This took a little longer than usual because so far as I could see there were some rather unusual words and meanings, and I also got one answer wrong, which threw me for a while.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | HEPATIC – H pa in cite rev. |
| 5 | SICKBED – CD I think, “off” meaning “not well”. Or is it “off” as in “nodding off”? |
| 9 | TO A DEGREE – 2 mngs |
| 10 | STUN G(ingivitis) |
| 11 | F LAWS |
| 12 | OR CHEST RA. To avoid the carthorse chestnut is the task for the setter here. |
| 14 | CHARACTERISTIC – char(=do) act (it cries)*, def. “Just like you”, which seems a bit odd: surely the definition is really meant to be “Just like”. I can’t quite place the “you”. |
| 17 | SUPER SCRIPT 1 ON. A word that not only is not common, but is used in a rare sense, so far as I can see. |
| 21 | AND ROME D A, the Greek heroine. “…one with a shred of doubt” is I think just A and D next to each other, in the order DA. |
| 23 | RING O (Starr) |
| 24 | BIG O(ne) T(hat) |
| 25 | GO IT ALONE – (too genial)* |
| 26 | LEA(R.(R.R.))NED |
| 27 | NODULAR – l in (around)*. This took me ages because of my getting 15dn wrong. |
| Down | |
| 1 | HI TOFF |
| 2 | P HAR(d) A OH |
| 3 | T REA(SURE)R |
| 4 | CARBON CYCLE |
| 5 | SEE(m) |
| 6 | CAST(l)E |
| 7 | BLU(E)T IT. The question arises how common a foreign word needs to be before it can be used in a crossword. I’d have thought “blut” was at the edge of acceptability, either just out or just in according to your point of view. |
| 8 | DOGWATCH – g in (what cod)* |
| 13 | C(REP)ITATION – a word that was new to me and which, according to Chambers anyway, means “crackling”, so the definition is difficult |
| 15 | INTERLARD – (later rind)*. I confidently wrote in “interlade”, which of course is impossible. Does the word even exist? |
| 16 | I STAN(d) BUL(k) |
| 18 | POD AGRA. Had to look this up, but now I realise that I’ve come across it before. |
| 19 | OWN G(O)AL |
| 20 | V O(YE)UR |
| 22 | ORT ON. “Ort” for “small piece” seems a rather unusual word for a broadsheet cryptic. Will Joe Orton eventually be remembered more for his extraordinary lifestyle or for his frequency in crosswords than for his plays? |
| 25 | GO(O)D I think, where “promoting health” = “good”. |
‘Greek heroine and source of Latin, one with a shred of doubt’ looks like it ought to be
AND/ ROME/ A/D
which is slightly pedantic of me, as ‘one’ (the second A) WITH ‘shred of doubt’ (the D presumably – although you could, one supposes, choose from all 5 ‘shreds’) doesn’t necessarily specify an order.
Enjoyed this puzzle, good as always from Phi. The order of the A D in Andromeda worried me a bit too but ‘with’ can mean either way, I guess, though I’d not like to be faced with such a choice on a regular basis. While you do not see it often in the daily cryptics I think convention has established “bit of , shred of” etc etc as the first letter of the word.
I agree completely with Nmsindy and with Jon regarding BLUT.
So do I, as implied.
Nice relief after yesterday’s. All done in 15 minutes with no recourse to dictionaries or other aids.
I didn’t have any problem with BLUT.
“Ort” is my favourite disused short English word, and I use it often to encourage its revival. It means “left-overs” or “crumbs”. “Do you want my ort?” “Eat up your ort.” “I’ll clear away the ort.” etc. It’s short and lovely. Use it today!
Yes, we all ort to use it.
Aorta. Aorta builda harba bridge.