A change of blogger today due to work commitments. I can’t say I particularly enjoyed this puzzle, too many four letter words for my liking including one (12ac) that I cannot explain.
Assuming I have 12ac correct, the first column has the surname of the heroine in Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey whilst the last column has the surname of two characters in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. I doubt that this is simply coincidence but I cannot see any connection between the two. Perhaps this is just a tribute by Hamilton to two people he knows.
| Across | ||
| 8 | MUTUAL | hidden reversal in ‘cooL AUTUMn’ |
| 9 | STEROIDS | anagram (made up about) of STORIES D |
| 10 | OPEN | a straight def. so far as I can see, as in ‘obvious’ |
| 11 | BOUGHT A PUP | BOUGH (branch) TAP UP (make a clandestine approach) |
| 12 | REAR? | no idea – edit, see comment #4, thanks jmac |
| 13 | NANNY STATE | NAN (mum’s mum) NY (US city) STATE (report) |
| 17 | LAMB | LAMB[ada] (dance without a girl) |
| 18 | GAVEL | cryptic def. referring to an auction lot |
| 19 | ROON | [polt]ROON |
| 21 | ADVENTURER | ADVENT (coming) URE (river) R[hine] |
| 23 | AXEL | AXE (cut) L (length) |
| 24 | NOBLEWOMEN | NOB (head) LE (the French) WOMEN (ladies) |
| 28 | ARVO | Australian slang for afternoon (PM) |
| 29 | DAMOCLES | anagram (around) of LAD COMES |
| 30 | ESCHEW | ESC[ape] (getaway when half cut) HEW (cut) – ‘cut’ has to be doing double duty for the clue to work. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SUBPOENA | anagram (resolution) of BONE UP AS |
| 2 | VULNERABLE | anagram (out) of A-LEVEL BURN |
| 3 | FLY-BY-NIGHT | def. and cryptic def. |
| 4 | ESAU | USE (work) around A[ssistant] reversed (returned) |
| 5 | MESH | hidden in ‘soME SHeds’ |
| 6 | CODA | CO (company) DA (lawyer) |
| 7 | ADDUCT | ACT (work) around (keeping) DD (theologian) U (university) |
| 14 | NEVER | EVE (her) in NR (near) |
| 15 | YUL BRYNNER | BRYN (Welshman) N[ow] in YULE (Christmas) R (run) |
| 16 | TERMAGANCY | anagram (concealing) of MEGAN TRACY |
| 20 | OVERVIEW | OVER (done with) VIEW (inspection) |
| 22 | DOODAH | DO O (nothing) DAH (dash, as in morse code) |
| 25 | LOOT | TOOL (machine) reversed (turner) |
| 26 | WILE | W[h]ILE (husband leaves time) |
| 27 | MASS | triple def. |
Hi Gaufrid, I think 12ac is just MEER alt spelling of MERE which means it’s just a DD
Hi flashling
Sorry but I don’t see how MEER can be a dd when the clue is “End, of the year perhaps”, at least according to the definitions in Chambers.
Oooops aplologies Gaufrid, looked at the wrong clue!
Re 12 across: I think this might be re (of) plus ar, the phonetic spelling of “r”. Thanks for the blog – Ienjoyed this puzzle.
Hi jmac
I think you may well be right. I did try to do something with of=re but didn’t associate ar with r. Another case where part of the clue is doing double duty, this time as both definition and part of the wordplay.
Hi Gaufrid
Might 12ac be a reference to the rear of the year, described on Wikipedia as “a light-hearted British award for celebrities who are considered to have a notable posterior”?
Another one from me: I think you can get round the double duty in 30ac, if you take “when half” as meaning “when halved”.
Agree fundamentally with Pelham Barton. No question.
Nice – thanks both and all above. Harder work than I thought it would be.
11a very good.