Sitting down to this, I had most of it done, heading for a record time (for me); answers went in as fast as I could write (not as fast as some, admittedly). Then, with three or four left to complete, I took as long again to finish off those obstinate and trickier clues. Others may not have the same problems, I suspect, and a SNITCH around 100 would be my guess. We shall see. 4d was the best clue for me.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Accountant having chat about women’s modelling area (7) |
| CATWALK – CA (accountant) TALK (chat) with W for women inserted. | |
| 5 | Garlic sausage originally sold in island west of Athens (7) |
| SALAMIS – Even if you’ve never been, or heard of the Battle of Salamis, the answer was pretty obvious from SALAMI sausage and S the first letter of sold. I’ve sailed past it a few times and been to Aegina next door, but not set foot on it. | |
| 9 | State of equality a capital city is missing (3) |
| PAR – PARIS loses IS. | |
| 10 | Alternative headgear used by British union members, perhaps? (11) |
| BROTHERHOOD – BR (British) OTHER HOOD = alternative headgear. | |
| 11 | Ex-pupil’s girl endlessly digesting current form of rock (8) |
| OBSIDIAN – OB’S (ex-pupil’s), DIAN(A) = girl endlessly, insert I for current. Obsidian is a volcanic glassy rock. | |
| 12 | Bad jokes about quiet European capital (6) |
| SKOPJE – (JOKES)* with P for quiet inserted. I visited in student days not long after the earthquake of 1963 and was not impressed, I don’t expect it has improved much since then. | |
| 15 | Throw out wine (4) |
| SACK – double definition. Sack was an old style fortified wine. | |
| 16 | Press employee with glasses covering one key taxonomic group (10) |
| SUBSPECIES – SUB(editor), SPECS (glasses) insert I (one) E (key). | |
| 18 | Golf club employee, one cutting into deal, perhaps (10) |
| WOODWORKER – WOOD (golf club, before ‘metals’ replaced proper woods) WORKER = employee. | |
| 19 | The god of war’s spoils? (4) |
| MARS – double definition. | |
| 22 | Masses of round containers outside back of house (6) |
| OCEANS – O (round) CANS (containers) with E (back of house) inserted. I took too long to see this, and toyed with a momble of OBEINS meaning some kind of obeisant Catholic Masses. But it’s masses as in lots of, oceans of. | |
| 23 | Man may accommodate one, initially inviting obloquy (8) |
| ISLANDER – I (initially inviting) SLANDER (obloquy); someone who lives on the Isle of Man, as I did for nearly twenty years. If I’d lived there for another few generations the locals might have accepted me as Manx. If you didn’t know what obloquy meant, this needed the checkers to solve. | |
| 25 | Sincerity of fellow crossing a loch (11) |
| EARNESTNESS – ERNEST (a chap) with A inserted then Loch NESS. | |
| 27 | Left-winger picked up information on radio (3) |
| RED – sounds like READ. | |
| 28 | Idyllic place where a painter captures Muslim judge (7) |
| ARCADIA – A RA (a painter) has CADI inserted. I vaguely remembered a Sharia judge was called a QADI, this must be an alternative anglicised spelling. Anyway the answer was pretty obvious. | |
| 29 | Outburst showing so much of the French spirit! (7) |
| TANTRUM – TANT (so much, in French) RUM (spirit). Tant pis, if you didn’t know the French. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Bountiful police officer promises to pay (7) |
| COPIOUS – COP (police officer) IOUS (promises to pay). | |
| 2 | Source of inspiration moving priest before tedious task (11) |
| TERPSICHORE – (PRIEST)*, CHORE = tedious task. Greek muse of dance. | |
| 3 | Morning song of high class in an ill-chosen key? (6) |
| AUBADE – U (high class) inside A BAD E = an ill-chosen key. I remembered it once I had the checkers. Philip Larkin wrote one. | |
| 4 | Prepare a town for a speaker? How he laughs! (10) |
| KOOKABURRA – sounds like COOK A BOROUGH, ha ha! | |
| 5 | Short entertainment touring old part of London (4) |
| SOHO – SHO(W) = short entertainment, insert O for old. | |
| 6 | Enjoy film about yellow parrot (8) |
| LORIKEET – LIKE = enjoy, insert OR (yellow in heraldry) add ET that film again. | |
| 7 | Low state of mind daughter cast off (3) |
| MOO – MOOD with the D cast off. | |
| 8 | Misery of George III’s condition, after initial change (7) |
| SADNESS – George III suffered from MADNESS, change the M to S. There is still much debate about whether he had porphyria or was bipolar. The dodgy medicines he was given no doubt made it worse. | |
| 13 | Her dire plan shattered a womaniser (11) |
| PHILANDERER – (HER DIRE PLAN)*. | |
| 14 | Evaluation of beasts of burden soldiers found in street (10) |
| ASSESSMENT – ASSES those beasts, MEN = soldiers inside ST(reet). | |
| 17 | Bird-tender keeping loose hen in grassy area (8) |
| SWANHERD – SWARD is a grassy area, insert (HEN)*. Not an everyday word, but seems reasonable for someone who tends swans. | |
| 18 | Aerospace facility’s court meeting originally taking a long time (7) |
| WOOMERA – WOO (court) M (first of meeting) ERA (long time). Location in South Australia used for testing rockets, now a tourist space park. | |
| 20 | Slavery deforms terribly (7) |
| SERFDOM – (DEFORMS)*. | |
| 21 | Crazy upset over young relative’s fruit-tree (6) |
| DAMSON – MAD reversed over SON. | |
| 24 | Flesh-eating mammal losing tail in colonnaded walk (4) |
| STOA – STOAT loses its tail. Originally Greek architecture. | |
| 26 | Gigantic bird dislodging kittiwakes primarily from crag (3) |
| ROC – ROCK = crag, dislodge the K of kittiwakes. Enormous bird of prey originally in Persian mythology. | |
Liked the flavour of this one too (Oz being my adopted country), but outdone by AUBADE(NHO) which I determined had to start with AM. Initially had WOODCARVER in, but when SWANHERD had to be, changed that to the more appropriate answer. Used aids a fair bit to understand the unknown words (eg obloquy). NHO Cadi either, but you learn something new every day!
Do you wankers solve this time wasting crap fair and square? I Donno