Solving time, 22 mins
* = anagram
ACROSS
1 SA (DIS) T
4 S (TACK) S
8 KISMET (mistake)* less a (top grade)
9 WEAK SPOT cf ‘speak wot’ , I think
10 SPA NIARD (drain)* good seamless join at European/resort
11 TR (ASH)Y
12 LANCASHIRE (Charles Ian)*
13 KOHL Double definition (Helmut and make-up)
15 PERM Another double definition
17 IN GOOD PART and another
20 A M (END) S MS = manuscript
22 AFTER ALL
23 A LIEN AGE
24 A W (N) ING
25 HEARTS Football team from Edinburgh
26 ST UP OR
DOWN
1 SAILP LANE (Pal is)*
2 DEMO NIC(e)
3 SA (sex appeal) = the allure of women TRAPS
5 TOASTIE (is to eat)* Doctor (vb) indicates the anagram
6 CO’S SACK
7 S LOTH
9 WEDDING CAKE Cryptic definition
14 HA (R) D LINER r = sailor finally (last letter)
16 MAN DELA (lead)* &lit
17 INSTA NT (stain)* New Testament
18 OUT LAST
19 PAR SNIP
21 MU (L) CH
I wonder if I’m the only one to find 9ac – “Weak Spot” – unsatisfying?
“Say what” is a halfway house between an actual Spoonerism and two words which, when changed, yield a Spoonerism. You have to change “say” but not “what”.
That’s coupled with what seems to me a very weak definition: I wouldn’t expect to derive “weak spot” from “could be the cause of a breakdown” in a hurry.
I suppose you could say that 9a was the weak spot in the clues.
I thought 20a a bit weak, too. ‘End’ is a bit tenuous as a synonym for ‘margin’. Although Chambers gives ‘fragment, an odd piece’ among the meanings of ‘end’ I wouldn’t say that really corresponds to ‘margin’.
Allan
“‘End’ is a bit tenuous as a synonym for ‘margin’.”
One of the definitions in Collins for both ‘margin and ‘end’ is ‘limit’. COED also defines ‘margin’ as ‘the furthest reach or limit’ which similarly equates with ‘end’.