Was happy for 4ac to be a write-in, since 2015 was the year when I moved to Greenwich borough, just down the road from the vessel in question; 20ac was a complete DNK and held me up till near the very end, leaving 18dn to me my LOI even though that’s the first abbey I thought of when I looked at the clue (I naturally assumed that this being the Times we’d be looking for somewhere loftier, Tintern perhaps). Hard to choose a COD from this impressive field: I loved 7dn, one of those great clues where everything makes perfectly lucid sense in the superficial reading, but needs to be completely rethought for the cryptic one. But perhaps the crown has to go to 22ac for the neatness of “rearwards then forwards”.
Oh and I should own up to the fact that, while I got Merle for 2dn easily enough, when I Googled the name afterwards I was surprised to see a woman’s face popping up. For a moment I thought I’d been confusing her with Merle Haggard, until I realised I’d actually been thinking of Milton Berle. Funny how brains (don’t) work, isn’t it?
Across | |
1 | DUMAS – dead author: [“starts to”] D{eliver} U{nusually} + MAS{s} [“brief” service] |
4 | CUTTY SARK – old boat: (STRUCK YA{ch}T*) [“out of control”, “after chain’s slipped” (i.e. minus CH) |
9 | STRINGENT – tight: STRING {b}ENT [cord | flexed “when first pulled”] |
10 | OTAGO – where kiwis are: O TAG [old | label] attached with O [ring] |
11 | PEEWIT – bird: PIT [set] to catch WEE reversed [little “round”] |
12 | MAINTAIN – keep: AIN’T [isn’t “commonly”] guarded by MAIN [chief] |
14 | EISENHOWER – president: reverse of I.E. [that is “backing”] + E N [opponents at (bridge) table] in SHOWER [disreputable group] |
16 | ACES – services — the best: ACE [outstanding] + [“head of”] S{ocial} |
19 | RELY – bank: R [run] and ELY [see] |
20 | GARRYOWENS – high kicks: (SWORE, ANGRY*) [“about”] |
22 | BACKPACK – hike: BACK [rearwards] then PACK [forwards (in rugby)] |
23 | SNOOZE – nap: SNOO{ker bai}ZE [“that’s been cut off-centre”] |
26 | ANIME – film genre: ({c}INEMA*) [“about to quit” (i.e. minus C) “new”] |
27 | HARMONICA – organ: HAR{d} MONICA [“short” tough | girl] |
28 | AUNT SALLY – scapegoat: {t}AUNT [“do not begin” to tease] + SALLY [attack] |
29 | NYMPH – gorgeous girl: N.Y. [US city] taking M.P.H. [speed] |
Down | |
1 | DISAPPEAR – walk: I SAP P [one | fool (given) power] to stop DEAR [favourite] |
2 | MERLE – Oberon perhaps: L [left] stranded in MERE [lake] |
3 | SENTIENT – conscious: SENTI{m}ENT [“male is avoiding”, i.e. minus M, mawkish emotion] |
4 | CHEW – champ: C HEW [clubs | fashion] |
5 | TETRAHEDRA – pyramids (EARTH RATED*) [“fantastic”] |
6 | YVONNE – girl: V [against] wearing YON N{ighti}E [that | nightie, “extremely”] |
7 | AVALANCHE – come down heavily on: A VALANCE [a | hanging] for smuggling H [heroin] |
8 | KNOWN – famous: K N [king (and) knight] wrapping NOW [present] |
13 | LOW-ALCOHOL – pop might be so: LOW [dejected] with ALL [everything] about C OHO [cold | interjection] |
15 | SELECTION – choice: S ELECTION [second | vote] |
17 | SASSENACH – in Scotland, English: SCH [school] accepting A NESS A{ppointed} reversed [a | head | “initially” appointed “from the south”] |
18 | DOWNTOWN – in Central Park?: W [wife] visiting DOWNTON [an abbey] |
21 | UPPERS – stimulants: {S—–>}UPPER [meal’s “starter fully dropping”] |
22 | BRAVA – excellent woman: BRA [lingerie] + V{ery} A{lluring} [“up front”] |
24 | OPIUM – number: (10 U{pset} MP*) [“following reshuffle”] |
25 | ARMY – host: {b}ARMY [off trolley “after bishop’s gone”, i.e. minus a B] |
Another in a line of enjoyable puzzles that aren’t taxing but are fun to solve
Don’t recall Merle Oberon appearing before – film star famous for pretending she came from Tasmania rather than India. Terrible commentary on the times she lived in.
Edited at 2016-01-01 12:03 pm (UTC)
Like V I had been trying to fit “Tintern” into the answer for 18dn before the DOWNTON penny dropped, but unlike him I knew of Merle Oberon so didn’t have a problem seeing how 2dn worked.
Edited at 2016-01-01 03:41 pm (UTC)
Pop is non-alcoholic so unless I’m missing something and meanings have moved on, LOW ALCOHOL is simply incorrect.
Similarly Central Park is not in downtown New York which is the broadly the financial district, even if there’s an acre or two that might just qualify.
Never heard of GARRYOWENS.
Edited at 2016-01-01 02:08 pm (UTC)
Two quibbles: Central Park is not downtown, and ‘pop’ contains no alcohol whatsoever.
There were many fine clues, and I had all but the SE down in about 45 minutes.
Also had NON ALCOHOLIC for 13d so was heading for the rocks anyway. Thanks for the blogging, Verlaine, and for another year of entertainment under all those influences. A la prochaine.
Edited at 2016-01-01 04:50 pm (UTC)
So no cricket terms today, just two rugby ones instead.
Understandably difficult both to concentrate and to find some uninterrupted time today – also I fell into the NON ALCOHOLIC trap, though “pop” BTW is a slang term for an alcoholic drink such as beer or lager.
Edited at 2016-01-01 07:56 pm (UTC)
Paul G
I was worried about Central Park being described as DOWNTOWN, so am glad that NYC residents aren’t too keen on it either.
GARRYOWEN was a monumentally high kick (rugby)delivered to the oppositioms goal line making it a 50-50 ball.The team won threee Senior Cups 1924-1926 using this method of ‘mortar-attcack’
7dn AVALANCHE COD
Also EISENHOWER – disreputable group – shower – shadeth of Terry Thomath – abtholute shower!
horryd – Shanghai