I cannot say I particularly enjoyed today’s puzzle, partly because there are two clues (1a and 3d) that I can’t fully explain. I will continue to work on these though I am not optimistic that I will get much further.
Edit: I have now parsed 3d and resolved 1a.
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Across
1 COMPARABLE COM[edy] PARABLE – at this stage I can only assume that the definition is ‘fit’ which could equate with ‘match’ and therefore ‘comparable’ but this does not account for the ‘to be pronounced’. The latter could be a homophone indicator but there is no need for one.
Edit: ‘to be pronounced’ is a homophone indicator. Checking Chambers has revealed a different pronunciation for ‘com’ in ‘comedy’ and ‘compare’.
7 DUCK dd
9 AGAR AGA R – ‘R’ as an abbreviation for ‘Royal’ is given in Collins but not Chambers or COED
10 CHELTENHAM CHE (revolutionary) N (new) in *(HAMLET) – a racecourse
11 INTERN homophone of ‘in turn’ (one after another)
12 CREVASSE REV ASS in CE
13 ACAPULCO A CAPUL[et] CO – ‘and’ in Latin is ‘et’
15 TACT hidden reversal in ‘faT CATs’
17 USER US[h]ER
19 PROTRUDE ROT in PRUDE
22 ELDORADO *(LAD RODE) O
25 CHATELAINE C[lasses] HATE A in LINE
26 TIED *(DIET)
27 URGE hidden in ‘foUR GEars’
28 CRENELLATE NELL in CREATE – to provide with battlements
Down
2 ORGANIC *(IN CARGO) – ‘structural’ is one of the definitions for ‘organic’ in Chambers
3 PARSE – another one I’m struggling to explain. The definition ‘resolve sentence’ is clear enough but ‘these 14’? ‘Par’ is part of the answer to 14d and ‘parse’ is a homophone of ‘pars’ but otherwise I just cannot see how this clue works.
Edit: 14d is ‘par for the’ so ‘of these 14? becomes ‘of these par for the’ which means replace ‘the’ in ‘these’ with ‘par’ to give ‘parse’.
4 RECENTLY CENT in RELY
5 BREACH OF PROMISE cd
6 ENTREE -‘AINTREE’ with ‘AI’ changed to ‘E’
7 DONCASTER DON CASTER – the racecourse where the St Leger (the oldest ‘classic’ race) takes place
8 CLASSIC C[hap] LASS IC
14, 23 PAR FOR THE COURSE PAR[r] FOR THE COURSE
16 CONCRETE CO *(CENTRE)
18 SULPHUR PLUS reversed HUR[t]
20 DESSERT TRESSED reversed
21 GARLIC – ‘GALLIC’ with the initial ‘L’ changed to ‘R’
24 UNTIL [ja]UNTIL[y]
3d, I don’t think parse and pars would sound alike, the S sound is different.
Hi Gaufrid – Could 3d read: ‘of these 14’ -the genitive ‘par’s’ ?
As to 1a, I presumed Satori simply meant – say ‘half of comedy’ plus ‘parable’ and you’ve said the answer.
Fletch – I can’t hear anything different when I say the two words!
I bet you have a regional accent, Octofern!
Well, there is certainly a trace of Geordie to be detected. So which word doesn’t have the ‘z’ sound? I know I used to get ‘greasy’ wrong!!!!
PS Have just looked up pronunciation of ‘Parse’ online. Both the ‘s’s sound and ‘z’ sound are given. Miriam-Webster gives the ‘Z’ as mainly British! Well, that I certainly am.
Parse is like farce, pars is like bars.
Well, in all the long years of my schooling, no teacher ever asked me to ‘parce’ a sentence. Would be interested to know experience of others.
I’ve just checked two dictionaries Octofern and the z sound’s given preference, you’re right!
Well well, I’ve been pronouncing it wrong all these years!
Sorry Fletch but I agree with Octofem. COED gives the pronunciation as ‘parz’ as does Chambers. Chambers does state ‘also pars’ but I have never heard the word pronounced this way.
3d Solved!!!
14d is ‘par for the’ so ‘of these 14’ becomes ‘of these par for the’ which means replace ‘the’ in ‘these’ with ‘par’ to give ‘parse’.
That’s a relief, Fletch. I was beginning to doubt myself or think you were perhaps American. One would think that the setter had used my pronunciation.
Congratulations, Gaufrid, on deciphering the complicated thinking in 3d. You would never have settled to your afternoon nap with it unresolved!
Thanks to all this talk about pronunciation I have now been able to resolve 1a. There is a need for a homophone indicator according to the pronunciation indicated in Chambers.
1A could the definition actually be “Fit to be pronounced like” i.e. if something is comparable with something else then it is fit to be proclaimed as being like it.
Thanks for the suggestion Testy. I did consider something along similar lines when I originally solved the puzzle but couldn’t justify it at the time.