After this actor was used by Mordred on Monday, I put him into my memory bank, but he’s there again on his 28th birthday as the Indy recorded today. He stars in Brokeback Mountain (15 across) whose director is Ang Lee.
Solving time: 17 mins
* = anagram
1 CAPON Al Capone less the East End
4 PLAINTIFF “Plane” Tiff
11 I C (ELAN) D
13 QUEUE Brilliant
15 ANGLE Director briefly (see intro)
17 F LAME NCO
20 KARACHI Hidden
24 PIECEMEAL “Peace” (meal)*
25 GiELGud IN
DOWN
1 C(R)ABBY r = run (cricket)
2 P (A LOOK)A
3 NOVE(mber) LETTE(r) Thirty days hath November 30/2 = 15
5 A CHRISTMAS CAROL – Charles Dickens Super clue
6 MusiciaN APPEared
13 QUEENCAKE
14 BACKS TOP
16 GAROTTE (Great to)* It is a length of wire, as well as a way of killing
21 C (HL) OE The athlete Sebastian, turned politician
I liked the use of Ang Lee in 15ac, though I appreciate not everyone will have heard of him.
I also liked the ambiguity of 1 across. It could be read as removing the easternmost letter or the E(ast) on the end.
Getting NOVE(mber) from 15 days might have benefited from a question mark. It also throws up possibilities for April (6,12,18, and 24 days), June (15 days only), and September (10 or 20 days). It’s a good job 31 is a prime!
I’m not sure about this 15 days business, don’t think I would have worked that out in a month of Sundays (no doubt that’s a clue for something or other).