*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone
A gentle start to Christmas week from Dac with some well-written and enjoyable clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Aer Lingus: (singlur + E[ire])*. |
| 6 | Scrub: First letters of spring cleaning + rub. |
| 9 | Hectare: He + care around t[his]. |
| 10 | Managed: Aged with man in front of it. |
| 11 | Spa[m] |
| 12 | Unconcerned: Un + concern + ed. |
| 14 | Rudest: duster*. |
| 15 | Proposal: Pro + PO (petty officer) + sa[i]l. |
| 17 | Gardenia: (dig area)* around n. |
| 19 | Groggy: double definition. |
| 22 | Newsletters: New setter’s around l. |
| 23 | Row: double definition. |
| 25 | Opinion: Op inn around I 0. |
| 27 | Travail: Trail around Va. |
| 28 | Hyena: Ha around yen. This was the only one I had slight doubts about, as the “bit of a laugh” seems to be doing double duty in providing both the definition and the “Ha”. Perhaps it’s intended to be an &literal. |
| 29 | Entremets: (resentme[n]t)*. This clue was very clever. Although it initially appears to be incorrect in that it should be something like “resentment without noon” rather than “resentment about noon”, it’s actually saying that if you take entremets plus n[oon], you can make resentment. |
| Down | |
| 1 | [G]ashes |
| 2 | Richard: RC around I + hard. |
| 3 | In a nutshell: cryptic/double definition. |
| 4 | Greece: hom. of “Grease” the musical. |
| 5 | Seminars: marine* in SS (the very common “on board ship” = “in SS”). |
| 6 | Sun: ‘s + even letters of funny. |
| 7 | Regents: ER< on top of gents. |
| 8 | Bo Diddley: Boy around diddle. |
| 13 | Empire State: (is temperate)*. Empire state is either one of the original 13 US colonies or a nickname for New York state. |
| 14 | Rogan Josh: Roo’s around ganj[a] + h. Excellent misdirection in the use of pot and hot. |
| 16 | Distance: hidden in “Kurdistan certainly. |
| 18 | Rawhide: Raw + hide. If you’ve never heard of it, Rawhide was a Western TV series which gave Clint Eastwood his initial fame. |
| 20 | Garbage: Garage around b, with bachelor as a B here rather than the more usual BA. |
| 21 | Beat it: Cryptic/double def. One of the more amusing clues that might have made you think of rabbits’ reproductive behaviour but was actually referring to their propensity for hitting things (as in Thumper the rabbit). |
| 24 | Wales: Hidden and reversed in these lawbreakers. |
| 26 | ISA: I S[hilling] + a. |
I think 21 down was what you first thought of, Neal – it’s not just our filthy minds. Surely the subsidiary reading is ‘BE AT IT’ (as a rabbit is liable to be).
I think HYENA works as a + lit – the image of a hyena trying to stifle a laugh is possibly more from The Lion King than from nature, but still makes sense. 7 down was another with a very nice literal surface.
Can someone please explain who or what Rogan Josh is/was?
ROGAN JOSH It’s in Concise OED and Chambers tho not in Collins, I think. An Indian curry dish.
Ta for answer. No it’s not in Collins and I hate curries, so no wonder.
When you say ‘who or what’… there does seem to be an author called Josh Rogan, but I don’t know whether that’s a conscious choice of pen name or just coincidence.
I happened to come across this puzzle in a newsagents in Italy. Solved most of it, then checked the rest on 15sqd.
Many fewer comments than for a Guardian cryptic!