Gurney provides this morning’s entertainment.
After a sticky start where I had some of the answers in the opposing NW and SE corners, but none of the long ones filled in, I eventually picked up th epace and completed this puzzle fairly quickly in the end.
Some of the definitions in the puzzle were clever (e.g. URANUS and SPACE STATION), but I’d be interested in people’s thoughts about OLD WIVES’ TALE which I at first thought was poorly defined, but I am now beginning to warm to it.
Thanks Gurney.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PANAMA | Country parents holding new arrival, the first (6) |
| PA + MA (“parents”) holding N (new) A(rrival) [the first] | ||
| 4 | ISABELLA | Queen mixes Asia up, entertaining clanger! (8) |
| *(asia) entertaining BELL (“clanger”)
Queen Isabella I of Castile, with her husband Ferdinand, financed Christopher Columbus’ expedition which led to his “discovery” of America in 1492. |
||
| 9 | WARMTH | Cordiality month after conflict no longer on (6) |
| M(on)TH [no longer ON] after WAR (“conflict”) | ||
| 10 | LABURNUM | Flowering tree in US city, smart, Greek character recalled (8) |
| L.A. (“US city”) + BURN (“smart”) + <=MU (“Greek character” recalled) | ||
| 12 | SPAN | Extend across second vessel (4) |
| S (second) + PAN (“vessel”) | ||
| 13 | WATERCRESS | New caterers in south-west backing salad item (10) |
| *(caterers) in <=SW (south-west, backing) | ||
| 15 | OLD WIVES TALE | This saw Violet led astray? (3,5,4) |
| *(saw violet led) and &lit.
Old wives’ tales, being superstitions or urban legends, may be seen to lead one astray. Is that enough of a definition? |
||
| 18 | CHRISTIAN ERA | At work train cashier for long period (9,3) |
| *(train cashier) | ||
| 21 | TURKEY TROT | Left-winger following country dance (6,4) |
| TROT (“left-winger”) following TURKEY (“country”) | ||
| 22 | SOON | Odd characters from show performing shortly (4) |
| [odd characters from] S(h)O(w) + ON (“performing”) | ||
| 24 | AGNOSTIC | A good number remain, we hear, doubtful (8) |
| A G (good) No. (number) STIC (homophone of STICK, i.e. “remain” we hear) | ||
| 25 | STRIKE | Hit small three-wheeler (6) |
| S (small) + TRIKE (“three-wheeler”) | ||
| 26 | DISUNITY | Is untidy sadly leading to strife (8) |
| *(is untidy) | ||
| 27 | ORATOR | Seen in Windsor, a Tory speaker (6) |
| Hidden [seen] in “windsOR A TORy” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PAWNSHOP | Chessman’s upward move where advances are made (8) |
| PAWN’S (“chessman’s”) + HOP (“upward move”) | ||
| 2 | NORMANDY | Standard linked with Yankee’s D-Day target (8) |
| NORM (“standard”) + AND (“linked with”) + Y (Yankee) | ||
| 3 | MUTE | Silent writer outside extremely upset (4) |
| ME (“writer”) outide [extremely] U(pse)T | ||
| 5 | SPACE STATION | What’s up, bringing some round to past case in trouble? (5,7) |
| *(to past case in) | ||
| 6 | BLUE-COLLAR | Describing some workers’ unhappy arrest (4-6) |
| BLUE (“unhappy”) + COLLAR (“arrest”) | ||
| 7 | LINNET | 10-0 upset for high flier? (6) |
| <=TEN-NIL (“10-0, upset) | ||
| 8 | ALMOST | Article mislaid, Mike’s admitted? Pretty much (6) |
| A (“article”) + LOST (“mislaid”) with M (Mike) admitted | ||
| 11 | LAKE DISTRICT | Travelling like a daughter following rules where tourists go (4,8) |
| *(like a d) where the D = daughter + STRICT (“following rules”) | ||
| 14 | HIGH SEASON | Cheerful by water joining relation when it’s busiest (4,6) |
| HIGH (“cheerful”) by SEA (“water”) joining SON (“relation”) | ||
| 16 | PERONIST | “He supported president” some whisper on isthmus (8) |
| Hidden in [some] “whisPER ON ISThmus”
i.e. a supporter of Juan Peron. |
||
| 17 | RAINWEAR | Back carrying excellent north- western waterproofs (8) |
| REAR (“back”) wearing A1 (“excellent”) + NW (north-western) | ||
| 19 | STRAND | Leave without means of moving from London street (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | URANUS | After about turn, fled with American revolver (6) |
| After U (“about-turn”) RAN (“fled”) with US (“American”)
Planets revolve, so “revolver” for planet is a nice piece of misdirection. |
||
| 23 | STAR | Sneaks up, and gets shiner? (4) |
| <=RATS (“sneaks”, up) | ||
*anagram
Pretty quick solve today.
15ac I took ‘saw’ to be a saying such as an Old Wives’ Tale, as well as part of the anagram fodder.
Steven@1
That makes some sense.
Thanks to Gurney and loonapick. Enjoyable. I read “saw” the same way, plus I’m familiar with the dismissive phrase “that’s an OWT.” I took a while getting the long down answers but my LOI was LABURNUM, new to me.
Thanks Gurney and loonapick
Entertaining crossword that was made a little more difficult with the long connecting words that joined the four corners together. I started in the SE corner moved up to the NE then down to SW and up to finish in the NW.
Enjoyed the long anagrams at 15a, 18a and 5d and also liked the quirky definitions that were used in a number of clues. Went looking for some connection to The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett, but his two main characters were Sophia and Constance (no Violet) !
Finished with NORMANDY, SPAN and PAWNSHOP when I got back up to that NW corner.