Initially I thought this was going to be very easy. I got through most of the clues fairly quickly but then got hopelessly stuck on 8 across, 25 across and 24 down, some of which was self-inflicted because I’d incorrectly written “plot” for 2 down.
* = anag, < = reversed
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | First-rate: Clue is “A sack stuffed with well-turned pastries”. Looks like “tarts”< inside “fire”. Must be an &lit, but I can’t see it. |
| 11 | Dominion: Do + minion |
| 13 | Tester: T + trees*. It’s a canopy over a bed. |
| 14 | Factotum: Cryptic def referring to the fact that a factotum does lots of jobs. |
| 19 | Treble: Seems to be “t” + soundalike of “rebel”. I have never heard of tenor being abbreviated by t, but I daresay it happens in musical circles. |
| 25 | Vice ?: Clue is “tool box”. A vice is a tool and it does sort of box things in, but I’m not convinced that’s correct. |
| 27 | Betterment: Better (one who bets) + met around n. |
| Down | |
| 2 | Plan: L in pan (depression in the sense of salt-pan. Don’t ask me why I thought it was “pot”.) |
| 3 | Teetotal: Another one I wasn’t totally sure of. Clue is “More than just draught-resistant ?”, so I assume it means draughts of beer. |
| 4 | Ennui: Hidden word – excellent surface meaning. |
| 6 | Aftertaste: (Treat + feast)* + rather strained &lit. |
| 7 | Tripos: O in Trips |
| 15 | Termagant: “Virago caught up in troublesome matter”. Seems to be nag< in matter*. I don’t know in what context nag means caught. |
| 16 | Reminder: Re(d) + minder. A red would be a ball in snooker. |
| 24 | Anne ?: Didn’t get this at all. The clue is “Just fail to grab queen”. There was a Queen Anne, so that may be the answer, but I don’t get the rest of it. |
24d “Just fail to grab” = ANNEX less last letter
For 8A, “A” must be the definition.
PS 19A – T is indeed a standard musical abbreviation for Tenor, as for example in SATB =Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass
Isn’t it Mass, and not Math (at least according to my paper?)
For 25ac I went for FILE – as in box-file, and the tool, though I wasn’t convinced.
Yes, I started out thinking this would be easy enough, but a couple of tricky ones in there – 8ac, 11ac, 14ac for me. Spent too long thinking 17ac was the name of a Greek island…
And finally 15d – maybe it’s an &lit, with NAG=VIRAGO in the wordplay.
25ac was tricky with a lot of ?I?E alternatives, but I also went for FILE in the end. Some excellent clues here as usual from Mass – the favourite being FIRST-RATE which was so cleverly misleading. T for tenor is a staple in advanced crosswords, not sure if you see it so much in the daily cryptics.
Mass is one of the setter names I fear most. I fell 6 short of finishing this. Make it 7 – part of my problem was putting ASTI,R where I should have put ALE,RT.