At the easier end of Sleuth’s spectrum with 5d, the longest word of the puzzle, falling quickly and supplying helpful letters down the center of the grid. I worked my way from the top to the bottom without much trouble. A gentle, pleasant ride.
Across
1 PLASTIC BAG (I CLASP TAG)* around B (black)
7 TEND dd; ‘minister’ as in ‘tend/minister to the needs of the poor’
9 PIER sounds like ‘peer’ (equal)
10 PERNICKETY PER (each) NICK (slang for prison) (YET)*
11 RUMPUS RUM (unusual) PUS (matter); pus = matter is somewhat vague I think.
12 SALES TAX SAX (instrument) around (LEAST)*. No sales tax in UK? It is levied in India too, alas.
13 MEAT LOAF OAF (fool), after T (short time) in MEAL (dinner, say)
15 OILY FOIL (counter, as in contrast) – F (fellow) Y[ard]
17 ASTI hidden in ‘toAST Imbibed’
19 FREE KICK E’ER (always) reversed, in F (fine) KICK (thrill)
22 MONGOLIA G (government) in MONO (record), AIL (trouble) reversed
23 REPORT RE (about) PORT (Hull – a port in England)
25 ONE-MAN SHOW NAME (celebrity, as in ‘He is a name in Hollywood’) NO (number) reversed, S (second) HOW (question). One of those clues where you get the answer instantly from the definition and then reverse fit the wordplay.
26 LOOM GLOOM (partial darkness) – G
27 EDGY ED (leading journalist) G[u]Y (chap pouring out heart)
28 HURLY-BURLY HURLY (sounds like the actress ‘Hurley’) L in BURY (a town in Greater Manchester, England)
Down
2 LEISURE E (European) IS, in LURE (temptation). Interesting use of ‘enthrall’ to indicate containment. I wonder if everyone agrees this is kosher; on clue-writing forums I’ve come across objections to indicators that use metaphorical meanings in a literal way. Another example is ‘essentially’ to pick the center of a word. Your views?
3 SCRAP SCRAP[e] (corner, largely); scrape = corner as in an awkward situation.
4 IMPOSTOR IMP (young miscreant) (ROOTS)*
5 BIRDS OF A FEATHER (AFFAIRS BOTHERED)*
6 GRILLE sounds like ‘grill’ (cook)
7 TAKE STOCK dd
8 NETBALL NET and BALL = two elements in tennis.
14 THINGUMMY THIN (slender) GUMMY (sticky)
16 TEARAWAY TEAR (drop i.e. teardrop) AWAY (not at home); ‘rough’ is British slang for a ruffian.
18 SCORNED S (sourthern) CORNE[t] (instrument, curtailed) D (Deutschland or Germany)
20 CAR POOL CAROL (woman) around PO (river)
21 FLINCH FINCH (bird) around L (lake)
24 PILAU IL (‘the’ in Italian) in PAU (French city). An exotic dish indeed made of rice, with many regional variations in method of prepation (as well as spelling – ‘pulao’ it is in India).
At the easier end of Sleuth’s spectrum with 5d, the longest word of the puzzle, giving a quick start. I worked my way from the top to the bottom without much trouble. A gentle, pleasant ride.
Across
1 PLASTIC BAG (I CLASP TAG)* around B (black)
7 TEND dd; ‘minister’ as in ‘tend/minister to the needs of the poor’
9 PIER sounds like ‘peer’ (equal)
10 PERNICKETY PER (each) NICK (slang for prison) (YET)*
11 RUMPUS RUM (unusual) PUS (matter); pus = matter is somewhat vague I think.
12 SALES TAX SAX (instrument) around (LEAST)*. No sales tax in UK? It is levied in India too, alas.
13 MEAT LOAF OAF (fool), after T (short time) in MEAL (dinner, say)
15 OILY FOIL (counter, as in contrast) – F (fellow) Y[ard]
17 ASTI hidden in ‘toAST Imbibed’
19 FREE KICK E’ER (always) reversed, in F (fine) KICK (thrill)
22 MONGOLIA G (government) in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaural MONO (record), AIL (trouble) reversed
23 RE (about) PORT (Hull – a port in England)
25 ONE-MAN SHOW NAME (celebrity, as in ‘He is a name in Hollywood’) NO (number) reversed, S (second) HOW (question). One of
those clues where you get the answer instantly from the definition and then reverse fit the wordplay.
26 LOOM GLOOM (partial darkness) – G
27 EDGY ED (leading journalist) G[u]Y (chap pouring out heart)
28 HURLY-BURLY HURLY (sounds like the actress ‘Hurley’) L in BURY (a town in Greater Manchester, England)
Down
2 LEISURE E (European) IS, in LURE (temptation). Interesting use of ‘enthrall’ to indicate containment. I wonder if everyone
agrees this is kosher; on clue-writing forums I’ve come across objections to indicators that use metaphorical meanings in a
literal way. Another example is ‘essentially’ to pick the center of a word. Your views?
3 SCRAP SCRAP[e] (corner, largely); scrape = corner as in an awkward situation.
4 IMPOSTOR IMP (young miscreant) (ROOTS)*
5 BIRDS OF A FEATHER (AFFAIRS BOTHERED)*
6 GRILLE sounds like ‘grill’ (cook)
7 TAKE STOCK dd
8 NETBALL NET and BALL = two elements in tennis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netball
14 THINGUMMY THIN (slender) GUMMY (sticky)
16 TEARAWAY TEAR (drop i.e. teardrop) AWAY (not at home); ‘rough’ is British slang for a ruffian.
18 SCORNED Not sure of the wordplay.
20 CAR POOL CAROL (woman) around PO (river)
21 FLINCH FINCH (bird) around L (lake)
24 PILAU IL (‘the’ in Italian) in PAU (French city) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pau,_France. An exotic dish indeed made of
rice, with many regional variations in method of prepation (as well as spelling – ‘pulao’ it is in India).
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April 15th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Many thanks Shuchi – this was very enjoyable.
My favourite was HURLY BURLY.
We do have a sort of Sales Tax throughout the European Community but it’s known as VAT: Value Added Tax.
April 15th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Very enjoyable, pleasant solve. Thanks Shuchi and Sleuth!
April 15th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Yes, a fun puzzle but definitely on the easier side. With 1A going in immediately, I managed to work my way South and East with every clue in turn going in on first parse. That typically is a less-than-annual event for me, but it’s never a bad thing to be reminded that accessibility and amusement can be peas in the same pod.
Clue of the Day honours to 10A; Could Do Better rosette to 6D.
And, as a breakfast-solver today, I for one was grateful that the wordplay in 11A was not more specific!
April 15th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Thanks Shuchi. Pretty straightforward, and the NW corner was the last to fall for me. Regards, Matter=Pus, it is fine as it is given under the former in the Chambers.
April 15th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
That was the quickest I’ve solved an FT crossword in a long time. Thanks for the blog, Shuchi. I thought that in 15ac “foil” = “counter” not as in contrast/oppose, but as in stub or counterfoil. To “foil” a plot is rather stronger than to “counter” it, so I’m not sure they can be regarded as synonymous. What do you think?
April 15th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Two unaided solves on the trot though the NW was the last to fall.
Thanks setter and blogger.