Hamilton gives us a good start to the week.
It’s not often I can say that I find myself on Hamilton’s wavelength, but overall I found this morning’s puzzle smooth sailing. As to be expected, I could quibble over a few clues, but Hamilton will be Hamilton! Thanks for the fun!
ACROSS
10, 1. It’s to be expected from spies and hoped for from shop assistants (7,12)
COUNTER INTELLIGENCE
Cryptic / double definition
11. DJ broadcast mobile phone connection (7)
AIRLINE
AIR (DJ broadcast) + LINE (mobile phone)
12. Even ditch, I hear, is more slippery (5)
ICIER
[d]I[t]C[h] I [h]E[a]R (even)
13. Earliest print of hospital 45 minutes after busiest time (4,4)
RUSH HOUR
RUSH (earliest print) + H (hospital) + [h]OUR (45 minutes after, i.e. 3/4 of an hour)
15. Thrill in the midst of Sussex hilltop – at a price! (10)
EXHILARATE
[Suss]EX HIL[ltop] (in the midst of) at A RATE (a price)
16, 18. Band tell tales; isn’t that the manager’s job? (4,4)
TEAM TALK
TEAM (band) + TALK (tell tales)
20. Breaking up movement that supports Delaware’s adoption of 40% limit (10)
DEMOLITION
MOTION (movement) that supports DE (Delaware) + adoption of LI[mit] (40%)
22. Enraptured by adviser, he starts raving (8)
RAVISHED
(ADVISER + H[e] (starts))* (*raving)
24. Get to the bottom of what’s in Anusol very quickly (5)
SOLVE
[Anu]SOL VE[ry] (what’s in)
26. Name the former Mrs Trump, keeper of Republican peace (7)
NIRVANA
N (name) + IVANA (the former Mrs Trump), keeper of R (Republican)
27. Worship of false god, perhaps, one starts to sense (7)
IDOLISE
IDOL (false god perhaps) + I (one) + SE[nse] (starts to)
28. Treble lattes ordered for work area (7,5)
TRESTLE TABLE
(TREBLE LATTES)* (*ordered)
DOWN
2. Wayward neighbours beg to be relieved of support (7)
NOURISH
(N[e]i[g]h[b]ours)* (*wayward, BEG to be relieved of)
3. In every respect, medical field one can be sure of (8)
ENTIRELY
ENT (medical field) + I (one) + RELY (can be sure of)
4. Fun to be had in Clarksville (4)
LARK
[C]LARK[sville] (to be had in)
5. Donna lost heart with guitar-playing at ceremony (10)
GRADUATION
(DO[n]NA (lost heart) + GUITAR)* (*playing)
6. Heading going the opposite way now (5)
NORTH
Cryptic definition (the clue runs south)
7. Summary record of one great work (7)
EPITOME
EP (record) of I (one) + TOME (great work)
8. Practice no end but turn out to be a liability (8-5)
ACCIDENT-PRONE
(PRACTICE NO END)* (*turn out)
9. A merger with Dryden criminally manipulated in-house result (13)
GERRYMANDERED
(A MERGER DRYDEN)* (*criminally)
14. What’s material to the Irish – or not? (10)
IRRELEVANT
What’s RELEVANT (material) to the IR (Irish)
17. Spad and senorita leave nest behind for risky migration (8)
DIASPORA
(SPAD [s][e][n]ORI[t]A (leave NEST behind))* (*risky)
19. Bounder perpetually given permission to stick around (7)
LEVERET
EVER (perpetually) given LET (permission) to stick around
21. Shakespeare suffering; he’s got what Iago had! (3,4)
ILL WILL
Double / cryptic definition
25, 23. Magazine to go halves on holiday villa (9)
TIME SHARE
TIME (magazine) + SHARE (to go halves on)
I really didn’t like 11A: “mobile phone = line”? I would have thought that “line” referred to a fixed-line phone. “Connection = Airline”? Rather tenuous but thanks to Teacow for parsing it.
I just learned a new meaning for “ravished”. I only knew the violent versions as in “defiled”.
Other than that, a pretty easy start to the week.
Plenty of smiles, but quite a few groans too. The clues for RUSH HOUR, AIRLINE & TEAM TALK were fairly uninspired. Favourite clue? Dunno.
AIRLINE can also mean “a hose carrying air under pressure”, so a connection of sorts. Perhaps that is the intended reference?
Apart from that trying to get my head round “DJ broadcast” = air
An enjoyable puzzle. I had AIRTIME for 11A, as a double definition. Since “broadcast” = air, why would “DJ” need to be in the clue otherwise?
LarryS@5, thank you, AIRTIME is by far the more convincing answer
I guessed NORTH and AIRLINE but could not make much sense of the clues. “Broadcast” is often “air,” and “mobile phone connection” could be “line,” but just “mobile phone”? I guess the suggested parsings are plausible. Thanks, Teacow.
The clue for AIRLINE (or whatever the solution may be) does seem remarkable, in that it has (presumably) three simple parts, not one of which can be satisfactorily explained.
In looking for AIR__ words, I saw that Chambers has this definition for air:
‘the medium through which sound waves travel (radio)’
That seems very odd, can anyone explain the radio?
As LarryS @ 5 , I had AIRTIME and parsed it as a double definition (“DJ broadcast” and “mobile phone connection”) for 11a. I could not parse RUSH HOUR so thanks Teacow for unravelling that rather strange clue. Thanks also Hamilton.
Thank you Teacow. Hamilton and I are on very different wavelengths and I found this quite tough! Your solutions were a revelation and fun to learn from.
I too had Airtime for 11 across, which seems to me to make more sense in the context of a clue than Airline.
The following definitions are from Chambers which seem to support my contention:
air?time noun
The amount of broadcasting time on radio or television allotted to a particular topic, type of material, commercial advertisement, etc
Airtime Provider
An organization that provides access to mobile phone services
Ps. I started very slowly but then I seemed to find the setter’s wavelength and the answers lsteadily fell into place. The top left hand corner was the final piece with 10A Counter my LOI. Doh!
Apart from the unsatisfactory 11ac, be it ‘airline’ or ‘airtime’ this was a pleasant enough solve despite the occasional quirkiness of some clues. We needed an angram solver for 9dn.
Thanks, Hamilton and Teacow.