Time: 37 minutes
Music: Mahler, Symphony #1, Boulez/ChicagoSO
I have a feeling I really made a hash of my solve – wrong answers, word dividers incorrectly placed, illegible crossing letters. Well, I don’t claim to be a speed solver. The SNITCH shows that this is a moderate puzzle, although some solvers seem to have found it tough. I don’t think there will be much to slow down the top solvers here, no strange vocabulary, and relatively straightforward cryptics.
| 1 | Dated a right Charlie drinking spicy drink (7) |
| ARCHAIC – A + R (CHAI) C. | |
| 5 | Man, say, that is filling glasses (7) |
| SPECIES – SPEC(I.E)S. Not an island, for once. | |
| 9 | Musician‘s funny Christian rock after tango (9) |
| TRUMPETER – T + RUM PETER. St. Peter was called the Rock of the Church, because his name means rock in Greek. | |
| 10 | Having peeled date, a German did duck meals outside (3,2) |
| ATE IN – [d]AT[e] + EIN. It you don’t see the significance of did, you might put EAT IN, as I did…..until the old Brits came along. | |
| 11 | One putting a cross in the box in footie, regularly caught by vacuous viewer (5) |
| VOTER – V([f]O[o]T[i]E)R, where the enclosing letters are from V[iewe]R. | |
| 12 | One blowing up foe finally, if arming bombs (9) |
| MAGNIFIER – Anagram of [fo]E + IF ARMING. | |
| 13 | Smuggler in Berlin is following group of Nicaraguan rebels (13) |
| CONTRABANDIST – CONTRA + BAND + IST. I just could not get Sandinista out of my head for the longest time. | |
| 17 | Drunk in bar did groan, drying out here (8,5) |
| DRAINING BOARD – Anagram of IN BAR DID GROAN. | |
| 21 | Outraged sons formed an alliance (7,2) |
| STEAMED UP – S + TEAMED UP. | |
| 24 | Scouting leaders in cub expeditions on playing field (5) |
| RECCE – REC + C[ub] E[xpedition]. | |
| 25 | One seen wading in say river banks in Egypt (5) |
| EGRET – E.G. + R + E[gyp]T. | |
| 26 | Good deal on cost drawing in new students here (9) |
| PRINCETON – PRI(N)CE + TON. | |
| 27 | Star’s face — rugged and thin (7) |
| SCRAGGY – S[tar] + CRAGGY. | |
| 28 | Try playing in Lear, wanting a role therein (7) |
| GONERIL – GO + anagram of IN LE[a]R. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Dynamic fourth part of staged work has energy (6) |
| ACTIVE – ACT IV + E, should be a chestnut if it isn’t one. | |
| 2 | Succeeded in accurate working in class (9) |
| CRUSTACEA – Anagram of ACCURATE containing S – not the kind of class you were expecting? | |
| 3 | Hoping to offload Samsung’s ultimate tablet (7) |
| ASPIRIN – ASPIRIN[g], removing the last letter of [samsun]G. | |
| 4 | Vessel in southern English river with article that’s tin-plated (9) |
| CATAMARAN – CA(TAMAR, A)N. I was sure this was going to involve SN, but not so. | |
| 5 | Child beginning to suck a kind of rock (5) |
| SPROG – S + PROG, as in King Crimson, Hawkwind, Hatfield and the North, etc. | |
| 6 | No one except revolutionary is sidestepping the issue (7) |
| EVASION – NO I SAVE upside-down. | |
| 7 | Very old Brits chill, turning up at home (5) |
| ICENI – ICE + IN upside-down. | |
| 8 | Determined to hold golf club up before a miss (8) |
| SENORITA – SE( IRON upside-down)T + A. | |
| 14 | Playing jazz live and dancing (9) |
| BEBOPPING – BE + BOPPING. | |
| 15 | Popular ruler wants time, one signalling change of direction (9) |
| INDICATOR – IN DIC[t]ATOR. A blinker in the US, watch out for that. | |
| 16 | Old island-hopper uses elastic after trunk’s losing lid (8) |
| ODYSSEUS – [b]ODY + anagram of USES. | |
| 18 | Door staff turned handle here (4,3) |
| NAME TAG – GATE MAN upside-down. | |
| 19 | Continental area — cool hedges endlessly fertile (7) |
| AFRICAN – A + F(RIC[h])AN. | |
| 20 | Picked up soldier’s rank meat (6) |
| KERNEL – Sounds like COLONEL. The literal uses a secondary meaning. | |
| 22 | Howler monkey losing its head (5) |
| ERROR – [t]ERROR, as in a naughty child. | |
| 23 | Perhaps like hummus and nuts (5) |
| DIPPY – Double definition, one jocular. | |
41:17 I am another who had CONTRABANDIER at first. My knowledge of German grammar is bordering on the non existent.
I’ve never seen a performance of King Lear, but have read Geoffrey of Monmouth’s history, which spells GONERIL slightly differently.
26ac Could someone please explain TON in this answer. Many thanks
Good deal = many, a lot, a ton.
FWIW, I agree this is a bit shaky.
Another who enjoyed it here: particularly SPROG, GONERIL and ARCHAIC, which popped into my head before I knew why. Many others deserving of mention too, so a slow but satisfying solve top to bottom here, apart from RECCE with its misleading definition, and SCRAGGY for thin. Very nice.
Another Weekend Australian solver here, finishing a month after the Brits, Yanks and others, but better late than never. My first post on this site largely for self-congratulation, as I rarely finish the cryptic but did so this time. That’s my third time, I think, and always on the Weekend Oz, which I gather is the relatively easy Monday puzzle in the Times.