Nothing very controversial I think – the usual excellent crossword from Phi.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | (a)UNTY PIC AL(l) |
| 6 | ONC(U [=for all to see])E |
| 9 | EV(OK)E |
| 10 | ARM STRONG. I think this is it: arm = power and strong = very significant. Louis Armstrong. |
| 11 | POST I’LL I ON. Not a word I’d heard much of until Dirk Bogarde. I think “My postillion has been struck by lightning” is an example of the way in which French schoolbooks tended to talk about things that were irrelevant to their readers’ lives. Not absolutely sure where it originated. |
| 12 | AX(L)E |
| 14 | W RESTLE(SS) |
| 15 | NEWSBOY – n((web so)*)Y |
| 17 | NOURISH – (in hours)* |
| 19 | CON TEND |
| 20 | PUM(p) A |
| 22 | OVERSPREAD – over (drapes)*. I don’t quite see where the “excessive” comes from. |
| 25 | WATER POLO – (t(h)e Poor Law)* |
| 26 | (P)INTER |
| 27 | R(IT Z)Y. A long-standing gripe I have is with z as an unknown, which it only really is in higher maths. But I suppose it’s convenient, not an easy letter to refer to otherwise. |
| 28 | FLY AGARIC – fly (a cigar)*. A hallucinogenic toadstool. |
| Down | |
| 1 | US E UP |
| 2 | TROUSSEAU – (a tour uses)* |
| 3 | PAEDIATRIC – a in (patricide)*. I made rather a mess of the grid, trying to write in “pediatric”. |
| 4 | CHAR[one who does] LIE |
| 5 | L(AMP)OON |
| 6 | (s)ORTS I think. Not I should have thought a daily broadsheet word and perhaps it’s something else. |
| 7 | CHOUX – “shoo”. I’d only ever heard of choux pastry, but this seemed pretty likely and was in due course confirmed. |
| 8 | E A GLEE (d)YED |
| 13 | S(WAN)UPPING. I knew this because of Flanders and Swann. |
| 14 | WIND POWER I think – it fits and seems a CD, so long as you can accept that wind power = a generator, which seems a bit odd but I suppose it is in a sense. |
| 16 | BE((d)EFEAT)ER |
| 18 | HIVE(s) OFF |
| 19 | CARR(O(ne’s) T(eddy))Y. What a good clue. |
| 21 | MOT ET |
| 23 | DIRAC – RA in CID rev. |
| 24 | FRAY – 2 meanings |
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