Solving time 13:22
I found this a lot easier than the last few weeks’ Saturday puzzles – should really have been under 10 minutes but I got stuck on a couple at the end. I suspect the likes of Pete B and Magoo may have managed sub 5-mins. Looking back at it now I don’t recall which ones slowed me up…there are a lot of cryptic definitions both on their own and as part of standard clues – very clever, most of them, and very witty. I enjoyed it.
Across
1 | BAGPIPER – got this cryptic definition straight away, so I was definitely on the right wavelength, as I never considered the surface reading for an instant! |
9 | YEA(r) – Another CD here + clever wordplay for ¾ of a year – again I got it instantly (although I already had 1d by then). |
10 | PRO,LIFE,RATE – straightforward charade – I was on a roll! |
12 | SUI GENERIS – (genius)* + SIRE rev – also got straight away; this was going in like RTC so far! |
15 | TY(pist),RANT – I wasn’t too sure about RANT=bombast, but Chambers confirms it. |
16 | “ME AND ‘ER” – nice one! Does this indicate a female setter today? There’s only one on the team… |
18 | PUCCINI – I’m ashamed to admit that I had to wait till I had 17d to get this… |
24 | DISCOUNTER – double anagram, hence “repeatedly”, and &lit. Very clever clue. |
28 | TA-TA,M1(1M rev) – “so long” = TA-TA is quite deceptive, but I had all the crossing downs when this went in so no problems. |
29 | HYDROGEN – bit of a worrying surface reading! Luckily I live in Coventry, but if I was a Cockney I’d pronounce it ‘ydrogen. |
Down
3 | I,MPRESARIO (Rome,Paris)* |
4 | EGO-CENTRICITY – “Gr-EGO-ry” – I wasn’t entirely sure that centricity could be a word on its own (but it is), but this would have been a good punning definition anyway. |
6 | EDEN – Anthony Eden, and the Garden. I don’t like “he led our race” to describe a PM though. Not very accurate, is it? Race != nation! |
7 | SEA BIRD (“See Byrd”), i.e. Richard Byrd, the American polar explorer. |
8 | THESAURI (auth(o)rise)* |
11 | IDIO(MA)TICALLY – I always find “dressing” a bit of a stretch as a containment indicator, but it’s very common. |
14 | BACK NUMBER – well-spotted by the setter, I haven’t seen this one before. You can get SIX and NINE reversed in Mar(xis)m-L(enin)ism. |
19 | CO(RRUP=purr rev)T |
21 | NOTHING – another sort of double CD &lit! Almost too clever though, makes it a very easy clue. |
22 | BR(OK)EN |
25 | A TO M – finishing with a very old chestnut… |
Answer: PUCCINI.
But why?
Mike O, Skiathos.
Shome mistake shurely!!
Sarah
9 “easies” to include:
5a Stone put in ring, say, for rich people (3-3)
JET-SET
13a Prepare ship at a northern port (4)
RIG A
20a Volunteers joining monarch – it’s infectious (6)
TA KING
23a Mark’s replacement not ready for England yet (4)
EURO. Speaking from the post-Brexit future you could safely drop the “yet” from that clue now.
26a Consider strike on railway that provides rural recreation (7,4)
COUNT RY CLUB
27a One learner in from to computer unit in class (3)
I L K
1d (By his)* confusion about love, revealing how immature youth is (6)
B 0 YISH
2d Great seriousness of cause producing mass movement (7)
GRAVITY. Double definition.
17d Part of shoe damaged sock (8)
UPPER CUT. Sock as in biff – not an item of hosiery at all.