Today it was the bottom right-hand corner that gave me the most trouble, but apart from that I found this one mostly quite easy. A couple of explanations I’m not totally happy with – confirmation or alternatives welcome!
dd = double definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ISOLATE | I SO LATE | |
| 9 | PIPIT | PI in PIT | Not sure if I’ve got this right – presumably it’s because pi is the ‘relationship’ between the circumference and diameter of a circle. Any better ideas? |
| 10 | GANGPLANK | GANG P LANK | |
| 11 | SIAMESE CAT | (MEET CASSIE)* | |
| 14 | HISTRIONICS | (INSIST CHOIR)* | |
| 18 | BITTER LEMON | (BOTTLE MINER)* | |
| 21 | TAIL | T + AIL | ‘Pain’ is a verb in the wordplay |
| 22 | ESPADRILLE | E + RILL in SPADE | Using the crosswordism of Rill = stream = thing with banks = banker |
| 25 | ISINGLASS | I SING LASS | |
| 26 | ARROW | AR ROW | A quarrel is an arrow used in a crossbow |
| 27 | GIMMICK | I in GM + MICK | |
| 28 | TEST ACT | SET< + TACT | The Test Acts of 1673 and 1678 were ‘for preventing dangers which may happen from popish recusants’. |
| Down | |||
| 1 | IMPOSE | IMP + (h)OSE | |
| 2 | ORPHAN | PH in ORAN | A port in Algeria |
| 3 | AT THE WHEEL | A TT HEW HEEL | |
| 4 | EAGLE | BEAGLE minus its “head” | In golf, an Eagle is one better than a Birdie, i.e. 2 under par |
| 5 | PENTAGRAM | TAG in PEN RAM | Again, we need to read “crowd” as a verb to interpret it as RAM. |
| 7 | SPARE RIB | S PARER I B(ought) | |
| 13 | CORNERWAYS | CORNER WAYS | I presume the word means “diagonally” – if so, it’s a new one on me. |
| 15 | SALES TALK | ALES in STALK | |
| 17 | STOICISM | IS in SITCOM* | |
| 19 | GLORIA | dd | It took me ages to realise the explanation of this: the Gloria is part of the “Ordinary” of the Catholic Mass |
| 20 | PEEWIT | WEEP< + IT | Almost opposite its fellow bird PIPIT in the grid |
I got completely hung up on that corner,too: I could only think of ‘cornerwise’, which didn’t fit with Test Act, which was obviously right, and didn’t manage to think laterally enough to get ‘arrow’. [I couldn’t find ‘cornerways’ in any of my dictionaries but did finally find it online.]
9ac: I had PIPIT, too, for the same reason. I remember seeing pi as a relationship before.
‘GLORIA’ had me stumped – thanks for explanation. Had ‘PENTAGRAM’, but couldn’t see the ‘crowd’.
P.S. (!) Could 15d not be SALES TACK – so that we have ‘stack’ for straw? Either version seems possible.
As a result of the formatting style by Andrew, the blogger, the text gets cut off on the right side.
I don’t know if this is peculiar to my computer, or if it holds true for everybody.
A banker being a ‘rill’ is a bit mean. I’ll commit that one to memory then, in case it comes up again.
I’m well and truly stuck on 12a. Can only think it’s ‘mein’, but can only think of chinese food or Mein Kampf as a meaning! Help?
Ah, I may have it. Is it ‘a’ (for one) in men, so ‘mean’ means close?
Mart, how about mean for 12a
Barbara, sorry about the formatting problems – it seems OK to me in both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox: what operating system and browser are you using? (The two grey bars at the side – which bloggers have no control over – have a fixed width, so take up a disproportionate amount of space if the browser window is quite narrow.)
Mart, in case you haven’t already realised, the convention is that we always omit a few clues from the daily puzzles, so as not to deprive the papers of income from the premimum rate helplines (has anyone here ever used one of them?). However, as others have already said, 12ac is indeed MEAN = stingy = close, wordplay A in MEN.
Yes Mart, Mean=Close in the sense that if you are very close with your money then you are mean with it (or, as my apparently walletless accountant brother would have it – you’re “careful” with it).
Thanks folks.
I think crook for corner is a bit too far. I never hid in a crook or found the crooking on my car sublime at speed…but it was probably because it meant I didn’t get the final clue which is always annoying.
Tom, a crook can be a bend or turn in a road according to my dictionary, so I think that’s fair enough.
Mart, banker=rill/stream/river is classic crosswordese – mean to a novice, perhaps, but you’ll soon get used to such devices – to the point where you groan when you see them. “Flower” (as in something that flows) is another common euphemism for river.
d.
Two days on the run it was the NW corner that held me up. Finished 11pm last night. Had the ‘ose for ‘obgoblin’s stockings early on but just couldn’t get the rest for ages.
Probably won’t get a reply to this, because it’s a day too late, but I only got round to finishing the crossword today, and I didn’t buy the paper, so can’t check the answers. What was 5ac? I know it’s something blindingly obvious, but all I can see is parasol and that doesn’t make any sense. Here’s hoping someone sees this. btw, I love this site, and the comments.
are you still taking comments?
i was going great guns until about halfway through, especially with all those nice anagrams but then got very stuck. things like 26A, 28A and 20D very obscure but i also missed some blindingly obvious ones. thanks for the explanations. 5a is PERU’S A L = examination. Bug can someone explain 16D?
16D
Facilitation = abetting; A BETTING (price) as in “the betting for a horse in a race is the price for that horse”.