Time: 25:21, so a challenging piece as far as I’m concerned, though full of delights and flashes of sudden realisation. I’d like to say, as a proper blogger, that I worked everything out as I went through. I’ll let Sir Humphrey comment on the accuracy of that.
This was my first experience of using the excellent new blog creator, which works seamlessly with less faff than the old version. We are blessed with people who know what they’re doing when messing about with computerese!
My habit is to show definitions underlined in italics, and to let the rest try to explain itself.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Excellent bishop that’s retired put to work since (7) |
| BECAUSE – Excellent is ACE, add B[ishop] and reverse the ensemble, then add put to work: USE | |
| 5 | Find Charlie back before Henry has left (4,2) |
| COME BY – I think this is C[harlie] plus HOME BY, which you expect your children to be “back before”, with the initial H for Henry deleted. | |
| 8 | Try to get shiny gem with discount? (3) |
| RUB – Select RUBY as your gem, and knock off the 25% as a discount. (Remove the Y!) | |
| 9 | Small quantity of ink left in well (10) |
| SPRINKLING – Don’t waste time thinking of a synonym for INK. Just put it in a SPRING or well after supplementing it with an L[eft] | |
| 11 | Fine pointer that’s showing north west (6) |
| NARROW – So much time lost trying to make FARROW work, but it’s ARROW for pointer with N[orth] placed at its west end. | |
| 12 | Fail to find gallery, say in error (8) |
| MISSTATE – An easy one: MISS for fail to find and TATE the inevitable gallery. | |
| 14 | Spying device in place across area revealing behaviour (9) |
| SATELLITE – Post submission solve: SITE for place is positioned round A[rea] plus TELL for revealing behaviour, such as Le Chiffre consistently placing his left hand on his wounded eye when bluffing in Casino Royal. | |
| 15 | Beautifully cut patch with a hole in it? (5) |
| GREEN – Just a CD. Reference golf (of) course. | |
| 16 | Nifty pseudonym such as Dr Dre? (5) |
| RAPID – Dr Dre is Andre Young, a rapper formerly with N.W.A. a combo which featured gangsta rap with explicit and violent lyrics. As such his the pseudonym is his RAP I.D. For me, a rarer meaning of nifty. | |
| 18 | Publican’s offering class A drugs to Spooner (5,4) |
| GUEST BEER – Pubs specialising in real ale will offer, as well as theiir usual beverages, such a temporary delight. Spooner would misrepresent it as BEST GEAR, loosely translated as class A drugs | |
| 20 | Confused at lingo on one engraved stone (8) |
| INTAGLIO – An anagram (confused) of AT LINGO plus I (one) | |
| 22 | Picture frames likely to burn, touching light (6) |
| PHOTIC – Touching meaning concerning, or about. Picture is just PIC, providing a frame for HOT, likely to burn. | |
| 24 | Celebrity on principle is most demanding type (10) |
| MAXIMALIST – The A-LIST is the elite group of celebrities, and it’s a bit of a push to match celebrity to ALIST, but the intention is clear. Tack it onto MAXIM for principle. | |
| 25 | A lack of finale for sluggish drama (3) |
| NOH – Japanese theatre, as if you didn’t know. So we have NO [sluggis]H | |
| 26 | Thin male bore (6) |
| MEAGRE – M[ale] plus EAGRE, a rising tide such as the one that surges up the Severn estuary. | |
| 27 | Side with props providing little support in drained fountain (7) |
| FIFTEEN – That’s a Rugby Union side, props being front row member of the scrum. Providing is IF, a little support TEE, enclosed in F[ountai]N minus its contents | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Live Wagnerian opera’s characteristic cold sound (6,6) |
| BERING STRAIT – Sound as in a stretch of sea, in this case between Alaska and Siberia. Live is BE, Wagner’s (series of) opera(s) the RING (include the ‘S) and characteristic is TRAIT. Assemble and respace. | |
| 2 | Show taxi ranks combined over the radio? (7) |
| CABARET – Aural wordplay of CAB ARRAY, taxi ranks. | |
| 3 | Doctor beginning to puncture delusion, as nice as it was (9) |
| UNSPOILED – An anagram (doctor) of P[uncture] and DELUSION. | |
| 4 | Make the sound of an eagle (4) |
| EARN – An alternative for eagle is ERNE. More aural wordplay. | |
| 5 | Clubs the right place for goalscorers, left-winger thought (10) |
| CONSIDERED – C[lubs] plus the position goalscorers have to be in if VAR is going to allow their effort, which is ONSIDE. Add RED for left-winger, unless you’re American, in which case it would be a Republican. | |
| 6 | Look pleased putting second last number on the clock (5) |
| MILES – The clock in this instance the mileometer in a vehicle. Look pleased: SMILE, put the S[econd] last. | |
| 7 | This put a stop to wound leaking in the morning? (7) |
| BANDAGE – This took some working out, though I think it works as an &lit. Put a stop to is BAN, wound leads you to DAMAGE, from which you “leak” the AM, morning. | |
| 10 | Composer associated with Hallelujah once, Handel or other? (7,5) |
| LEONARD COHEN – His song came to greater notice when it featured in the original Shrek. Here it’s an anagram (other) of ONCE HANDEL OR, courteously reminding us of the version in Handel’s Messiah. | |
| 13 | Walk to church, perhaps large building full of ghastly silver (10) |
| PILGRIMAGE – The large building is a PILE. Insert GRIM AG for ghastly silver. | |
| 15 | Contrive to lose snap? (3,4,2) |
| GET SHOT OF – I’ll call this a double definition. | |
| 17 | Recipe that expressly includes particular intolerance (3,4) |
| PET HATE – It’s taken me until now to realise this is extremely well hidden, in reciPE THAT Expressly. I couldn’t understand how to find PEE… | |
| 19 | Easy compact net’s middle and sides given alternating pattern (7) |
| ENTENTE – The middle of net is E, the sides NT. Alternate the two objects. Clever – don’t think I’ve seen this conceit before. | |
| 21 | One wears medal about to be sold at auction (5) |
| GOING – I (one) has GONG for medal enrobing it. The auctioneer’s familiar “going, going, gone”. | |
| 23 | Attack retreating force showing little fight (4) |
| TIFF – An attack is a FIT. Reverse it and add F[orce] | |