A few new words for me today: 19 across and 20 down. Fortunately for me the wordplay was straightforward in both cases. Favourite clue of the day was 4 across. 12 across is also a very nice dd.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MODEST DE (postal code for the state of Delaware) in MOST (almost all) |
| 4 | WINDFALL WIND (turn) FALL (defeat) |
| 10 | CAPRICORN CAPRI (island) CORN (a hard place) |
| 11 | MARIA M[ark] ARIA (song) |
| 12 | RANK dd |
| 13 | INSTALMENT *(ELM) in INSTANT |
| 15 | TRIPLET TRIP (error) LET (allowed) |
| 16 | DETEST ED. (journalist) reversed + TEST (investigation) |
| 19 | AGARIC *(GARCIA) |
| 21 | SCOURGE S (son) COUR[a]GE (pluck, exorcising “a”) |
| 23 | DRAWBRIDGE DRAW (tie) BRIDGE (game) |
| 25 | UNIT dd |
| 27 | BRAIN I (iodine) in BRAN (cereal) |
| 28 | DETERGENT DETER (discourage) GENT (fellow) |
| 29 | EXTRACTS TRACT (pamphlet) in EXS (former partners). This doesn’t quite work, as it should be EXES |
| 30 | RENTAL *(LEARNT) |
| Down | |
| 1 | MACERATE MACE (club) RATE (charge) |
| 2 | DEPENDING DEP[uty] ENDING (finishing off) |
| 3 | SPIV VIPs (celebrities) reversed |
| 5 | IGNITED *(EDITING) |
| 6 | DEMOLITION LI (light infantry) in DEMOTION (degrading) |
| 7 | AGREE hidden in GretnA GREEn |
| 8 | LEAN-TO ANT (social worker) in LEO (house of the Zodiac) |
| 9 | SONNET SON (boy) NET (take home) |
| 14 | FLORIBUNDA *(FIND LABOUR) |
| 17 | STRANGEST RANGE (oven) in two ST[reets] |
| 18 | TEETOTAL TEE (supporter) TOTAL (whole) |
| 20 | CHINDIT HINDI (Indian language) in CT (court) |
| 21 | SIGHTS T[ime] in SIGHS (complains) |
| 22 | EDIBLE [cr]EDIBLE (trustworthy, without two leading letters) |
| 24 | ADAPT A.D. (nowadays) APT (suitable) |
| 26 | FREE R (sovereign) in FEE (charge) |
In the clue text for 22a, ‘Awol’ is rather odd. I would expect it to be AWOL.
I dot my i’s and cross my t’s. I mind my p’s and q’s. But, alas, forget exes, I don’t have even one ex.
Ex’s on the analogy of the plural forms above is incorrect, I think.
Would this revised version work?: “Former partner’s keeping pamphlet of quotations (8)” Not too sure!
Having discovered that the crossword can be downloaded for free, I have started to attempt it. Having got a long way with Saturday’s and Monday’s prize crosswords, I assumed that Tuesday’s non prize crossword would be easier but sadly not for me anyway.
3d How were you supposed to know whether the answer as spiv or vips without having any checking letters?
27a I had rye, wheat, rice, barley-but could I think of bran?
I suppose I could have used anagram solvers for 19a & 14d but didn’t and I’d never heard of either.
15a I assume triplet is musical-sadly my knowledge of music is lacking.
Hello Bamberger,
You are right to note that 3 down, standing alone, is ambiguous, as the reversal indicator is in the middle of the clue.
Yes, 15 across is musical: three equal notes that occupy one or two beats in a measure are “triplets.”
For 11a, although I’m sure that MARIA is indeed the intended answer, MARLA would also work: MAR (mark) + LA – there is an LA (as in Los Angeles) Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrZw8RToN2Y