Solving time : 54 minutes, with one or two not understood and a little bit of reference book and electronic nudging towards the end. I’m not very familiar with Paul, since I avoid his Punk crosswords in the Indy, but I had expected this to be both unsatisfactorily dodgy and very difficult. In the event it was neither. A very nice crossword with apparently good sound clues, although 29A and 8D might still disabuse me.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | AGE on SEW, def. waste |
| 4 | 2 defs. |
| 9 | HELL (TERRIBL)E BORE |
| 10 | D(WE)EB; refers to the “royal we”. |
| 11 | (S)LAYER; I wasted time perusing a list of films. |
| 12 | OVERT RICK; refers to bridge. |
| 13 | Spooner would say “Fled rag” |
| 15 | (NIB BOD)< |
| 17 | (CAL(O)RIE)*; a lovely &lit. |
| 19 | (I DO SEE C)* |
| 26 | It always seems to me that to refer to the palindromic property of an answer is a bit of a cop-out. |
| 27 | (AMUSING OR)*, and “One’s stupid” is the def. |
| 29 | I think this is THRONE, since it fits, is a seat, and contains “one”; but I can’t understand the first bit, the “thr”. |
| Down | |
| 1 | SC(HOL(E))AR |
| 2 | 2 defs; “as in “give it some welly”, and ref. wellington boot. I don’t like defs. like “on foot” – a phrase like this doesn’t seem to be enough to define a noun. |
| 3 | GU(ERR I)LL A |
| 4 | I think this is about the hairdresser’s “Something for the weekend, sir?”. If one uses a condom then there is, one hopes, no baby. WEE KEN D. |
| 6 | F L(EXIT)IME. Very hard, I thought, but perfectly sound. I couldn’t even get it when I had all the checking letters, and had to use my electronic thing. |
| 8 | Looks like OOLONG. Is it OO LONG, and the “long” refers to a long drink that perhaps contains fruit juice? |
| 16 | BLOW then hidden; def. “might one … cheesecake”. |
| 18 | Probably Reining. I expect there was a Kaiser Reining, just as there was a Kaiser Wilhelm. Unfortunately Google thinks of Reining” as “reining” as in using one’s reins on a horse. |
| 19 | DU(GO)NG. A bit lavatorial. |
| 20 | (MEN)* ASSE(NT) |
| 21 | F(AIR)LY |
| 23 | P in LIRA< |
| 25 | Hidden, requiring the solver to have the answer to 24. |
In 29, T (time) and HR (hour) are ‘two times’ + ONE = THRONE
I also got REINING for 18 (EIN in RING) but the definition link seems tenuous. Chambers suggests ‘rein’ can mean governance in a figurative sense, but ‘reiGning’ is closer to what a Kaiser does!
Raced through the bottom half of this one but found the top half much trickier – not helped by my confidently inserting BERBER for 7 – (BEER BR)*
Paul’s crosswords are always fun, and they’re getting more scatalogical by the week!
29 ac: ‘two times’ = T(time) and Hr(hour).
Interestingly, when ‘Welly’ made an appearance in the Times championship on Sunday, there were a few people who weren’t familiar with the ‘give it some welly’ sense.
Like the sly dig at the Daily Mail in 13ac.
29A: Yes of course, t and hr. Should have seen that. Thanks.
Why do you say you ‘avoid his Punk crosswords’?
Oolong is a tea, of course, and a long drink may be a fruit punch – ie something refreshing without being too alcoholic.
Fletch: I shouldn’t have said that I avoid his Punk crosswords, because that suggests that I don’t like them for some reason. They are nearly always on Thursdays, I generally have something to do on Thursdays which stops me from having time to do them, and I am not all that unhappy to leave them as they are difficult and take a long time.