Time: 60 minutes!
Music: Schubert, Piano Sonatas, Wilhelm Kempf
Yeah, my time was 60 minutes, but it was 25 minutes on all but one clue. Since I had never heard of the fastener, and there a zillion words that fit _ A _ E _, I had quite a bit of difficulty there. I suppose the UK solvers just wrote it in without scarcely a second thought. The rest of the puzzle was pretty typical for a Monday, with a couple of clever twists but nothing too tricky.
I saw a couple of days after the fact that another commenter had posted an answer to a different current puzzle in the comments. Please try to avoid this, as some of our readers may not have gotten to that particular puzzle yet.
| Across | |
| 1 | Enchanting publication I name shortly (7) |
| MAGICAL – MAG + I + CAL[l] | |
| 5 | Announce two poor grades at college (7) |
| DECLARE – D + E + CLARE (an Cambridge college) | |
| 9 | Time of payments: edited round number gets stuck up (6-5) |
| TOFFEE-NOSED – T + OF + FEE(NO)S + ED. | |
| 10 | They order the troops salad (3) |
| COS – Commanding Officers, COs. | |
| 11 | Gave approval for a grand instrument (6) |
| AGREED – A + G + REED. | |
| 12 | Fixer of team to pinch back (5,3) |
| PANEL PIN – PANEL + NIP backwards….aaargh!. | |
| 14 | Writer in trainers popping pill (13) |
| TRANQUILLISER – Anagram of TRAINERS around QUILL | |
| 17 | Unseen helper’s paper and coin no longer used (8,5) |
| GUARDIAN ANGEL – GUARDIAN + ANGEL, in entirely different contexts | |
| 21 | Club entertainer ultimately impresses tourist (8) |
| STRIPPER – [impres]S + TRIPPER. | |
| 23 | Give up game after opponent captures rook (6) |
| FOREGO – FO(R)E + GO. | |
| 25 | Father seen in good sort of light (3) |
| GUV – G + UV, ultra-violet. | |
| 26 | After very short time, pastor abandoned defunct browser (11) |
| TRICERATOPS – TRICE + anagram of PASTOR, which I wouldn’t have gotten quickly if we hadn’t just had one! | |
| 27 | Recycling: say I’m sorry about Victor’s going west (7) |
| SALVAGE – E,G, A(V)LAS, all backwards. | |
| 28 | Sticker finally put on first compartment (7) |
| BAYONET – BAY ONE + [pu]T. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Dangerous driver, crazy, circling right round (2,4) |
| MR TOAD – M(RT O)AD. | |
| 2 | Choose computer career and take the risk (2,3,2) |
| GO FOR IT – Double definition, one jocular. | |
| 3 | Cold, even with president (9) |
| CLEVELAND – C + LEVEL + AND. I wasted a lot of time with Coolidge, who sounds a lot cooler, but doesn’t fit. | |
| 4 | Long and thin piece of wood, not soft (4) |
| LANK – [p]LANK. | |
| 5 | Did initially request a piece of advice, turning up a large book (3,7) |
| DAS KAPITAL – D[id] + ASK + A + TIP backwards + A + L. | |
| 6 | Bum died in prison (5) |
| CADGE – CA(D)GE. | |
| 7 | Admits church has added page in holy book (7) |
| ACCEPTS – AC(CE + P)TS. | |
| 8 | European learning about evil in tragic setting (8) |
| ELSINORE – E + L(SIN)ORE. | |
| 13 | City plaza lies oddly across major road (6,4) |
| SQUARE MILE – SQUARE (M1) L[i]E[s]. | |
| 15 | Old soldier on island line (9) |
| LEGIONARY – LEG + IONA + RY. | |
| 16 | Something delightful more than once in middle-class novels (3,5) |
| AGA SAGAS – A GAS, A GAS….jumping Jack Flash! | |
| 18 | Coming first in race, bumping into a fellow competitor (7) |
| ARRIVAL – A R(R[ace])IVAL. | |
| 19 | Having told a story, have to rest (3,4) |
| LIE DOWN – LIED + OWN. | |
| 20 | My collection of items stays (6) |
| CORSET – COR + SET. | |
| 22 | Part of stomach revolting at bread (5) |
| PITTA – PIT + AT backwards. | |
| 24 | Letters associated with pencil broken by Queen Rosemary, perhaps (4) |
| HERB – H(ER)B, where HB is from the graphite grading scale. | |
H
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