A solid offering from SOLOMON this Friday.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HARD |
Coming round, I see Romeo dead and unfeeling (4)
|
|
[ reverse of AH ( i see ) ] R ( romeo ) D ( dead ) |
||
| 3 | FALSE START |
Sadly, a timid soldier initially falters, making mistake before a shot’s fired (5,5)
|
|
[ A TS ( '..Timid Soldier..", initially ) FALTERS ]* |
||
| 10 | GYMNASIUM |
My amusing plays in which men go on horses (9)
|
|
[ MY AMUSING ]* |
||
| 11 | GROAT |
Coin with King George’s cypher and old date discovered (5)
|
|
GR ( king george cypher ) O ( old ) AT ( dATe, discovered ) |
||
| 12 | LADDERS |
Young man reversing red Sierra delivers window-cleaning equipment (7)
|
|
LAD ( young man ) [ reverse of RED ] S ( Sierra ) |
||
| 13 | VERTIGO |
Film tiger rampaging through the centre of Hove, heading west (7)
|
|
[ TIGER ]* in reverse of OV ( hOVe, central letters ) |
||
| 14 | SENSE |
Appreciate and understand absorbing points (5)
|
|
SEE ( understand ) containing NS ( points, North South ) |
||
| 15 | BOWLER HAT |
Laurel headdress? (6,3)
|
|
cryptic def? refers to laurel and hardy's iconic headwear |
||
| 17 | FIRE DRILL |
Make a hole in sack before practice (4,5)
|
|
FIRE ( sack ) DRILL ( make a hole ) |
||
| 19 | LIMIT |
Solomon’s trolleyed across borderline (5)
|
|
I'M ( solomon's ) in LIT ( trolleyed ) |
||
| 21 | GENERAL |
Universal Soldier (7)
|
|
double def |
||
| 23 | DEPOSIT |
Bank voided defective postal orders with computers (7)
|
|
DE ( DefectivE, without inner letters ) POS ( postal orders ) IT ( computers ) |
||
| 25 | APERY |
Imitation of a… a… I don’t know what this is (5)
|
|
A ( first 'a' ) PER ( second 'a') Y ( i dont know what this is, algebraic variable ) |
||
| 26 | ACADEMISM |
A rascal heading to Eton is taken in by masters providing formal teaching (9)
|
|
A CAD ( rascal ) [ { E ( Eton, first letter ) IS } in MM ( masters ) ] |
||
| 27 | DOUBLE TAKE |
Two looks from central Greece, including caps from Thessaloniki and Katerini (6,4)
|
|
DOUBLE E ( grEEce, centre of ) containing TAK ( starting letters of "..Thessaloniki And Katerini.." ) |
||
| 28 | AGES |
Two pieces of magnesium stuck together for a long time (4)
|
|
2 pairs of "..mAGnESium.." |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HEGEL |
What’s up with setter? He used to be really clever (5)
|
|
[ reverse of EH ( what ) ] GEL ( setter ) |
||
| 2 | RAMADAN |
Fast time managed over a mile by Bill (7)
|
|
RAN ( managed ) containing [ A M ( mile ) AD ( bill ) ] |
||
| 4 | AMISS |
Possessed by daydream? Is something wrong? (5)
|
|
hidden in "..daydreAM IS Something.." |
||
| 5 | SEMIVOWEL |
Cryptic I solve includes E, M, W and Y, among others (9)
|
|
[ I SOLVE E M W ]* |
||
| 6 | SUGAR |
Pet name of newspaper (FT?) brought up (5)
|
|
reverse of [ RAG ( newspaper ) US ( FT ) ] |
||
| 7 | ABOLISH |
A bad smell is beginning to hover around the top of lamb chop (7)
|
|
A BO ( bad smell ) [ { IS H ( Hover, first letter ) } after L ( Lamb, first letter ) ] |
||
| 8 | TIT FOR TAT |
Fool abandoning Welsh castle leads to Arthur’s triumphant retaliation (3,3,3)
|
|
TwIT ( fool, without W – welsh ) FORT ( castle ) AT ( starting letters of "..Arthur's Triumphant.." ) |
||
| 9 | TAKE HEED |
Be careful, messing this up may result in death. Eek! (4,4)
|
|
[ DEATH EEK ]* |
||
| 14 | SAFEGUARD |
Protection of 6 deaf bats (9)
|
|
[ SUGAR ( 6d ) DEAF ]* |
||
| 15 | BRILLIANT |
Iridescent fish floundering in a boat’s bottom (9)
|
|
BRILL ( fish ) [ IN A ]* T ( boaT, last letter ) |
||
| 16 | ELLIPSES |
Contents of upturned vase spilled… ... (8)
|
|
hidden reversed in "..vaSE SPILLEd.." |
||
| 18 | RONDEAU |
…over Ogden’s foot during the rendition of a rude poem (7)
|
|
[ O ( over ) N ( ogdeN, last letter ) ] in [ A RUDE ]* |
||
| 20 | MISSING |
Lost schoolgirl in the middle of Elgin (7)
|
|
MISS ( school girl ) IN G ( elGin, central letter ) |
||
| 22 | ROYAL |
King beheaded devoted queen? (5)
|
|
R ( king ) lOYAL ( devoted, without first letter ) |
||
| 23 | DRANK |
Had, say, wine that’s fourth-rate? (5)
|
|
cryptic def; fourth grade would be D RANK |
||
| 24 | TIMES |
Top spy dressed smartly on special occasions (5)
|
|
M ( top spy ) in TIES ( dressed smartly ) |
I found this a middling challenge, and enjoyed it due to its variety and abundance of well-constructed clues with great surfaces. My ticks went to RAMADAN, LADDERS, GENERAL, TIT FOR TAT, DRANK, DEPOSIT, and BRILLIANT.
I took me ages to work out HEGEL, APERY and ELLIPSES, but I did get them and managed to parse everything. It was nice to learn yet another British word for drunk in trolleyed (LIMIT) – there must be far more words for drunk in UK English than for snow in Inuit.
A few quibbles. I did not think FALSE START worked. In ROYAL, I do not think loyal = beloved (although someone will no doubt quote Chambers at me). And ACADEMISM is such an ugly and obscure word – Solomon had clearly painted himself into a corner at that stage in the setting. These are all minor and in no way detracted from my enjoyment, so all that is left to say is (16d)
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Liked FALSE START, TIT FOR TAT, TAKE HEED and ELLIPSES.
Some minor points:
FIRE DRILL
Make a hole in=DRILL (otherwise the ‘in’ remains unutilised).
DRANK
Def: Had, say, wine
TIMES
Looks like
M in TIE +S (special)
Def: occasions
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Dnk that y is called a semivowel, and apery feels a bit made up, but otherwise nothing disturbing. Groat I remember from primary school singing Gossip Joan (along with heaps of standard Brit traditionals — definitely a Colony!). A pleasant potter, thanks both.
ROYAL
Martyn! The clue says ‘devoted’, not beloved