Yes, it’s me again though this time back to my scheduled Wednesday spot.
An enjoyable puzzle today with some excellent and entertaining clues. Very little to quibble about except perhaps the use of ‘around’ to give ‘ca’ in 19a but this was more than compensated for by the cleverness of some of the other clues.
Across
1 POSITIVE I in POST I[s] V[ery] E[nthusiastic]
5 CHERUB HER in CUB
9 STRIDENT S[upersonic] TRIDENT
10 CASINO *(A COIN IS)
12 EBONY EBAY with A changed to ON (working)
13 SWEET-TALK cd
14 PIPPIN homophone of ‘pip in’
16 BACKPAY BACK PAY = ‘yap’
19 CALDERA ALDER in CA – ‘lines’ being an insertion indicator. ‘Ca’ is actually ‘about’ but I suppose ‘around’ is near enough
21 SLEUTH *(HUSTLE)
23 RETICULAR U in *(ARTICLE) R
25 TROOP POOR (lacking) T reversed
26 ISOMER *(IS MORE) – a substance, radical or ion isomeric with another; an atomic nucleus having the same atomic number and mass as another or others but a different energy state (Chambers) – obscurum per obscurius to many so here is a, slightly clearer, COED version – each of two or more compounds with the same formula but a different arrangement of atoms in the molecule and different properties.
27 MANTILLA T (head to toe) in MANILLA (strong paper) – a short cloak or ‘wrap’
28 NINETY 6 x 15 and *(INTEN[sit]Y)
29 WELL-BRED BR in WELLED (poured out)
Down
1 POSSET POSSE T[he] – a drink of milk curdled with eg wine, ale or vinegar, formerly used as a remedy for colds etc.
2 SARTORIAL R in SARTORI A L
3 TODAY DOT reversed A Y
4 VENISON SO in VENIN – ‘venin’ is any of the various toxic substances in venom
6 HEARTACHE HE ART AC HE
7 RAITA hidden in ‘portRAIT Artist’ – an Indian dish of chopped vegetables, especially cucumber, in yoghurt
8 BROOKLYN cd – the ‘notable old landmark’ is the Brooklyn Bridge which spans the East River in New York and which was opened 125 years ago. It connects Manhattan with Brooklyn on Long Island.
Edit: What a superb &lit clue! The wordplay is *(YORK B N O L), B N O L being the first letters (leads) of ‘bridge, notable old landmark’. ‘New’ is the anagram indicator. Thanks Octofem for persuading me to revisit this clue!
The clue is worth repeating for the benefit of those who have not seen it:
“New York bridge, notable old landmark, leads here”
11, 20 VERBALLY BALL (delivery) in VERY (quite) – even when Cinephile isn’t the setter on a Wednesday we still get a cricketing term!
15 PRESCIENT *(CREEP ISNT) – having foresight
17 POTBOILER PO (river) B in TOILER – a work in art or literature produced merely with regard to saleability, to secure the necessaries of life
18 SCORPION PRO reversed in SCION (shoot) – ’22’ is ‘upward’ which indicates the reversal
21 SURFACE SURF ACE
22 UPWARD UP WARD = ‘draw’
24 THORN THOR N
25 TOTAL TO TAL[k] – to kill or destroy completely (‘write off’)
Hi Gaufrid – it seems to be your week! I got held up on 25a, trying to take the ‘t’ from ‘troops’and getting ‘spoor’ which didn’t seem appropriate! ‘Brooklyn’ was an obvious answer for 8d, but could you explain the word play? The first letters of the words do not seem to work.
Mornin’ Octofem
I’m not sure there is any wordplay as such in 8d, it seems to be just a (almost non-) cryptic clue. However, now that you have raised the question I will revisit the clue to see if I can come up with anything else.
Octofem
Many thanks for prompting me to revisit 8d. It was well worth spending a little extra time on what turned out to be a superb &lit clue.
Congratulations, Gaufrid, on cracking 8dn! It could so easily have been missed.
I don’t see your problem with 19ac. The first meaning of ‘circa’ in both Lewis and Short’s Latin dictionary and SOED is ‘around’. I thought ‘lines’ as an insertion indicator was very clever, especially with the more usual use in 2dn. [I played around too long with ‘ll’.]
Interesting to see [almost] the same device in 16ac and 22dn.
I rather liked 27ac.
Hi Eileen
Thanks for the congratulations. I was rather pleased when the penny finally dropped and haven’t stopped smiling since.
With regard to 19a, my problem is that the usual references give the following:
Chambers ca = cases; circa (L), about
COED ca = circa and circa = approximately
Collins ca (abbreviation for circa) = about
Collins circa = at the approximate time of
I accept that Chambers defines circa as about or around but there is no direct link given between the entries for ca and circa.
Gaufrid, I thought you would crack it! I had gone all round the houses without actually seeing the way. You should have a big smug grin, never mind a smile.
I found this the toughest FT puzzle in weeks, if not months, with the south-east corner causing me all sorts of aggro. Still kicking myself that the two 25s didn’t come to me quicker.
Not often that I find a war of attrition so enjoyable, so a tip of my hat (a woolly one, it’s frigid in these parts today) to Satori.
Agreed that 8D is very well-honed, but I do have a vague (or perhaps false?) memory of having encountered a similar treatment before, in the dim and distant past.
Still rather new to cryptics – only 4 months in, I found this rather OK and straight forward. I did struggle with the south east corner and this is the first Satori puzzle I’ve done, but really liked it. Filled 40 % in without any reference help at all, the words came naturally for me today.
Any who. Tomorrow’s another day, where’s IO ?