Got off to a slow start, then raced through most of the puzzle and ground to a halt with 5A and 2D. I also twigged one part of theme before even solving a single clue thanks “flier”, “duck” and “owl” in the first half of the across clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 5 | CURL,E,W – this, and 2D, were the last two clues I solved. In retrospect, I don’t know why it took so long. |
| 6 | FLAMING,O |
| 10 | A,R,BORE,TUM – very nice (and misleading) surface reading, especially the use of “corporation” for TUM. |
| 11 | SWIFT – author of Gulliver’s Travels and other satirical works. “A Modest Proposal” is very funny and worth a read. |
| 12 | ANS in MERGER |
| 15 | HI,BACH,I – had never heard of this but with H?B?C?? BACH looked irresistible as the composer and HIBACHI seemed convincing as a word. It’s a portable brazier, apparently. |
| 20 | hidden in “cluB ONE Day” |
| 21 | GOLD,C,REST – excellent touch in this one: the “au” in “au contraire” leading to GOLD (AU is it’s chemical symbol), with “contraire, initially” leading to C. Brilliantly worded. |
| 25 | (PIE PEN PAL)* – PINEAPPLE just leaps out at you really. |
| 28 | MA,CAWS |
| Down | |
| 2 | I in (OPERA)* – “comic opera” deceived me for much longer than it should have really. |
| 4 | hidden in both byzANTIum and constANTInople. |
| 5/8 | CHARM THE BIRDS OUT OF THE TREES – which neatly encapsulates the themes of today’s puzzle. |
| 7 | US in MISER – “employer” is deceptive, meaning someone who uses. |
| 9 | ASH in STING |
| 14 | RUSTLING – I guess this is supposed to be a cryptic definition but RUSTLING really does mean “to round up and steal cattle” so it’s a bit weak. |
| 18 | (DANCE)*,Z,A |
| 22 | CRAV(e),A,T – another ingenious bit of wording. |
Raced through the lot. 10A, a bit of lucky guesswork from word lengths on 5/8 and I was off. Also found the top left corner the slowest bit. One or two old chestnuts (laughter), but plenty of the great clues we expect from Virgilius.
Virgilius themed puzzles with, effectively, a “third way” to the answers, can sometimes be easier than the avarage puzzle – that’s what I found with this one. As with Peter, I liked a lot of the clues.