What a good puzzle! A few interesting words, a bit of general knowledge (with a geographical flavour) and some witty clues. 15d was my last one in as the word that fitted was obvious, but it took a bit of thought to remember the connection to the author concerned. 12d gets my CoD award, not least because I was mixed up in European advertising for the Yugoslav Tourist Board for a while before things came to a sticky end in 1990. Those were interesting times. I should write a book about it.
Happy New Year one and all, let’s hope there is light at the end of this tunnel, I hate face masks.
Happy New Year one and all, let’s hope there is light at the end of this tunnel, I hate face masks.
| Across | |
| 1 | Cooks taking requests from diners eg keep taking the tablets (7,6) |
| DOCTORS ORDERS – Doctors = cooks as in ‘cook the books’; orders = requests from diners. Your doctor might say ‘keep taking the tablets’, mine does (or would if I could get to see him). | |
| 8 | Metal jacket of interrogator being worn (4) |
| IRON – IR = outside, jacket, of interrogator; ON = being worn. | |
| 9 | Sweet paintings etc gallery put back in container (5,5) |
| TARTE TATIN – TIN = container; insert ART and TATE reversed. Delicious upside-down-cooked apple tart created by the Tatin sisters in their French hotel in 1880, allegedly accidentally. | |
| 10 | Worried surgeon clasping cold sponge (8) |
| SCROUNGE – (SURGEON)* with C inserted. | |
| 11 | Peacock: it goes flying around (6) |
| EGOIST – (IT GOES)*. | |
| 13 | Where tester found parent snaffling page belonging to us? (4-6) |
| FOUR-POSTER – parent = FOSTER, as a verb; insert OUR and P. The canopy over such a bed. | |
| 16 | Shaft ending in channel secured by tool (4) |
| AXLE – L (end of channel) inside AXE = tool. | |
| 17 | Difference in body having struck head (4) |
| TIFF – STIFF = body, loses its S. | |
| 18 | Country where some litter scattered (5-5) |
| TIMOR-LESTE – (SOME LITTER)*. Small island country in Asia, the eastern half of Timor. Timor or timur means east in Malay, and L’este means east in Portuguese, so the name of the country means ‘east-east’, kind of tautology in two languages. Are there other examples of this? | |
| 20 | Warning about British prince (6) |
| ALBERT – ALERT around B for British; Prince as in Victoria and Albert. | |
| 22 | Wrecked, came to (8) |
| TOTALLED – very nice double definition. | |
| 24 | Bird in cage: crime considering that won’t open (7,3) |
| BATTERY HEN – BATTERY is a crime; (T)HEN = considering, lose the T. | |
| 26 | Communist march (4) |
| TROT – double definition. | |
| 27 | Gripped by film, therapist struck by western (6-7) |
| SHRINK-WRAPPED – SHRINK = therapist, W = west, RAPPED = struck. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Controlling minister, one punching face (11) |
| DIRECTORIAL – RECTOR, I inside DIAL = face. | |
| 2 | Great runner has run off after felon (5) |
| CONGO – CON = felon, GO = run off. | |
| 3 | Pair of decisions favouring bowler confirmed (3-3-3) |
| OUT-AND-OUT – in cricket, ‘out’ and ‘out’ mean the umpire has raised his finger twice and the bowler has taken two wickets. Out-and-out as in ‘Australia are out-and-out favourites to win the Ashes’. Yeah, sadly true. | |
| 4 | Too much womaniser of course ultimately breaking hearts, say? (7) |
| SURFEIT – R, F, E, = last letters of ‘womaniser of course’; insert into SUIT = hearts, say. | |
| 5 | On twenty-four hours earlier, old magistrate (5) |
| REEVE – RE (on) EVE (day before). | |
| 6 | Develop complex (9) |
| ELABORATE – double definition. | |
| 7 | Runner quietly failing to jump (3) |
| SKI – SKIP = jump, lose the P for quietly. | |
| 12 | Flash Croatian deputy? (5,6) |
| SPLIT SECOND – A second-in-command from Split would be a Croatian deputy. I’ve been to Split, it’s a nice place, but then it was in Yugoslavia. | |
| 14 | Judge and reader glower? (9) |
| REFLECTOR – REF = judge, Lector = reader. | |
| 15 | Hope setting sun inspires girl visiting university (9) |
|
RURITANIA – RA (Egyptian sun-god, or the sun to ancient Egyptians) into which insert UNI into which insert RITA a girl. R(U(RITA)NI)A. Fictional country in Eastern Europe, setting for the novels of Anthony HOPE, such as The Prisoner of Zenda. |
|
| 19 | Book, far from brilliant, cut (7) |
| MATTHEW – MATT (not glossy, far from brilliant), HEW (cut). | |
| 21 | Cycle round capital of Italy — or somewhere to the north (5) |
| TURIN – I inside TURN. City in north of Italy. | |
| 23 | Exhilarated seeing books on the top shelf? (3,2) |
| LIT UP – literature up high on the top shelf. | |
| 25 | Some fashionistas smoke dope (3) |
| ASS – hidden word. | |
NHO tester as summat to do with FOUR-POSTER.
NHO TIMOR-LESTE and even thinking of TIMOR didn’t prompt LESTE.
Never knew the provenance of RURITANIA but had lost heart by then.
TIFF — didn’t get the definition.
Roll on tomorrow.