Solving time – 38:42
This was another brilliant Saturday puzzle, in the same league as 23647 a few weeks ago. All the surface readings were good. Some of the wordplay was fiendish, some humorous. All of it was fair when you worked it out, although I need explanations for a couple (7 & 17). The grid’s also a pangram.
Across
| 1 | POLYGAMIST (split may go)* |
| 6 | QUI(z),P |
| 10 | LIP-READ – just a cryptic definition, but disguised as wordplay. |
| 11 | BEEHIVE – another cryptic definition, a bit easier to get though. |
| 12 | ER(A,DICA)TE – ACID,A reversed inside (tree*) |
| 13 | RUN-UP – deliveryman = bowler in cricket here |
| 14 | DEC(lared),AF=FA rev. – definition is “cup without a kick” – this kind of clue is worth looking out for. Take a common two-word phrase, like “FA Cup”, and put one half of it in the wordplay, the other half in the definition. Not easy to spot unless you’re looking for it. |
| 15 | TOTTING,UP – totting = salvaging, up = cheerful. |
| 17 | CARTOONED – def. = “Drew”, then I can see “truck round” = CART,O but don’t understand the rest of it. |
| 20 | WEB,ER – Carl Maria von Weber. His cousin was married to Mozart. |
| 21 | SCRUB – double def. Axe in the sense of cancelling plans etc. |
| 23 | C,OC(CO rev),KINE,SS – neat = kine = cattle, a couple of obsolete words that probably only live on in crosswords. |
| 25 | A,N,GOLAN |
| 26 | BERLIOZ – “barely owes” – a pretty accurate homophone wherever you live. |
| 27 | ST,Y,X – runner makes a change from flower for a river, and fits the surface reading of course. |
| 28 | JOLLY,ROGER – a jolly is an outing or trip, usually at someone else’s expense, Roger means “received and understood” in radio comms. |
Down
| 1 | PU(up rev),LSE = London School of Economics, which I assume equates to University College, or maybe just a university college. Pete B can tell us, as a graduate of the place. Definition was “beats reading”, very crafty. Last one I got. |
| 2 | L(A,PD)ANCER |
| 3 | GAELIC FOOTBALL (oblige act all of)* |
| 4 | ME(DI)ANT – very tricky as I didn’t know the word. A mediant is the third tone of a scale, i.e. half way along. DI in MEANT with “clothes” indicating the insertion. |
| 5 | SUB,JE(C)T – “guinea pig” is the definition here. |
| 7 | UNION – I don’t understand what Reading has got to do with this. I’m sure Reading University has a Students’ Union, but it can’t be that, surely? |
| 8 | PIED PIPER – excellent cryptic def. |
| 9 | REAR-VIEW MIRROR – another good one, made me laugh. The moon being the dropping of trousers to expose one’s backside. |
| 14 | DO(C)US,OAPS – i.e. “Do us OAPs”, with C=constant (speed of light) inside. |
| 16 | GIB(big rev.),BERING (Vitus Bering, the Arctic explorer) |
| 18 | NO CAN DO – i.e. “No-can do” |
| 19 | DECIBEL (bed lice)* – nice easy anagram, but I thought I’d better not leave it out as I’ve commented on every other clue so far! |
| 22 | RUG,BY – a wig collector might set a RUG BY. Ho ho. |
| 24 | SIZER – hidden rev. in “JeREZ I Sent”. A sizer is a measurer, hence a judge of size, I suppose. |
17 ONE D (pedlar has one, peddling has two)
I really enjoyed this one. MEDIANT and TOTTING UP took a while at the end.
Valentine
However – the lowest (pun intended) of the comments says there is something wrong. Correct – it is the second sentence of your comment I’m afraid dear Valentine.
According to all sources I can find online – the word NEAT can be used for cow OR cattle so 23a is perfectly fine with kine.