Have not completely resolved all – need suggestions for 26A and 13D
Across
1 BURNOUSE cape BURN (stream) OUSE (river)
5 SQUEAL sing QU (queen) in SEAL (close up)
8 RAG dd
9 CATEGORISE put in a box (OR CAGE IT)* [escap]E
10 HALLIARD rope ALL (everything) I (one) in HARD (stiff)
11 AXEMAN chopper AXE (chop) MAN
12 ADDS tots DD (divine) in AS (when)
14 WINCHESTER see W (women) IN CHESTER (northern city)
17 EPICUREANS enjoyers of life (ESCAPE RUIN)*
20 LAYS songs sounds like LAZE (idle)
23 LATENT inactive LATE (behind) NT (books of Bible)
24 STEADIED calmed down A DI (little girl) in STEED (horse)
25 LACERATION wound LACE (reprimand) [o]RATION (speech)
26 DON [score]D O (duck) N (knight)
27 BREWED like beer sounds like BROOD (children)
28 STARLETS minor actresses STARTLES (frightens) with T moved
Down
1 BIRTHRATE children born (THEIR BRAT)*
2 REGALED feasted GALE (wind) in RED (embarrassed)
3 ORCHID plant ORCHARD (fruit garden) with A R (king) changed to I
4 SATURNINE gloomy SATUR[day] (end to week) NINE (8 + 1)
5 STOMACH bear ST (street) O (old) MA (mum) CH (children)
6 UNIVERSAL without exception (IVAN RULES)*
7 AVERAGE mean AVER (declare) AGE (how old)
13 SACRED COW one beyond criticism COW (neat – cattle)
15 CONSTRICT press CON (Tory) STRICT (incapable of compromise)
16 RESIDENTS folk living down road (DISSENTER)*
18 PEARLER fishing boat P (quiet) EARLIER (before) minus I (one)
19 RETIRED out of office (TERRIFIED)* minus IF (dislodged)
21 ARIADNE beautiful maiden ARIA (song) END< (finish returned)
22 WAGNER composer WAG (comic) NER[o] (tyrant almost)
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit < = reverse dd = double definition
With regard to 26A,I think there is clever double use of text.
It refers to Don Bradman, who finally scored a duck (in the bodyline series) and was later knighted.
Are you serious BB? I think you’ve already nailed them.
26a would be an &lit based on Don Bradman who, when going for his 100th 100 (I think), famously got bowled out for a duck. He was later knighted. Wordplay as you have it. Quite neat.
13d just a play on neat/cow for a DD/CD type of thing. Not as neat as the other but that’s all I can see for now. Dunno – maybe there’s more?
Sorry AID – crossed – spent too long check in me grammar.
Re Don Bradman – correction – it wasn’t to have been his 100th 100. It was his last 1st class appearance before retirement and his average stood at >101. He only needed to score a few runs to retire with a career average of >100 – a first in cricket.
In the event he went out for a duck leaving him with a career average of just under 100.
I knew 100 came into it quite a bit.
@AID – As you suggest – it could equally mean the bodyline series where they finally (ie at last) got him out for a duck. I was reading finally to mean “the last occasion”.
Thanks Bradman for an enjoyable puzzle and Jed for the blog.
In relation to 26ac, let me put the record straight on the cricketer Don Bradman’s career. JS is right that his final innings (in 1948) started with his career average over 100, but his average dropped below 100 when was out for 0. However, it was his Test career, not his first-class career, that ended in that way. In those days, tours did not end with the last Test, and Bradman played four more first-class matches in England, scoring three hundreds in those matches. Bradman also played three first-class matches in Australia in the 1948-49 season (one more hundred) before retiring.
It is also true that Bradman was out for a duck in his first innings of the “Bodyline” series (1932-33) – it was indeed his first duck in Test cricket against England, although he had been out for a duck once earlier, against the West Indies.
@PB – you are quite right – I stand corrected.
Another detail is that in the test in question (at The Oval) the duck came in the first innings. He would only have needed 4 or so runs to get his average up to the magic 100 but, thanks to an England batting collapse (a phrase sadly to become a cliché in years to come), he never got the chance of a second innings.
By all accounts not a very clubbable man but undoubtedly a cricketing great – where I live (near Adelaide) the road from the aerodrome into the city centre is named in his honour.
Re 25ac I don;t understand why LACE is “reprimand.” Tried dictionaries, and Googling the two words, to no avail. Can someone explain?
Hi Tony @8
From Chambers under ‘lace’ – “To reprimand severely (often with into)”.
Very good Swaggers – it really IS &lit.
I am shocked.
This (DON) refers, I’m pretty sure, as stated above, to Bradman’s last Test innings v England in 1948. It was his 70th innings (obviously ignoring those – ten in all – when he was not out) and he’d scored 6996 runs so four runs would have left him on the magic 100 average. He was however bowled second ball for a duck (0) so did not quite make it, but beat everyone before and since. Perhaps not clubbable, as also indicated above, but he could play a bit, it seems, which could be seen as a consolation.
Well, that’s right. And concise. Need I say more.