Times 26824 – in which I make a mess of spelling an Australian word!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 16:34 but with one typo – I seem to be making a lot more typos with the recent changes to the crossword club, in the leaderboard I am 67th, with a whopping 15 in the incorrect column. Oh well – funny thing is the entry with my typo is the one where I figured out the answer and thought “oooh, that is going to trip a few people up”. Guess I was right!

Trickier puzzle than usual I thought, but wordplay solid throughout.

Away we go…

Across
1 FUSSPOTS: F(fine), SPOTS(places) surrounding US
5 HAYMOW: anagram of WHO,MAY
9 ION: remove the R from IRON(golf club)
10 SLEIGH BELLS: anagram of HIS,LEGS’LL,BE
12 CHANCE UPON: UP(buoyant) an ON(no, turning back) after CHANCE(opening) – definition is encounter
13 SCAG: first letters of Slowly, Canters, And, Gallops – horse meaning heroin in this case
15 SPRANG: S(succeeded), PRANG(accident)
16 ABILITY: definition is “gift” – A(article) then I,L,
IT inside BY(times, multiplied by)
18 TOOTSIE: TOO(in addition) then TIE(restriction) containing S(small)
20 TIGHTS: S(prinkler) after TIGHT(half cut, drunk)
23 ALTO: ALSO(too) with S swapped for T – changing the ends of S(olois)T
24 CORROBOREE: an Australian indigenous gathering – COR(gracious) then OR(men) reversed, BORE(supported), E(European)
26 HEAVEN KNOWS: anagram of HOW,SNAKE containing VEN(archdeacon)
27 EMO: alternating letters in tErM fOr
28 DIKTAT: reversal of TAT,KID
29 ON AND OFF: O, DOFF(shed) surrounding NAN
 
Down
1 FLINCH: L in FINCE
2 SUN LAMP: M(erriment) inside SUN(daily) and LAP(round)
3 POSTCHAISE: POST(after), CHA(tea), IS, E(drug). So this one went in from the wordplay, and when I go to look it up, in Chambers it is given as two words and hyphenated, and in Collins it is only given as two words. So we may have been done in by enumeration
4 THE JUNGLE BOOK: anagram of ON,THE,JOB,GLUE with (quic)K afterwards
6 ABBE: AB(sailor), and BE(live)together
7 MALACHI: hidden in abnorMAL ACHIevements
8 WISEGUYS: sounds like Y’s(letters) and GUISE(form) – the family in this case being the mafia
11 GOOD AFTERNOON: GOO(sentiment), DAFTER(comparatively silly) then NO ON(e). Fun clue!
14 HIGGS BOSON: anagram of BOSS,GOING,H
17 ATTACHED: TT(on the wagon), ACHE(long) inside AD(trailer)
19 OUTRANK: OUT(blooming), RANK(foul)
21 TORPEDO: definition is “ruin” – TOR(hill), PE(training), DO(party)
22 TEE OFF: definition is “drive” (on a golf course). T(heatr)E ten F(force), FOE(enemy) all reversed
25 BETA: ABET(help) with the first letter moved down

52 comments on “Times 26824 – in which I make a mess of spelling an Australian word!”

  1. What an amazing puzzle, full of obscurities (for me, things like “prang” which the COED classifies as “British informal” are also obscurities, but so was WISE GUYS as “family”), but I finished anyway, and correctly, in somewhat over an hour. “Did well” for SPRANG, ABILITY as the gift appealed particularly to me.
  2. I get very annoyed with clues like 2 down.I got sunlamp but the parsing is terrible.Since when does M stand for merriment?First letters of any old word seem to be used to fill in when the setter can’t find an alternative.
    JSB
    1. ‘Source of merriment’ directs you to the letter m.

      I failed to get corroboree and I’m an Australian

      Like others I became fixated on ‘borne’ and misdirected by my belief in the eurocentric character of most of the offerings

      You are welcome to my IP address but you should ask politely first

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