If it waddles like a Falcon and quacks like a Falcon then it’s probably a Falcon. An engaging solve, while it lasted, but ultimately a short-lived skirmish.
Across
1 BRASS BAND – brass + band.
6 CLIMB – C + limb.
9 ORMER – {d}ormer (‘window’).
10 MELODRAMA – melod{y} + ram + A{bba}.
11 MATRIARCHY – (arm charity)*.
12 JERK – jerk{in}.
14 SMOTHER – s + mother.
15 NOVELLO – novel + lo. Sir Ivor … a relatively recent ‘composer’, in whose name songwriting gongs are dished out.
17 LEG-PULL– leg + pull.
19 RENEWAL – (we learn)*.
20 TACK – double def’n.
22 FORGE AHEAD – I may be missing a trick here, but seems like a rather transparent cryptic-only clue.
25 IN CONCERT – double def’n.
26 DISCO – (is C) in do.
27 ERECT – ere + Ct.
28 SLAM DUNKS – s{pin} + lam + dunks. I was only aware of this manoeuvre within the sporting context of baskethoops – but a cursory check confirms that, in tennis it’s an alias for the shot that I’ve always referred to as an “overhead smash”).
Down
1 BROOM – b{reathing} + room.
2 ARMSTRONG – a RM + strong. ‘Jolly’ = Royal Marine.
3 STRAIGHT UP – straight + up.
4 ADMIRER – (married)*.
5 DOLPHIN – homophone of “doll fin”.
6 CODA – C + O(hio) + DA. I tend to prefer the two letter, rather than single character, abbreviations for US states.
7 INANE – in an E (“how moviE ends”).
8 BLACKPOOL – black + pool. The latest Premiership gatecrashers.
13 EVEN-HANDED – even + hand + ed.
14 SOLITAIRE – double def’n.
16 LOW SEASON – ‘devil’ = season/spice (as in devilled eggs).
18 LIONESS – cryptic definition; ‘with pride’ or ‘as pride’?
19 REGATTA – (target a)*.
21 CACHE – homophone of “cash”.
23 DROSS – r in doss.
24 KNOT – double def’n.
Hi smiffy
I don’t think a ‘slam dunk’ is a true overhead smash. If I remember correctly the term was introduced to describe a shot regularly played by thegreat Pete Sampras where he jumped and rose high in the air to hit a ball as it was still rising, with very little racket backswing, and the action looked rather like a basketball player jumping to fire the ball through the hoop.
The arm action in an overhead smash is more akin to that of a serve and is generally used when a lobbed ball is on its downward trajectory or after it has bounced.
Thanks for the elucidation, Gaufrid.
If I’ve understood you correctly I would argue that, technically, the shot in question sounds more akin to a basketballing ‘alley-oop’ than a ‘slam dunk’. (But any blame for that misappropriation presumably resides with the TV commentating fraternity, rather than Falcon!)
FYI, here’s a link to a video of the Pete Sampras shot in question: http://www.tenniscruz.com/content/view/92/125/
Hi smiffy. Thanks for the blog.
Re 22ac FORGE AHEAD.
I read this clue as a charade: furnace = forge and ‘after this’ = ahead (or further on in time).
Maybe that’s what you meant in your blog?