Down |
1 |
Old broadcaster’s second trailer for good stuff on compiler (5,9) |
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THIRD PROGRAMME - I think I have this sorted out... THIRD PROGRAMME was an old radio station. So THIRD would be trailing second, then PRO(for), G(good), RAM(stuff), ME(the compiler of this crossword). |
2 |
Frolic about, holding a pen (5) |
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KRAAL - LARK(frolic) reversed containing A |
3 |
Land almost nothing, after a West Indian lands one (10) |
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AZERBAIJAN - ZER(o) after A, then BAJAN(West Indian) containing I(one) |
4 |
Injurious commercial, very Irish (7) |
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ADVERSE - AD, V, ERSE |
5 |
Came together and kept busy at the guillotine? (7) |
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KNITTED - double definition, referencing the crowd in front of the guillotine bringing their knitting to do between executions |
6 |
Like some spuds? I had to speak (4) |
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EYED - sounds like I'D |
7 |
Agreed toe is deformed somewhat (2,1,6) |
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TO A DEGREE - anagram of AGREED,TOE |
8 |
Doctor percussing a lot who will get you looking better (7,7) |
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PLASTIC SURGEON - anagram of PERCUSSING,A,LOT, though the defintion is up for debate |
13 |
Simple game won’t come to an end — I go to bed (10) |
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SNAPDRAGON - the game of SNAP will DRAG ON |
15 |
Queen cross with regiment holding up drink (9) |
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ALEXANDRA - X(cross), AND, RA(regiment) under ALE |
18 |
Useful feature to order any time (7) |
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AMENITY - anagram of ANY,TIME |
19 |
Managed to support some good books: here, The Castle? (7) |
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OTRANTO - RAN(managed), TO under OT(good books). Got this from wordplay and thought it might have been a physical castle, but it is a book by Horace Walpole. OK, it appears there is a physical castle from comments, but the question mark seems to indicate that the clue is referring to the book. |
22 |
Rev Vicar’s first study, say (5) |
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VROOM - V(icar) ROOM(study, for example) |
23 |
Bullet hit pest (4) |
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SLUG - triple definition! |
Comments
Edited at 2018-05-17 01:24 am (UTC)
Fortunately, there was a lot of stuff we see every day: Otranto, denarii, Grenada, snapdragon....
FOI 20ac AJAR
LOI 19dn OTRANTO
COD 22dn VROOM (Remember John Kent?)
WOD 3dn AZERBAIJAN
45 minutes but DNF as I had 12ac as FESS (FESTS of the joke type!) JESS should have been obvious.
The THIRD PROGRAMME was the BBC's classical music station before it was renamed BBC Radio 3 in 1967. Regulars may have noticed that I am not overkeen on 'old' (or 'former') with reference to things in the past but I think in this clue something along those lines is fully justified as the answer is a bit obscure, especially, I imagine, for overseas solvers.
Edited at 2018-05-17 04:39 am (UTC)
COD for me was GRENADA. I was silly enough to spend time looking for a Spanish island.
Never heard of JESS.
Another sad day: Ray Wilson, elegant left back of 1966-and-all-that fame has died.
Also glad that KRAAL came up recently, as I didn't know it before this week. (I've just started reading another of my crossword-inspired novel choices, She, so it's possible I'll encounter the word again before the week is out, but I'm only up to the bit where they hit the African coast...)
COD 17a GRENADA for the misdirection, though a mention in dispatches for JESS for its "strap on leg". Luckily I knew the falconry term. WOD SNAPDRAGON.
Edited at 2018-05-17 06:56 am (UTC)
You wait ages for a Kraal, then two come along at once (albeit one delayed from 1977).
A gentle solve with nothing to excite the horses - except, perhaps the oily lad in his medallion. Ugh.
Now I will always know how to spell Azerbaijan. Or one way, anyway.
Thanks setter and G.
I'm not sure I'd have got JESS but for the fact there was a pest controller using a hawk on the office block next to where I work last week and one of my colleagues referred to the JESS on its leg (he actually said Jesse).
Edited at 2018-05-17 08:18 am (UTC)
COD Azerbaijan. Nice surface and unexpected.
I was just thinking of the ‘tricoteuses’ in general rather than a particular person.
The professional association of 8dns is called BAAPS. No seriously.
Edited at 2018-05-17 08:34 am (UTC)
12'36”, twenty seconds faster than yesterday. Are there many others who don't send it in because of potential stress?
Thanks gl and compiler.