75% of this is quite straightforward but the NE corner has a Mephostoish tang to it that may slow some down.
There’s an old fashioned flavour to this puzzle which may also prove troublesome. 20 minutes to solve.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | PAPER-CHASE – P(A-PERCH-AS)E; pole=rod=PERCH=Imperial land measurement=a quarter of a chain (about 5 metres); |
6 | PATH – short for pathology – one for Thud; |
9 | PICTORIALS – (social trip)*; the old Picture Post perhaps; |
10 | SAGO – S(anti)AGO; “frogspawn” – memories of 1940-50s school dinners; |
12 | MEETING,HOUSE – “heating mouse”; |
15 | NEWMARKET – NEW-MA-(trek)*; the centre of horse racing; |
17 | SENNA – S(i)ENNA; a Gregory; |
18 | USAGE – U-SAGE; |
19 | TACTICIAN – sounds like “tack-Titian”; Hannibal perhaps; |
20 | SUPERCHARGER – SUPER-CHARGER; the stripe down the side of a petrol head’s car?; |
24 | IONA – A-NO-1 reversed; Hebridean island; |
25 | SNICKERING – S(NICKER)ING; NICKER=quid; grass=SING; a whole collection of old slang; |
26 | GIST – G(r)IST; |
27 | PROPITIATE – (irate pop)* surrounds IT; appeasing a god to curry favour; |
Down | |
1 | PIPE – two meanings; a churchwarden is a type of pipe for smoking tobacco; |
2 | PACT – P-ACT; |
3 | RIO,DE,JANEIRO – R(I)ODE-JANE-IRO(n); Brazilian tourist trap; |
4 | HOIST – HO(I)ST; |
5 | SPLENETIC – (pose client – o)*; Victor Meldrew; |
7 | AMANUENSIS – A-MAN-(uses in)*; Eric Fenby no doubt; |
8 | HOOTENANNY – HOOT-E-NANNY; he’s a HOOT=he’s amusing; Hogmanay, Burns Night, etc; |
11 | CHASTISEMENT – C(HAS-SIT reversed)EMENT; spare the rod and spoil the child – a saying the older generation will recognise; |
13 | ANGUISHING – (L)ANGUISHING; |
14 | SWEAT,PANTS – S(WE)AT-P-ANTS; tracky daks; |
16 | KITCHENER – more eager=KEENER then replace (warfar)E by ITCH; WW1 poster pin-up; |
21 | RECAP – R(EC)AP; |
22 | DIVA – DIVA(n); |
23 | AGUE – (pl)AGUE; |
Talking of the last, I think we need to include “tack” as part of the homophone.
Edited at 2014-04-15 08:01 am (UTC)
All complete, but in poorish time… most done in about 40 minutes, but needed quite a bit longer for my last two: USAGE, and finally ANGUISHING. After much.
I too needed wordplay for RdJ, and put in PIPE with a shrug, since the churchwarden def was unknown/unfamiliar. Couldn’t work out IONA either. Looks so simple now! AMANUENSIS has come up here before (maybe even a couple of times maybe for it to have stuck), and HOOTENANNY from wp.
On edit: I just looked at today’s Guardian and realized that I also knew Valparaiso; glad I’d forgotten while solving.
Edited at 2014-04-15 07:58 am (UTC)
Last in … ANGUISHING, which would also be my Clue Of the Day.
is it really 8 hours? I must remind Carruthers to stash a hamper in the Bentley.
Edited at 2014-04-15 07:14 am (UTC)
My allotment (now relinquished) was stated to be 5 1/2 rods, rods here being a square measure of something like 16 1/2 sq. ft. Nobody going to work *that* out in sq. m, in a hurry..
Edited at 2014-04-15 09:02 am (UTC)
Count me in (to my surprise, I have never questioned it) with those who can’t spell RdJ without help. Do we all pronounce it wrong? Or is it just me?
You know you’re in an old-fashioned crossword (say about 1935) when the only concession to the later 20th century is SWEATPANTS, though even that is given in the etymologies as 1946, and SENNA is clued without reference to F1.
If you’ve time, could you glance at my entry on the General forum re TLS 1016. I wouldn’t mind reinforcement. I’m a bit reluctant to stick my head further above the parapet there at the moment – we’ve got a troll who’s been making free with my name. Another one…
Edited at 2014-04-15 10:05 am (UTC)
I agree there was a bit of an old-fashioned feel to this, but very little that I didn’t know. The stand-out exception being ‘churchwarden’, which must have escaped from a Mephisto.
Last in HOOTENANNY, once I’d got PATH and started looking for something other than a word for a childminder starting DO.
I should have said that the perch/pole/rod measurement thing also went completely over my head, but perch for rod seemed close enough even without the specialist knowledge!
15. Woman who’s has just had baby with awful trek to reach town (9)
Shome mishtake shorely?
Woman who’s has just had baby = NEW MA
with = juxtaposicator
awful = anagrind
trek = grist
to reach = link between WP and def
town = def
Woman who has just had …..but
Woman who’s has just had?
Sounds strange to my ears.
…who’s has…
which is causing conternation.
Has to be a boo-boo.
Edit to add that I recently bought a pipe, not a churchwarden but one almost identical to the Magritte one that isn’t a pipe. I don’t smoke it but it’s great for giving directions, pointing to things on menus and prodding people in the chest to emphasise a point. It also helps me effect a rather fetching contemplative look that wouldn’t look amiss in a 1970s knitwear catalogue.
Edited at 2014-04-15 12:21 pm (UTC)
Does anyone ever use a word like splenetic outside of Crosswordland I wonder?
Nairobi Wallah
What would be wrong with: “I travelled about with woman to nameless club in city”
The “ ’ll have” and “descending on” appear to be included only to muddy the waters, rather than actively mislead.
Otherwise an enjoyable solve; nice to have a few write-ins in the NW (PIPE, PACT, RIO DE JANEIRO, HOIST) just to get things going.
Before Ken Russell went completely crass and tawdry, he made an excellent BBC Omnibus film “Song of Summer” about Frederick Delius and his AMANUENSIS, Eric Fenby. Russell was, then, touched by genius. Well worth looking out for.
COD HOOTENANNY, for its sheer exuberance!
Actual LOI was IONA, which I’d initially wanted to be TAIT. (Doh!)