A very good start to the week, with lots of clues that made me smile. I think my particular favourites here were two of the three musical ones: 16 across and 25 down.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARMOURY | OUR in ARMY |
| 5. | ECLIPSE | CLIPS in EE = “the middle of Greece” |
| 10. | EVIL | BE = “live” reversed |
| 11. | UP A GUM TREE | Double definition; “Where a koala may be” and “in trouble”. I hadn’t heard this expression before, but it’s quite guessable and Google confirms that it means “in difficulties” |
| 12. | LOADED | Double definition |
| 13. | ENCROACH | (CHANCE OR)* |
| 14. | DISAPPEAR | DI = “Female” + SAPPER around A – if something will “pass” it will “disappear” |
| 16. | CELLO | CELL + O = “circle”. I love “large scale fiddle” for ’cello |
| 17. | BLOCK | Double definition |
| 19. | DRUMSTICK | (TRIMS DUCK)* with “Butcher” as a nice anagram indicator |
| 23. | GRIMACED | MACE in GRID: the clue should be read “in GRID: MACE” |
| 24. | NATURE | An excellent cryptic definition, alluding to Mother Nature and someone’s type being their character or nature |
| 26. | SCRATCHING | Another nice cryptic definition |
| 27. | MOVE | Double definition |
| 28. | PLAYPEN | PLAY + PEN = “writer”; playpens have barred sides |
| 29. | ASTOUND | (TO US AND)* with “collapse” as the anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 2. | RAVIOLI | A hidden answer; ravioli might be a pasta course |
| 3. | OGLED | (OLD E.G.)* |
| 4. | ROUND UP | |
| 6. | CRUNCH | Double definition |
| 7. | INTROVERT | ROVER in IN TT |
| 8. | STENCIL | (CLIENT’S)* |
| 9. | TAKES A PRIDE IN | Double definition, “Receives statisfaction from” and “providing a lion reserve?” |
| 15. | ACCOMPANY | AC + COMPANY |
| 18. | LYRICAL | Cryptic definition |
| 20. | MANAGES | MAN = “player” + AGES |
| 21. | CARAVAN | CAR and VAN joined by A |
| 22. | ICICLE | Cryptic definition |
| 25. | TEMPO | Excellent cryptic definition – the tempo is the time at which one should take a song (an “air”) |
Mhl,
Re 4D, I think stock is a reference to live stock e.g ’rounding up cattle’.
A lovely straightforward puzzle, with some very clever anagrams [ENCROACH, DRUMSTICK, ASTOUND, STENCIL] all with excellent surface readings. I also liked 23ac, GRIMACED and 27ac, MOVE.
As you say, mhl, a very good start to the week. Thanks for the blog and thanks also to Rufus.
Rufus again has produced beautiful wording for all clues. Another gentle start for the weak, like me.
I liked this crossword, managed to finish it with no complications.
I liked 16a. cell-o. Plus all very good and easy going on newbies.
Nice one.
Just a pleasure to do as so often with Rufus. It’s the elegance of clues like 29ac that give me so much enjoyment.
Some really great clues today – ‘large-scale fiddle’ being my favourite bit of wordplay. 19ac also made me smile when I finally saw the solution – after much head scratching caused by thinking ‘butcher’ was the definition…
Great crossword. One problem – 13ac: isn’t encroach an intransitive verb and introduce a transitive one?
re 7 – Sorry guys, did this crossword on the way to a concert in Birmingham (I play 16ac-answer, and I gave a lift to a 2dn-clue), I was driving so 2dn clue dictated the clues and I misheard intrude as introduce…