I find Hypnos tends to be one of the tougher of the IoS setters, but thankfully – from a blogger’s point of view, at least – this one was quite manageable. The North-East corner did hold me up a little though, perhaps be 5dn wasn’t familiar to me.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | BASTE – [gru]B AS TE[a]. |
| 4 | GO PUBLIC – G.O.P. + (I in CLUB*). I’d heard the term “GOP” but hadn’t realised it was simply a nickname for the Republican Party. |
| 9 | HESSIAN – HESS + IAN. Rudolf Hess served a life sentence at Spandau Prison. |
| 10 | REFUSAL – REFUS[e] + A + L. |
| 11 | NAIVE – VIEN[n]A*. |
| 12 | UNDERDOG – UNDERDO + [e]G[g]. |
| 14 | TONIC WATER – (WINE + ACTOR + [cabine]T)*. |
| 15 | GRIT – [brewe]R in GIT. |
| 17 | EDAM – from DAME, with each letter shifted by one position, hence “cycling”. |
| 19 | TABLE LINEN – NILE< in (TAB + LEN). |
| 22 | IN THE AIR – dd. |
| 23 | CORGI – C[ompany] O[f] R[oyal] G[etting] I[nstructions]. |
| 25 | ERITREA – RITE* in ERA. |
| 26 | CORTEGE – G in (COR + TEE). |
| 27 | BEARSKIN – SABRE* + KIN. |
| 28 | MAYOR – Y in ROAM<. |
| Down | |
| 1 | BEHIND THE TIMES – BEHIND + (IT< in THEMES). |
| 2 | SESSION – SESSION[s]. A reference to John Sessions, I would expect. |
| 3 | EVIDENCE – [huhn]E + (ED< in VINCE). |
| 4 | GONG – [fla]G ON G[randstand]. |
| 5 | PIRANDELLO – D[rama] in (PLAIN ROLE)*. |
| 6 | BUFFET – BUFFET[t]. Warren Buffett, U.S. investor. |
| 7 | INSIDER – IN + hom. of “cider”. |
| 8 | FLIGHT ENGINEER – (FEEL HIRING GENT)*. |
| 13 | SAFARI PARK – (A FAR + DI[p]) in SARK. |
| 16 | PLECTRUM – cd. Digital as in “fingers”, and a reference to John Denver, who played the guitar. |
| 18 | ASTAIRE – A + hom. of “stair”. |
| 20 | NURSERY – NURSE + R[ocker]Y. |
| 21 | TERROR – T[eachers] + ERROR. |
| 24 | SCAN – C in SAN. |
I can’t say I find Hypnos particularly difficult, and this one was very straightforward – quickly solved in only two passes.
But I couldn’t parse 19a, so thanks, Simon, for the blog. Once I saw it I remembered there is a colour known as ‘Nile Green’ – though why it’s called that I have no idea.
Cheers, Allan. Must admit that one did take a bit of work: TAB for “key” wasn’t immediately obvious to me, nor was NILE/”green”.
Hypnos is definitely more difficult on a weekday, but I think still puts up a bit of a fight on Sunday, which is welcome.