I found some of this quite hard and needed more than one session on it so I was not altogether displeased with my total solving time of 48 minutes. I didn’t much care for 18dn and although it raised half a smile I wouldn’t want this type of clue to become commonplace. Here’s my blog…
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Dealing with awful dread, prisoners finally render hymn maybe (10) |
| ADDRESSING – Anagram [awful] of DREAD, {prisoner}S [finally], SING (render hymn, maybe). | |
| 7 | Having little wriggle room, as they say, for a settlement (4) |
| PACT – Sounds like [as they say] “packed” (having little wriggle room) | |
| 9 | Some friend about to roll over in bunk (8) |
| CLAPTRAP – PART (some) + PAL (friend) + C (about) all reversed [roll over] | |
| 10 | An American woman far from home (6) |
| ABROAD – A (an), BROAD (American woman). I think a question mark might have been in order here. | |
| 11 | Land once having little rain, hard to penetrate (6) |
| THRACE – H (hard) in [to penetrate] TRACE (little rain). The largest part of THRACE is in present-day Bulgaria whilst the remainder is in Greece and Turkey. I vaguely knew that, and also this: In meteorology, the word “trace” is used to describe a very small amount of precipitation that results in no measurable accumulation. | |
| 13 | Very hard worker, revolutionary type, drooled (8) |
| SLAVERED – SLAVE (very hard worker), RED (revolutionary type) | |
| 14 | Nice man Peter, out to show overindulgence (12) |
| INTEMPERANCE – Anagram [out] of NICE MAN PETER. Biffers need to know their spelling here as one of the unches could be a bear-trap for the unwary. | |
| 17 | Retrograde hair dye and a funny hat — style for a famous wife (4,8) |
| ANNE HATHAWAY – HENNA (hair dye) reversed [retrograde}, A, anagram [funny] of HAT, WAY (style). Played on TV by Liza Tarbuck in the recent superb “Upstart Crow”. | |
| 20 | Raving dean’s foremost priest, one into drink (8) |
| DELIRIUM – D{ean’s} [foremost], ELI (priest), then I (one) in RUM (drink) | |
| 21 | Kills female animal — wicked act (4,2) |
| DOES IN – DOE (female animal), SIN (wicked act). Altogether now: “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…” | |
| 22 | Number one hit going around country (6) |
| NATION – NO (number) + I (one) + TAN (hit) all reversed [going around] | |
| 23 | Hint of something has Heather getting into a twist (8) |
| TANGLING – TANG (hint of something), LING (heather). Yet more LING to please Dr Thud! | |
| 25 | Light railway next to main road (4) |
| AIRY – A1 (main road), RY (railway). There are lots of A1 roads around the world but since this is the Times we’re probably meant to think of the one that goes from London to Edinburgh. | |
| 26 | Evil affair — stuff we can’t see (4,6) |
| DARK MATTER – DARK (evil), MATTER (affair – as in “that’s another matter / affair”). Science that’s beyond my ken so I took the answer on trust from wordplay. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Sea creatures disturbing gutless lad on ship (8) |
| DOLPHINS – Anagram [disturbing] of L{a}D [gutless] ON SHIP | |
| 3 | A final message is cut (3) |
| RIP – Two meanings, the first standing for Rest In Peace (final message) | |
| 4 | Observe pair immersed in that European river (5) |
| SPREE – PR (pair) contained by [immersed in] SEE (observe). The River Spree covers a lot of ground in more than one country but is perhaps best known as the one that flows through Berlin. | |
| 5 | Enforcer’s confession of exhibitionism? (7) |
| IMPOSER – A straight definition and a cryptic hint to be read as I’M POSER (confession of exhibitionism) | |
| 6 | Be opposed to having game once more on street (2,7) |
| GO AGAINST – GO (game), AGAIN (once more), ST (street). I lost time here initially thinking the first word might be “up”. | |
| 7 | Individual not getting on always munched to keep going (11) |
| PERSEVERATE – PERS{on} (individual) [not getting on], EVER (always), ATE (munched). I wanted to biff “persevere” or “perseverance” but since neither fitted I had to regroup and follow the wordplay closely to arrive at this previously unknown (or forgotten) word. | |
| 8 | Yellow bird hiding under roof of cottage (6) |
|
CRAVEN – C{ottage} [roof of…], RAVEN (bird)
As Tex Ritter sang on the soundtrack of High Noon : I do not know what fate awaits me I just noticed I have inadvertently written the name of a London football stadium in my explanation! |
|
| 12 | A talent for engaging chaps, bringing responsiveness to suggestions (11) |
| AMENABILITY – A + ABILITY (talent) containing [engaging] MEN (chaps) | |
| 15 | Writer is upset — one departs having money but no work? (9) |
| PENSIONED – PEN (writer), IS reversed [upset], ONE, D (departs). A blissful state which I enjoy after years of hard slog. | |
| 16 | King and queen may get together in this / operetta (8) |
| PATIENCE – Two definitions, the first with reference to card games of the solitaire variety. The second is a work by Gilbert and Sullivan. Possibly we can expect the “comic opera vs operetta” discussion later. | |
| 18 | Meat back in short supply — only a comedian would eat it?! (7) |
| HAMSTER – HAM (meat), STER{n} (back) [in short supply]. I foresee problems here for our overseas chums or anyone who was not around in the UK in 1986 when The Sun newspaper carried the headline “FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER” on its front page. If you feel the need to read about it you can do so here. This is effectively a reference to a living person (though his career is dead), someone who is long-forgotten or unknown to the vast majority and was of somewhat dubious talent and repute anyway. A bit uncalled for in my view. | |
| 19 | Alpine ground for one in mountainous territory (6) |
| NEPALI – Anagram [ground] of ALPINE | |
| 21 | Study this writer’s material (5) |
| DENIM – DEN (study), I’M (this writer’s) | |
| 24 | Fate of man married to backward-looking woman (3) |
| LOT – Two definitions, the second with reference to the Biblical tale of Lot’s wife who when escaping the doomed city of Sodom disobeyed the visiting angel’s instructions not to look backwards and was promptly turned into a pillar of salt. Fire and brimstone stuff! | |
Comments are closed.