Nothing too taxing this week, although perhaps not the most exciting crossword. The conductor in 24ac was new to me, but I think all of the other “well known people” answers were incredibly famous in their fields (9ac, 11ac). All in all, no complaints but not my favourite ever.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | TICK – dd. Instant as in “I’ll be there in a tick” and credit check as in a tick giving credit for some schoolwork. |
| 3 | WIDESPREAD – WIDE = extra, as in outside + SPREAD |
| 9 | RITZ – “Writs” |
| 10 | COORDINATE – (DECORATION)* |
| 11 | AGATHA CHRISTIE – (CARHASHITGATEI)*. Depending on what you read she is apparently outsold only by the Bible, or the Bible and Shakespeare, so it would be hard to find a more well-known writer! |
| 14 | BOSSA NOVA – BOSS + A NOVA |
| 16 | ARENA – AREA around N = neutral |
| 17 | READY – dd |
| 19 | STABILITY – ST + ABILITY |
| 21 | GIVE UP THE GHOST – GIVE UP + THE + GHOST |
| 24 | GEORG SOLTI – (GEOLOGIST + R)*. Georg Solti was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor and KBE. I guessed Georg and then googled combinations of the rest of the letters until he came up! |
| 25 | DACE – D(ee) + ACE. Dace is a pretty generic name for many types of small fish. |
| 26 | SMART ALECK – (SMACKLATER)* |
| 27 | JEST – S in JET |
| Down | |
| 1 | THREADBARE – THREE around A D BAR. |
| 2 | CUTLASS – CUT (g)LASS |
| 4 | IRON CROSS – IRON = wedge, say (golf) + CROSS = teed off |
| 5 | ERROR – (t)ERROR |
| 6 | PAINSTAKING – PA IN S(tore) TAKING |
| 7 | EXAMINE – (MAIN)* in EXE |
| 8 | DEED – cd (palindrome) |
| 12 | HEAVYWEIGHT – HEAVY + W + EIGHT = rowing crew |
| 13 | EASY STREET – dd incl. cd. A postman (roundsman) enjoys an “easy street”. |
| 15 | APATHETIC – A + PATHETIC |
| 18 | ARIZONA – (AN + OZ + I + RA)< |
| 20 | ISOLATE – I + SO LATE |
| 22 | PROWL – PROW + L |
| 22 | AGES – hidden in rummAGE Sale |
Common crossword abbreviations this week:
good man = ST [Saint]
article = THE [also A and AN]
king = R [Rex]
Dutch – D
good = G
with = W
one = I
artist = RA [Royal Academy]
left – L
1ac there is also the expression- living on ‘tick’ ( on credit).