Nothing too difficult here, except that the explanation for 21 down eludes me. As usual, Armonie’s clues pack an amazing amount into very few words.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | NOONTIDE *(TO DINE ON) |
| 5 | CROOKS dd |
| 9 | TOLERATE *(RELATE TO) |
| 10 | SCREAM S (second) CREAM (best) |
| 12 | FINE-DRAWN FINE (penalty) DRAWN (tied) |
| 13 | LEAVE dd. You don’t eat what you leave on your plate |
| 14 | PITY PIT (quarry) Y (unknown) |
| 16 | ATELIER ATE (consumed) LIER (one reclining) |
| 19 | TRAPPED T (tenor) RAPPED (performed hip-hop) |
| 21 | LUTE FLUTE minus F[ellow] |
| 24 | RULER L (port) in RUE (regret) + R (Romeo) |
| 25 | PERISCOPE PERIS (fairies) COPE (manage) |
| 27 | OPENED PEN (write) in OED (dictionary) |
| 28 | PHEASANT H (hard) in PEASANT (rustic) |
| 29 | TO DATE D.A. (attorney) in TOTE (betting system) |
| 30 | FRIGHTEN RIGHT (authority) in FEN (slough) |
| Down | |
| 1 | NOTIFY FIT (capable) ON, all reversed, + Y (Yankee) |
| 2 | OBLONG OB (old boy) LONG (desire) |
| 3 | TIRED TIRE (slick) D (democrat) “Tire” as in a racing tyre (with the American spelling). Isn’t D only an abbreviation for the capital-D Democrat? |
| 4 | DITTANY AN in DITTY (song) |
| 6 | RECOLLECT RE (soldier) COLLECT (a short prayer) |
| 7 | OPERATIC *(IRATE COP) |
| 8 | SYMMETRY M (Frenchman) in *(MYSTERY) |
| 11 | ANNA hidden in AsiAN NAtion |
| 15 | IMPERFECT dd |
| 17 | START OUT STAR (famous) TOUT (solicitor) |
| 18 | WALLSEND W[ork] ALL (entire) SEND (cast) |
| 20 | DUPE P (pennies) in DUE (expected) |
| 21 | LURCHER A lurcher would be unsteady. I don’t follow the wordplay, though. |
| 22 | HOBART BAR (hostelry) in HOT (passionate) |
| 23 | NEWTON NEW (current) TON (fashion) |
| 26 | SLANG L (student) in SANG (squealed) |
Thanks AZ.
A lurcher is a crossbreed rather than a pedigree, usually between a greyhound type dog and another.
I’m struggling with 23d. I got NEWTON, but why is fashion equating to ton?
Intially went wrong at 10a….missed the S off Sgnt Bilko!
‘ton’ means fashion or people of fashion.
It’s only in crosswords that I have come across this word.
I think it’s French.
Thanks, Agentzero, for blogging this Armonie.
As always, full of charades & ins [this time not many anagrams, though].
I think 10ac is a very nice clue [S CREAM for Second Best + a fine definition].
Of the dd’s, I found LEAVE a bit weak [that is, ‘leave’ being ‘don’t eat’] and was 15d (IMPERFECT) not clear to me.
I do understand that there is an ‘imperfect tense’ but what’s the link with ‘seconds’?
Maybe someone can explain.
I had a bit of a trouble in the SE, because I put in DUDE for 20d [with D for pennies instead of P]. So 25ac started with the wrong letter. Ah well.
Sil
Goods that are not perfect are sold as ‘seconds’.
Thanks, rishi, I had a thing like that lurking in the back of my mind.
But, as you say, ‘seconds’ are ‘imperfect’ – one’s a noun, the other’s an adjective, so strictly speaking not identical. Am I right?
[as a tense, ‘imperfect’ can indeed be a noun, so that’s all right]
From a grammar POV a bit messy, isn’t it?
But I don’t want to make a fuss of it [‘Tense seconds’ reads nice and that’s probably why Armonie did it this way].
Thanks Agentzero.
As you say nothing too difficult and also nothing too controversial.
Only answer I had to check was WALLSEND, as I didn’t know this was an area in Tyneside.
Didn’t like 3 down,I think Americanisms like “tire” should be signposted in crosswords(if they have to used at all).
Top clue for me 1 down.
The Wallsend Boys Club has produced a raft of famous footballers, the best known being Alan Shearer.
Thanks Ferret.
My knowledge of soccer players is extremely limited.I wonder if a raft of them would be useful in a shipwreck? 🙂
…..not if you were stranded off Africa, it would struggle to make any progress near Algeria 🙂