Solid stuff as ever from Phi, though I admit to being stumped by a couple of clues in the NE corner and the anagram down the right hand side which I just couldn’t piece together. The above-average number of less common words often hints at a Nina or pangram, but there’s a few letters missing for the latter and nothing I can see for the former.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | IMPRESSIONISTIC – (MONETS IRIS PIC IS)* |
| 9 | EYRIE – I in (Jane) EYRE |
| 10 | CONTUMELY– CON,TUM,ELY – One of the ones that stumped me. Looks like an adverb, but is a noun meaning (as clued) ‘scornful insolence’. ‘See’ for ELY is classic devious crossword stuff, which is why I always forget it! |
| 11 | PECCADILLOS – (SPECIAL COLD)* |
| 13 | TEA – TEA[-m] |
| 16 | PRE-WARM – PRE-WAR,M – ‘Ready’ used as a verb here |
| 17 | EMS – [-h]EMS |
| 18 | EATING APPLE – A,TIN,GAP in (PEEL)* |
| 21 | CRAPULOUS – RAP in CU,LOUS[-e] |
| 24 | DOUBLE PNEUMONIA – D,(ONE UNABLE,OPIUM)* |
| Down | |
| 1 | SPUR – SPUR[-t] |
| 2 | GENEVA – GEN,AVE rev. |
| 3 | PSYCHICS – CHIC in PS and YS (the limits of ‘PlaceS’ and ‘YearS’) |
| 5 | LIQUESCE – L,QUES[-t] in ICE – Another I struggled with, as I’ve not come across the word before |
| 8 | CLYTAEMNESTRA T in (MALE ANCESTRY)* – Even with all the checking letters, no combination of letters seemed to make anything sensible here (and it still looks odd now). Probably quite easy if you know that she was Agamemnon’s better half |
| 12 | CHELSEA BUN– NOt sure on all of this one. ‘The Blues’ gives us CHELSEA, but not sure how to get BUN |
| 15 | IREFULLY – I,REF,[-b]ULLY |
| 16 | PUNISHED – PUN,I,SHED |
| 19 | TROUPE – U in E,PORT rev. |
| 22 | MINX – N in MIX |
12D I think is ([-t]HE BLUES CAN)* , i.e. (THE BLUES CAN)* suggests this cake (CHELSEA BUN) with time (T). The “Blues” I presume is also intended to hint at the football team.
12d is an anagram with T taken out.
I messed up intially by entering (s)URGE at 1d and cursing the (to me unknown) setter for “curtailing” the first letter. It was quickly corrected since 7a was a very clear anagram.
I stuck the letters of 8d into an anagram solver 🙁
5d I’d not come across LIQUESCE before either yet I know the word “deliquesce” very well. Some fungi deliquesce, ie turn to liquid, as the age.
A bit harder than usual from Phi and I did have to look up 8 down, though it looked likely from the start that it was an anagram. LIQUESCE was new to me also, but I managed to work it out from the wordplay which is always pleasing. PRE-WARM was my last and very good, I thought, though a small bit of the 1930s was not pre-war…
I also liked 6d as an example of a good cryptic definition and the way “Green felt…” hid the break between definition and word play in 7d.
8d had me confused for a bit as the ususl(?) spelling is Clytemnestra according to Brewer.