I found this pretty tough going, not least because I completely failed to see what was going on until very late on. The theme is the Old Testamant (6D), books of which can be found scattered around the grid. I counted 7 after a quick Wiki (Job, Genesis, Kings, Ruth, Numbers, Samuel and Judges). I guess that 3D is also related. Not sure if John, Peter and Agnes have any thematic connection, though they all appear elsewhere in The Bible I’m sure.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | JERICHO – A reference to the Biblical battle (as described in the OT) | |
| 5 | SET FAIR – SET,FAIR | |
| 9 | BARBARISM – BARB + IS in ARM | |
| 11 | POULT – “You”,L in POT | |
| 12 | SHELL TOP – HE’LL in STOP | |
| 14 | STREAK – R in STEAK | |
| 17 | ROMANS – A nice double def. ‘Roman’ is the French word for novel | |
| 22 | FLAVOUR – L in FAVOURS | |
| 22 | AGNES – [-champ]AGNES – The ‘doesn’t sound like that!’ part presuambly refers the fact that the name AGNES is pronounced “AG-NESS”, whereas the drink sounds like “SHAM PAIN” | |
| 25 | ODOUR – O,DOUR | |
| 29 | DATA SET – AT AD rev.,SET | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | JOB – A crime as in ‘bank job’ | |
| 2 | RORQUAL – Hidden in feaR OR QUALms | |
| 3 | CHAPTER AND VERSE – (ADVENT PREACHER’S)* | |
| 4 | OTIOSITY – (IS IT TOO)*,[-da]Y – A new word for me | |
| 5 | SAMUEL – (US MALE)* | |
| 6 | THE OLD TESTAMENT – Our theme. ‘Willing’ as in writing a (last) will (and testament) | |
| 7 | ABALONE – AB,ALONE – ‘turns to..’ doesn’t seem to sit right here as no part of the clue involves a reversal | |
| 8 | RUTH – RUT,H | |
| 11 | PETER – Ref. Beatrix Potter and Prokofiev | |
| 16 | CLOSETED – CLOSE,TED | |
| 16 | MALCOLM – CO in MALL,M | |
| 20 | GENESIS – (SEEING)*,S[-ummer] | |
| 27 | POT – P,OT | |
7 Down I think “turns to” may mean “becomes” here.
Romans is also a book in the NT.
I wasn’t really very convinced by shell top – “he will cut and finish outside garment”. Assuming “outside garment” is the definition, it’s really “he will cut finish”. How you justify the “and” ? That threw me off the scent completely.
12ac if ‘garment’ is the definition, might it not be read as,
‘he will cut’ = HE’LL
‘and finish outside’ S(HELL)TOP
Yes, it could be the (somewhat optional) ellipsis indicator.
It might not be ‘somewhat optional’ at The Times, whence (spiritually) comes the boy Virgilius.
Could someone please explain 9a a bit more thoroughly for dumbos like me?
9A Spike is inserted in weapon, showing such savagery (9) BARBARISM
BARB (Spike) then IS (inserted in) ARM (weapon); whole thing means savagery.