We were glad of a slightly trickier puzzle this weekend, as we tackled this one on a lengthy rail replacement bus service.
Once again, we’re embarrassed that our name erroneously indicates some kind of musical knowledge, as we were stumped by 17 down. We also had to call on our friend Anne B for help with 3 down.
ACROSS
7. IMPROV(is)E
9. P LEADER
11. EAR N S Our interpretation of this is that ‘makes’ is the definition, with partners at table being a bridge reference (north and south) and ‘come to attention’ being ‘ear’.
12. EGOTISTIC (cities got)*
13. CHIPPING BARNET dd, one cryptic. Produced a highly amusing debate, in which H was convinced that he had heard of a ‘Clipping Barnet’.
14. REGULUS Luger< U.S.
16. CHEQUES sounds like ‘Czechs’.
18. SENTIMENTALISM (it’s manliest men)* possible reference to the date.
21. SWEETENER (enters)* around wee – ‘not large’
22. TRE(W)S
23. BE(SID)ES
24. CRIM(e) SON
DOWN
1. SILENCER (reclines)*
2. GOSSIP ‘os’ – bone, with ‘is’ twisted i.e. reversed, inside GP – doctor
3. DEMESNES ‘me’ – this person, inside ‘sensed’ undergoing revolution i.e. reversed. An unfamiliar word to us, meaning ‘estates’
4. A PL O MB
5. P.E. DI GREE(d)
6. CROC(k)
8. PARKING METERS (pestering mark)*
10. DO THE BUSINESS (I enthused boss)*
15. (p)LATITUDE
16. CON TRACT
17. SAMISENS ‘is’ inside ‘men’, inside ‘SAS’
19. M(ON)IST
20. A LT AIR
21. SUBS dd
I agree with your take on EARNS. Re SAMISENS, I was glad Quixote had given fairly clear wordplay because I scarcely believed there was such a word, but verified it after. Had heard of DEMESNE(S) all right, somehow sounds more important than a domain, doesn’t it?
Ah two bloggers — good! (Though Quixote doesn’t do ‘wordplay’ …!)
Yes indeed, hence the ‘and’ in our name; two for the price of one! Though seeing as we knew we were going to be blogging Quixote, we missed a trick not calling ourselves Sancho Panza.
We hadn’t made the link between domain and desmesnes, but it does sounds a lot more poetic.
Completed half.Too difficult by half.(Excuse the pun!)