Solving time: 09:47
The title refers to 13 across, and in keeping, while I type this up, I’m listening to Aretha Franklin’s sublime version – do yourself a favour and put it on while you read, it really takes the sting out of my terrible jokes and interpretations.
I thought this was fairly difficult and I was happy with my time, only to find that Aphis99 came in at about half of my time (personal to Aphis99, I’m going to be in Melbourne in December if you want to grab another beer), so maybe it wasn’t as challenging as I made it out to be. It is a good puzzle for wordplay, with a few “new” words to me that had to be teased out via wordplay.
There is an ice storm coming my way apparently tonight, so I hope I have everything correct, as I may not be able to get to the blog and modify things tomorrow.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Chap briefly invested in farmland? That’s open to debate (8) |
|
ARGUABLE – GU |
|
| 5 | Act of worship no longer being kept on hold? (6) |
| OFFICE – if you are not longer being kept on hold you are OFF ICE. Think nones for the act of worship | |
| 8 | Up-and-coming leftist’s equestrian technique (6,4) |
| RISING TROT – got this from wordplay – RISING(up-and-coming), TROT(leftist) | |
| 9 | Emperor’s hesitation to appear in Japanese drama (4) |
| NERO – ER(hesitation) in NO(Japanese drama) | |
| 10 | Deliver a rocket, blowing up a dictator there (4,3,4,3) |
| READ THE RIOT ACT – anagram of A,DICTATOR,THERE | |
| 11 | One with pride in Sir Tristram’s birthplace, do we hear? (7) |
| LIONESS – sounds like Sir Tristram of LYONESSE | |
| 13 | High-flyer from Kentucky by lake in Channel Island (7) |
| SKYLARK – KY(postal code for Kentucky), L(lake) inside SARK(Channel Island) | |
| 15 | Unscrupulous lawyer — some pushy stereotype (7) |
| SHYSTER – hidden inside puSHY STEReotype | |
| 18 | Gen boys misused? Let them be themselves (7) |
| BYGONES – anagram of GEN,BOYS, referencing letting BYGONES be BYGONES | |
| 21 | Person funding music reproduction maybe one that lists our faults? (9,5) |
| RECORDING ANGEL – double definition, there may be an ANGEL RECORDING when you get to the pearly gates… mine had better have a full pen and plenty of paper | |
| 22 | Against Parisian that abandons collector’s item (4) |
| ANTI – remove QUE(parasian “that”) from ANTIQUE(collector’s item) | |
| 23 | Journalist wearing flashy jewels takes to new dog (10) |
| BEDLINGTON – ED(journalist) inside BLING(flahsy jewels), then TO, N(new). This one also from wordplay. | |
| 24 | Woman’s goodness about accommodating retired lieutenant (6) |
| MYRTLE – MY goodness, then RE(about) containing LT(lieutenant) reversed | |
| 25 | Neat newly-wed touring key academic institutions (8) |
| OXBRIDGE -OX(neat), then BRIDE(newly-wed) containing G(musical key) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Like a polar phenomenon initially recognised in a university exam (7) |
|
AURORAL – R |
|
| 2 | Outburst by a politician — it’s to do with taste (9) |
| GUSTATORY – GUST(outburst), A, TORY(politician) | |
| 3 | Girl’s gain secured by climbing mountain (7) |
| ANNETTE – NET(gain, at least after tax) inside mount ETNA reversed | |
| 4 | Presumably they permit certain forms of communication (7) |
| LETTERS – if you let someone do something you are a LETTER | |
| 5 | Get the better of blooming Scotsman you once put up (9) |
| OUTJOCKEY – OUT(blooming), JOCK(Scotsman) then YE(you, once) reversed | |
| 6 | Pigeon buff going over story on radio (7) |
| FANTAIL – FAN(buff) over something that sounds like TALE(story) | |
| 7 | Blunt men taking in a museum keeper (7) |
| CURATOR – CURT(bluny), OR(men) containing A | |
| 12 | Set about English mob half-heartedly responding to direction (9) |
|
STEERABLE – anagram of SET, then E(English), and RAB |
|
| 14 | Li’l cartoon hero mostly kept in and denied (9) |
|
ABNEGATED – LIL’ ABNE |
|
| 16 | Writer James gets run over in colony of birds (7) |
| HERONRY – HENRY James (author of The Turn Of The Screw) containing R(run), O(over) | |
| 17 | Sexton’s bag is placed in quarters, centrally (7) |
| SACRIST – SAC(bag) then IS inside the middle letters of quaRTers | |
| 18 | Goodman’s sound fortune’s talked of in European union (7) |
| BENELUX – sounds like BENNY Goodman’s LUCK’S | |
| 19 | Specialist painter, one earning right to be accepted (7) |
| GRAINER – GAINER(one earning) containing R | |
| 20 | Hamlet’s rest? As interrupted by the French (7) |
| SILENCE – SINCE(as) containing LE(the, in French) reference to Hamlet’s final line… “The rest is silence”. By the way, if you are following theatre, there is a story of a production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) that went horribly wrong at a high school near me. I dodged a bullet there, I was the original third member of that group and played the Hamlet role for the first three weeks. | |
Ahhhh…. One of those rare occasions when all my biffing worked!
Solved in anti-clockwise fashion, starting with ARGUABLE and finishing with OUTJOCKEY.
Can we have some more like this, please?
Time: All correct in 25 minutes.
Thank you to setter and blogger.
Dave.