(DA 2012/05/18)
There should be 17 of these according to the rubric. Please feel free to add the 17th in comments.
UPDATE: 5D spotted by DATrippers.com commenter JJ.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: 5D was spotted by Tim Aubrey first.
Across
12 Mad as a cut snake
15 High as a kite
16 Slippery as an eel
17 Red as a beet
18 Pissed as a newt
24 Calm as a millpond
27 Lean as a bean (this is the one that is reversed)
Down
1 Slow as a wet week
2 Dry as a Pommy’s towel [Grr!]
4 Blind as a bat
5 Old as Methuselah
7 Cold as ice
8 Quiet as the grave
13 Black as the Ace of Spades
14 Pure as the driven snow
22 Neat as a pin
28/23 Snug as a bug in a rug
Old as methuselah
Sorry, Tim. I hadn’t seen your comment in the approval queue before crediting JJ with the find.
Red as a beet
Already there: 17 across.
The expression as we know it is “red as a beetroot” – think that’s a mistake. We think that 18 A is the reversed one – twenty. Can you also explain the word-play in 27A – don’t get it, if the answer is “Lebanon”. We found 17 without 27A , if you include 23A & 28A.
Sorry for the slow reply.
18A has a separate reversal indicator. 27A uses the simile “lean as a bean”, but has “bean” cluing “LEAN”, rather than the other way around, hence it is the reversed one.
Vitamin = B; B in LEAN = LEBAN; activated = ON: LEBANON
23 & 28 are two answers, but only one clue, and the rubric specifically mentions 17 *clues*.