Tough day at work today so wasnt really in the right frame of mind to attack this puzzle. Nearly gave up before gutting it out. Thanks to Bradman for an excellent workout – I really loved doing this despite my less-than-ok frame of mind.
I had to get help from the internet for 7d but otherwise it was smooth sailing. Did need some assistance with parsing some clues though, which Geoff kindly helped with.
| Across | ||
| 1 | NIGHT OWL | Bird is close and drier having abandoned side of lake (5,3) |
| Charade of NIGH (close) and TOWeL (minus ‘e’, having abandoned side of lake; nice misdirection on drier – here as a noun rather than as an adjective, although some would argue that the noun form should be spelt dryer) | ||
| 5 | PHRASE | Stage in process in which one must introduce right set of words (6) |
| PHASE (stage in process) with R (right) introduced | ||
| 10 | CITADEL | El Cid struggling with fighters hiding in stronghold (7) |
| Anagram of EL CID containing TA (Territorial Army, fighters) | ||
| 11 | ENTEBBE | Part of hospital to be facing both ways in African city (7) |
| ENT (part of hospital, a department) EB BE (be facing both ways) – town famous for a hijack attempt in 1976 and subsequent rescue by Israeli commandos. | ||
| 12 | ELBOW | Joint in the bowels of hell somewhere in the East End (5) |
| hELl (bowels of hell, i.e. middle letters) BOW (district in East End, London) – I was scratching my head as to why the clue would be an anagram of ‘bowels’ less the ‘s’. | ||
| 13 | GRAPHICAL | Highly colourful gangster relating to plots? (9) |
| GRAPHIC (highly colorful) AL (gangster, Capone) – plots meaning drawings on a graph sheet. | ||
| 14 | ATE ONES WORDS | We, so ardent, so wrong, admitted mistakes in communication (3,4,5) |
| Anagram of WE SO ARDENT SO | ||
| 18 | INVERTEBRATE | Sort of creature to get drunk, one out crossing green (12) |
| VERT (green) in INEBR[i]ATE (drunk, one out) | ||
| 21 | BURNISHED | After damage by intense heat one building must be made lustrous (9) |
| BURN (damage by intense heat) I (one) SHED (building) | ||
| 23 | ROUGE | Red shoes worn away at the sides (5) |
| I am not sure about this parsing although I think the answer is correct – my initial parsing was : bROUGEs (shoes worn away at the sides, i.e. without first and last letters). However, the correct spelling should be BROGUES but there is nothing to suggest that there is an anagram of “ROGUE”. What am I missing? | ||
| 24 | CUTLASS | Sharp weapon wounded girl (7) |
| CUT (wounded) LASS (girl) | ||
| 25 | NO-HOPER | Number joining the woman outside work who can’t expect success? (2- 5) |
| NO (Number) HER (woman) around OP (work) | ||
| 26 | SUPPER | Son has stimulant after meal (6) |
| S (Son) UPPER (stimulant, slang for meth) | ||
| 27 | WEEDIEST | Most scrawny little daughter that is needing stones put on (8) |
| WEE (little) D (daughter) IE (that is) ST (stones) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | NICKER | Steal with little sign of hesitation a pound (6) |
| NICK (steal) ER (little sign of hesitation) | ||
| 2 | GETS BY | Manages with men losing heart – and lad too (4,2) |
| GEnTS (men losing heart) BoY (lad too, losing heart) | ||
| 3 | TIDEWATER | Ground I treat to retain moisture for flower (9) |
| Anagram of I TREAT (ground – anagrind) retaining DEW (moisture) – flower as in moving water. | ||
| 4 | WILD GOOSE CHASE | Dog howls and I cease silly journey to no good purpose (4-5,5) |
| Anagram of DOG HOWLS and I CEASE | ||
| 6 | HITCH | Problem damaged church (5) |
| HIT (damaged) CH (church) | ||
| 7 | ALBACORE | Fish in a lake, something dull Bill caught (8) |
| A L (a lake) BORE (something dull) containing AC (Bill caught) | ||
| 8 | EYEGLASS | It could help you see, for example, girl – you may be enthralled (8) |
| EG (for example) LASS (girl) containing YE (archaic form of you) | ||
| 9 | LED A MERRY DANCE | Person who went at the front of the conga must have been given inordinate trouble (3,1,5,5) |
| Cryptic clue | ||
| 15 | WATERSHED | Time for children to get away from TV and sweat? (9) |
| Cryptic definition / Sweat is water shed from the body. | ||
| 16 | FINBACKS | It sounds like northerner supports swimmers in the sea (8) |
| FIN (sounds like Finn, native of Finland, northener) BACKS (supports) | ||
| 17 | OVERSTEP | Go beyond with more than one maiden maybe, getting favourite upset (8) |
| OVERS (more than one maiden, in the game of cricket) TEP (reverse of PET, favourite upset) | ||
| 19 | RUMPLE | Crease in seat left after removal of foot (6) |
| RUMP (seat) LEft (left, after removal of ‘ft’, foot) | ||
| 20 | WET ROT | Decay of leftwinger overlooked by the likes of you and me (3,3) |
| WE (the likes of you and me) TROT (leftwinger) | ||
| 22 | IMAGE | This writer’s time for reflection? (5) |
| IM (I’M, this writer) AGE (time) | ||
*anagram
I was obviously on the right wavelength this morning as I had no trouble at all with this one. 7d was in a recent Times puzzle so no problems with that one for me
Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs.
“worn” could be the anagram indicator in 23ac.
I read “BROGUES worn away at the sides”
as “B(ROGUE)S anagrammed without the two outside letters.
I agree with mike04 re 23ac but it isn’t really sound since it should be “away at the sides worn” to ensure that the B and S are removed.
I came here mostly to understand 15dn. I assumed it had something to do with removing CH ( children) from WATCHER. I see all you have done is underline the first part of the clue. How is that a definition of watershed?
Hi HKColin
“I see all you have done is underline the first part of the clue. How is that a definition of watershed?”
In the UK there is a ruling that certain material not suitable for children should not be broadcast on television before 9pm. This time has become know as the ‘watershed’.
Thanks Gaufrid, but in that case I think it is a duff clue. For someone who knows that, the answer is a write-in with no need for the rest of the clue. If not then there is no way to get there.