Weekend Australian, Sunday Times 615
Overall: not too bad this week. Only one very silly Australianism, but it does take up three answer spaces. Some of the usual puddings; and I don't mean the ice cream!
Across
1. SHORT-LIVED. Poor attempt at a double literal. (I don't write "definition" since the literal parts of clues can rarely pass as definitions in any strict sense; and we must be strict, Dorothy.) The first part, "The may-fly is", simply can't be right. "What the may-fly is" would be the correct part of speech.
8. OBOE. The "man" is presumably BO. Ms Derek has effected the gender reversal here.
10. GUNSLINGER. The "gnus" are nervous (anagram) and "hang around" (LINGER).
11. PESO. The "bread" is money. "Exercise" = PE. ("Exercises" would have been closer to the point.) "Well" = SO (as in the retort to a statement one finds rather obvious.)
13. HEMLOCK. The literal is "It grows"; leaving a fair bit of room for manoeuvre. "A piece of hair" = LOCK. "Fringe" = HEM. "On" tells us that the former goes after the latter.
15. PHONEY. Probably the worst clue in the puzzle. "Hint of preserve" is just P. Nonsense. "Spread on" (NB: "on" again) tells us that HONEY is to follow. The literal is "cod". Just about allowable according to the OED.
16. HINDER. Chambers tells us that "hinder" is a Scots variation of "hind" and can also mean "last" as in "this hinder nicht". But "at the back" is taking a few liberties. I suppose "slow" can just about stand for "prevent progress of".
17. REORGANISATIONS. Nuff said.
18. DEARTH. "Dead" = D.
20. SNARES. Double lit. Boring.
21. SANCTUS. "Hospital" = SAN. "Cuts out" = CTUS. The Sanctus is, strictly, a hymn beginning "Holy, holy, holy".
22. TAIL. "Dog", here, is the verb (to follow). "Tail" is the colloquial word for "arse". Probably wouldn't get past the regular Times crossword editor.
25. DETERMINED. The literal is "Settled", the "on" being superfluous. "Name" = TERM. "One name" = IN. Bung the whole thing "in" DEED ("action").
26. TOTS. Triple literal. No need for this sort of crap.
27. MEMORISING. Lit = "learning by heart". Anagram of "one" (I) and "REM song I'm". We just had "one" = I in 25.
Down
2. See 20 down.
3. RINK. The literal is either "needs a lot of ice" (which should be "that which needs a lot of ice") or just "a lot of ice", so that "needs" becomes a weak pointer telling us we "need" this for the solution. The exclamation mark is purely self-congratulatory. Hands out of pants, please, Dorothy.
4. LILLEY. "Sick" = ILL. "Meadow" = LEY (a somewhat obscure variant of "lea").
5. VANILLA ICE CREAM. "Dutch boy" = VAN. "Is more sick" = ILLER (the "is" being bunged in for no good reason). "I cry aloud" = ICE CREAM, where "aloud" indicates that a homophone is in order. Sadly, the boy's name "Van" is of Danish origin even though some American immigrants (including those from the Netherlands) used that part of their former surnames as first names. As with Bo, I will have no truck with this Van.
6. DRENCH. The "actress Judi" is DENCH. R is for "river".
7. BED OF ROSES. Given 20/13/2, I'm surprised Dorothy didn't refer to yet another ABC TV series here. Instead, we get a bad pun.
9. BREAD BOARD. Two bad puns in a row. "Saw" is a verb here.
12. MONOGAMIST. Three bad puns in a row. "Match" = marriage.
13. See 20 down.
14. KITTENS. Possible fourth bad pun. No genuine literal here. We're expected to transform "Having this litter" into "having kittens". Weak.
15. PERIDOTITE. Anagram of "I pottered" and (again!) "one" = I. Two anaginds: "around" and "new"? Or is the "around" telling us that the anagram of "I pottered" is to include "I"? In this case, the "with" is just padding.
19. HAREEM. "Wrong" = HARM (the verb). The drugs are EE.
20/13/2. SUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH. The ABC TV series starring 4 down. "Adder" = SUMMER. Go figure the rest. I guess TV series come in seasons.
23. ONUS. "On" = ON. Wow! "Australia" = US. Might be OK if it weren't for the facts that US in crosswords is more likely to be the avuncular Samuel and that the setter manifestly isn't an Australian's bootlace.
24. ADEN. Included in "Pasadena".
