I made rather heavy weather of this, completing it in fits and starts in 25:19. A couple of references to places in modern-day Israel and the West Bank gives this puzzle at the same time both an ancient and a contemporary feel.
25:19
| Across | |
| 1 | Film companion in company with backing singers (2-4) |
| CO-STAR – CO (company) RATS (singers > traitors) reversed | |
| 4 | Careless US cops stuck in window frame (8) |
| SLAPDASH – LAPD in SASH; I really don’t know what it says about me that I was trying to squeeze in CHiPs. I’ve never even seen the show. Honest! | |
| 10 | Forcibly remove cricketer’s mistake (9) |
| OVERTHROW – an overthrow is the outcome of a wayward throw, or, indeed, an accurate throw which is fumbled by the fielder attempting to gather it at the stumps, or indeed which inadvertently strikes a batsman or his bat. England were famously awarded one overthrow too many in the 2019 World Cup Final, after the ball had been diverted off Ben Stokes’s bat. Mythical stuff! | |
| 11 | Gemstone heading for Bolivian capital, skipping US city (5) |
| TOPAZ – TO (heading for) |
|
| 12 | Bully Parisians working out where Stonehenge is (9,5) |
| SALISBURY PLAIN – anagram* of BULLY PARISIANS | |
| 14 | Dispatch includes empty tube (5) |
| HASTE – HAS (includes) T |
|
| 16 | Defame footballer briefly with glib speech (9) |
| BESPATTER – [George] BESt PATTER; the extended or figurative sense of the verb meaning to splash (often with dirty liquid) is not, I would say, particularly common | |
| 18 | Liqueur with crushed ice ran out (9) |
| COINTREAU – ICE RAN OUT* | |
| 20 | Storage device contains poem written in secret language (5) |
| CODED – ODE in CD | |
| 21 | Judges source local addresses somehow? (4,3,7) |
| DEAD SEA SCROLLS – LOCAL ADDRESSES*; I drove past this site one Saturday (hardly anything else on the roads; goyim in rentals are okay) in November some years ago on the way to Masada, followed by a wallow in a mud bath in the Dead Sea, followed in turn by a swim out towards the border with Jordan. It rained while I was in the water. Magical. | |
| 25 | Agency worker ending in no time (5) |
| TEMPO – TEMP |
|
| 26 | Drink loads inside bars at closing time? (5,4) |
| CREAM SODA – REAMS (lots – of paper, literally) in CODA (a more or less independent passage added to the end of a section or composition to reinforce the sense of conclusion); here’s the one from Beethoven’s 5th symphony: https://youtu.be/077iP2UBoCI?si=XxspffvRsZjYWDKH | |
| 27 | Redhead left custody at last with caution (8) |
| GINGERLY – GINGER L ~Y | |
| 28 | Greatly amused by rock band on the radio (6) |
| SLAYED – sounds like Slade – Noddy Holder et al; I never use the word in this sense myself, and barely hear it or see it written down, but I imagine the past tense is typically ‘slayed’ rather than ‘slew.’ | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Verify angry statement indicating threat to King (10) |
| CROSSCHECK – CROSS (angry) CHECK (as in chess) | |
| 2 | Elves always labouring primarily to support Saint Nick (5) |
| STEAL – ST (saint) E~ A~ L~ | |
| 3 | Performer playing sitar with T. Rex regularly (7) |
| ARTISTE – SITAR T |
|
| 5 | Northern painter unhappy on railway (5) |
| LOWRY – LOW RY; his art has arguably been overshadowed by the hit song ‘Matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs’, performed by the (appropriately?) prosaically named duo ‘Brian and Michael’: https://youtu.be/S7DCQiiUEb0?si=5sjiv2FI1Z5c_1pl | |
| 6 | Bone in head completely inverted (7) |
| PATELLA – PATE ALL reversed | |
| 7 | Key on piano sharp, it’s decided (9) |
| APPOINTED – A P POINTED | |
| 8 | Smog yellowish-brown mostly (4) |
| HAZE – HAZE |
|
| 9 | Mythical giant largely competent? That’s up for debate (8) |
| ARGUABLE – ARGU |
|
| 13 | Train follower to offer entertaining trips north of Massachusetts? (10) |
| BRIDESMAID – RIDES (trips) MA (Massachusetts – where the lights all went out) in BID (to offer) | |
| 15 | Web user is map nerd unfortunately (6-3) |
| SPIDER-MAN – IS MAP NERD* | |
| 17 | Stomped on sea creature biting lady (8) |
| SQUISHED – SHE in SQUID; absolutely no excuse for writing in ‘squashed’! | |
| 19 | Pond dweller bit European (7) |
| TADPOLE – TAD (a tad salty) POLE | |
| 20 | Sweet area within Middle East mount (7) |
| CARAMEL – Carmel is actually more of a high wooded ridge than a single mountain. Solomon’s tribute to his beloved includes the phrase, ‘Thine head upon thee is like Carmel.’ | |
| 22 | Do well fitting 90 into climbing shelter (5) |
| EXCEL – XC in LEE reversed | |
| 23 | Unknown table-top game from the south is silly (5) |
| LOOPY – reversal of Y POOL | |
| 24 | Rutter featured in playlist again? (4) |
| STAG – hidden | |
Having failed miserably on Thursday and Friday it was a relief to get this rather easy one!
Some nice anagrams and other clues fell into place – LOI bridesmaid – that sort of train!