Falcon provides thsi morning’s entertainment.
This was a fairly straightforward puzzle that had a few good clues, but nothing exceptional. The top right corner took longest to parse as I didn’t know who Ralph the Rover was and I couldn’t see the wordplay for LET WELL ALONE for a wee while, but I got there in the end.
The surface for 17ac is a bit clumsy, and there’s a few superfluous words in 1ac, but all in all this was an enjoyable start to the day.
Thanks Falcon
| Across | ||
| 1 | HOMAGE | Husband presented with new Omega out of repect (6) |
| H (husband) presented with *(omega) | ||
| 4 | ALPHABET | Group of characters in The Rover heading off on a venture? (8) |
| [heading off] (r)ALPH (the Rover) on A BET (“venture”)
Ralph the Rover was an Irish pirate in a ballad/poem by Robert Southey called The Inchcape Rock |
||
| 9 | RESORT | Repair centre (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | STINGRAY | Ratings cooked unknown fish (8) |
| *(ratings) + Y (“unknown”, in mathematics) | ||
| 12 | PLAYHOUSE | What little girls may do in their home theatre? (9) |
| Perhaps a little sexist these days, but little girls may PLAY HOUSE | ||
| 13 | STAIN | Spot wartime leader dropping piece of litter (5) |
| STA(l)IN (“wartime leader” dropping [piece of] L(itter)) | ||
| 14 | PRACTICAL JOKER | Real card tricks expected from me? (9,5) |
| PRACTICAL (“real”) + JOKER (“card”) | ||
| 17 | TURN TAIL AND RUN | Flee: go with dog as well direct (4,4,3,3) |
| TURN (“go”) with TAIL (“dog”) + AND (“as well”) + RUN (“direct”) | ||
| 21 | AMPLE | Large specimen, not small (5) |
| (s)AMPLE (“specimen”, not S (small)) | ||
| 22 | CONSTRAIN | Force prisoners to exercise (9) |
| CONS (“prisoners”) + TRAIN (“to exercise”) | ||
| 24 | APERITIF | Drink provided by Italian after a commercial traveller returned (8) |
| IF (“provided”) by It. (Italian) after A <=REP (“commercial traveller” returned) | ||
| 25 | BANANA | Fruit and nuts, mostly (6) |
| BANANA(s) (“nuts” mostly) | ||
| 26 | DUNGEONS | Waste long periods of time in prisons (8) |
| DUNG (“waste”) + EONS (“long periods of time”) | ||
| 27 | APIECE | A bit each (6) |
| A PIECE (“bit”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HORNPIPE | Two intruments producing music for dance (8) |
| HORN + PIPE (“two instruments”) | ||
| 2 | MASCARA | A disfigurement hidden by the old lady’s cosmetic (7) |
| A SCAR (“disfigurement”) hidden by MA (“the old lady”) | ||
| 3 | GIRTH | Size may be right when altered (5) |
| *(right) | ||
| 5 | LET WELL ALONE | Suitably wearing much less, so don’t interfere (3,4,5) |
| WELL (“suitably”) wearing LET ALONE (“much less”) | ||
| 6 | HANDS DOWN | Workers not working with complete ease (5,4) |
| HANDS (“workers”) + DOWN (“not working”) | ||
| 7 | BARRAGE | Battery found by artist aboard canal boat (7) |
| RA (member of the Royal Academy, so “artist”) aboard BARGE (“canal boat”) | ||
| 8 | TRYING | Hearing test in building at the end (6) |
| TRY (“test”) + IN + (buildin)G [at the end] | ||
| 11 | DUTCH AUCTION | Lots go here after prices tumble? (5,7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 15 | TANGERINE | Juicy Argentine fruit (9) |
| *(argentine) | ||
| 16 | INUNDATE | Overwhelm in a Parisian court (8) |
| IN + UN (“a” in French, so “a Parisian”) + DATE (“court”) | ||
| 18 | UMPTEEN | Lots consumed by plump teenagers (7) |
| Hidden in [consumed by] “plUMP TEENagers” | ||
| 19 | REAL ALE | Genuine trouble, reportedly, getting beer (4,3) |
| REAL (“genuine”) + homophone of [reportedly] AIL (“troiuble”) | ||
| 20 | CANARD | False report an eccentric put about (6) |
| AN with CARD (“eccentric”) put about | ||
| 23 | TRAMP | Journey on foot, then miles in carriage (5) |
| M (miles) in TRAP (“carriage”) | ||
*anagram
Didn’t think this was Falcon at his best. Put me down as another who didn’t know who Ralph was in 4a but I didn’t bother finding out, so thanks for the info.
In 14a, “tricks” should be underlined in the blog.
Thanks to Falcon and loonapick.
Thanks, Hovis – will edit later
Finished quite quickly, but with three I couldn’t parse. I had no idea how ALPHABET worked at 4a (Ralph the Rover unknown), couldn’t figure out the ‘wearing much less’ bit of 5d and couldn’t see ‘Repair’ for RESORT at 9a
I liked 14a, which on first reading looked like the clue was going to be a cryptic def., rather than just the ‘tricks expected from me?’ bit. ‘Lots consumed by plump teenagers’ at 18d was a good (and topical) hidden.
Thanks to loonapick and Falcon
To loonapick & WordPlodder:
I’m sure you’re right about Southey’s Ralph the Rover, who I didn’t know either, but I had him as Ralph Rover, a character in R.M. Ballantyne’s novel ‘for boys’, Coral Island, fondly recalled from youth. So ta to loonapick and thanks for the memory (however unintentional) to Falcon.
Mondayish stuff. COD 15a nevertheless.
Sorry,15d.
Thanks Falcon and loonapick
An unexpected easy one for a Thursday, albeit a couple of weeks on – a good one for catching up. Even though 17a was clumsy to read, I did like the different individual and not straightforward definitions of the component parts.
Ralph the Rover was unknown but pretty easy to guess and just a quick check in Wiki to confirm that he was a character in a poem. Finished with that ALPHABET, HANDS DOWN and STALIN the last few in.