Only 24 clues here, which I think is about as few as it’s reasonably possible to have in a 15-by-15 crossword where the Ximenean edict of having no answers with more unchecked than checked letters is observed. Not that this helped my time, which was over 30 minutes: some of the films were rather difficult to find.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | CHESTER TON — Chambers gives ‘ton’ as ‘fashion; people of fashion’, which was news to me |
| 8 | (c)HURL |
| 10 | U(psettin)G L(ad)Y |
| 11 | SHETLANDIC — (the island)* c(ouncil) |
| 12 | MERCANTILE — (article men)* |
| 14 | H(arrison) AIR |
| 15 | THE FISHER KING — presumably some connection with the fact that a fisherman is said to tell tall tales, but I suspect I’m missing something. This film |
| 17 | A SIS |
| 18 | BYSTANDERS — (brandy’s set)* |
| 19 | MAIDEN AUNT — (United a man)* |
| 20 | D OZ Y |
| 21 | DEAF — e in (fad)rev. |
| 22 | RE(FINE ME)NT |
| Down | |
| 1 | THE GREAT ESCAPE — the only film of which I’d confidently heard; if you escape you’re hardly released |
| 2 | ESPY — SP in (ye)rev. |
| 3 | HELSINKI — (he is in KL)* — KL is Kuala Lumpur (no I didn’t either) |
| 4 | (b)UNGL(U)E |
| 5 | SHANGHAIED — (and high sea)* |
| 7 | THE RIGHT STUFF — this film |
| 9 | RAISING ARIZONA — this film |
| 13 | CHEESE DOFF — is ‘cheese’ a request from photographer? Surely ‘Say “cheese”‘? |
| 16 | ROASTING — (organist)* — an unusually large number of complete anagrams in this crossword |
| 18 | BIN (v)ARY — is a ‘binary’ a star? I’d have said that it was a system of two stars, if indeed the word can stand on its own in this sense (which only the COD seems to allow as ‘a system of two stars revolving round their common centre’) |
| 20 | DU((Antri)M)P |
binary = binary star is given in most dictionaries. Phi is a professional astronomer so you can trust him on this.
I had no problems with any of the films. Though Raising Arizona is the only one I’ve seen, the others are all well known.
I loved the clue for MAIDEN AUNT.
Weak on films, I struggled with this – two of them were completely unknown to me. I liked DOZY and CHURL and, of course, MAIDEN AUNT.
Pretty jolly stuff, some nice anagrams, although I thought 3D a little bit weak.
Could someone please explain the SP/”estimate of chances” in 2D for me, though? I’m not familiar with it.
Kieron: SP = starting price
7a I’d never heard of ‘ton’ as ‘fashion’ either, but now I know what my friends in New York mean by ‘tony’ – e.g. a ‘tony’ apartment:-
ton·y [ t?nee ]
adjective
Definition:
stylish: having an aristocratic, expensive, or stylish presentation ( informal )
[Late 19th century. <tone]