Solving time: 41 minutes but I needed aids for my last one in. Otherwise very enjoyable.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
| Across | |
| 1 | What annoying person might get up for one stroll? (6) |
| DANDER | |
| Two meanings. Brewer’s: “To get someone’s dander up’ is to annoy or anger them. This is generally considered to be an Americanism, but ‘dander’ as a synonym for ‘anger’ has been a common dialect word in several English counties. It may represent a colloquial form of ‘dandruff”. The second meaning is ‘stroll’, either as a verb or a noun, and that was unknown to me. This was one of my very last entries as I had been hanging on for ages trying to resist writing ‘wander’, which might have fitted with ‘stroll’, but I was determined to make sense of the rest of the clue. | |
| 5 | Strait-laced English woman, very old (8) |
| PRIMEVAL | |
| PRIM (strait-laced), E (English), VAL (woman) | |
| 9 | Being rich, we fuss about £2 (4-2-2) |
| WELL-TO-DO | |
| WE + TO–DO (fuss) containing [about] LL (£2). Wiki has this on the £ sign: The symbol derives from the upper case Latin letter L, representing libra pondo, the basic unit of weight in the Roman Empire, which in turn is derived from the Latin word, libra, meaning scales or a balance. | |
| 10 | Royal couple caught in corruption overthrown? A nightmare (6) |
| TERROR | |
| ER + R (royal couple – HMQ + King/Queen) contained by [caught in] ROT (corruption) reversed [overthrown] | |
| 11 | Riverbank creature, female, shrieking horribly (10) |
| KINGFISHER | |
| Anagram [horribly] of F (female) SHRIEKING | |
| 13 | So monster’s seen as revenant? (4) |
| ERGO | |
| OGRE (monster) reversed [seen as revenant – returned] | |
| 14 | Players in form? (4) |
| CAST | |
| Two meanings, acting and moulding | |
| 15 | Tango and polka will put paid to cosy chat! (6,4) |
| PILLOW TALK | |
| Anagram [put paid to – destroyed] of T (tango – NATO alphabet) POLKA WILL | |
| 18 | Artilleryman given huge sum, heading off stronger (10) |
| BOMBARDIER | |
| BOMB (huge sum of money), {h}ARDIER (stronger), [heading off] | |
| 20 | Outspoken opposition from Munich cardinal (4) |
| NINE | |
| Sounds like [outspoken] “Nein!” (opposition from Munich – German for No!) | |
| 21 | Escape cries from the audience (4) |
| OOZE | |
| Sounds like [from the audience] “Oohs!”. This was the one I failed on. After I had finished the rest of the puzzle I stared at this for 5 minutes but got nowhere so I looked it up. I’m not sure I would ever have thought of it from ‘escape’ but on the cryptic side I had considered ‘boos’ which was obviously wrong but if spoken out loud it might just have nudged me towards the correct answer. | |
| 23 | Juvenile going up to claim benefit (10) |
| ADOLESCENT | |
| ASCENT (going up) containing [to claim] DOLE (unemployment benefit) | |
| 25 | Conflict? Wife has trouble with it (6) |
| STRIFE | |
| The cryptic hint refers to the CRS ‘trouble and strife’ = ‘wife’. | |
| 26 | A holiday that will make you jolly? (4,4) |
| HALF TERM | |
| One of those clues where the wordplay is in the answer, so: {te}RM (jolly – Royal Marine) [half]. I’m not sure how far ‘half-term’ has travelled outside the UK but it’s a brief holiday in the middle of a school term. | |
| 28 | George unexpectedly acquiring Times, ambitious chap (2-6) |
| GO-GETTER | |
| Anagram [unexpectedly] of GEORGE containing [acquiring] T+T (times) | |
| 29 | In denouement, seek to entertain (6) |
| TRENDY | |
| TRY (seek) contains [to entertain] END (denouement) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | This coffee has surprisingly nice aroma (9) |
| AMERICANO | |
| Anagram [surprisingly] of NICE AROMA | |
| 3 | Transport, from foodshop, Henry in sports car (7) |
| DELIGHT | |
| DELI (foodshop), then H (Henry – physics) contained by [in] GT (sports car – Gran turismo). Cue Flanders & Swann A Transport of Delight. | |
| 4 | The end of Hector, as Homer wrote it? (3) |
| RHO | |
| I think the idea is ‘the end of Hector’ = ‘r’ and the ‘r’ sound in Greek [Homer] is represented by the letter RHO. But since ‘rho’ is actually written as ‘p’ I’m not entirely sure that the logic of the clue works. No doubt the Classics scholars amongst us will advise… | |
| 5 | The one responsible for mess by church? (5) |
| POOCH | |
| POO (mess), CH (church). Rather amusing, but not a pleasant image to bring to mind if solving at the breakfast table! On edit: It didn’t occur to me when blogging that some may not know this word, but since the query has been raised in the comments below and although somebody has kindly already explained it, I am adding now that it’s a dog, usually small and pampered, but not necessarily so. | |
| 6 | Italian side dish provoking conversation? (11) |
| INTERCOURSE | |
| INTER ((Italian side – soccer), COURSE (dish) | |
| 7 | Thoughtful article about Hemingway? On the contrary (7) |
| EARNEST | |
| ‘On the contrary’ indicates we have to switch the containment, so ERNEST (Hemingway) contains [about] A (indefinite article). | |
| 8 | In the company of a financier, mostly retired (5) |
| AMONG | |
| A, then GNOM{e} (financier) [mostly] reversed [retired]. Wiki: ‘Gnomes of Zürich’ is a slang term for Swiss bankers. Swiss bankers are popularly associated with extremely secretive policies, while gnomes in fairy tales live underground, in secret, counting their riches. Zürich is the commercial centre of Switzerland. | |
| 12 | Fugitive‘s announcement that he’s here to stay? (11) |
| IMPERMANENT | |
| The cryptic hint leads to an alternative reading requiring a space and an apostrophe: I’M PERMANENT (here to stay). I’ve only met ‘fugitive’ as in ‘fugitive from justice’ and the like, but apparently it can simply mean moving from place to place. | |
| 16 | Priest moving east — for money? (3) |
| LEI | |
| ELI (priest) becomes LEI when E (east) is moved. Leu (pl. lei) is the monetary unit in Rumania. | |
| 17 | Daughter learning about the St Petersburg of old (9) |
| LENINGRAD | |
| Anagram [about] of D (daughter) LEARNING. Easily biffable if one has the GK. | |
| 19 | Place buzzing 1960s style (7) |
| BEEHIVE | |
| Two meanings, the second being a female hairstyle popular in my youth | |
| 20 | Snog someone from Bangkok, you say — perhaps undoing this? (7) |
| NECKTIE | |
| NECK (snog) then TIE sounds like [you say] “Thai” (someone from Bangkok). Don’t let’s go there… | |
| 22 | Better blooming perform! (5) |
| OUTDO | |
| OUT (blooming), DO (perform) | |
| 24 | More trouble, billions missing (5) |
| OTHER | |
| {b}OTHER (trouble) [billions – b – missing] | |
| 27 | Set fire to Jean-Paul Sartre’s bed? (3) |
| LIT | |
| LIT (bed – French) [Jean-Paul Sartre] | |
Comments are closed.