Looking at the puzzle again this morning I see I forgot to note down my time. Quite annoying really, as I remember it was quite a quick solve, around the 10-minute mark. I got the two 14-letter answers straight away, and then tackled it one quadrant at a time without any serious holdups.
Across
| 10 |
FETTUCINI – ribbon pasta, so a very apposite anagram and &lit definition. Definitely one of my candidates for COD. |
| 12 |
BAN(SHE)E – a banshee is a wailing spirit who is heard just before a death in the household, so it’s an accurate definition. |
| 13 |
L(ine),IN,O(C)UT – tricky wordplay – I left this till I had all the crossing letters and put it in without really working it all out. |
| 15 |
(o)PUS,HOVER |
| 18 |
C(HATS)HOW – this is clever. Remember the phrase “I’ll eat my hat!“ |
| 23 |
HANG,DOG – a hangdog look is one of guilt. |
| 25 |
N(EAR)EST |
| 26 |
AISLE – sounds like “I’ll”, short for “I will”, but surely a wedding vow is “I do”, isn’t it? |
| 28 |
EX,P,EDIT,E |
| 29 |
FREEZE – “frieze” |
Down
| 1 |
SOFT,BALL – I think low = soft here in the sense of volume of sound. |
| 2 |
AN(TEN)NA |
| 3 |
SOU,T(H,W)EST – a sou was an old French 5-centime piece, very little money. |
| 5 |
CHINLESS WONDER (lord eschews inn)* – first one I got, but a great phrase and a good anagram. |
| 6 |
DEMO,N(=last letter of prestidigitation) – there’s no direct definition in Chambers of demon=wizard or vice versa, but both can mean a person of great skill. |
| 7 |
MO(NOC)LE – i.e. CON=against rev. inside MOLE=spy |
| 8 |
CHE,STY – I like the definition, “with a prominent top”. |
| 16 |
O(UR,FA)THER |
| 17 |
ALL THERE – very clever clue, another COD candidate for me. “In” is defined as ALL THE RAGE, from which you remove silver (Ag). |
| 22 |
PHRASE – “frays” |
| 24 |
D(efeat),READ=”major in”, as in university study. |
I append a pic of the fuddler in action for your delectation. I confess to the quaint habit of reading the actual newspaper before attempting the crossword.
I have now managed to catch up with crosswords and with reading this blog but it all got a bit scrappy so I don’t have my times. I intend to try and keep track of them for next week though despite the end of RTC. (BTW: After seeing the oohs and ahs over 23,764 I was very pleased I’d managed eventually to finish it no aids no nuffink.)
Nine “easies” not in the blog:
1a Poles close to France, scattered (6)
SPARS E
4a Unimportant fellow (8)
ACADEMIC
11a Store filled with cold meat (5)
MIN C E
14a Permission to quit (5)
LEAVE
20a Unwanted individual sent back in disgust (5)
REPEL. Leper backwards.
27a Public assembly’s welcoming situation (4,5)
OPEN HOUSE
9d Lose spirit and die (4,2,3,5)
GIVE UP THE GHOST
19d Worker in need of a drink, given armed robber’s demand (5,2)
HAND SUP
21d Take it quietly, and take it up again (7)
P RESUME