A bit of a mixed bag from Mudd today. Some good clues and one or two where I am a little less than happy with the wordplay or definition. Nothing too difficult and a gentle start to the day.
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Across
1 OUTCLASS – I found equating ‘off form’ with ‘outclass’ a bit of a stretch
6 AMBUSH AM (comes before PM) BUSH (US President)
9 SCRAWL S (scribe’s initial) CRAWL (a swimming stroke)
10 IMPERIAL IMP (rogue) E (English) RIAL (Iranian currency)
11 ARAB A BAR (restriction) reversed
12 BAKING SODA A KINGS (a college) in BOD (person) A – you need to be ‘of an age’ to equate baking soda with a cleaning agent since this definition is not given in any of the dictionaries I have available. The usual definition is just ‘sodium bicarbonate’ which in turn is defined as being ‘used in baking-powder or as an antacid digestive remedy’. Collins does extend the range of uses to ‘fire extinguishers’ but again these don’t ‘clean’
14 STURGEON T (end of scarlet) in SURGEON (knife wielder)
16 FOPS F (fellow) OPS (works)
18 PLEA LEAP (jump) with last letter moved to the beginning (rear first)
19 PICAROON *(CAPRI) [s]OON
21 DISNEYLAND *(SEND IN LADY) – I have never been, but I doubt that Disneyland would ‘entertain’ me 🙂 Perhaps my grandchildren?
22 GOSH GO (become) SH (quiet) – it surprised me a little to find that ‘go’ is defined as ‘to become, or to become as if’ in Chambers
24 IGNORANT *(TRAIN ON G) – ‘G’ being the centre letter of ‘Hungary’
26 MOTHER M (male) OTHER (different)
27 BOOBOO BOO (shocker) BOO (shocker)
28 RE-CREATE *(TREE CARE)
Down
2 ULCER hidden word in ‘painfUL CERtainly’
3 CHAMBERLAIN *(CAN HE M BLAIR) – ‘M’ being the first letter of ‘mess’ – Arthur Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister from 1937 to 1940, probably best remembered for his claim to have brought ‘peace for our time’ following his return from signing the Munich Agreement
4 AD-LIBBER *(I DABBLE R) – ‘R’ being provided by ‘reading’, one of the three Rs – a pleasing double use of ‘improvising’
5 STICKING-PLASTER STICKING (putting) P (prince) LAST (to the rear) ER (queen) – I rather like the definition ‘cut security’!
6 ALPINE PIN (flag, in golf) in ALE (bitter, a type of beer) – a poor definition here. Alp is a ‘mountain’, both nouns. Alpine is an adjective, ‘of or relating to a high mountain’ or ‘growing on mountain tops’
7 BAR dd
8 STAND UP TO *(PUTT AND SO)
13 SUFFRAGETTE RAGE (anger) TT (not taking drink) in SUFFE[r] (unending experience) – I wondered about the ‘force-fed woman’ but a bit of research indicated that the suffragettes were repeatedly imprisoned. This resulted in the notorious ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ in 1913 which allowed for the temporary release of suffragettes whose health was endangered by hunger striking and forcible feeding.
15 TALKING-TO T (last letter of fight) KING (man, chess piece) in ALTO (voice)
17 ACADEMIC dd – a neat clue!
20 DYNAMO O (old) MANY (scores) D (send finally) all reversed
23 SCENT S (shilling) CENT (coin) – ‘inferior’ in this case indicating ‘under’
25 ORB OR (yellow) B (black) – ‘or’ is more usually associated with gold but it can also mean ‘yellow’