Don’t know what’s happened to the expected blogger yesterday, but seeing as it still hasn’t appeared today, as I’m often in as the standby blogger, here’s my take on it.
Nothing overly tricky here I thought and no themes or Ninas that I can see.
A link to the puzzle can be found here.
| Across: | ||
| 1 | NARROW-BOAT | N(ew) + ARROW + [BOAS around (las)T] |
| 7 | SUM | Hom. Of SOME |
| 9 | TIBET | (sea)T + 1 + BET |
| 10 | AMPLITUDE | No AN in M(an)IPULATED* |
| 11 | ARTICULAR | (p)ARTICULAR |
| 12 | KARMA | Hom of CALMER |
| 13 | EXAMPLE | EX + MP in ALE |
| 15 | NOOK | CD – it’s NOT OK |
| 18 | JAMB | JAM + B(edroom) |
| 20 | FANTAIL | FAN + TAIL |
| 23 | CANOE | OCEAN* |
| 24 | LIE IN WAIT | LIE-IN + WAIT |
| 26 | CLIPBOARD | CLIP (Magazine in gun) + BOARD |
| 27 | CREPE | REP in CE |
| 28 | APE | A + outer edges of P(rotectiv)E |
| 29 | EXTEMPORY | [EXPORTER MAY]* |
| Down: | ||
| 1 | NITRATES | NIT + RATES |
| 2 | REBUTTAL | BUTT in REAL |
| 3 | OPTIC | CDD |
| 4 | BRAILLE | CD and LIBERAL* Question mark as iffy anagrind |
| 5 | ASPARIN | ASPIRIN(g) |
| 6 | STINKHORN | O in (THINKS* + R(egio)N) |
| 7 | SQUARE | CDD |
| 8 | MAENAD | MA + DANE rev |
| 14 | PEACEABLE | PE + ACE + ABLE |
| 16 | PASSADENA | PA’S + A + DEN + A |
| 17 | FLATTERY | LATTE in FRY |
| 19 | BELFAST | F(inance) in TABLES* |
| 20 | FREEDOM | DEE rev in FROM |
| 21 | ACACIA | A.C.A. (accountant) + C.I.A. |
| 22 | INSIDE | IN + SIDE |
| 25 | NACHO | Hidden in uncertaiN A CHOir |
Many thanks for stepping in, flashling.
I thoroughly enjoyed 31 of the 32 clues yesterday. The other one, 12 across,
was difficult (and, to be honest, rather irritating) for anyone with a rhotic accent.
For me, KARMA and CALMER do not sound alike in either of their syllables!
Indeed Mike04, iffy homophones between accents seems to cause more grumbles than almost everything else put together.