Solving Time: 28 minutes, so somewhat harder than usual, not at all helped by me starting off by boldly writing in stupidly incorrect answers for both 1ac and 5ac.
One or two less common words such as ayah, Galatea, but mainly it was the very clever clueing (and also my undue haste) which took me time to sort out. I see it is a pangram, too. Top class stuff!
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
papaya – PAP + AYA( |
| 5 | steam-age – actress = MAE (WEST) rev. in theatre = STAGE. And certainly not stone-age.. |
| 9 |
vendetta – archdeacon = VEN( |
| 10 |
school – second = S + CHOO( |
| 11 | Macedonian – brilliant teacher = ACE DON + I in staff = MAN, a clue I could not parse first time round |
| 13 | oryx – railway = RY in bovine = OX |
| 14 | odes – OdD vErSe |
| 15 |
outriggers – OU( |
| 18 | fragmental – jazz muxic = RAG in female = F + crazy = MENTAL |
| 20 |
Pope – P( |
| 21 | tall – T + ALL. What a tale can be |
| 23 |
Gettysburg – food = GRUB, + S( |
| 25 |
Contra – CONTRA( |
| 26 | Portugal – left = PORT + U + GAL |
| 28 | demander – RED NAMED, rev. |
| 29 |
vizier – namely, twice = VIZ + IE + R( |
| Down | |
| 2 | Alexander – maybe bitter = ALE + X + AND ER, a reference to “er indoors,” the wife, as understood in East London. Thankfully we were spared a reference to Bow, or cockneys.. high class puzzle, this! |
| 3 |
address – A + D( |
| 4 |
ant – ( |
| 5 | Swazi – AZ in Belgravia = (London) SWI. The ubiquitous London street guide is called the AtoZ. What with smartphones and all, it must be having difficult times |
| 6 | essentially – recreational drug = E, + made one high = SENT I in trip = SALLY. Another tricky parse |
| 7 |
mah-jong – old woman = *(JOHN) in MA + ( |
| 8 |
goody – try = GO + ( |
| 12 | on ones guard – taking = ON (as in “I’m on tranquillisers”) + *(DANGEROUS). Another extremely fine clue |
| 16 |
tot – bear = TOT( |
| 17 | reportage – about = RE + R in soup = POTAGE |
| 19 | galatea – GALA TEA. Galatea being the name of the statue carved by Pygmalion, that came to life. No, not the one with Rex Harrison in it, the original Greek myth that GBS half-inched and updated. |
| 20 | pub quiz – cd |
| 22 |
awoke – A + pan = WOK + E( |
| 24 |
toper – head = TOP + ( |
| 27 |
rev – dd: cleric = REV( |
A Swazi is not what one typically thinks of as a South African, although it is possible that the actual nation of South Africa is not meant. I usually think Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, then I’m out of ideas.
My eventual time was 37 minutes. Thanks for the parse on ‘woman indoors’ – wasn’t sure of that.
Some great clues. I can’t pick between ON ONE’S GUARD and GETTYSBURG.
Not fussed about “like some rock” for FRAGMENTAL (18ac). Equally applies to pottery, glass, tiles, etc. So I’m calling bad DBE.
Note to Jerry: there is no 2ac (in your intro remarks).
Edited at 2013-05-01 01:38 am (UTC)
I really liked SWAZI, even though I, too, now use Google Maps to navigate my way round the smoke.
After yesterday’s AMMO, I was looking for a shooting match at 20d – several rounds, of course. Some quizzes I’ve been at have come very close to opening fire!
CONTRA must be moving rapidly into obs. territory, and may soon require a “former” “one-time” qualifier in the definition. Is a rebel backed by the US of A and Argentina technically a rebel?
ESSENTIALLY was SO going to be a recreational drug that I might not have heard of. Another fine clue,and surely the longest piece of wordplay for a single letter we’eve ever seen.
Future generations of solvers are going to have to learn what an A to Z was in the same way I have learned about Bradshaws.
Well blogged Jerry and thank you setter.
Andy B.
I’m surprised 3 and 23 weren’t linked in one of their clues.
I’ll plump for ON ONE’S GUARD, with many thanks to solver and setter.
Chris.
Thought it was going to be an easy one, as PAPAYA went in immediately. Sadly, no… did this one in dribs and drabs throughout the day, but was the sort of puzzle that I knew I could finish given time. Was stuck for quite a long while at the end with AWOKE and CONTRA, but, once I realised it was a pangram, AWOKE went in, followed by CONTRA (which I couldn’t parse, along with several others).
COD to ON ONE’S GUARD, as I hadn’t spotted it was an anagram.