Good stuff from Aardvark, with one clue that I am unable to solve. Can anyone help?
Any help on 17 across gratefully appreciated.
Hold mouse over clue number to see clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MEDALLION | Double definition – circular cut of meat and medal in cat show. Also MEDAL (prize for winning) and LION (cat) – thanks to Eileen for this better interpretation. |
| 6 | CHESS | matCHES Studied |
| 9 | PECAN | CAN (drink) following PE (excercise) |
| 10 | IONIAN SEA | IO (FT setter) SIENNA* shAde (middle of) |
| 11 | PETERHOUSE | PET (preferred=a favourite) HER* and OUSE (any one of several English rivers of that name) – definition is ‘Cambridge College’ |
| 12 | AXLE | AXE (chopper) contains (draws in) Left – definition is ‘wheel section’ |
| 14 | SILENUS | IS reversed (rebuffed) and LEN (Leonard briefly) with US the United States – Silenus is a satyr and companion of Dionysus in Greek mythology. I’m nore sure why ‘audibly’ is required, I may have parsed this one incorrectly. |
| 15 | RAINBOW | IN (stylish) BOots (pair of=first two letters) in RAW (green) – one can never reach a rainbow (indeed, do rainbows actually exist?) |
| 17 | PINSENT | |
| 19 | WACKILY | eAt CaKe (regularly=every other letter, at regular intervals) inside WILY (devious) |
| 20 | RUSK | hampeR (back of) and USK (Welsh river) |
| 22 | STEELMAKER | STEAK (beef) outside ELM (wood) and SomERset (middle of) – does ‘steelmaker’ really mean labourer? |
| 25 | IAIN BANKS | IdeA (vacuous=with no inside) IN BANKS (rims) – Scottish novelist |
| 26 | OVOID | Omlette (bit of=first letter) inside OVID (poet) – shaped like an egg |
| 27 | IGLOO | I (1 Roman numeral) GLOO sounds like (when discussed) glue (cement) – definition ‘house’ |
| 28 | SHEEPSKIN | SHE (lady) EPS (Extended Play records) Kestrels (earliest, first letter of) IN (wearing) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MOP UP | PUP (dog) follows (tracks) MO (‘bones’ is army slang for Medical Officer) |
| 2 | DECATHLON | Clubs inside DEATH (the end) Latch (start to, first letter) and ON – definition ‘sports event’ |
| 3 | LONE RANGER | ONE RANG (phoned) in aLERt (middle of) |
| 4 | IN IRONS | bIRO (without cap, top letter) inside INN‘S (pub’s) |
| 5 | NON-USER | ONUS (responsibility) inside NERd (anorak, shortened) |
| 6 | CHAP | Harlequins (flanker=one on the side) inside CAP (headgear) – definition is ‘fellow’ |
| 7 | ESSEX | ExectutiveS (periphery, outside letters) and SEX (congress) |
| 8 | SLAVE AWAY | SLAV (european) strodE (last letter of) AWAY (out) – definition is ‘fag’, work hard |
| 13 | NINCOMPOOP | N (navy) INCOMe (most of wages) POOP (deck) |
| 14 | SUPERMINI | US (American) reversed PERM (hairstyle) IN I (1 Roman numeral) – definition is ‘type of car’ |
| 16 | BRICKWORK | BRICK (portion of ice-cream) and R (runs, cricket) inside WOK (kitchenware) – definition is ‘walls’. Before the invention of plastic tubs ice-cream used to come in blocks wrapped in paper that were known as ‘bricks’. |
| 18 | TETANUS | NAT inside SUET (fat) |
| 19 | WOE IS ME | With Old English (abbreviations) and SEMI* |
| 21 | SWILL | WILL (Prince William) with Sunday coming first (a priotity) – definition is hogwash. I’m a bit shaky on royalty, but isn’t Prince Charles the Prince of Wales? |
| 23 | RODIN | ROD (staff) IN (accepted) – French sculptor, worked with his hands |
| 24 | EBRO | R (run, cricket) inside (wearing) OBE (medal, Order of the British Empire) reversed – definition is ‘European runner’. The Ebro is a large river in Spain – a river ‘runs’. |
*anagram
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