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Hi everyone

Well I haven't found it at all easy. I don't think I'm on Brendan's wavelength and I'm very tired. Using a Latin tag really annoyed me. I have four left: 9ac, 6d, 7d and 14d. I can think of a word that fits 14d but even with the hint above I can't see why it is right (I've got it now!). A hint for the others would be helpful.

Like Ianwill and Rocky I put Up Front in for 1d and had to change it when I got 8ac. I'd never heard of 5d and have only just managed to parse it. I was annoyed by 20ac, which I only got by relating it to 12ac, the rest of the clue eluded me. I don't understand why the first two letters in 21ac mean sex. And I don't get 16ac despite hints on the thread. Thank goodness you've explained 18d.

And the promised rain hasn't arrived yet. My nemaslug is now out of date, but I refuse to use it on a dry garden. Enough moaning.

For 9ac first word is definition, rest parses as 4,2

6d- last two words are definition, basically a reversal of a synonym for second word

7d- last four words are definition, you get there with an anagram and an insertion of one letter

16a can be solved in 2 ways.

1: Solution hidden in the final word of the clue
2: Definition "She traverses isle", where "isle" is a homophone ("by sound")

I thought 16a was curious, in that it seems to be two parts of wordplay with an elusive definition. Traverse didn’t quite work me either.

25a is also interesting in that it appears to be structured as definition-wordplay-2nd definition. Nothing wrong with that, just unusual.

Agreed, jono. Both clues are unusual.

Didn't think about 16 while solving, as it was an instant write-in due to the hidden part. Only saw the details after grid was full. Queried "traverse" which seemed odd but on reflection it's acceptable.

I did find 25 strange "in real time".

No objections, as I'm extremely tolerant of clue structure, but both clues were "novelties" (chess term) to me.

Many thanks Wulgus

Your hints meant I completed the grid. I still don't understand the second clue to 16ac, but I no longer care.


FOI was 1d, but it was wrong so I suppose it was 3d. LOI was 7d where I had been trying to anagramatise the wrong bit of the clue. CODs were 15ac, 19d and 25ac. All three made me smile when the penny dropped.

Thanks for all the hints.

Roof, "sex" is the Latin for six. Think of it as a Roman numeral.

Agreed about 16a 'traverse' : the direction of travel doesn't
quite work for me.

I could not parse 11a until reading here, so thank you brendan (the other one.).

My old prep school had a motto similar to 12a (a different noun), but in a different order. I get the impression that there's a bit of translator's licence going on. I've not been able to check against the original as yet.

When I Googled my answer to 12a, it came up with the words in at least three different orders.

Finished, early by my standards, and without coming here for help.

But I can't parse the first 6 letters of 13d. Hints?

FOI 23
LOI 7
COD 8 - simple, elegant, not immediately obvious

An enjoyable puzzle. I wonder whether congratulations are in order to Brendan plus one, or perhaps to a friend or relation?