Times 25720: Unknown composers and underwear

Author   mctextPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: Close to the hour.

The SE was a terror spent pondering possible composers’ names. Had to look it (or them) up in the end. So you can call this a DNF if you like.

Across

1. CROSSROADS. CROSS (annoyed), and a word sounding like RHODES.

7. GLAD. Take the points of the compass out of “enGLAnD”.

9. INTREPID. IN, T (time), anagram of PRIDE.

10. ICONIC. 1, CONIC. Where the latter is short for “conic section”.

11. STRIFE. “Trouble and strife” = “wife”.

13. OVER,NICE.

14. RUSSIAN DOLLS. Today’s cryptic definition. Pussy Riot?

17. COUNTERTENOR. TENOR (drift, gist) after COUNTER (bar).

20. AQUILINE. A, QUI{p}, LINE.

21. FALLEN. ALL inside FEN (swamp).

22. TIVOLI. I, LOV{e}, IT: reversed.

23. LONGBOAT. LONG (pine) and A (area) inside BOT (the larva of the botfly). Down here, a bot is a cadger.

25. TYKE. Our light inclusive.

26. MYSTICALLY. MY, ALLY with stic{k} inside.

Down

2. RING TRUE. A fine charade.

3. SIR. R (queen), IS: reversed.

4. RUPEE. RUE (regret) inc. PE{as}. “Bread” = money.

5. ANDROID. AND (with) + DIOR (reversed).

6. SNIVELLER. VIN (reversed) inside SELLER. Looked hard to find a reversed RED here.

7. GROUNDSWELL. GROUNDS (used coffee), WELL (very much).

8. APIECE. ACE (serve, tennis) inc. PIE (tart).

12. INSECTIVORE. Anagram: over it’s nice.

15. ALUMINIUM. If the gangster is our AL, he’s the chemical symbol for this metal which, when expanded ….

16. FORESAIL. Anagram: rise alof{t}.

18. TRELLIS. TELL (report) inc. R (last of “mountaineeR”) + IS.

19. EQUITY. QUIT (leave) inside EY{e}.

21. FINZI. “The end” = FINIS. Include Z (unknown) and delete S (succeeded, genealogy). Phew! There were two of them: Aldo (Italian) and Gerald (British). Go ogle.

24. BRA. Couldn’t believe this one, but it’s GARB (clothes) in reverse without the G (no good).

67 comments on “Times 25720: Unknown composers and underwear”

  2. A long hour, in two goes, still wasn’t enough for the FINZI MYSTICALLY cross, so a DNF. I thought about the LONGBOAT LONGSHIP and the rigging issues, but decided that ‘crosswords is crosswords’. I grimaced, and not in a particularly pleasant way, at the Russian Dolls, and hoped that that isn’t what crosswords are becoming.

    Had I logged in earlier I would have tried to generate some enthusiasm for discussion of conic sections being plane figures, but conics on their own definitely being three dimensional – c is c or not.

    And I commend New Amsterdam / New York to Dr T&B and Nairobi Wallah.

    Edited at 2014-02-26 10:27 pm (UTC)

  3. Enjoyed the puzzle, and I’m a bit surprised that so many contributors have not heard of Gerald Finzi, his music turns up pretty frequently on Radio 3 as well as Classic FM. Then again, there are loads of famous scientists whose existence has eluded my knowledge.
  4. 8:45 for me – slightly better than yesterday, but still pretty pathetic considering this was all familiar stuff. With the F and N in place for 21dn, I found it hard to get FENBY out of my mind, even though he isn’t all that well known as a composer. On the other hand I’m very fond of FINZI (Gerald, that is), and a bit saddened that so many hadn’t heard of him. (I suggest his lovely Romance in E flat, Op 11 if you want to try him.)

    Nice puzzle.

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