14:57. A thoroughly enjoyable of medium difficulty, thank you Harry. And other than a few specific points on particular clues below, that’s all I have to say on the matter so I’ll just get on with it.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Knock journalist Spooner says is a beast |
| HUMPBACK – Spoonerism of ‘bump hack’. | |
| 5 | Relies on support, having caught touch of tonsillitis |
|
TRUSTS – TRUS(T |
|
| 9 | Geezers add up numbers using their minds |
| MENTALLY – MEN TALLY. | |
| 10 | Greek city corners recalled Athens at first |
|
SPARTA – reversal of TRAPS (corners), A |
|
| 11 | Range of exams not initially offered by uni |
|
URALS – U, |
|
| 12 | Chestnutty horse of French revolutionary |
| HACKNEYED – HACKNEY (horse), reversal (revolutionary) of DE (of French). The carriage is named after the horse. According to Chambers the term comes from the Old French haquenée which in turn possibly comes from… Hackney in East London, where horses were pastured. | |
| 14 | Officer finally involved in a dire alarm at sea? |
|
REAR ADMIRAL – (A DIRE ALARM)* containing |
|
| 18 | Earnest pleb must get changed to appear thus |
| PRESENTABLE – (EARNEST PLEB)*. Semi-&Lit. I would classify this as a Semi-&Lit because although the whole clue is the definition, it is not all wordplay (the words ‘to appear thus’ don’t contribute). In the previous clue the whole thing is wordplay so I call it an &Lit even though you don’t need the whole clue for the definition. Feel free to disagree, or to just not care. | |
| 21 | Escapee a rubbish criminal communist turned over |
| ABSCONDER – A, BS (rubbish), CON (criminal), reversal of RED. | |
| 23 | Track broadcast on radio |
| SCENT – sounds like ‘sent’ (broadcast). I had SPOOR here at first, thinking a spore could be defined as (something) broadcast. Doesn’t really work, does it? | |
| 24 | Legendary royal drug-dealer’s confession? |
| ISOLDE – I SOLD E, geddit? | |
| 25 | One engaged in motor madness in coach |
| CARRIAGE – CAR R(I)AGE. I followed the wordplay mechanically and wrote in CAIRRAGE at first but fortunately my brain wasn’t completely disengaged so I noticed that it isn’t a word. | |
| 26 | Dope experiment produces pretty high people |
| GENTRY – GEN (info, dope), TRY. Presumably aristocrats would be very high people. | |
| 27 | A flipping awful noise? Pal’s stuck in chipper! |
| ANIMATED – A, reversal of DIN containing MATE. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Sweet smell … cheese off? |
| HUMBUG – HUM (smell), BUG (cheese off). | |
| 2 | Fashion item old lady and knight chat about |
| MAN-BAG – MA, N, reversal of GAB. N is chess notation for knight: K is spoken for by a more important piece. The definition is questionable. | |
| 3 | Place to get a bite from fish around river by lake |
| BRASSERIE – B(R)ASS, ERIE. This clue made me sad as fishing for bass on a lake in Canada is exactly where I should have been this summer, but wasn’t. | |
| 4 | The old cedar building is detached and remote |
| COLD-HEARTED – (THE OLD CEDAR)*. | |
| 6 | Mature with no time for nonsense? Essentially responsible! |
|
RIPEN – |
|
| 7 | Petition to stop substanceless Swiss graffiti artists |
|
SPRAYERS – S |
|
| 8 | Conservative in strappy wear creates uproars |
| SCANDALS – S(C)ANDALS. | |
| 13 | Old statesman in March able to enter foreign state |
| CHAMBERLAIN – (IN MARCH ABLE)*. Unusual anagram indicator. | |
| 15 | Marmoset roaming around Lima is a danger in the main |
| MAELSTROM – (MARMOSET)* containing L. | |
| 16 | Small vegetable magnate giving a lecture? |
| SPEAKING – S, PEA KING. | |
| 17 | I’m a little stirrer! |
| TEASPOON – CD. | |
| 19 | Wander off track with record-holder Bolt? |
| DEPART – D(EP)ART. ‘To deviate; differ; vary’ as in ‘to depart from normal procedure’ (Collins). | |
| 20 | Go to see a nurse, with temperature taken |
| ATTEND – A(T), TEND. | |
| 22 | More daring to go topless in one’s later years |
|
OLDER – |
|
I liked ‘chestnutty’ CARRIAGE, BRASSERIE and RIPEN but my COD goes to DEPART.
Thanks, keriothe.
https://www.google.com/search?q=eastpak+%22messenger+bag%22&source=lnms&tbm=isch
I do, to all intents and purposes, have a man bag: it’s my work bag which goes everywhere with me during the week and holds my laptop, ipad, pens, various chargers and, these days, face masks. Otherwise the equivalent of a handbag for a man is often, as sawbill suggests, a jacket. I often wear a jacket for no other reason than to have somewhere to put my wallet and phone.
I liked MAN-BAG once I thought of it. Was delayed by DEPART. MAELSTORM was FOI as I randomly looked at the clues when starting out. I think LOI was SCENT as I looked for something better.
An enjoyable Sunday challenge for someone at my level.
David
I didn’t understand “bs = rubbish”. Is this an accepted abbreviation for bovine manure ?
FOI URALS
LOI DEPART
COD SPEAKING
TIME 18:10
Edited at 2020-09-06 09:29 am (UTC)
Funny how 40+ years in a country can change one’s vocabulary.
Under the half hour for this one which is as quick as I can hope for the ST crossword. Still a very enjoyable solve with enough grist in the parsing to keep one on one’s toes. Liked the HUMPBACK Spoonerism and the ISOLDE drug dealer confession.
Finished in the SE corner with CARRIAGE (which managed to spell ok 🙂 ) and the tricky DEPART (both definition and word play) as the last in.