One of the toughest of setters (be it in his Satori guise or Taupi in the Guardian) and a personal favourite. A battle with Mr Mole is one which always gives a great deal of personal satisfaction. Today’s puzzle was no exception with an entertaining theme as well. However, it did take a little while to sort out this little beast!
THEME: 9, 18 = BLACK AND WHITE
ACROSS * = ANAGRAMS CD = Cryptic def R = Reverse
1 SEDUCE DUC (French nobleman) inside SEE
4 ISOLATED LADIES TO*
10 NEUTRAL B & W = def. T in NEURAL
11 INSTEAD SEAT * inside IND
12 HOLE This held me up for a while. I thought it referred to Black Mass and entered that at first.
13 ECONOMICAL E + NO inside COMICAL
16DEFRAY to de-fray as in remove the tassels, for example!
17 ENSNARE Four points = E N S N + ARE
20 PUDDING (CD) Pudding = dessert, but when preceded by black, it becomes savoury and delicious!
21 ATHENA Not sure I have this right. I think it’s THEN inside (gloved by) a’s
24 OUTGROWTHS SHOW ROTGUT* A reasonably apposite anagram.
25 JACK Another answer to follow ‘Black’ this time to make the game.
27 ORIGAMI (cd) for thr Japanese art of Paperfolding, at which I am a black belt!
29 EARRING A inside ERRING
30 FRESHMEN Hidden answer
31 CYGNUS which gave me the correct answer for 12 C(r)Y = SUNG (R)
DOWN
1 SUNSHADE USE HANDS*
2 DOUBLE FAULT Another to derail me, as I thought it was TENNIS COURT, then SQUASH COURT!
3 CURE Dbl def. The French priest and the method of food smoking.
5 SPINNING WHEEL Spooner’s “Winning Spiel”
6 LAST MINUTE Outrageously dark clue! WEE = SMALL = MINUTE
9 TIE Link with “Black” is a formal occasion e.g. “Black tie dinner”.
10 BLACK AND WHITE CD – The FT is printed on pink paper, so things can’t be seen in B&W!
14 CORRELATION ACTOR IN ROLE*
15 BALDERDASH balder (Baldur?) is Odin’s son + – (the dash)
16 see 9 down
19 DARK AGES CD Associated with the theme word at 9.
22 NOD OFF – rather weak clue I felt
23 See 5
26 GREY Combination of the theme words,
28 ICE Not sure about the first part of this, but the second relates to the driving hazard.
I enjoyed this one too (and was secretly a little jealous that it didn’t coincide with my own blogging duties).
21D I reached the same conclusions, although it took a while for me to twig the as=plural of a device.
22D struck me as more groan-inducing than weak. It raised a smile in these quarters, but mainly because it reminded me of an old Two Ronnies song that featured a similar device (“So doff, so doff, so doff your cap…)!
29D (n)ICE
Check out the report on today’s Times puzzle at the other blog site for a nice coincidence …
Re 10A, is “black and white” a synonym for neutral?
I was perfectly happy with 22D
Re 28A I thought “dress accessory” was overly misleading as a definition of EARRING but I guess not entirely unfair.