A mostly straightforward puzzle from Virgilius. Three hidden clues made for an easy start and a quick fill for me. However, I still have doubts about one answer and a couple of clues are still leave me wondering about the wordplay. There were an awful lot of Ps, Cs, Hs and Ks but other than the middle line of unches spelling out DICK I’m not sure if there was a theme.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | COLUSSUS — fiasCO LOSS USually — |
| 9 | NOT MY CUP OF TEA — DD — though I’m sure the cryptic definition suggests NOT MY CUP OF COFFEE |
| 13 | SPENT FORCE — SPENT + FOR+C.E. |
| 15 | CANT — CAN’T |
| 16 | SARI — amritSAR Indian — a very nice semi-&lit. |
| 18 | STAGECOACH — STAGE COACH — a classic film. |
| 23 | POSTMAN’S KNOCK — CD? — I don’t know the rules to Postman’s Knock but I’m guessing this is a cryptic definition relating to the outcome of the game? |
| 25 | HYPHEN — – — co-op become coop when the hyphen is taken. |
| 26 | CLOAKING — OAK in CLING? — I might have the wrong answer here. Cling describes a kind of fruit rather than being a fruit. |
| Down | |
| 3 | OUTSTANDING — OUT+STANDING — OUT = not in. |
| 4 | SHYER — SHY+ER — cast = SHY, think coconut shy. |
| 8 | COARSEN — ARSE in CON — a clue worthy of Cyclops. |
| 12 | CUCKOO CLOCK — CUCKOO + CLOCK — CUCKOO = mad = cracked. |
| 17 | ATROPHY — A+TROPHY — very simple but very effective as I missed it on the first run through. |
| 19 | ARSENIC — As — As in the word play is the chemical symbol rather than the word. |
| 20 | CHICKEN — DD — another nicely misleading clue. |
| 22 | TOKYO — KYOTO — Kyoto is the nold capital of Japan, shift TO and you get the currect capital. |
I’d the same uncertainly about 26 across, but it’s the only one that would come close to fitting the clue. POSTMAN’S KNOCK ends with a kiss apparently – I had to look it up to confirm. As always, excellent clues from Virgilius.
I was surprised by cling when I checked it but the OED has it as “n. (also cling peach) a clingstone peach”.
Thanks for the clarification Eimi. I have just checked Collins and it is in there as a noun, defined as short for clingstone, so I am a little happier and more knowledgeable. I now expect fruit to be used to define free! (cf freestone).
When I was a lad, we used to play Dustman’s Knock. It was like Postman’s Knock, only dirtier.