Ran into a brick wall about halfway through this one and then spotted the Nina (referenced in 9), which got things moving again. Still don’t understand a few things here and there though.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | (HAS)* in HU[-b]BY – HUSHABY. Think I’ve parsed that correctly, with the definition being “at Bedtime song”. |
| 5 | US,(INTO)*,V – Peter USTINOV. |
| 10 | AC,I,DRAIN |
| 12 | PEON[-y] – a farm labourer in Latin America. |
| 13 | AMEN CORNER – a bit before my time but I had heard of AMEN CORNER (the band) as I remember my Dad introducing me to “Wide-eyed and legless”, a song by their former lead singer Andy Fairweather-Low. It’s also holes 11, 12 and 13 on the Augusta golf course. |
| 14 | hidden in “tiPSY CHOreographer” |
| 16 | O TO Z in PROA – “the last dozen characters” is O TO Z and PROA has come up twice in recent puzzles, which definitely helped me. |
| 17 | AS in IN VAIN – not sure what “bit by bit” is doing…? |
| 20 | BELIEF – not sure how this one works: “Credit what S used to do in a bygone age”. I filled it in because it fit with the definition and the Nina. |
| 22 | (ANGRILY SIT)* – LARYNGITIS. |
| 25 | (BAR YOU)* – YORUBA. |
| 27 | GESTE in ED |
| Down | |
| 2 | UNCLE[-an] – no, I don’t know why UNCLE is slang for “pawnbroker” either. |
| 3 | hidden in “perisHED ON ICy” – I think “shores” works really well as the hidden indicator here. |
| 6 | SIROCCO – can’t work out this one either, apart from the definition: “Very good 70s pop band holding right to break wind”. Ker-razy surface reading. |
| 8 | ON THE NOSE – why “offensive to Aussies”? |
| 9 | ONCE UPON A TIME – “Fairytale start” and (4,4,1,4) got this for me but it was a while before I spotted what the rest of the clue was about. If you’re still in the dark, look at the 1st and 15th columns. |
| 15 | (GANGLIONS)* – SINGALONG. |
| 18 | A,Y L in SUMS |
| 21 | LOWBROW – can’t work out this one either: “Thicko out on a limb collecting zero wickets and run out”. |
21D: Dicky Bird would spot this one: LBW (out on a limb – clever) evenly spaced with OW (no wickets) and RO (run out)
Just spotted 20A: belie + F (old way of writing S)
21D LOWBROW is LBW “out on a limb” with OW for “zero wickets” and RO for “run out” inside (“collecting”).
Can’t help with 6D or 20A though, and I don’t fully understand 11A: Deny American Indian whistle-blower entered first (6) REFUTE
The whistle-blower is REF I guess and entered first is E maybe, but how does American Indian give the UT?
This really was very tough but enjoyable once the Nina was spotted.
SIROCCO 10CC is the 70s band.
11 UTE = Indian REF entered first i.e. before UTE
Ta Nms, I hadn’t heard of the Ute tribe which I now find is why Utah is so called.
6D If 10cc is the band where does the initial S and the final O come from? Is it indicated by “Very good”?
Looks like the other one that Neil had a query on is 8D, and I too can find no evidence for “On the nose” in the BO sense being a peculiarly Australian phrase.
Re: On the nose. My Collins, Chambers and COED all give that particular definition as being Australian or Australian/NZ.
Yes, Beermagnet, ‘very good’ = so, I’ve seen that quite often.
Cleverly constructed to give the misleading join in “to break/wind”.
Liked the idea used in this puzzle.
Re 17ac:
I see the anno as INVA(S)I(O)N
SO in IN VAIN
By ‘bit by bit’ the clue writer seems to suggest that SO does not go in as a whole.
out on a limb = lbw, collecting, zero wickets(ow)and run out(ro)
UNCLE is a pretty well-known slang term for a pawnbroker – there’s a discussion of this clue over at rec.puzzles.crosswords.
Oops – that thread is actually about a Times clue, where “Uncle” is the definition and PAWNBROKER the answer. Still, it goes to prove my assertion about it being “well-known”.