Sorry for the lateness of this blog; I thought I was due to do Friday’s this week, and only realised that it was my turn when the puzzle hadn’t been blogged. Upon checking the calendar, I realised that I was supposed to have done yesterday. my only excuse is that this seems to be out of sync with recent weeks where I have done Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday etc so I was expecting to do Friday this week.
Fortunately, I did solve the puzzle yesterday, so here are my comments. What I remember most about this puzzle is that once you get the long answers (1,9) and 19, 27), there are so many crossing letters in place that the rest of the crossword is not overly difficult.
ACROSS
1, 9dn I BEFORE E EXCEPT AFTER C – one of those spelling rules that has many exceptions.
5 EP(IS)ODE
10 O(MS)K – Russian city – MS = manuscript
11 UNEVEN-T-FUL – FUL=(flu)*
12 R.A.M.-ROD
13 CRANE-FLY
14 STOVEPIPE – (pop Eve it’s)* – as worn by Abraham Lincoln
16,17 BIRTH RIGHT
19,27 CATCH-(boso)M-ENT-AREA – not sure what Jordan etc has to do with it?
23 DISMOUNT (to nudisnm)*
26 S-TAN-LAUREL
28 S(CR)EED-S
29 UPSTATE – in the state of being up, presumably
DOWN
2 BOMB-AS-T(rident)
3 FA(K-I(dris)R
6 PIEMAN – as in one who throws pies in slapstick comedy, and Simple Simon
7 SUTTEISM – outdated Hindu practice of suicide of widows
15 VEHEMENCE – hidden in “overactiVE HE-MEN CErtainly” – have seen that clue somewhere before
18 IDI-OTIC – don’t like “old ruler” for IDI (as in IDI AMIN)
20 CATFLAP – cryptic definition
21 (dauphi)N-E.G.-LE-CT. – I liked this one
22 CUNARD – (<=DR.-A-N-U-C(atheter)) as in the shipping line
Afraid I still can’t get
24A – is it TROUGH…but if so how?
25D – is it OP ART? I get the cryptic O + P ART but I’ve never heard of Op Art. Pop art yes.
Couple of other queries
19 &27A – Yes, what is the refernce to Jordan (is it the river? surely not the B (?C) list celeb.
Finally
7D – One of several I didn’t get and can’t see how i ever would have. But the answer above doesn’t actually fit; we need 9 letters?!
Thanks
Op Art, Bridget Riley for instance. The pictures (patterns really) swim in front of your eyes.
Still don’t get Jordan though.
Catchment area is definied as an area from which a river gets its water. Could this be the Jordan?
TROUGH: sever is TOUGH and R(oger) is in it.
I didn’t get SUTTEEISM because I didn’t know the word. I don’t see how the definition is cryptic – if it’s a cryptic definition then it’s very weak.
Wikipedia says that the Jordan river has a much reduced flow because Israel, Jordan and Syria have built dams and diverted tributaries so they can use the water themselves. Hence I guess the Jordan’s catchment area barely swells it these days.
I worked out “CATCHMENT AREA” from the charade and the crossing letters, but it seems the attempt to link bosom, swelling and Jordan in the surface has to led to a rather obscure and tenuous definition part.
SUTTEEISM is a kind of bluff, isn’t it? It looks and reads like a proper cryptic clue, and you start off trying to break it down into component parts. Then I remembered that there was some religious practice that involved immolation of the widow, and the indication part of the clue was, as far as I could tell, empty. If there is some charade or similar involved please someone explain!