Dac as usual shows his mastery. One or two things I’m not quite sure about but it’s more likely to be me than him.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SCRAPHEAP — (car)* in (shape)* {dum}p — I like this &lit., although perhaps the definition is a little loose |
| 6 | D{ecorate} 1 dup{lex} |
| 9 | {M}ORGAN — ref Piers Morgan, whose sacking from The Daily Mirror hasn’t quite resulted in a loss of fame |
| 10 | THES{e} TICKS |
| 11 | RE(A L)LY |
| 12 | BUNG A LOW |
| 14 | LOOK SNAPPY — OK ‘look snappy’ is ‘be quick’, and a photograph is a snap, but exactly how it all hangs together I’m not sure |
| 15 | excITEMent |
| 18 | REED — “read” — ref Carol Reed |
| 19 | FROST / NIX ON |
| 21 | HIGH CAMP — 2 defs |
| 23 | F(RIEN)D — Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 26 | TABLE WINE — (a bin we let)* |
| 27 | A BID E — initially this totally bewildered me, but closer inspection reveals that it is indeed 1 (one) and not I, so 1NT’s the bridge bid ‘one no trumps’ |
| 28 | {l}OVE{s} TT — although for how long we’ll all be familiar with Steve Ovett I’m not sure. I suppose he was an Olympic Gold medal winner, so may eventually justifiably pass into the category of ‘old athlete’ (see 22dn). |
| 29 | SPO(KEN F)OR — likewise Ken Livingstone, who is no doubt a boon to crossword setters but, although probably still well-known to Londoners, may increasingly be losing his fame elsewhere, particularly abroad. But because KEN is such a common letter-pattern he may well eventually become like Elia and Tree (Lamb and old actor). |
| Down | |
| 1 | {journey}S TOUR — I think Dac means ‘point’ to be read as ‘object, reason for’ |
| 2 | RIG MA ROLE |
| 3 | PANG LOSS — ref Voltaire’s Dr Pangloss, for whom “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”. |
| 4 | mEAT Safe |
| 5 | PRESUPPOSE — I’m not quite sure how this works: presuppose = assume, pose = position, pre = prior to (I think), but how they get into that order I can’t see — it looks as if it should be posepresup |
| 6 | DOT A GE{nt} — dot as in full stop, excellent &lit. |
| 7 | DE(C{ompany})AL |
| 8 | POSTWOMEN — (town Epsom)* |
| 13 | DAIRYMAIDS — airy in (MD)rev. aids — beautiful easy surface |
| 14 | LAR GHETTO — Libya (IVR) is LAR |
| 16 | TAX RELIEF — (extra file)* |
| 17 | IN CR EASE |
| 20 | AC CENT — ac “sent” |
| 22 | GA(B)LE — ref Clark Gable |
| 24 | D REAR |
| 25 | NEMO — (o men)rev. |
I particularly liked 14ac and 5dn, which work on similar lines. 5dn is essentially a normal definition plus a CD of a charade – a PRE-SUP POSE being a position prior to drinking. It only seems wrong if you expect each part to be clued in turn in the wordplay. Similarly, ‘adopt pose for photo’ is a CD of LOOK SNAPPY. In each case, a ? might have alerted solvers to the trickery, but opinions differ as to when that’s necessary.
I agree with John about Dac’s mastery. I thought 1 down might be TOURS with the S moved to the start. I also read the two clues referred to by Mick H in the same way as he did.