A challenge from Bradman, of 2 parts. 80% of the puzzle took 20% of the time and … you know how the other part was. Thanks Bradman.
A few words that I didnt know until today. And 1 clue that am not sure is strong from a construction standpoint.
FF: 8 DD: 8
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHERUBIM | After revolutionary massage I am an angel! (8) |
| CHE (revolutionary) RUB (massage) I’M | ||
| 5 | FOREGO | Confidence booster is good — —? Do without (6) |
| the blanks are FOR EGO | ||
| 8 | MOA | Bird no longer producing egg for mum to eat (3) |
| O (egg) in MA (mum) – extinct now | ||
| 9 | BEDCHAMBER | Be charmed, absurdly so, when bishop enters room for a rest (10) |
| BE CHARMED* around B (bishop) | ||
| 10 | DEPONENT | Witness quiet individual overwhelmed by depression (8) |
| [ P (quiet) ONE (individual) ] in DENT (depression) | ||
| 11 | TONGAN |
A knight joining secret society on an island (6) |
| [ A N (knight) ] after TONG (secret society) | ||
| 12 | AWED | A day to be bowled over by wonder (4) |
| A WED (day) | ||
| 14 | ASYMPTOTES | Steamy spot abroad – such will never be reached (10) |
| STEAMY SPOT* | ||
| 17 | SPARE PARTS | Possibly Bath agent with skills for providing bits and pieces (5,5) |
| charade of SPA (bath, possibly) REP (agent) ARTS (skills) | ||
| 20 | DRUM | Landlord finally gets drink container (4) |
| D (landlorD, finally) RUM (drink) | ||
| 23 | TRAINS | Coaches – or their alternative? (6) |
| double def * 2 | ||
| 24 | ORDNANCE | Big guns giving decree I ignored (8) |
| ORDiNANCE (decree, without ‘I’) | ||
| 25 | LIGHTERAGE | Haggler tries endlessly to get this dock charge changed (10) |
| HAGGLEr TRIEs* (endlessly) – transfer of cargo between 2 ships. What is the anagrind here? | ||
| 26 | OBI | The charm of a broad sash (3) |
| double def; didnt know this one. | ||
| 27 | CYPRUS | Some fancy Prussian fabric (6) |
| hidden in”..fanCY PRUSsian..” | ||
| 28 | RESTORER | Repairer has hesitation about shop beginning to rot (8) |
| RE (hesitation = ER, reversed) STORE (shop) R (starting character of Rot) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COMEDIANS | Greek island occupied by sort of average entertainers (9) |
| COS (greek island) containing MEDIAN (sort of average) | ||
| 2 | EXAMPLE | No longer enough to make a case (7) |
| EX (no longer) AMPLE (enough) | ||
| 3 | URBANE | Refined old city bar, Edinburgh’s No. 1 (6) |
| UR (old city) BAN (bar) E (Edinburgh’s first letter) | ||
| 4 | INDONESIA | Country home completed starts to seem incredibly awful (9) |
| IN (home) DONE (completed) SIA (starting letters of “..Seem Incredibly Awful”) | ||
| 5 | FLAT TOP | There’s still time before work to get a haircut (4-3) |
| FLAT (still) T (time) OP (work) | ||
| 6 | ROBIN HOOD | Legendary thief to do what he does wearing head covering (5,4) |
| ROB (what the thief does) IN (~wearing) HOOD (head covering) | ||
| 7 | GERMANE | Material upset little fellow – something hairy (7) |
| GER (little fellow = REG, reversed) MANE (something hairy) | ||
| 13 | DERRINGER | Gun misbehaving? Get embarrassed, upset about it (9) |
| DER (embarassed = RED, reversed) around ERRING (misbehaving) | ||
| 15 | MOTORCADE | Procession with actor awkwardly getting in the way (9) |
| ACTOR* in MODE (way) | ||
| 16 | SOMMELIER | Somehow memorise litres to be carried? He may have to (9) |
| MEMORISE* containing L (litres) | ||
| 18 | PARSLEY | Plant science’s leading character featured in talk (7) |
| S (Science’s first letter) in PARLEY (talk) | ||
| 19 | PESETAS | See past change here? (7) |
| SEE PAST* – spanish money | ||
| 21 | RANCOUR | Managed, with homage in short supply, to show enmity (7) |
| RAN (managed) COURt (homage?, short) | ||
| 22 | INSECT | Maybe fly as member of a religious group (6) |
| IN (~member, in this clue) SECT (religious group) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Turbolegs and Bradman. Could not solve LIGHTERAGE, GERMANE or FLAT TOP.
Pedant’s corner. CHERUBIM is a plural noun.
Very enjoyable and tough in parts.
For 25ac I took the “changed” at the end as a sort of delayed anagrind with the definition “dock charge”. But didn’t feel totally happy with it.
Thanks TL and Bradman
In 19d, I think “past” does double duty since Spain now uses the euro.
As to 25ac I saw it in a similar way as peterj.
(Take)[CONSTRUCTION] to get this [DEFINITION] changed.
23d is, I think, a semi &lit.
‘Change’ is the anagram indicator for ‘See past’, and by adding ‘here?’ the clue as a whole becomes the definition.
Or just ‘past change’ [with both words doing some double duty]: “what you see here is [PAST CHANGE]”.
Nice friendly crossword with many in at the first pass.
And ending with the aforementioned LIGHTERAGE (25ac) of which I hadn’t heard and which I had to look up.
I was actually surprised to see that there was another word other than LEGITIMATE (which, of course, makes no sense) that fitted.
Many thanks to Bradman and to Turbolegs.
ps, FF = ‘fun factor’ but I forgot what DD stands for – probably something with D(ifficulty), am I right?
CHERUBIM is a plural. Not an angel. More than one.
Thanks all, for the comments.
Peterj@2 / Sil@4 – Initially, that was my parsing as well and my first draft of the solve had it so. The meaning though, refers to the actual transfer of cargo between ships and therefore “..dock charge..” by itself is not the complete definition. It has to be “…dock charge changed” in which case, the anagrind is missing and thats the comment I have made above.
19ac – I think the clue would have been more elegant without the ‘here’.
Sil@4 – DD is my perceived Degree of Difficulty.
Braco@1, Yves@5 – Agree.
Regards,
TL
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
Enjoyable puzzle which I was able to finish quite comfortably over lunch with only the one new word to be learnt from the Don in it – CYPRUS (as a fabric). Did take a while to equate COURT with homage – but finally there it was in the sense ‘to pay homage’ = ‘to pay court’ – my original thoughts were that it was COUR[TESY] to be cut short.
Needed the blog to properly parse the ROBIN bit of 6d – quite clever – had lazily gone for an unheralded Cockney homophonic ‘robbing’.
Had slight misgivings about CHERUBIM for the reasons already stated. Also thought that a ‘coach’ can actually be a part of a train as well as the ‘alternative bus transport’. Neither of them showstoppers though !
Finished with RESTORER down the bottom with BEDCHAMBER and GERMANE in the NE corner the last couple in.
Tl@6 My chambers gives “Lighterage. 2. The payment for such service”
Just looked at these comments long enough to feel bad about SERAPH/IM.
… more than an angel indeed!
Sorry , the Church Times crossword editor should have known better