Another good puzzle from Neo. Some good cryptic definitions in this one.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LACHESIS LA (at Harfleur, “the”) + I in CHESS (game that targets king). One of the three Fates of Greek myth |
| 6 | GI JOES I (international) J (judge) in GOES |
| 9 | VIENNA VIE (fight) + ANN reversed (“girl over”) |
| 10 | AS IT WERE SIT in AWE (admiration) + RE (soldiers) |
| 11 | FLAY F (fellow) LAY (amateur) |
| 12 | UNDERSCORE d&cd, SCORE being 20. I am using “d&cd” to mean a double definition, one of which is cryptic. I think Gaufrid has pioneered this use. |
| 14 | IGNITION *(GOIN’ IN with IT) |
| 16 | NEED oNE (“one” with its “introduction denied”) ED (senior journalist) |
| 18 | ET AL LATE (behind schedule) reversed |
| 19 | DORMOUSE DO (party) + M (Mike) in ROUSE (wake). A Lewis Carroll reference |
| 21 | NECROPOLIS *(IN OLD CORPSE minus D) (“undead”) |
| 22 | SACK dd This was simple but elegant, I thought |
| 24 | BREZHNEV *(HaViNg BEER with Z) Zulu is Z in the NATO phonetic alphabet |
| 26 | AGE-OLD E in A GOLD (a metal) |
| 27 | THRONE Homophone of “thrown” |
| 28 | RESTRICT *(CRITTERS) A very natural surface |
| Down | |
| 2 | AXIAL A (very good) XI (side) AL (edges in “Ansell”) |
| 3 | HENRY MILLER cd The author of Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn |
| 4 | SEA QUAIL I think this is simply QUAIL (another similar bird) under SEA (“underwater”). If so, using QUAIL to generate SEA QUAIL in a charade is not very exciting. This has the feel of an editor’s late substitution |
| 5 | STAND AND DELIVER cd, and a nice one. Said by highwaymen to the travellers they accosted. Most famously, perhaps, by notorious lupin thief Dennis Moore. |
| 6 | GOITRE IT in GORE (coagulated blood) |
| 7 | JAW JA (European agreement) supported by W (Welsh) |
| 8 | ERRORLESS cd |
| 13 | CONNOISSEUR *(NERO’S COUSIN) By eerie coincidence, an extremely similar clue appears in today’s Chifonie in the Guardian |
| 15 | GO TO EARTH dd |
| 17 | TRESPASS SPA (resort) in TRESS (lock) |
| 20 | SPONGE dd |
| 23 | COLIC *(OIL) in CC (small measure) |
| 25 | ZOO Z (Zebra, this time from the RAF phonetic alphabet) OO (circles). The word zoo was originally a shortened form of “zoological garden” |
Hi Agentzero
I agree with you about 4dn. I spent a minute or two trying to work AQUA into the clue but decided there was nothing more to it than you suggest.
Hi Eileen. Yes, there were some opportunities with AQUA: maybe “Bring up stories about pale blue bird.”
Re similar anagrams in two crosswords today, please see my comment (No. 144) in Chat Room: General Crossword Discussion.
Re comment 1: it was the ‘under water’ that got me going on that.
Smiffy referred us to Dennis Moore a few days ago, with regard to lupins. I again urge you to look at the video, if you haven’t seen it already – or even if you have!
Completed after the Guardian so 13d a write in to get started. Got in a terrrible muddle with top right section as had IN RANK for 6a however with the conundrum of what I thought were conflicting 2 correct answers I went for JAW to be correct and started again. 3d did not know and I dont really like what I call general knowledge clues (as mine is not great especially literature) without another means of solving from the subsiduary parts. All sais enjoyable way to end the sfternoon