Apologies for the brief blog, but a host of things came up and I’ve only just found time to solve this. It was quite tricky, and I haven’t the time to think some clues through or google them, so please correct me/ help me out.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SLAP ON THE WRIST – guessed from enumeration and checking letters, don’t really get the clue. |
| 9 | ARTICHOKE – (irate)* around CH OK |
| 11 | GABLE – B in GALE, and ref. Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind |
| 12 | WAISTLINE – (instil awe)* |
| 13 | DRY STONE – dry + (onest)* |
| 14 | GENERA(l) |
| 17 | GASBAG – GAG around (BA’s)*, but I don’t see an anagrind |
| 19 | FEVERISH – (verse)* inside F(ellow) I(n) H(urry) |
| 22 | TEAR AWAY S |
| 25 | REPLY – don’t get the second part of this clue |
| 26 | ANCESTRAL – (Lancaster)* |
| 27 | PLASTIC SURGERY – surge=swell inside (arty clips)* |
| Down | |
| 1 | SHAGGY DOG STORY – cryptic def, I suppose |
| 2 | ATTABOY – (boat)* in (Tay)* |
| 3 | ORCHESTRA – I think this is OR, CHEST, RA, RA being the Royal Artillery=gunners, but don’t know what OR is for |
| 4 | TOOK WING |
| 6 | REMIT – rev(timer) |
| 8 | TELEPATHICALLY – cryptic def |
| 15 | EXERCISER – is there something more to the clue that I haven’t spotted? |
| 16 | BEDSOCKS – beds=Bedfordshire OC=officer commanding, K(eep)S |
| 18 | SCALPEL – (collapse)* without the ring=”o” |
| 21 | SAFARI – SI is the note, around A FAR |
| 23 | A,BY,SS |
I think 25a is “reap lie” (sounds like reply) A whopper being a lie. I didn’t get OR in 3d either. Something to do with Royal Ordnance?? Also 21d I didn’t get why SI is a note. ps I’ve checked my answers on this site for a while now – and this is the first time I’ve been able to advise about a clue! I’m happy.
3d OR are Other Ranks. I didn’t know what SI was either, but according to the OED it’s another term for the note “Te” as in Doh,reh,me,fah,so,lah,TE,doh.
1a A carpeting is a telling off, so a slap on the wrist would be a soft carpeting…
25a across sounds like “reap lie”
1a carpeting = reprimand
25a reap,lie – don’t much like it!
3d OR – other ranks, soldiers
5d eye, lid[o]
15d couldn’t see more to this either
20d in,verse double definition
agree with Kate about 21d!
I cannot confess to being among Quantum’s fans, but ‘soft carpeting’? Yes please, that’s excellent.
17a The anagrind is “moving”
21d “si” is an alternative to the more commonly used “ti” or “te” in the do-re-mi scale.
…and I should be more careful in reading other people’s comments. That’s two answers that someone else has already given. At least the other two are original…
Given that you were under pressure today I thought this was a really good blog – you’ve set a high standard here.
Thanks for all the comments, tried to reply earlier but the site doesn’t seem fond of terminal based web browsers – I’d never heard of a carpeting, or OR.. kicked myself a bit over “reap lie”. I think I’ve seen si=note in quite a few crosswords before.