I had a quick look at this online late last night and managed to solve a few clues on a first read-through, so I didn’t think it would be too much trouble when I got on the bus this morning.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan though and I really struggled to break the back of it without cheating a bit, not helped by my inability to get the obvious anagram at 1D. No complaints about any of the clues, many of which are excellent, and the linking of 9A and 12A to get the band names is very clever. Overall, this is a really good puzzle. I just wish it had been published tomorrow when I’ve got a nice long train journey!
Happy Holidays to all setters, bloggers and lurkers from me.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MUMPS – MUM + P.S. | |
| 4 | COST A BOMB – STAB in COOMB | |
| 9 | RADIO PLAY – RAD + 1 + OP + LAY | |
| 10 | METRO – Hidden in roME TROlleybus | |
| 11 | INSIDE – (INDIE’S)* | |
| 12 | HEAD COLD – HE + COL. in ADD | |
| 14 | GO STRAIGHT – “Ghost rate” | |
| 16 | IRON – NOR I rev. | |
| 18 | LOAF – L + OAF | |
| 19 | BENEVOLENT – LOVE rev. + EN in BENT | |
| 21 | COLDPLAY – COLD (from 12A) + PLAY (from 9A) | |
| 22 | XANADU – XANAX with no end (see 25A) + DrUg | |
| 25 | NO END – [-bottle}D + NEON rev. | |
| 26 | RADIOHEAD – RADIO (from 9A) + HEAD (from 12A) | |
| 27 | EASY RIDER – Double def. | |
| 28 | SATYR – SAT (tried to pass) + YR (younger) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MARRIAGE LICENCE – (CRIME EALING CARE)* – This took me an annoyingly long time to get, partly due to the good definition! | |
| 2 | MIDAS – SAD I’M rev. | |
| 3 | SWORD ARM – A nice misleading cryptic def. | |
| 4 | CALF – DOuble def. | |
| 5 | STYLE SHEET – STY + E,SHE in LET | |
| 6 | ARMADA – ADAM + RA rev. | |
| 7 | OUTSOURCE – (COURTEOUS)* – lovely anagram | |
| 8 | BLOOD-AND-THUNDER – Spoonersism of “thud and blunder” – Nice to see the Rev not referred to directly by name for once | |
| 13 | WIRE-HAIRED – W + HER 1 rev. + AIRED | |
| 15 | SMALLENESS – L in (LENS AMSS)* | |
| 17 | POTATOES – TOES on ATOP rev. | |
| 20 | SPIDER – REDIPS rev. – ‘Ref. snooker rest | |
| 23 | AVERT – V-[accin]E in ART | |
| 24 | ODER – O,DER | |
Just noticed this one hadn’t had any comments.
I suppose that’s because it was very good; I certainly enjoyed it.
Liked the band “theme”, and 8d. and 14ac. especially.
And anax very nearly got a name check too in 22ac…
I agree – it was quite difficult but fair and good. Luckily for me, my train was delayed by over an hour this morning, which allowed me the time to finish it.
I too found this extremely hard, esp the lower half, before I got the idea of the two bands just before the end. Some excellent clues, my favourite being GO STRAIGHT.
It was very hard!! The clues go together very well though, so you can see how to put the words together. I liked SWORD ARM too.
Definitely a tough one, so managed about three-quarters of it before coming here. But the clueing was fair. I try to keep my life stress-free, so XANAX is a new one to me, but the other part of the clue gave the DU, so it couldn’t really be anything else.
My doctor put me on Zantac once, but the panics just wouldn’t stop.
Paul B
I appreciate your attempt at humour but your comment is completely off topic.
So that others may understand the joke, Zantac is a trade name for ranitidine hydrochloride, a stomach acid inhibitor commonly used in treatment of peptic ulcers, whereas Xanax is a trade name for alprazolam, a drug used primarily to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks.
How on earth did anyone solve this?! Even with the answers I don’t understand half of them! Got 10a and gave up! I’m obviously not tuned in to I crosswords.Goodbye and good luck!
Bill, as often on a Thursday or Frday this was one for the Crosswordese nerds! The i on a Monday (Quixote ), Wednesday (Dac) or Phi on a Saturday are still great but definitely not so tricksy. If you’re a beginner, or you know any, the Times do a quick cryptic these days in addition to the regular cryptic.
Bill, as often happens on a Thursday or Frday this was one for the Crossword nerds like me! The i on a Monday (Quixote), Wednesday (Dac) or Phi on a Saturday are still great but definitely not so tricksy. If you’re a beginner, or you know any, the Times do a quick cryptic these days in addition to the regular cryptic.