Although there is one whose explanation defeats me, most of this crossword from Phi was easier than sometimes and of course was of the usual high standard. 8dn is beyond me I’m afraid. Please can someone explain.
Definitions underlined, in orchid. Anagram indicators in italics.
I can’t see any Nina. Of course.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SILESIA | Agreements from Spain about the French area in part of Europe (7) |
| (si (le) si) a | ||
| 5 | BULLISH | Wrong to retreat in uncultivated country, being aggressive (7) |
| (ill)rev. in bush | ||
| 9 | RECUMBENT | Lying about person in office not getting elected (9) |
| re {in}cumbent | ||
| 10 | GHANA | Government lies at the fore of understanding a country in Africa (5) |
| G = government presumably, although it isn’t in Collins (it is in Chambers — a compound as in G-man), the understanding is hang; its g lies at the fore, to make ghan, then a | ||
| 11 | GOLDEN DELICIOUS | Development of lodge cuisine involves historic apple (6,9) |
| old [historic] in *(lodge cuisine) | ||
| 13/12 | FIDEI DEFENSATRIX | Unusually diffident being involved with a sexier title for the Queen (5,11) |
| *(diffident a sexier) — the female version of ‘fidei defensor’, (defender of the faith) — is Google male-oriented? It asked me if I meant ‘fidei defensor’. No I didn’t: ‘…atrix’ is a standard term, as we see from this Google entry | ||
| 15 | FIDUCIAL | Trusty French nobleman, collared by a couple, dumped in Cornish river (8) |
| F(I(duc)I)al — I think the couple is II, two in Roman numerals | ||
| 18 | ESTRANGE | Is Escoffier’s oven set apart? (8) |
| est [is, as Escoffier, a Frenchman, would have it] range | ||
| 19 | I will block return of unimpressive spam? (1-4) | |
| (la(I)me)rev. | ||
| 20 | THE SUN ALSO RISES | Novel adding to its setting? (3,3,4,5) |
| CD, based on the fact that the sun sets and also rises? The Sun Also Rises is this Hemingway novel | ||
| 23 | IN ONE | Pub importing old ale ultimately as a unit (2,3) |
| in(o)n {al}e — not a specific unit, just a way of saying ‘as a unit’ | ||
| 24 | ROTUNDITY | Circular shape? Staff carrying barrel with it to yard (9) |
| ro(tun)d it y | ||
| 26 | SPANDEX | Criticise daughter engaging in intercourse in tight fabric (7) |
| s(pan d)ex | ||
| 27 | EXERGUE | Former lover with a bit of work starts to upstage everyone in area of date (7) |
| ex erg u{pstage} e{veryone} — not a word I knew, but the wordplay was quite kind and as Collins says it’s a space on the reverse of a coin or medal below the central design, often containing the date, place of minting, etc | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SHRUG OFF | Just ignore source of something unusually rough and loud (5,3) |
| s{omething} *(rough) ff — but isn’t ff ‘very loud’, with f reserved for merely loud? | ||
| 2 | LOCAL | Officer commanding everyone left earlier for pub (5) |
| oc all, with one of the ls earlier, in fact at the beginning | ||
| 3 | SOMMELIER | Wine waiter’s romance, in embrace of German actress (9) |
| somme(lie)r — lie = romance, and the German actress is Elke Sommer | ||
| 4 | APE | Copy video recording, perhaps, omitting start (3) |
| {t}ape | ||
| 5 | BATTLEDRESS | Ex-PM’s involving doctor in crude nonsense? It’s material for conflict (11) |
| B(Attle(Dr)e’s)S — BS is mainly American slang for bullshit [Originally I missed the ‘s after Attlee, but have put it right now after the comments from Deezzaa and Simon S at 3 and 4 below] | ||
| 6 | LOGIC | US soldier in column showing upturn in sense (5) |
| GI in (col.)rev. | ||
| 7 | INAMORATA | Maria not unhappy with a lover (9) |
| (Maria not)* a | ||
| 8 | HEADS | The man with lots of money but not with the bosses (5) |
| he {lo}ads — no, that’s a cop-out: how does it work? [As NeilW points out, it’s he {w}ads] | ||
| 12 | See 13 Across | |
| 14 | DESDEMONA | Murdered wife of Parisian: malevolent figure engaged in it (9) |
| de [of Parisian] S(demon)A — it = sex appeal, the crossword staple — Desdemona was a murdered wife (in Othello), not a murdered wife of a Parisian as initially suggested by the clue | ||
| 16 | CLEARANCE | Space and opportunity to replace Henry with tragic king (9) |
| chance [opportunity] with its h replaced by Lear | ||
| 17 | OLD STYLE | Not the modern fashion? Dolls yet to be abandoned (3,5) |
| (Dolls yet)* | ||
| 20 | TAILS | Dogs are entering narrow gap on a climb (5) |
| (sli(a)t)rev. — a = are, the unit of area; ‘on a climb’ is the reversal indicator | ||
| 21 | U-BEND | Youngster not about to complete plumbing challenge? (1-4) |
| {c}ub end [complete] | ||
| 22 | STING | Beginning without skill is a pain (5) |
| st{art}ing | ||
| 25 | TIE | Weary, having scored runs in match (3) |
| ti{r}e — weary a verb, scored = wiped out/removed | ||
Thanks, John. It’s HE (w)ADS (“not with” being the subtraction indicator.)
Thanks Neil. Blog amended. Perfectly simple, as such things always are.
Aren’t we an “s” short in 5d? Unless “crude nonsense” is “BSS”.
Is there a numismatic theme? 8 & 20, 13 & 12 (“FD” appearing on coins) and of course 27, with 11 at a push. But unless I’m missing something pretty big, it all seems to fizzle out.
Good fun though.
Thanks Phi and John
Deezzaa @ 3: Ex-PM’s > Attlee’s provides the S you’re looking for.
We can’t see any nina but we did pick up the numismatic references (EXERGUE was a new word for us as well – for an example see here). As for 13/12, Collins, Chambers and Brewer are all male-oriented too, and only give the masculine form. G for ‘government’ (as in 10) is frequently encountered in crosswords so it’s surprising it’s not in Collins.
Plenty to enjoy, starting at 1ac – SILESIA, which we saw at once; and TAILS, where we were alert enough for once to see ‘are’ as the unit of are.
Thanks, Phi and John