Solving time: About 20 mins for all but 19dn and 23ac. One other mistake (16dn).
A porcellanous theme this week, featuring Crown Derby, Royal Worcester, Wedgwood, Spode and Minton. Not exactly my specialist subject, though I knew all but the last. I can’t explain 10ac.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | WE + BERN – the English spelling is ‘Berne’ which confused me a little. |
| 10 | CO(RN + FIE)LD – but why does ‘say so?’ give FIE? |
| 11 | W(HE + ELBA’S)E |
| 12/9 | CROWN + DERBY (= ‘race’) |
| 13 | OVERWINTERED; (DOWN RIVER TEE[s])* – nice definition (‘Got to spring’), less keen on the bracket arrangement in the clue. |
| 17 | [a]GREE + NB + OTT + LES |
| 20 | SP + ODE |
| 21 | CH(IN + ASH)OP |
| 23 | CIC (“SICK”) + A TRICE – I didn’t know this word for a scar and had to use a dictionary to get it. |
| 25 | [t]ENTH + R + ONE |
| 26 | MINT + ON – the thematic answer I was least sure of, but it was correct (Thomas Minton founded Minton & Sons, now Mintons Ltd). |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | WEDGWOOD; “WEDGE WOOD” – ‘dropped by Tony’ refers to the former Labour MP Tony Benn, whose surname was originally ‘Wedgwood-Benn’. |
| 2 | BAR + GE(ME)N |
| 3/14 | ROYAL WORCESTER; rev. of (E + CROW + LAY) in ROSTER – I wrote in ‘Porcelain’ for ‘Worcester’ (it fit with 2 checking letters), which held me up somewhat. |
| 5 | BARTERED BRIDE; (RED DEER RABBIT)* |
| 6 | EFFICIENT; (NICE IF)* in EFT – ‘eft’ is a useful newt; ‘ask’ is another. |
| 7 | TRE(M for V)OR – obvious wordplay but it still took a while. |
| 8 | RI(DIN)G – this reads like a semi-&lit which may refer to Rotten Row, but I don’t really understand the definition reading (“Clothes etc around the Row when doing this?”). |
| 10 | C(HAIN)REA(C)TION |
| 15 | A + LP + HABET (= ‘[he] HAS’ in Latin) |
| 16 | I(SO)POD + AN – I put ‘asipodan’ (as iPod + an) which also fits the wordplay. This is an adjective which makes the definition ‘Woodlouse’s’. |
| 19 | BO(BC)AT – couldn’t get this until I’d found ‘cicatrice’ at 23ac. It looked as though ‘of former years’ had to be ‘once’, but no. |