Solving time: 18:12
Should have been quicker in retrospect, strangely held up by 1ac and 4dn! Put this down to blogger’s nerves eh? Otherwise a fairly straight solve much aided by no fewer than four whole anagrams and one almost-whole. Far too many barely-cryptic defs for my liking.
Across |
1 |
MADRAS. MAD (angry), RAs. Put off here by ‘recalled’ which merely signals the change of name to Chennai in the mid-90s. |
5 |
TEMP(T)ING. |
9 |
UNFORESEEN. Anagram: refuse one + N. |
10 |
Omitted. No, I thought, it can’t be that simple. But it was. |
11 |
E(X)TERNAL. As in ‘external affairs’. |
12 |
APOLLO. Ref to the Apollo missions to the moon (NASA). |
13 |
FETE. Sounds like ‘fate’. |
15 |
ROAD SIGN. Cryptic def. |
18 |
SUIT,CASE. |
19 |
HATE. HeArTiEs. |
21 |
RAN,CID. ‘Turned’ as in ‘rank’, ‘putrid’. |
23 |
S,LOW-DOWN. |
25 |
LIMA. Second letter of ‘fLight’, L = LIMA in the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet. Capital of Peru. |
26 |
GROUND,LESS. |
27 |
INSTANCE. Anagram: ancients. |
28 |
Omitted. |
Down |
2 |
ANNE,X. |
3 |
ROOSEVELT. Anagram: lose voter. |
4 |
STERN,A. Def: ‘bones in front’. |
5 |
THE BLARNEY STONE. Cryptic def: once they’ve kissed the Stone of Eloquence, they get the ‘gift of the gab’. |
6 |
MANDALA,Y. Former capital of the Burmese kingdom. |
7 |
TOKYO. TOO (into the bargain), inc K (1000), ¥. A capital city. |
8 |
NEON LIGHT. Anagram of ‘lone’ inside NIGHT. |
14 |
EDUCATION. Anagram: auctioned. (You were cautioned!) |
16 |
SCHEDULES. Anagram: clues she’d. |
17 |
CARDIGAN. Two defs. James Thomas Brudenel, 7th Earl of Cardigan & his eponymous garment. (He was fond of sandwiches.) |
20 |
CORNER. Two defs: rook’s starting position in chess & the verb ‘to hem in’. (Kettle?) |
22 |
CHAR,T. |
24 |
WISE,R. Archaic for ‘way’ = WISE. Charles V known as Charles the Wise. |
I like the blog title, McT. And I note your solving time and can’t help but suspect you of making some kind of overture.
COD .. STERNA – that ‘front and back’ had me foxed for a long while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
Mike Charlie Tango
We should mention that the Earl of Cardigan led the charge of the Light Brigade after “misunderstanding” Lord Raglan’s orders.
Also any ladies tempted to kiss the Blarney Stone would be well advised to wear trousers if they wish to retain their modesty
Another quickie today, with all correct and only a couple of unknowns (Earl of Cardigan, and Charles the Wise).
Much helped by the geographical tone and numerous anagrams (and lack of any sporting references…!)
Kickself for not seeing right city, as I’d actually completed the Listener “How to ___” 🙁
Found most of this straightforward but was held up for a while in the bottom right corner by Cardigan, Groundless and Wiser.
Ta!
Edited at 2013-02-13 02:04 pm (UTC)
Nice deception in “now recalled” in 1. I was toying with AD reversed for quite a while.
Thanks both,
Chris.