Pretty good offering from Rufus: quite a few clues with a surprising twist in the surface. And not a cryptic definition in sight (OK, not many).
Across
| 1 | LUCIFER – two meanings: a well-known match company thus “striking example”. | |
| 9 | P,RESERVE – I liked the way “specially for game” defines RESERVE, however, didn’t know that P could abbreviate “perhaps”. Rufus himself points out that perhaps is part of the definition — and that as well as game reserves there are game preserves. Same difference. |
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| 12 | CHARTERHOUSE – HOURS* in TEACHER*. It’s a school I didn’t go to. | |
| 15 | COPENHAGEN – OPEN in change*; interestingly “round” is the anagrind not “change”. | |
| 19 | OWN – two meanings: my last clue (probably because I associate OWN up with concede rather than just OWN). | |
| 22 | LANDED GENTRY – an amusing cryptic definition. | |
| 26 | A,LB,I,ON | |
| 27 | IM(MODE)ST – MODE in mist* | |
| 29 | DETROIT=(tried to)* – another clever definition: “huge carport”. |
Down
| 1 | LAPS=”lapse” | |
| 2 | CH[i]EF | |
| 3 | FREE HAND – a fine surface | |
| 4 | [d]RIVER – ref. RIVER Tees | |
| 6 | CRECHE – a surprisingly clever clue that is sort of a double cryptic definition playing on the two meanings of “mind” (it’s a Brit kindergarten). | |
| 7 | CO,RNUCOPIA=(our panic)* | |
| 13 | SCHOOLDAYS – I fear I’m missing an allusion (e.g. Tom Brown’s SCHOOLDAYS — were they happy?) | |
| 14 | OPENING BAT – requisite cricket cryptic definition | |
| 16 | AVENGE – I think this is another (non-obvious) cryptic definition. | |
| 18 | STAR,TOUT | |
| 21 | RECOIL – definition is “kick” and I guess rewind and recoil are synonyms as well. | |
| 24 | HE,[i]RO]n | |
| 25 | STET – printing term (thus “impressive”) to reinstate something. |
13dn – refers to the saying that your schooldays are “the happiest days of your life”.
16dn – this seems to be almost a straight definition to me, except for the slight misdirection of “payment” and “account”.
Quick note to clarify 9 across: “p” is not being used for “perhaps” – the clue is a double definition. In Chambers, under GAME, it gives “Game preserve” defined as “A tract of land stocked with game preserved for sport or with protected wild animals”.
Interesting that both preserve and reserve can have the same meaning — thanks for the clarification.
Anyone got the answer for 8 down?
25dn – being a sub-editor by trade, I got STET from the definition but I didn’t get the significance of “impressive”. Thanks for the explanation. I feel silly.
Ursula – re 8dn, the definition part of the clue is “youngster”, if that helps – but think teenager rather than young child. It’s a 4-letter word meaning “unemployment benefit” inside a word meaning “rise”.
8d A DOLE SCENT
9 across
The term “game preserve” is in constant use and “preserve” was a “gimme”. Clearly, the term “reserve’ is frequently used to refer to a park or even a National Park where game are protected but I have never seen or heard the term “game reserve”.
Not that it’s definitive proof but google reports 1,900,000 hits for “game reserve” and “only” 198,000 for “game preserve” 🙂
Thanks Ilan. It’s proof enough for me. I’ll have to get out more!