I found this tough going for a mid-week puzzle. I’ve never come across a few of the answers before and some clues are still a bit baffling.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | ZULU – As in the phonetic alaphabet X-Ray, Yankee, Zulu |
| 9 | INTERFERON – INTER,FE,RON – A nice clue, though ‘footballers’ for INTER is fairly vague, especially when the word itself isn’t exactly commonplace |
| 10 | ?P?O?E – Not sure on this one. Clue is “End of allegiance after mates do this?”. Am guessing it’s &lit, but that’s about as far as I’ve got! |
| 11 | ACCURSED – R in ACCUSED – Again, not a hugely common word |
| 12 | NEPALESE – PALES in NEE |
| 14 | LENGTH – L is the third letter of ZULU in 8A (and short for LENGTH) |
| 16 | ISLE – [-a]ISLE |
| 17 | SHEAR – A in (Sir Antony) SHER. Had never heard of him! |
| 19 | DRIVEL – Driver, with R swapped for L |
| 21 | TEA TOWEL – Nice defnition here (‘Drink dry’) |
| 22 | ECLECTIC – C in ELECT,IC – Not very often you see this word used as a noun |
| 26 | CRESOL – (CLOSER)* – Another fairly obscure word |
| 28 | TINY – TI[-n]NY |
| Down | |
| 1 | SUPPRESSOR – SUP,PRESS,OR |
| 2 | AUTOMATE – AUTO,MATE |
| 3 | MISERE – MISER,E – An easy word no doubt if you play cards, but it took me a while to spot it |
| 4 | STOA – Not sure on this one. STOA is a covered collonade, but can’t work out the wordplay |
| 5 | ORACULAR – RA in OCULAR – Again, hardly a word I use every day |
| 6 | NEURON – (O’ER NUN)* |
| 15 | TORPEDOING – (POINTER DOG)* – Good clue, though quite tricky to work out the anagram |
| 17 | SPLIT PEA – SP (starting price),LIT,PE,A |
| 18 | AMORETTO – MORE in [-t]ATTO[-o] |
| 19 | VIEWER – VIEW,RE rev. |
| 22 | ALCOTT – C in (TOTAL)* – Louisa May |
| 24 | CARR – CARR[-ot] – A new word for me |
| 25 | CRAM – Double definition of “The Jarrow Arrow” |
10A is OPPOS(mates)+E
4D is TO in SA
I had to look at 7D on the web. I’ve never seen A-ONE written out and I can’t work out the word play.
OPPOS E and S(TO)A, I think. Some very inventive clueing – hard, but I was helped by the dedication such as often appears in Mordred puzzles.
ANYONE less NY, I think
7d I think is A(ny)one, i.e. without New York.
Doesn’t 16a break the cardinal rule regarding capitalisation?
I think inch is a general name for an island so I’d say 16ac is OK if that’s the point being made.
Thanks NMS, I should’ve checked. Mordred’s been around too long to be breaking rules!
Who are Samson and Dolly, and why did they choose Oz to get hitched?
Or Holly even!
It looks like another personal message in the grid. I don’t think I would have spotted it, but 7 down looked so odd (_O_E generates an awful lot of other possibilities) that I figured there must be a Nina – which then helped with that and the other remaining clues. Whoever they are, their union is truly blessed now!
Sorry, yes, Holly. When I do the puzzle on the web (saves me a trip to the newsagent) it’s easy to forget what I’ve just seen – or am I stupid? Is there a way of keeping both 15squared and the puzzle pages up at the same time?
Last Friday (13th) someone commenting on my Nimrod blog explained how it could be printed out.
Samson is my eldest son. Holly is Australian. I had to overcome my fear of flying to get there so I was determined to celebrate in print. Thanks for all the comments. Mordred
Dammit! I shouldn’t put comments on so late. Sam is my youngest son. Mordred
It’s a hell of a long row otherwise, mate.