After yesterday’s slog, a more enjoyable offering from Sleuth for my scheduled blog this week. One or two words or usages I had not come across before (boss, Jewry) but otherwise fairly straightforward.
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Across
1 BOSSA NOVA BOSS (excellent) A AVON (a river, a flower) reversed
6 RECAP RE (about) CAP (international) – in many sports an international player receives a cap
9 TARTLET ART (skill) LE (the, French) in TT (dry, tea total)
10 HALIBUT [m]ALIBU (surfing place without money) in H T (hard time)
11 NOVEL V (verse) in NOEL (festive celebration)
12 ESPERANTO *(NEAT PROSE)
14 EEL LEE (General) reversed – take your pick between General Robert E Lee (American Civil War) or General Lee, the Dodge Charger in the Dukes of Hazzard. This probably depends on the era in which you were brought up.
15 CHARISMATIC *(SMART CHIC A I) – the ‘I’ being ‘a touch of individualism’
17 REDISCOVERY SIDE (team) reversed C (caught) in ROVER (car) Y (unknown)
19 SIR hidden word in ‘ethicS I Revered’
20 LONG EATON LONG (extensively) EATON (a homophone of ‘eaten’, enjoyed by diners) – you have either heard of this town about 9 miles SW of Nottingham or you haven’t. Despite extensive travelling around the UK in my younger days, I hadn’t so I had to resort to Google for confirmation.
22 LEMUR LE MUR (the wall, French)
24 EN SUITE SUIT (clothing) in [r]ENE (Frenchman not right)
26 JEWELRY E (English) L (Latin) in JEWRY – to save you looking it up (as I had to), ‘Jewry’ is ‘the Jewish world, community or religion’
27 THYME homophone of ‘time’ (season)
28 HEYERDAHL HEYER DAHL (two authors) – Georgette Heyer, known for her historic romance novels and detective fiction, and Roald Dahl, the writer of many children’s books. Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian explorer, archaeologist and anthropologist, probably best remembered for his 4300 mile trip from South America to the Taumotu Islands (Polynesia) in 1947 on a raft called Kon-Tiki which was made from balsa wood.
Down
1 BATON NO TAB (without loop) reversed
2 SHRIVEL SHRIVER with ‘R’ changed to ‘L’ – Pam Shriver is probably not the first former tennis star to come to mind, even if you have been a fan of the sport
3 ALL BLACKS A LL (couple of lines) L (league) in BACKS (defenders) – The All Blacks are New Zealand’s Rugby Union national team. Now we’re talking, a ‘proper’ sport! It’s a pity this had to be spoilt by an association football reference 🙂 Backs in football generally defend but in RU they are primarily there to attack.
4 ON THE WAY OUT *(TONE H) WAY OUT (eccentric)
5 ASH [b]ASH
6 RULER cd
7 CABINET TEN (figure) I BAC[k] (largely support) reversed
8 PATROL CAR cd – hands up those who initially put in ‘police car’ and then found the NE corner impossible to complete 🙂
13 PRIDE AND JOY P (quiet) DEAN (college official) in RID (free) JOY (woman)
14 ENROLMENT *(LEN MENTOR) – initially I though that ‘registration’ would have been a better clue definition but Chambers does give ‘register’ as one of the definitions of ‘enrolment’
16 MAYFLOWER cd – MAY FLOWER (potential to reach peak)
18 DYNASTY DY (drearily empty) NASTY (unpleasant)
19 SOMALIA SO (very good) MALI (African country) A
21 ELITE E (back of fridge) LITE (not high in calories)
23 ROYAL LAY (amateur) OR (men) reversed
25 ETH [m]ETH[s] – meths is an abbreviation for methylated spirits
26a – cf the Christmas hymn : ‘Unto us a child is born.’
One verse reads-
‘A prince’ he said , ‘in Jewry.’
All the little boys he killed
In Bethlehem in his fury.’
Thank you for Heyerdahl – he had me stuck.
Thanks for educating me Octofem. I won’t go into my religious beliefs (or rather lack of them). Suffice to say that, apart from the occasional wedding or funeral, it has been 40+ years since I have been in a church, yet alone attended a carol service.
Gaufrid,
Thanks.
The General Lee was, of course, named after General Lee, so they’re really the same.
And Roald Dahl was, of course, the British “sex spy” tasked with seducing various highly placed American women in the effort to persuade the US to enter the war (per the fascinating recent article in the Telegraph). Yes, the same as the children’s author!
More seriously, why is it appropriate to clue “so” as “very good” rather than simply “very” in 19d?
Because one of the definitions for ‘so’ in Chambers is ‘very good’ not simply ‘very’.
Pleasing puzzle, on the easy side, and yes, I did enter POLICE CAR first.
Thanks to you