Solving time 9:50, which about an hour in, puts me in first place on the leaderboard (that will probably change before I have finished this write-up).
It is very rare that my last clue in is an anagram, but that was the case today, even with all the checking letters in place, I had to reach for paper and pen to work out what was needed for 13 down, a phrase I think I have heard before but certainly have not used.
A good crossword for trusting the wordplay, this one, particularly in a few entries I usually have difficulty spelling (I wonder if any of the regulars on the leaderboard with errors biffed 11 down with a spelling mistake).
The first definition in each clue is underlined.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Anti-war literary genre getting no opening in time gone by (8) |
| PACIFIST – the literary genre is SCI-FI. Remove the S and insert in PAST(time gone by) | |
| 5 | Understood one in church recalled architectural style (6) |
| GOTHIC – GOT(understood) then I in CH(church) reversed | |
| 9 | Charm is maintained in most of chat with a guy (8) |
|
TALISMAN – IS inside TAL |
|
| 10 | Soccer player: “Try a position” (6) |
| GOALIE – GO(try), A, LIE(position in golf) | |
| 12 | Variable assessment of trombone music? (7,5) |
| SLIDING SCALE – Double definition, one slightly cryptic | |
| 15 | No great contribution to film run (5) |
| EXTRA – double definition, someone with a bit part in a film, and a run in cricket | |
| 16 | Plan to attack fake story I want amended, after taking in newspaper (3,2,4) |
| LIE IN WAIT – LIE(fake story) then an anagram of I,WANT containing the I newspaper. | |
| 18 | Expedition on board trendy craft going far? (9) |
| SPACESHIP – PACE(expedition) inside SS(so on board a ship), then HIP(trendy) | |
| 19 | Name assigned to god is a problematic point (5) |
| THORN – N next to THOR(god) | |
| 20 | Cheerful illumination requiring attention — skill to be brought in (5-7) |
| LIGHT-HEARTED – LIGHT(illumination) then HEED(attention) containing ART(skill) | |
| 24 | What may be related to Siamese flower spike (6) |
| CATKIN – if you are related to a Siamese you could be a CAT KIN | |
| 25 | American punished without full scrutiny? (2,6) |
| IN CAMERA – anagram of AMERICAN | |
| 26 | Risk pulling line from hanging item (6) |
| DANGER – remove L(line) from DANGLER(hanging item) | |
| 27 | Second church festival engages me for a study period (8) |
| SEMESTER – S(second) then EASTER(church festival) with ME replacing A | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Stone with hard core (4) |
| PITH – PIT(stone of a fruit), H(hard) | |
| 2 | Loss of power after Liberal has infiltrated religious group (4) |
| CULT – a power CUT containing L(liberal) | |
| 3 | American unfavourably engaged in diminishing gunfire (9) |
| FUSILLADE – US(American), ILL(unfavorably) inside FADE(diminishing as a noun) | |
| 4 | Newspaper is source of coupons in footwear and bedding (7,5) |
| SCANDAL SHEET – first letter of Coupons insie SANDAL(footwear) and SHEET(bedding) | |
| 6 | Old doctor disposing of new instruments (5) |
| OBOES – O(old), then BONES(doctor) missing N(new) | |
| 7 | A graduate in Northern city with facilities to make a racket (10) |
| HULLABALOO – A, BA(graduate) inside HULL(Northern city) and LOO(facilities) | |
| 8 | Fruit, very pleasant during middle of break (10) |
| CLEMENTINE – CLEMENT(very pleasany, opposite of INCLEMENT), IN(during), then the middle letter in brEak | |
| 11 | Reserve about Northern mood? Article shows lack of restraint (12) |
| INTEMPERANCE – ICE(reserve) surrounding all of N(northern), TEMPER(mood), AN(article) | |
| 13 | It’s to be involved with pledge and a bit of commitment? (3,7) |
|
GET SPLICED – anagram of ITS, PLEDGE, C |
|
| 14 | Shattering rocks put in alignment? (10) |
| STRAIGHTEN – anagram of SHATTERING | |
| 17 | No Communist to occupy flat in Parisian building (5-4) |
| NOTRE-DAME – NO, then RED(Communist) inside TAME(flat) | |
| 21 | Bunk with sheet finally on ready (5) |
|
TRIPE – |
|
| 22 | European to allow twice the time (4) |
| LETT – LET(allow) with two T’s | |
| 23 | Charge up, snatching one item (4) |
| PAIR – RAP(charge) reversed, surrounding I(one) | |
Edited at 2019-02-07 01:49 pm (UTC)
I still don’t see how “diminishing” is “fade” in 3D; “diminish”, yes, but “diminishing”? Can anyone think of a plausible sentence that allows that substitution?
Edited at 2019-02-07 04:37 pm (UTC)
Grabbed this off the backlog pile and it took 40 minutes to get all but the last two and another 20 odd to write in CATNIP and GET SPLICED only to be wrong with the first anyway.
Really enjoyable solve along the way with a mix of really gettable clues and quite a few that I struggled for a while with. LETT was my first one in … another word that always seemed to pop up in the early days of doing straight puzzles – it was only until I met my first one at work in the 1980’s that I realised how pretty that they were !!
Winced as I wrote in NOTRE DAME which would still have been standing perfectly on publication date.