I found a few of these tricky. I look forward to the comments.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WATERSPOUT |
Muddy fish? This would wash it off (10)
|
| WATERS (as in Muddy Waters, the bluesman) + POUT (a species of fish) | ||
| 7 | SURE |
Yes, solid prop, we hear, is unerring (4)
|
| Quadruple definition? I think “yes,” “solid,” and “unerring” are all direct synonyms for “sure,” and “prop, we hear” refers to “shore,” a near-homophone for “sure,” i.e., “prop up” being synonymous with “shore up.” | ||
| 9 | APSE |
50% drop in fatigue in church’s recess (4)
|
| Half of (50%) [COLL]APSE (drop in fatigue) | ||
| 10 | NATURAL GAS |
Fuel spontaneous and boastful blabber (7,3)
|
| NATURAL (spontaneous) + GAS (boastful blubber) | ||
| 11 | BONSAI |
Developing begonias without, eg, reducing art? (6)
|
| Anagram of B[EG]ONIAS (without “eg”). Also a lightly cryptic definition for the art of producing miniature trees. | ||
| 12 | CLARINET |
One’s blown fashionable Bordeaux bottles (8)
|
| CLARET (Bordeaux) around (bottles) IN (fashionable) | ||
| 13 | PARALLEL |
Corresponding with latitude (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | ROTE |
Irish broadcaster maintaining old learning technique (4)
|
| RTÉ (Irish broadcaster) around (maintaining) O |
||
| 17 | PLUS |
Swanky hotel withdrawing advantage (4)
|
| PLUS[H] (swanky, with H [hotel] removed [withdrawing]) | ||
| 19 | LEARNERS |
Apprentices left with those making a crust? (8)
|
| L (left) + EARNERS (those making a crust, i.e., earning a living) | ||
| 22 | THANK YOU |
Expression of appreciation forced out about something pocketed (5,3)
|
| Anagram of (forced) OUT around (about) HANKY (something pocketed) | ||
| 23 | LET RIP |
Keep nothing back being jolly in Paris, perhaps (3,3)
|
| I think this is supposed to be read as a cryptic quasi-French definition for “le trip,” with “jolly” meaning “a pleasure trip.” | ||
| 25 | EVANGELIST |
John, say, given least arrangementconversion (10)
|
| Anagram of GIVEN LEAST. I assume that this is an editing error, although either “arrangement” or “conversion” would serve as an anagrind. | ||
| 26 | ROBE |
Item of state apparel York returned (4)
|
| EBOR reversed (returned), Ebor being the abbreviated form of “Eboracum,” the Latin name for “York” | ||
| 27 | CEDE |
Give up some pierced earrings (4)
|
| Hidden in (some) pierCED Earrings | ||
| 28 | FINGER BOWL |
Toy with sink as a place for rinsing? (6,4)
|
| FINGER (toy with) + BOWL (sink) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | AMPHORA |
Drawing off cloudy essential oil with a Greek jar (7)
|
| [C]AMPHOR (essential oil, removing [drawing off] C [cloudy]) + A | ||
| 3 | EWERS |
Choppers spending an hour carrying vessels (5)
|
| [H]EWERS (choppers, removing [spending] H [an hour]) | ||
| 4 | SENSIBLE |
Working Libs seen having both feet on the ground? (8)
|
| Anagram of (working) LIBS SEEN | ||
| 5 | OPTICAL ILLUSION |
Deception caused by sharp look? (7,8)
|
| Cryptic definition(?) I am taking “sharp” in the sense of “swindling” or “cheating.” | ||
| 6 | TARTAN |
Cutting a National plaid (6)
|
| TART (cutting) + A + N (National) | ||
| 7 | SOLDIER ON |
Continue dealing with slice of toast first (7,2)
|
| SOLDIER (slice of toast) + ON (dealing with), with “first” setting the word-order | ||
| 8 | REAGENT |
Testing matter concerning a refined chap (7)
|
| RE (concerning) + A + GENT (refined chap) | ||
| 14 | ASSONANCE |
Poet’s correspondence is behind in the matter of a new church (9)
|
| ASS (behind) + ON (in the matter of) + A + N (new) + CE (church) | ||
| 16 | RACLETTE |
Cheesy spud dish old Balt held in stock (8)
|
| LETT (old Balt) inside (held in) RACE (stock) | ||
| 18 | LE HAVRE |
Possible entry to Europe perturbed Leaver – hard to be accepted (2,5)
|
| H (hard) inside (to be accepted) anagram of (perturbed) LEAVER | ||
| 20 | RAINBOW |
I’ll be involved in cooking a brown trout? (7)
|
| I inside (will be involved in) anagram of (cooking) A + BROWN, of which rainbow trout is an example | ||
| 21 | MYSELF |
Imp, yes, alternatively mischievous child that’s ME! (6)
|
| [I]M[P] Y[E]S (taken alternatively) + ELF (mischievous child) | ||
| 24 | THROB |
Beat cooked broth (5)
|
| Anagram of (cooked) BROTH |
I agree, tricky and the hardest one today. I ended up filling the grid correctly but had zero idea about the ‘Muddy fish?’ (v. good) bit of 1a and entered WATERSPOUT as the only thing I could think of which might ‘wash’ (Geddit?). I couldn’t work out OPTICAL ILLUSION either and hadn’t seen C for ‘cloudy’ at 2d before; I suppose it’s used in weather forecasts and yes, “It’s in…”. I also wondered if the ‘arrangementconversion’ at 25a was an editorial oversight.
Favourites were LE TRIP and SURE, which I parsed as a triple def plus wordplay (the ‘prop, we hear’ bit) clue; very original.
Thanks to Jason and Cineraria
Mostly enjoyable, but quite a few sticky ones. WATERSPOUT was a doozy, and there was no way I was going to get ROBE. Hadn’t heard of RACLETTE. The clue for OPTICAL ILLUSION was a bit of a stretch, I thought. And in 28a, is a bowl a sink?
WATERSPOUT was my last in and I needed all the crossers to finally see the ‘fish’ and “musician’.
I agree with my fellow solvers that it was tricky but I did find it very satisfying to finish without help and found much to admire.
I also wasn’t sure how to parse 5d, again relying on crossers for that one.
I concur with Cineraria about LET RIP/LE TRIP (‘jolly’) as I’ve seen this quite recently and also about the clever SURE, with the homophone ‘shore’ making up the fourth definition.
SOLDIER ON was among my favourites, as well as RAINBOW (a ‘trout’
to go with the aforementioned ‘pout’), LE HAVRE (witty surface) and the delicious RACLETTE.
Thanks to Jason and Cineraria.
Was this set by an American?
I certainly don’t pronounce “sure” and “shore” the same way. Similarly with 14D, the behind is American; in the UK surely it’s an anagram of “sear”?
I agree with the comments re 5D and I’m still not sure how it works so I’ll check in again later.
With the cross letters 26A was obvious but its reversed meaning was new to me.
Geoff, I have a “bowl” in my bathroom and a “sink” in my kitchen.
Well, Peter, in my bathroom is a basin. I have several bowls in my kitchen that I wash in the sink after use. As far as I’m aware, a sink is installed beneath a tap and drains into a pipe.
Yes, Geoff, I agree. I also have a basin in my bathroom, above which I brush my teeth and shave. I also have a bowl, in which I do things that should not be detailed in this forum!
I was born and raised in England and remember mixing meals or whipping cream in bowls which, indeed, were washed in the sink. I guess that being bi-lingual (RP and Oz), I can accept that the the words are close enough in meaning, in crossword land, to be interchangeable.
Anyway, it’s all good fun…
Peter@4
As an Essex Man I pronounce shore and sure the same way-shurely
Maybe not so in your neck of the woods.
Thanks copmus. I vaguely remember visiting Essex when I was young. Isn’t that where Epping Forest is? And maybe Tilbury Docks?
I have a mixed accent: born a Geordie but raised in the home counties, then dragged off to Australia at sixteen, my accent is pretty much undecipherable. But I pronounce “shore” with an “ore/oar”; and “sure” with an “sh” followed by the Yorkshire river “Ure”.
As the French say “Vive la difference”.
Hmm, this is all getting very “seashells on the seashore”, I’m sure!
Diane, you missed out “Sally selling”!
By the way. how do you pronounce “shore” and “sure”?
As homophones, I’m afraid, even though my life has been as peripatetic as yours.
I am an American, so the pun/homophone clues often do not work for me, unless I strain to imagine that I am Professor Henry Higgins or Michael Caine or a newsreader on the BBC World Service.
Thanks Cineraria, nicely unravelled, I got 9a from def and did not find the full word, could not parse 16d at all and 26a was a lucky guess having rejected “Ruby”. I had no problem with the homophone in 7a but even if I had there were three other routes to success, very generous! Did anyone else think that “alternately” would have been clearer in 21d? Enjoyed the challenge, thanks Jason.
Missed Raclette despite realising that it had to be *a*lette 🙂
Otherwise got there though it took quite some time and a few return visits.
For my liking there was rather too much working backwards from realising what the answer was and then deciphering the clue.
A bit tricky in places but we didn’t find this too difficult. We particularly liked CLARINET, EVANGELIST and SOLDIER ON.
Thanks, Jason and Cineraria.
For 12A, I entered CHALICES. I thought fashionable was CHIC and figured CHALICES were the bottles.