Fun challenge from SOLOMON !
FF: 9 DD: 7
I have one clue that I am unable to fully parse.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MILK |
Dairy product delivered by Dutch airline travelling west across India (4)
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reverse of KLM ( dutch airline ) containing I ( india ) |
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| 3 | OSCAR WILDE |
Victorian playwright’s massive carriage reportedly out of control (5,5)
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OS ( massive, OverSize ) CAR ( carriage ) WILDE ( sounds like WILD, out of control ) |
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| 10 | GATECRASH |
Barge into audience by accident (9)
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GATE ( audience ) CRASH ( accident ) |
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| 11 | OUNCE |
Small piece of skinned cod Mum’s brother left unused (5)
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O ( cOd, skinned i.e. without end characters ) [ UNClE ( mum's brother, without L – left ) ] |
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| 12 | TRUMPET |
Proclaim the President in America and in France (7)
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TRUMP ( president, america ) ET ( and, french ) |
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| 13 | ONGOING |
One cuts, with seconds to go, two songs in progress (7)
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I ( one ) in sONGs sONGs [ two songs, without SS – seconds ] |
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| 14 | SHELL |
Oil company beginning to search somewhere underground? (5)
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S ( Search, first letter ) HELL ( somewhere underground ) |
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| 15 | CHINATOWN |
Friend at the west end of Northampton, perhaps for a movie (9)
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CHINA ( friend, cockney rhyme for MATE ) TOWN ( northampton, perhaps ) |
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| 17 | ELABORATE |
Ornate pants tear after old boy with beer does a back flip (9)
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OB ( old boy ) ELA ( reverse of ALE – beer ) [ TEAR ]* |
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| 19 | LOFTY |
Cuckoo to fly high (5)
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[ TO FLY ]* |
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| 21 | OVEREAT |
Gorge on food served late in the day after cycling (7)
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OVER ( on ) EAT ( food served late in the day = TEA, with the first letter moving to the last ) ; does anyone have a better parse? |
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| 23 | STOMACH |
Desire of kinky masochist is suppressed (7)
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[ MASOCHisT ( without the letters of IS ) ]* |
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| 25 | AGING |
Getting old silver in the back of Jag (5)
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AG ( silver ) IN G ( jaG, last letter ) |
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| 26 | SEA URCHIN |
Endlessly looking around you for spiny-skinned creature (3,6)
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SEARCHINg ( looking around, without last letter ) around U ( you ) |
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| 27 | RHAPSODIES |
Harps broken by Solomon during lyrical works/pieces (10)
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[ HARPS ]* [ I ( solomon ) in ODES ( lyrical works ) ] |
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| 28 | ARMY |
Soldiers hiding in farmyard (4)
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hidden in fARMYard |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MIGHT |
Force male boat crew to jettison leader (5)
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M ( male ) eIGHT ( boat crew, without first letter ) |
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| 2 | LETTUCE |
Following regular rejections, client with cute bum leaves (7)
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LET ( cLiEnT, alternate letters of ) [ CUTE ]* |
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| 4 | SHAFT |
Heads of security hurry towards the back passage (5)
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SH ( starting letters of "..Security Hurry.." ) AFT ( towards the back ) |
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| 5 | APHRODITE |
Abruptly, Ian Thorpe swims around Dutch Olympian (9)
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[ IAn ( abruptly i.e. without last letter ) THORPE ]* around D ( dutch ) |
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| 6 | WRONG |
Lead character in Rainbow wearing tight gown that’s inappropriate (5)
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R ( rainbow ) in [ GOWN ]* |
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| 7 | LENTIGO |
Freckles of setter disappear after 40 days of fasting (7)
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LENT ( 40 days of fasting ) I ( setter ) GO ( disappear ) |
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| 8 | EMERGENCY |
Naked men run into New York, getting caught, resulting in disaster (9)
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E ( mEn, naked i.e. without end letters ) MERGE ( run into ) [ C ( caught ) in NY ( New York ) ] |
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| 9 | ACAPULCO |
A top company detains extremists in uncivil Mexican city (8)
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A CAP ( top ) UL ( UnciviL, end letters of ) CO ( company ) |
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| 14 | STEGOSAUR |
Large reptile turns over egg and starts to search around under rocks (9)
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STEG ( turns = GETS, reversed ) O ( egg ) SAUR ( starting letters of "..Search Around Under Rocks" ) |
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| 15 | CHASTISED |
Dave’s partner is caught by Edward and punished (9)
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CHAS ( dave's partner, of the eponymous duo ) [ IS in TED ( edward ) ] |
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| 16 | ALL FOURS |
Hands and feet of each character (except John) close to Jesus (3,5)
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ALL ( each ) FOUR ( ? ) S ( jesuS, last letter of ) ; am missing a trick here |
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| 18 | AMERICA |
In the morning I see bats are gathered across the pond (7)
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AM ( in the morning ) { IC ( i see ) in [ ARE ]* } |
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| 20 | FEATHER |
Act with the woman getting a part in The Seagull? (7)
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FEAT ( act ) HER ( the woman ) |
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| 22 | EDGES |
Bushes forming boundaries, but not hard boundaries (5)
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hEDGES ( bushes forming boundaries, with H – hard ) |
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| 23 | SCALE |
Bass part’s range (5)
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double def, first referring to the fish |
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| 24 | HONEY |
Sweetie (humbug?) quietly binned (5)
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pHONEY ( humbug, without P – quietly ) |
I did not understand ALL FOURS either.
CHINATOWN is, I think CHINA (friend) TO (at the) W(est) (end of Northampto)N
I enjoyed this and am glad I’m not alone in not understanding all fours. Thx both in any case.
I parsed CHINATOWN as Turbolegs did: CHINA = friend, ‘to the west end of’ indicating position at the left of the solution, TOWN = Northampton perhaps’
I can’t see ‘at’ = ‘to’ – can you give me an example where they’re interchangeable?
Aah, OK, ‘pointing at / to’ works. I think either parsing works.
Thanks as ever to Turbolegs for the blog.
Within ALL FOURS my intention was that ‘character (except John)’ = F[lav]OUR = FOUR.
Interesting to see the alternative parse for CHINATOWN. I didn’t think of vanucci’s parse – maybe I should have – and can see the sense in it, although it leaves ‘perhaps’ without a function in the cryptic reading.