Well, this will be appearing on Sloggers and Betters day, so we’re looking forward to putting faces to pseudonyms. Did this relatively quickly, apart from 1 down, which we didn’t figure out until writing the blog.
ACROSS
5. STA(MME)R ‘Mme’ is the standard abbreviation of ‘Madame’. The ‘bumping into’ had us stumped for a while, as it suggested a charade rather than an insertion to us.
7. PRO(S)PER
10. A DO R.N.
11. APPOINTED (piano dept)*
12. MEAL TICKET cryptic definition
14. BU(R)N
16. CABINETWORK cryptic definition
19. A RUN
20. REACQUAINT (antique car)*
22. IN S(P)ECTOR
25. AGA MA
26. MUR< RAIN
27. CLEMENT dd
DOWN
1. TAC OM A< This had us stumped for days, as we desperately tried to make ‘Dakota’ fit and even made up the word ‘Lamota’ (‘a tom’ reversed inside LA). We obviously don’t know our American cities well enough.
2. ORCA as in ‘Majorca’ and ‘Menorca’
3. A POP L ECT I C
4. HOP I
5. S.M. ARMY
6. MANI(TOB<)A
8. POT LUCK Spoonerism of ‘lot Puck’
9. ROD E.N.T.
13. CON TEST A N.T.
15. P(OPUs)LACE
16. COURSER sounds like ‘coarser’
17. BARIUM (Umbria)*
18. STRAIT (artist)*
21. I(MAGE)S ‘mage’ is a possible singular for the better known plural ‘magi’
23. ETAS<
24. R.A.C. K
Enjoyed my very brief encounter with Handel yesterday — and with the redoubtable NMS.
Thanks! We enjoyed meeting you both too!
Yes, it was great on the day to meet everyone involved in this, setter and bloggers…
Did ok but couple never heard of.