Time: 25:37
Music: Albion Country Band, No Roses
This was a mixed bag. There were quite a few write-ins and chestnuts, yes, but answers like Bacup, tesseract, and mangold proved a bit more challenging. I even stumbled around with formalism before realizing you have to keep the apostrophe-S . Of course, once you have all the answers, it seems very simple and obvious, the mark of a tidy puzzle.
And you? Probably much faster – Bacup, that’s a write-in.
| Across | |
| 1 | African country’s limited by class system rigidly applied (9) |
| FORMALISM -FOR(MALI’S)M. | |
| 6 | Bill enters inn, rolling over in northern town (5) |
| BACUP – B(A/C)UP, where the surrounding letters are PUB backwards. Since I did not know the town, I had to guess where the vowels go. | |
| 9 | Ezra’s personal claim comes with “Shut up!” (7) |
| IMPOUND – I’M POUND! One of his less controversial statements….. | |
| 10 | She’s pale, really going backwards — this being evident? (7) |
| RELAPSE – Backwards hidden in [sh]E’S PALE R[eally]. A bit of a semi &lit. | |
| 11 | Time in the morning old man appears in US city (5) |
| TAMPA – T + A.M. + PA. | |
| 13 | Bone, one attached to head, showing glossy quality (9) |
| SHININESS – SHIN + I + NESS. | |
| 14 | Noise always reveals criminal (9) |
| RACKETEER – RACKET + E’ER. | |
| 16 | The female driver’s first in ditch (4) |
| SHED – SHE + D[river]. | |
| 18 | A bit firm, having got implanted? (4) |
| COIN – COIN. CO + IN. | |
| 19 | Somehow recast set into 4D figure (9) |
| TESSERACT – Anagram of recast set. The problem here is knowing the word. I did check the answer to 4 Down, too. | |
| 22 | Like wren given food, eating at this place (9) |
| FEATHERED – FE(AT HERE)D. | |
| 24 | Woman being different, I gathered (5) |
| ELSIE – ELS(I)E. | |
| 25 | Priest coming to holy mount, cutting bit of speech short (7) |
| ELISION – ELI + SION, not a town in Switzerland this time. | |
| 26 | Fellow gets top award for vegetable (7) |
| MANGOLD – MAN + GOLD, as in the Olympics. | |
| 28 | Minor damage from fire one’s left to go out (5) |
| SINGE – SING[l]E. | |
| 29 | Dubious socialite brought before a board (9) |
| DEBATABLE – DEB + A TABLE. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Healthier, having swallowed right bit of food (7) |
| FRITTER – F(R)ITTER. | |
| 2 | A revolutionary agent here (3) |
| REP – PER upside-down. | |
| 3 | Article penned by mature editor is greatly praised (8) |
| ADULATED – ADUL(A)T ED. | |
| 4 | River in which to find religious types (hard to miss) (5) |
| INDUS – [h]INDUS, a chestnut. | |
| 5 | Festival diagrams organised, with involvement of rector initially (5,4) |
| MARDI GRAS – Anagram of DIAGRAMS + R[ector]. | |
| 6 | Description of sea food, cooked then cold (6) |
| BALTIC – BALTI + C. If you thought cold was the literal, you still got the answer, right? | |
| 7 | Officer is in charge of venomous types (11) |
| COPPERHEADS – COPPER HEADS, for a US snake or a Confederate sympathiser. | |
| 8 | Happy prisoner’s first to get let out (7) |
| PLEASED – P[risoner] + LEASED. | |
| 12 | Plot devised by Greek character in mother country (11) |
| MACHINATION – MA (CHI) NATION. | |
| 15 | See person so nobly seated? (9) |
| ENTHRONED – A cryptic definition, referring to a bishop in his cathedral. | |
| 17 | Belt tune out — an aid to digestion! (5,3) |
| BETEL NUT – Anagram of BELT TUNE. | |
| 18 | A hundred presents in boxes (7) |
| COFFERS – C + OFFERS. | |
| 20 | Lever altered, readjusted (7) |
| TREADLE – Anagram of ALTERED. | |
| 21 | Pursuit around India in carriage (6) |
| CHAISE – CHA(I)SE. | |
| 23 | After protest see bishop leaving service (5) |
| DEMOB – DEMO + B. | |
| 27 | Getting up, little brother to turn round (3) |
| ORB – BRO upside-down. | |
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