An excellent themed puzzle for Valentine’s Day where the keyword – HEART – was unclued and appeared, appropriately, in the middle of the grid.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | SA(CRE)D |
| 9 | STUN,TM,[-?]AN – not sure what word “act not initially observed” indicates. [Edit: thanks to beermagnet for explaining where the AN comes from] |
| 10 | AC(H)E |
| 11 | OP,(PERSON IN)* – OPEN PRISON |
| 12 | BUS,ON,I |
| 14 | B(L)EE,DIN,G – Phi gives the definition a question mark, just to be extra fair I guess, as the COED defines a “bleeding heart” as someone perceived as excessively “soft-hearted or liberal”. I think it’s certainly the case that when certain newspapers use the phrase, they use it to mean liberal. I did wonder what “collective effort” had to with BEE, but I suppose that’s where spelling bee comes from. |
| 15 | STUD[-y] |
| 18 | [-c]ABLE (reversed) |
| 20 | F(LOR)ENCE |
| 23 | ANG(L)ER – I wondered how the definition could be “one could show” before realising that the clue is an &lit. |
| 24 | (DINNER IS UP)* – UNINSPIRED |
| 26 | B[-l]AKE |
| 27 | GLASS EYE – don’t understand how this works. “No vision in this” could be the def, in which case I can see the wordplay, or maybe it’s a cryptic def? |
| 28 | C(R)ANNY |
| Down | |
| 1 | LAW COURT – sounds like “lore caught”. |
| 2 | F(R)EE – this is another “with 16” clue but I don’t think I’ve heard of “heart free” or “free heart”. |
| 3 | A,D(M)ON,IS,H |
| 4 | I,SLE[-?] – again, not sure what word is indicated by “put away endless”. |
| 5 | PURPLE – can’t work out the wordplay for this either: “Pal without one blocking fine medal with 16”. |
| 6 | STRIN(BED)*,R,G – STRINDBERG |
| 7 | LA,GO ON |
| 13 | (ASKS FOR END)* – [Heart] OF DARKNESS, Joseph Conrad’s excellent short novel, on which the film Apocalypse Now was (loosely) based. |
| 14 | B,RAVE – Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson, was described by one historian as a film which “almost totally sacrifices historical accuracy for epic adventure”. |
| 17 | T(A CRUDE)*T – TEAR DUCT |
| 19 | B(RE)AKING |
| 21 | [-a]L(ONE]LY |
| 22 | NAP,IE,R – why is he the “King’s mathematician”? [Edit: d’oh, he’s not. King = R, as nmsindy pointed out] |
| 25 | REEF – “free” with the “f” moved. |
| 26 | BE(A)T |
5 PURPLE P(a)L in PURE, I think. 21 NAP IE R (king) GLASS EYE is cryptic definition, I think, as you suggest.
9 The AN at the end are from the initial letters of Act Not
I too hadn’t heard of “free heart”, but googling comes up with a link to http://www.thefreeheart.com leading to (among other things) a poem by one Annette Knoop. Never heard of her, either. So still none the wiser.
2 Down was intended to be heart-free, which is in Chambers.
As you’re looking in Eimi have you a comment on 4D I,SLE[?]
I too can’t think of a “SLE?” that means “put away”.
Originally I thought it was SLEEP but that doesn’t seem right.
4d ‘put away’ = kill or killed = slew
Thanks Geoff. Would you believe I actually looked up “sley” earlier to see if it is an acceptable spelling of “slay” (it isn’t, it is another word entirely) but never thought of “slew” !