This was a belter of a puzzle, with every clue containing the word ‘number’. The fact that this word can be interepreted in, ahem, a number of different ways (quantity, music, anaesthetic, etc.), coupled with the fact that this is the first day after a long weekend (drinking, lack of sleep, etc.), made for a pretty tough solve for me. Some grey areas along the way, but very entertaining, very clever stuff from Virgilius. 23D is as good a clue as you’ll see anywhere.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HIT LIST – Nice DD. ‘Numbers’ in the musical sense here | |
| 5 | AT ODDS – AT,ODDS | |
| 9 | SHEAF – Hidden in numberS HE AFterwards | |
| 10 | TWENTY SIX – 26 being the numbers of letters in the alphabet, and also 2 x a baker’s dozen, but not sure how that relates to ’11 minimally’ | |
| 11 | BAKERS DOZEN – 13 being ‘unlucky’ (for some!) | |
| 15 | TWENTIES – WENT in TIES | |
| 16 | STRAIN – R in STAIN | |
| 20 | RIGADOON – RIGA,DO,ON | |
| 22 | ANAESTHETIST – (IN THE STATE AS)* – One who numbs patients! | |
| 26 | EXISTENCE – SIX rev. + TEN in E,CE | |
| 28 | MELODY – DOLE rev. in MY | |
| 25 | STEVENS – I checked this online and it is right. I’m assuming it’s T in SEVENS and refers to ‘even stevens’ | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | TRES – 3 in Spanish, ‘very’ in French (and English if you like) | |
| 3 | INFRACTIONS – IN,FRACTIONS | |
| 4 | TETHERED – This feel like it should be THREE in TED, but isn’t, so I’m a bit puzzled | |
| 5 | AVERSE – A,VERSE | |
| 6 | TWO – OWT rev. | |
| 7 | DESPERADOS – (SPEARED)* in DOS | |
| 8 | AXIS – A,SIX rev. | |
| 12 | ON THAT SCORE – (NOT)*,HAT,SCORE | |
| 13 | OTTO – 8 in Italian, male name to Germans | |
| 17 | NINE – Not sure on this one. Does it relate to 10A? | |
| 18 | FIFTEENS – F in (SEEN FIT)* | |
| 22 | AXES – A,SEX rev. | |
| 23 | FIVE – F,IV,E – An outstanding clue. Has it been done before? Probably, yes, but I don’t think I’ve seen it | |
| 24 | XMAS – Had to check this online too, and presume it’s X,MAS, but unsure on the MAS part | |
| 26 | TWO – As represented by the ii in Pompeii. Very nice indeed | |
Great puzzle – I think the minimally is 2 13s i.e, 26 i.e. the fewest possible. X M AS (coin in Rome), I think NINE last two letters IX of 10 ac. You’re right about ‘even steven’
3 ETHER in TED!
A mind-numbing little number indeed… lots of nice touches like TWO and OWT symmetrically opposite. Nice 1 6rgilius!
Ah of course, ether = number. No real excuse for not seeing that one!
21. Shanty??
If this is the answer, what’s the wordplay?
Shanty, number of sailors as in sailors’ song and it’s a crude dwelling.
24d. Numbers of Romans taking a bit of their money for festival.Can someone please explain why it is XMAS?
This was explained in comment #1.
X M (Roman numbers, 10 and 1000) AS (a Roman copper coin)
what about 1 down?
host – bit slow there