Lorraine: Good morning to you all,
Well I cant believe that I finished this weeks offering as I was extremely ill on Sunday, but hey I did it.
Lots of lovely cluing and lots of favourites this week.
Thank you Everyman as always.
BTW, Nick and I will be away in Gibraltar so will not be able to answer any queries until we return.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Take in synopsis (6) | ||
| DIGEST | dd | ||
| 4. | Vacant factory, almost without dividing walls (4-4) | ||
| OPEN-PLAN | OPEN+PLAN(t) | ||
| 9. | Hard getting across river basin (6) | ||
| TROUGH | TOUGH around R | ||
| 10. | Acquit copper before start of trial – that’s easy to understand (5-3) | ||
| CLEAR-CUT | CLEAR+CU+T(rial) | ||
| 11. | Those going naked in sun, artist portrayed in a new light (9) | ||
| NATURISTS | (SUN, ARTIST)* | ||
| 13. | Volley made by Sarah playing against Oscar (5) | ||
| SALVO | SAL+V(versus)+O | ||
| 14. | Test matches? (5,9) | ||
| TRIAL MARRIAGES | cd | ||
| 18. | Son coming a cropper building obstacle (9,5) | ||
| STUMBLING BLOCK | S+TUMBLING+BLOCK | ||
| 20. | A second artist brought over a bouquet (5) | ||
| AROMA | A+MO+RA all reversed | ||
| 22. | Has misgivings about 27, his spread (9) | ||
| HESITATES | (27ac ESTATE+HIS)* | ||
| 24. | Grace, British author of The Grass is Singing (8) | ||
| BLESSING | B+LESSING see Doris Lessing |
||
| 25. | Spanish city, looted badly (6) | ||
| TOLEDO | (LOOTED)* | ||
| 26. | Some brute there, diligently tied up (8) | ||
| TETHERED | hidden: bruTE, THERE Diligently | ||
| 27. | Land in eastern country (6) | ||
| ESTATE | E+STATE | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Set off from Buckinghamshire college in time (8) | ||
| DETONATE | ETON in DATE | ||
| 2. | Landlord after good spirit (5) | ||
| GHOST | HOST after G | ||
| 3. | A sweet term of endearment (9) | ||
| SUGARPLUM | cdd | ||
| 5. | Use influence to attract bowmen? (4,7) | ||
| PULL STRINGS | PULL+STRINGS(i.e. violinists, bowmen) | ||
| 6. | Approaches tight sort of bend (5) | ||
| NEARS | NEAR(tight)+S(s-bend!) | ||
| 7. | Picture that woman getting in pub round (5,4) | ||
| LOCAL HERO | HER in (LOCAL+O) the film ‘local hero’ |
||
| 8. | Unacceptable to pinch one idea (6) | ||
| NOTION | (NOT ON) around I | ||
| 12. | Minor alteration in coins (5,6) | ||
| SMALL CHANGE | cd | ||
| 15. | Dog entered in popular Manx race is withdrawn (9) | ||
| INTROVERT | ROVER(dog) in (IN+TT) | ||
| 16. | Borstal’s a terrible handicap (9) | ||
| ALBATROSS | (BORSTAL’S A)* see this HERE |
||
| 17. | What suggests that it may be downhill all the way? (3,5) | ||
| SKI SLOPE | cd | ||
| 19. | Ploy revealed by doctor during walk (6) | ||
| GAMBIT | MB in GAIT | ||
| 21. | A passage from Emma is learned (5) | ||
| AISLE | hidden: emmA IS LEarned | ||
| 23. | Greek character may bring article on terriers (5) | ||
| THETA | THE+TA(territorial army, ‘the terriers’) | ||
| … | |||
re 1 down.
Sorry about the error here; Eton is of course in Berkshire.
When I was at Eton, prior to the 1974 boundary changes, it was in Buckinghamshire. I have fond memories of that day trip with my parents!
Tee hee, I am tempted to quote from the Goons now. Tales of Men’s Shirts if you want to google.
Quick solve for me but thought 24a was a literacy general knowledge question. If you know who the author is , in the answer goes. If not you need a few checking letters unless grace=blessing comes immediately into your mind instead of meanings connected with period of grace or some famous Grace such as Darling.
Thanks for the blog.
I didn’t even think about ETON not being in Buckinghamshire, so that one would have passed me by if Everyman hadn’t fessed up.
You don’t get many cds with this setter as a rule, but I thought TRIAL MARRIAGES and SMALL CHANGE were both nice, concise clues.
Thanks to Everyman and Lorraine.
KD
I don’t know if I have interpreted your statement correctly, but –
While I agree “Test matches?” is a CD, I think “Minor alteration in coins” is a charade, “minor” yielding SMALL and “alteration”, CHANGE. “Coins” is the def.
You are right, Rishi, although I see that Lorraine has also put it down as a cd. No matter – it was a good clue however you define it!
This lay on the table with only a few filled in (mainly due to lack of time) until a friend instantly recognised Lessing as the author. This got me to Blessing straight away and then I suddenly clicked with most of the rest of the clue. There were a couple that I didn’t get but after a very slow start, it turned out to be my best Everyman effort for quite a while.
Hugh
This is the first cryptic crossword I’ve managed to complete! Took me two very pleasant hours and several delicious pints of ale. Wonderful feeling finally dropping in 8d… Thanks Everyman. Failed to win the prize but it looks beautiful framed on my wall! Many more years of these larks ahead I hope. x