Easier than usual from Chifonie.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | ORNAMENT | OR NAME NT (New Testament) |
| 9 | EBONY | E BONY |
| 11 | LIBERATION | LIBATION around ER |
| 12 | ASHRAM | A SH RAM – a Hindu hermitage |
| 14 | LORRAINE | LORE around RAIN |
| 17 | SHRIVER | Is a confessor – banker=RIVER, but how does used=SH? Second Hand, thanks to Geoff |
| 20 | ADAMS ALE | AD A M SALE |
| 22 | RIGGER | [t]RIGGER |
| 23 | TINSELTOWN | (let Winston)* |
| 24 | DEAL | can be a softwood, and also handle in the sense of deal with. |
| 25 | GLEAN | G LEAN |
| 26 | SCARFACE | SCARF ACE. Heh. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TRAVESTY | TRY=go, around A VEST |
| 3 | BEDLAM | BED LAM |
| 5 | PETRARCH | rev(ART) in PERCH |
| 6 | BOAT RACING | BOA TRACING |
| 7 | TYCOON | (COY)* in the middle, but I don’t get the rest |
| 13 | RINGMASTER | RING M ASTER. Is M the biblical abbreviation for Mark? |
| 18 | ELEGANCE | E LEG (=on, in the cricket sense) AN CE |
| 19 | REMORSE | RE=touching in the sense of concerning, I think, MORSE the inventor |
| 21 | DOINGS | DO (sign)* |
| 22 | RUNWAY | RUN[a]WAY |
| 24 | DAFT | D AFT |
17a SH = second hand = used
Did anyone get 2 Down? Managed the rest of it, but just can’t get the sense of this one
2d ‘vain’ = worthless. Homophone of ‘vein’ = mineral seam.
2dn = VAIN, homophone of VEIN
Edit: sorry Geoff.
PS with solutions now freely available on the guardian site (I assume, I am still logged in), is it still worth omitting answers?
just been given the answer to 2 down by my colleague sitting next to me ‘VAIN’ (in case anyone else needs it)
9A “spare”=BONY??
In 17 ac, used = secondhand – SH (The abbreviation is probably used in classified ads)
Geoff, sorry for the repetition in explanation.
We read the blog and then we notice the question. We then think and frame an answer in our mind. We also see “No comments” and click on it to provide our response. But, alas, meanwhile we have been anticipated!
Lesson that I have learnt: After having stayed on the page even for a few moments, refesh it to see if a comment has appeared in those seonds that ticked by!
Testy
‘spare’ and ‘bony’ as in ‘thin’
The expression “He is of spare frame” occurred to me.
The lesson that I learnt above – of refreshing the page and scanning the comments – saved me from a mere repetition!
M is prob. from Mark as in Deutsche Mark.
Manehi, in 13d I think M for “Mark” refers to the German currency.
In 7d, TON is “fashion; people of fashion” according to Chambers, from the French. (This is fairly common in crosswords, I think – at least I’ve seen it a couple of times before.)
I get fed up with the increasing use of an initial letter for just about any word. “M” isn’t short for deutschmark, DM is.
And though I solved it, since when is a river a banker? OK it has banks, but so does a high street. And a lane has hedges, but does that make it a hedger?
All in all this has a few examples of setter trying to stretch cryptics too far; examples
– marketing = sale?
– lean = rest?
So can anyone explain 7 down then?
7dn is COY* in TON (see comment 12)
Thanks 😉
Banker = river, butter = goat, etc.
These are standard (mildly amusing) diversionary tactics used by composers – just get used to it…
chris, they might have been mildly amusing once but now they are cliches.
Crosswordese is cliche, and it’s how it’s used that makes for a good or indifferent, ah solving experience. So if ‘banker’ or ‘flower’ can contribute to a real humdinger of a misleading surface, I’m all for it.
They may be cliches, but at least rivers do flow and goats do butt. But rivers don’t bank.