Solving time : 16:52 – there’s some very very well hidden definitions in here (and one where I can’t get the wordplay just yet) so I think there might be some who struggle with this. It may also be a wavelength thing, who knows.
I got very stuck on the top right (Yankee corner) pondering many different options for 6 across, until realizing it’s a word we’ve seen a couple of times lately – maybe a trademark of a certain setter? A couple of unusual words and a castle that I definitely needed the wordplay to get rounded things out.
While England bakes, and North Carolina drowns (and GO AUSSIES TOMORROW!!!) away we go…
Across | |
---|---|
1 | TEST PILOT: L(learner) in an anagram of (TOP,SET,IT) |
6 | NATCH: SNATCH(hold up) without the S(succeeded) – you had me here setter, I was sure we were looking for a food course or a racecourse, not an “of course” |
9 | STATELY: TATE (ancient or modern, take your pick) in SLY(arch) |
10 | BELL,IN,1: Needed wordplay here – I should have known him, since he wrote one of crossworddoms favorite operas, Norma |
11 | AIT: A on the left of IT |
12 | TOURNAMENTS: anagram of (ENTRUST,MAN,O) – the O being for ball |
14 | ERNEST: or ER NEST |
15 | RECKONER: anagram of (A,C,KRONER). Edit: I was in a rush to get this done before heading out to a gig so I boneheaded this – it’s RE, C (KRONE)* – thanks mctext |
17 | EXPLICIT: L |
19 | LAZILY: AZ in LILY |
22 | CURL ONE’S LIP: or CUR LONE SLIP |
23 | T |
25 | STICKER: last letter of loseS then TICKER(heart) – exceptionally devious wordplay |
27 | AGAINST: GAINS in A |
28 | RERUN: |
29 | PUR |
Down | |
1 | TOSCA: TOSCANINI without the two NI’s(Northern Ireland) |
2 | SMARTEN: NE TRAMS reversed |
3 | PRESTISSIMO: PI(good),MISS(teacher) reversed around REST(break), then O(over) |
4 | LAY OUT: double def |
5 | TU,BINGE,N: I don’t think I’d know this if it wasn’t also the name of a beer strangely popular in Canada |
6 | NIL: reverse the last letter of falL and IN |
7 | TRIANON: IT reversed containing R then ANON(soon). Needed the wordplay for this, relieved to find it wasn’t TQIANON |
8 | HAIRSPRAY: IR in HASP(metal fastener), RAY |
13 | MAKE A SPLASH: splash being a prominent feature on the front page |
14 | EXERCISER: EXCISE(tax) without(outside of)R, then ER. Edit: and another silly – it’s ER in EXCISE,R |
16 | FIRETRAP: FIR(wood) then PARE(cut) reversed around |
18 | PERK,IE,R |
20 | INTONES: (TENSION)* |
21 | ALT(computer key),AIR |
24 | MATER: hidden |
26 | KIN: take the start off of SKIN |
15ac: George — here I think we need RE (about), C (100), anagram of KRONE{r} — “mostly”.
Also at 14dn: guess the parsing here is EX(ER)CISE + R{eturn}.
Edited at 2013-07-18 12:38 am (UTC)
A lot of the wordplay escaped me, and it sure helped to have heard of Tubingen and Altair. I had careless put ‘Avignon’ in 7 down before seeing ‘natch’, but that was an easy fix.
Edited at 2013-07-18 05:53 am (UTC)
I’m sure Penfold of this parish has used NATCH at least once here (he used it recently and I was driven to look up the meaning as I really wasn’t sure). Secret setter?
All done and dusted in 35 mins or so, so a quickie for me … but I had to look
here for fu of wordplay for HAIRSPRAY (not heard of ‘hasp’), STICKER (didn’t get ‘ticker’ for heart), TOSCA (didn’t get the NI + NI bit). Unknowns today worked out from the wp: ALTAIR, PRESTISSIMO, TUBINGEN, so thanks for sorting those ones out.
I wonder if the cutest feature of this crossword is the misleading doubling of ideas? There are two royal palaces involved: Balmoral maybe sets the mind for British ones, which TRIANON isn’t. Work out (14) and calculate (15) mean the same but don’t. There 2 pockets (19, 27), which this time have the same function. Two musical -INI conclusions, one with, one without. Almost as if the setter were trying for a cross-referenced Grauniad style without actually making it explicit.
I also had LAZING for a time, the flower girl being Heather, of course. Ling=heather is one of the first cryptic constants I learned.
CoD to AGAINST for the effortless confusion of “con artist”.
George Clements
I spent the latter part of my youth living near Versailles (my parents still do) so TRIANON went straight in.
George – thanks for explaining Tosca and Sticker – both entered from definitions.
I liked Con = Against at 27ac and the whisky chaser below it.
One day I’ll become less anonymous. I have a feeling that’s a bit like ‘fairly unique’. Sorry.
A very fine puzzle with some excellent surfaces, “Pay and display (3,3)” being a model of brevity (not as short as one of my favourites – “Sick pay (3)” – but that really belongs in a Listener puzzle).