) – you know I’ve even done a Listener crossword about this before, but I didn’t see the anagram until all the checking letters were in place |
17 | PRESENT PERFECT: double definition, one cryptic |
21 | ALIGHTS: A SLIGHT with the S moved |
23 | SNOWCAP: NOW,C in SAP(fatigue) |
25 | TAILPIECE: sounds like TALE PEACE and in this case I really do pronounce those words the same way |
26 | our omission of a market we’ve seen before most likely |
27 | SADLY: (LADY’S)* |
28 | TENNESSEE: T and then anagram of (SEEN,SEEN)* – I live less than half an hour’s drive from there |
Down | |
1 | our down omission, you can find it wriggling in there somewhere |
2 | P,A,VAN: a dance |
3 | NARCISSUS: C in (RUSSIANS)* |
4 | SOUND,ED: I thought this may have been a US term – “I sounded that idea out with the boss and he thought it was baloney” |
5 | WASTAGE: W on A,STAGE |
6 | OOMPH: OOMPAH without the A |
7 | SINGAPORE: SING then (OPERA)* |
8 | STRUTS: double def |
14 | VERSIFIED: S(start of SPEECH) in VERIFIED(checked over) |
15 | SURROGATE: R in (OUR,STAGE)* |
16 | S,TOP,PAGE: rather liked this clue |
18 | N,ASCENT |
19 | PASTERN: ASTERN under P – nearly put in POSTERN (yes, I know now it’s a gate, just remembered it being a word), but realized there was no justifying the O, so opted for PASTERN – the part of the horse’s foot from the fetlock to the hoof. Rare that I decide to not do something silly! |
20 | CACTUS: C,ACTS(legislation) around U(start of UNION) |
22 | HOPPY: HAPPY with the A changed to an O – now ales are HOPPY, but most American “beers” are not at all. Still liked the clue! |
24 | CROSS: double def |
George, I’m continually mystified as to how you manage to get, e.g., today’s blog dated as yesterday, 12th December. What’s the trick?*
Great solving time for you but. George on autopilot?
*On edit: LJ now seems to have corrected the dating. I’m still mystified but.
Edited at 2012-12-13 02:44 am (UTC)
In my opinion, the chief vice of American brewing is over-hopping. Most of them are way overdone, with Smuttynose the champion in getting carried away.
Some day, they will clue ‘struts’ as the Java framework and a lot of solvers will be baffled.
Not sure I don’t prefer yesterdays, though 🙂
Several kindnesses to those of us who get mental blocks over spelling: CAL(A/I)MARI, P(A/O)STERN, the letter count in TENNESSEE and whether PAVAN should have an E on the end.
No great stand-out clues, but I also liked LEVER, even if “first lady” is a gimme.
Needed checkers to confirm it was Present Perfect not Perfect Present – in a way a topical answer with Christmas just round the corner!
Three unknowns (Pavan, Athwart and Pastern) all easily gettable from the wordplay and checkers.
Did wonder if “reviewed” is surface padding at 15A with “production” acting as anagrind.
HOPPY. In my native Black Country, in the days when you could have a skinful for ten bob, many pubs served only mild ale. It came as quite a shock to the palate when I moved north and sampled the very bitter Manchester beers. Soon acquired the taste, though.
Re Jimbo’s comment on 15, I took ‘reviewed…production’ to be a kind of conjoined anagram indication.
Edited at 2012-12-13 01:50 pm (UTC)
It was good to meet ulaca, TopicalTim, PeterBiddlecombe, linxit and John Henderson at the Doric Arch earlier this evening, but I’m afraid even the small glass of red wine I had was enough to addle my brain. It took me a third read-through, checking every answer even more carefully than before, to spot that I’d typed SHOWCAP instead of SNOWCAP – thus bringing to an end a decent run of all-corrects for the daily cryptic following my last foul-up on 23 April when I accidentally typed in LINEN instead of LENIN.
Edited at 2012-12-13 10:46 pm (UTC)
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