Another year, another Gordius.. In the spirit of the season I can say that I mostly enjoyed this, but as usual I have a few niggles, and there a couple of places where I’m not sure I’ve fully understood the clues.
| Across | ||||||||
| 9. | EARTH | DEARTH less D (Germany) | ||||||
| 10. | INSOLVENT | V (neckline) in INSOLENT | ||||||
| 11. | HEADPIECE | (ICE HEAPED)* | ||||||
| 12. | SCRUM | SCRUM[PY] | ||||||
| 13. | MOROCCO | M (1000) + OR (other ranks = men) + OC (officer commanding) + CO (commanding officer) | ||||||
| 15. | PLANTER | P + LANTER[n] – a light with no rear. | ||||||
| 17. | TONGS | N in TOGS. In the days of open fires, tongs were used to add or move pieces of coal | ||||||
| 18. | BAD | Reverse of DAB (a fish) | ||||||
| 20. | ROBIN | (I BORN)* | ||||||
| 22. | TRASHED | Reverse (reflection) of ART (what’s in the Tate) + SHED (buidling) | ||||||
| 25. | MUDBATH | DUMB* + HAT* | ||||||
| 26. | METER | MET[ropolitan Police] + ER (hesitation) | ||||||
| 27. | FORESIGHT | Homophone of “Forsyte” (as in the novels of John Galsworthy). Is the definition some sort of satirical reference to Tony Blair, or it some other Blair? | ||||||
| 30. | DISREPAIR | (PARIS DIRE)* | ||||||
| 31. | TAROT | A in TROT (Trotskyist = red) | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | MESH | ME (setter) + SH (quiet!) | ||||||
| 2. | TRIAL RUN | Definition + cryptic definition (I suppose) | ||||||
| 3. | CHAP | CH[urch] + AP[pointment] – I guess “entry” indicates using the beginnings of each word | ||||||
| 4. | TIME BOMB | T = Time, HE = high explosive = bomb. Quite a clever idea, but spoiled by the fact that BOMB has the same meaning in definition and wordplay | ||||||
| 5. | ASLEEP | Cryptic definition | ||||||
| 6. | ILL STARRED | Spoonerism of “Sill Tarred” | ||||||
| 7. | LEARNT | RENTAL*, though “scam” is a very poor anagram indicator | ||||||
| 8. | ITEM | Reverse of “MET I”, and a (romantic) couple can be an “item” | ||||||
| 13. | MOTET | MOT ET are French for “word and” | ||||||
| 14. | CASE-HARDEN | CHASE* + ARDEN (forest of). Chambers defines “case-harden” as “to harden of the surface, as by carbonizing iron; to make callous or insensitive by previous experience “ | ||||||
| 16. | RANCH | [B]RANCH | ||||||
| 19. | DEMERARA | (E MARRED A)*, thought I can’t see an anagram indicator (it can’t be “marred”). Demerara (where the sugar comes from) is in South America, in what is now Guyana. | ||||||
| 21. | BRAGGART | GARB< + G + ART | ||||||
| 23. | ATTEST | “AT TEST” – are deliberate no-balls a feature of test matches these days? | ||||||
| 24. | DEFEAT | FED< + EAT | ||||||
| 26. | MODE | DEMO*. | ||||||
| 28. | SITE | A (rather familiar) homophone of “sight”, and “spot” can be a location or to see | ||||||
| 29. | TATE | Cryptic definition – the Tate Gallery was founded by Mr Tate of Tate & Lyle sugar | ||||||
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