Solving time: 35’
More than one instance in which clear wordplay led to a new word (THALLI, SINICISM, CHOTA, OGIVES, ADENITIS) or a familiar word had me reverse engineering the wordplay (DIE HAPPY). In any event, I used research references more than I would have liked to – seemed like a fairly hard puzzle. The long anagram at 14A was my initial strategy for a way in, as the wordplay was obvious – but, since it was French (only realized later), I had to wait until I had some of the crossing letters.
Across
| 1 | MALA(GAS)Y – It’s spoken in Madagascar and is a Malayo-Polynesian language that borrows from Bantu, Swahili, Arabic, French and English. |
| 3 | QUIVER – I think this is just a (cryptic!) cryptic def for the “case” containing arrows that can fly. But I suspect I’m missing something to do with the second part: ”In that case, flights won’t be covered”. Offers? Michod notes that flight is a kind of arrow, which I missed — the cryptic def makes sense now! |
| 9 | DI(EH,A)PPY – Only got the wordplay after seeing the answer: rev(a he= a male) in DIPPY. By the way, I’d DIE HAPPY if I won any points in today’s RTC (clocked in at 2:29—my best time I think). |
| 10 | O(GIVE)S – Mathematical curves is the def and our map makers are OS for the Brit Ordinance Survey (again, wordplay ex post facto). |
| 12 | S(P)EED – need to lift and separate “soft drug” since SPEED itself is hardly soft! |
| 14, 18 | A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU – Proust’s masterpiece never completely read by me, in either French or English, and many others: (Plutarch redeemed – purchase)*. |
| 23 | C,HOT,A – neither C for “colt” nor A for “Academy” were obvious abbreviations to me: CHOTA is Hindi for “junior. Slightly strained surface as well. |
| 24 | T(HALL)I – with T?A?L? I guessed at the answer given the wordplay to be rewarded with THALLI which are indeed “botanical bits”. |
| 25 | SINICISM=”cynicism” – tough clue that I only got once I had ?I?I?I?M and guessed at the “sino” part and then looked it up. The homophone is accurate but defining “cynicism” as surliness is a bit loose. But maybe I’m being naïve. |
| 26 | SASH,AY – AY is a useful archaism for “always”. |
| 27 | FL(EET)ING – Saw the answer (def is “transient”) well before I understood the wordplay: rev(tee=peg) in FLING. Recall it’s OK (according to Xim) to capitalize a word that wouldn’t normally be (but not the converse). |
Down
| 2 | LIEDER=”leader” – German songs and it’s nice that the homophonic indicator is apposite. |
| 3 | GRAND SLA,M – (garland’s)*. GRAND SLAM as in getting all the tricks in Bridge (“clean sweep”). |
| 4 | SUPERGRASSES – kind of a double cryptic def: i.e. both defs are cryptic: ”What may be spoilt by daisies and big rats?” |
| 6 | URGE,S – take the first letter of SURGE (“well up”) and move it to the end. |
| 7 | VI,V,A, VOCE – I had to look up Bill VOCE who was a fast bowler but the rest of the wordplay left no doubt as to the answer: VIVA VOCE as a kind of oral test. The use of “six” (VI) and “test” and “fast bowler” were cricketly consistent of course… |
| 11 | G(LOCK)EN,SPIEL – GEN for “information” comes from intelliGENce. |
| 16 | ADEN,IT,IS – haven’t checked but must be “inflammation” of the adenoids. I kind of liked “positive answer to question!” indicating IT IS (honest!). |
| 19 | SOL,IDI – I read Robert Harris’s “Imperium” recently so recognized SOLIDI as Roman “coins”. SOL’s our sun and IDI Amin’s our “wicked ruler”. |
| 20 | LAD-MAG – (mad gal)*: &lit for say Playboy etc. |
| 22 | YAL=rev(lay=put),TA – cropped up in today’s Times2 RTC as it happens as well as “1945 conference site”. |
I agree, the generous sprinkling of dictionary words made this a tough solve – think of it as a warm-up for the weekend’s exertions. I guessed at SINICISM, but discounted it at first, thinking the I in sin- would be long, as in SINOLOGY… but Pasquale is right, of course.
Re 3 across, I read it as referring to a quiver being normally open at the top for easy access, so the flights of the arrows are uncovered.
The first definition of ‘supergrasses’ seems a little strained… I suppose one’s lawn might be spoilt by daisies (though I think they look quite nice on mine) but is a super lawn any more susceptible than a common or garden lawn?
Good stuff though.
Michod – I think ‘super’ here would mean ‘perfect’, ‘good-looking’, ‘spiffing’ (if you will), rather than an amped-up lawn of some kind. Then it works.
4D.
Big = Super
Rats(verb) = Grasses
I don’t get “What may be destroyed by daisies” bit. A perfect lawn is destroyed by daisies, perhaps?