I breezed through three-quarters of this puzzle in five or ten minutes, then got stuck for a while on the last four or five clues. I am still not sure of 25 down.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | BADINAGE BAD (unpleasant) IN AGE (advancing years) |
| 5 | STARCH STAR (famous) CH (companion) |
| 9 | ACCURATE A C (Catholic) CURATE (clergyman) |
| 10 | LENDER SLENDER (poor) “beheaded;” uncle = pawnbroker = lender |
| 12 | DODGE D (daughter) in DOGE (powerful Venetian) |
| 13 | AMENDMENT MEN (workers) in *(TANDEM) |
| 14 | INFLUX N (new) FLU (virus) in IX (nine) |
| 16 | SHINDIG SHIN (lower leg) DIG (prod) |
| 19 | EVENTER ENT (hospital department) in EVER (always) |
| 21 | MALICE M (married) ALICE (woman) |
| 23 | GO AGAINST GOA (Indian state) GAINS (advances) T (Tibetan capital) |
| 25 | CARER RE (soldiers) in CAR (vehicle) |
| 26 | AURIGA GI (soldier) reversed in AURA (halo). Auriga is a constellation |
| 27 | ADROITLY *(TORY LAID) |
| 28 | TRENCH R (run) in TENCH (fish) |
| 29 | GRIDIRON *(RIDING OR) |
| Down | |
| 1 | BRANDY B (bishop) RANDY (amorous) |
| 2 | DECADENCE DE (“of,” French) CADENCE (intonation) |
| 3 | NORSE hidden in BeniN OR SEnegal |
| 4 | GATEAUX GATE (entrance) A U (superior) X (ten) |
| 6 | TREADMILL T (Tory leader) READ (studied) MILL (philosopher, John Stuart Mill) |
| 7 | RIDGE [b]RIDGE (English composer) with initial deletion |
| 8 | HERITAGE HER[m]ITAGE (the museum in St Petersburg) |
| 11 | MESS dd |
| 15 | LETHARGIC *(THE GARLIC) |
| 17 | DECORATOR DEC (last month) ORATOR speaker) |
| 18 | SERGEANT *(ANGER) in SET |
| 20 | RUNG dd |
| 21 | MATADOR *(TO DRAMA) Theseus fought a bull, and a matador fights bulls, but does that make him a matador? I might have put a qm on this one |
| 22 | CRAYON C (carbon) RAYON (material) |
| 24 | AGREE RE (soldier) in AGE A lot of soldiers in this puzzle; RE is being used for a second time |
| 25 | CLOUD CROWD Not sure about this. Collins states that “glory” is “another word for nimbus,” but I’m not sure how cloud = “large number of viewers.” Conversely, “large number of viewers” could be “CROWD” but I can’t see how that = “glory.” Thanks to Eileen and Steve, who point out that CROWD = CROW (glory in) D (large number). |
Hi Agentzero
I had CROWD for 25dn: CROW [glory in] + D [large number]. ‘Viewers’ as in football crowd, I thought.
I think 25d is CROWD = viewers. CROW = exult = glory + D = large number
Thanks to you both! Blog is now fixed. As usual, once something I’ve missed is pointed out to me, it’s perfectly obvious and I can’t see how I overlooked it!
Thanks for the blog AZ.
Strangely, I had no problem with CROWD, but was completely baffled by AURIGA. Despite having all the checkers – zilch!
I really liked this. Plenty of straightforward clues to get me started and then five or six challenging clues at the end to keep me on my toes.
I did get “LENDER” for 10a but did not understand the word play. I would not have thought of POOR = SLENDER. But I suppose if one’s chances are slender (or slim) that means their chances are poor.
Thanks to Agentzero for the review and to Armonie for an enjoyable puzzle.