I found this extremely tough, to say the least, setter made tremendous effort to use meanings of words that gave consistent surface readings. Solving time, 73 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
5 PA (ap<) PAY (cough up) A a.p. = ante prandium (before a meal from Latin – used on prescriptions).
7 BUR ROWER rub<
9 JIM “gym” C (college) LARK (play about). F1 Racing Driver killed in accident in 1968.
10 Lawrence OATES (set = prepared a o – first letters)< With the clue perhaps literally describing what happened the Antarctic explorer who perished there in 1912
11 L (“led with” left) oUR Enry boxing = containment (hidden) indicator
12 TEWKESBURY (buyers wet k = start to knock)*
13 CRYSTAL PA LACE (past Lycra)*
16 PROS Conference IUTTO (it out)*
19 TUCK Double definition pinch = tuck = hamper, I think
21 BROOD “brewed”
22 R E (D-LIG)HT (th(gild)e R)< gild = association housing is containment indicator R = Revenue’s capital
23 DARK AGES (Grade As k = last letter of Jack)*
24 TEEN’S spraY
DOWN
1 MAL(I)BU I = internet’s no 1 (first letter) in (album)*
2 B (A) S ALT
3 ARB ORE TA bra<
4 HO (T TU) B
6 ARCHERY “Sport getting a new ball, with rule lifted”. Got this from definition (sport) and have confirmed on website. Do not understand the wordplay.
7 BAKE (WELL) (TAR) TS (basket)*
8 ELSTREE Studio Meryl Streep less lines (ry = railway) and outside letters (‘unconfined’)
13 CEREB RA (be rec)<
14 T (HIRD) AG E Dame Thora Hird
15 A Shovel TRID stablE (dirt)<
17 STOCK(port) Y
18 OD(D)I TwentY
20 C (O-HOS)T Soho<
6d A CHERRY (new ball, cricket) with R (rule) lifted
I agree, this was pretty tough, with a wide variety of indicators used to conceal the anagrams, containments etc – ‘poured out’ to indicate a homonym is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but fits the surface beautifully. I didn’t get PAPAYA, guessed there might be a fruit called PACATA instead!
Agreed with nms & Morph; very tricky, but mostly fair.
(Not sure about 11ac. though. A hidden indicator for just some of the answer….?
Hmmm… Is that allowed these days?).
Excellent stuff here, I’m a devoted fan of Scorpion, Tyrus, and Punk- In my top ten of must solves..
1dn started me off, though the anagram was fine I still don’t get the ‘Malibu’ answer, the word-play for the definition works fine, but, unless I’m missing something what is it suppose to mean?
MAL(I)BU I = internet’s no 1 (first letter) in (album)*
Is Malibu the no 1 site or album? Or JUST the cluing for word-play ???
Thank you for the blog NMS. Brilliant!
Sorry all. Malibu is literally a surfing site (in the ocean) – as in surf boarding the waves.
D’oh! Silly me….
Not being much of an F1 fan and a bit too young to remember him, I’d never heard of Jim Clark, so that hampered me for the top left corner. Apart from that, I enjoyed the puzzle.