Solving time 31:03
My slowest time for about two months – I ascribe it to the fact that I solved this with a thumping hangover. There’s not too much really tricky here, although some of the wordplay was a bit obscure. I don’t fully understand 6dn.
Across
| 3 | E(SPA,DRILL)E – if I see “footwear” in a 10-letter clue ESPADRILLE goes straight in and I confirm the wordplay later. |
| 9 | OP,HE,LIA(ail rev) – “intended for prince” as she was Hamlet’s love interest in the play. |
| 11 | ACCRUAL – “a cruel” |
| 12 | SA,LAD DRESSING – “It” = SA = sex appeal, and LAD DRESSING is the complete opposite of female stripper. |
| 14 | A,UDI,(s)O – a UDI is a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, hence breakaway. |
| 15 | EULOGISED – (lose guide)* |
| 17 | COUNT,EDON(node rev) – to cut no ice means to count for nothing, so to cut some ice (a phrase I couldn’t find in either Chambers or Collins) must mean to count. |
| 21 | POETIC JUST,ICE – (pot,ice)*, then ice is cleverly reused in the second half of the answer. This crosses the linked entry 16dn on the central J, making it a perfect matching pair of clues. |
| 24 | I’M,A,MATE – china (plate) is Cockney rhyming slang for mate. |
| 26 | B(RAT P)ACKER – part* inside BACKER. |
| 27 | BAS(i)S – I was half-tempted by DAIS here at first, but unsurprisingly couldn’t get the wordplay to work. One of the last two to go in as a result. |
Down
| 1 | CROSS,PATCH – and this was the last one I got. I had CROSS?A?C? from very early on, but it took me a long time to spot the obvious fix=PATCH. |
| 2 | EX,HALE,D(ryer) – old flame = EX is getting a bit clichéd. |
| 4 | ST,AIRHEAD |
| 6 | ROCKING,HORSES – I don’t understand the bit about the Cambridge college. Can anyone else explain? |
| 7 | L(0)UNGES – disastrous score is 0, inside LUNGES=darts. |
| 10 | LADY O(F) THE LAMP – F(ine) inside (do Hamlet play)*. Florence as in Nightingale. |
| 13 | A(DULTERES)S – (resulted)* in A,S. I haven’t read the book by Flaubert (or seen the film), but it’s not the first time I’ve seen her in a crossword. |
| 16 | LINE,JUD(G)E – nice clue keeping a tennis surface in its own right, but also cryptically defined in 21ac. |
| 18 | UP,P(S)AL,A |
| 20 | SPIN,OZ,A – this guy. |
| 23 | (c)LIMB(s) |
I think it’s My! = Cor! rev., then HORSE=support (as in clothers-horse), inside KINGS = the Camb. coll. So “amusement mounts” is the def, and ‘as does my’ uses mounts again, as a reversal indicator.
I just saw the answer and wrote it in…
The problem with DAIS is that it is not a sort of fish although you COULD pronounce it to sound like DACE.
There are 6 easy fish that have been put back in the water:
1a Gave wake up call, perhaps, to staff (4)
CREW. A double definition with the past tense of the verb TO CROW – what the cockrel does in the morning – and the verb TO CREW which is what a captain might do by hiring people to man his ship.
19a Winger, behold, from east, maintaining custom (5)
O USE L. Custom = USE inside LO backwards. Another name for the Blackbird. Also a tributary of the River Great Ouse with the confluence at Newport Pagnell.
25a (R)un into (bodies)* shivering and bare (7)
DISROBE. Bare as a verb that is.
5d Gather PM wise man? On the contrary (5)
AM ASS. Opposite of PM SAGE.
8d Girl wElL cLeAr, disregarding the odds (4)
E L L A
22d B ILE ACcumulated in part of gut (5)
ILEAC. Where definition = “of gut”.