A very pleasing puzzle, even when solving at 4am! A minor quibble with 17a but otherwise some enjoyable clues. Unusually for me the first run through generated no definite grid entries but the second pass was more fruitful (perhaps I was a little more awake by then 🙂 A quick scan of my archive revealed that we only see this setter occasionally which is a pity judging by today’s offering.
Across
9 SIMPATICOÂ *(TOPIC AIMS)
10 APPLE cd – cooking and custard are types of apple. Bakeapple is the fruit of the cloudberry but I am sure I have heard a reference to baking apple (I certainly had baked apple, stuffed with sultanas, as a youngster) but this is not supported in any of the standard references so far as I can see.
11 GENESISÂ GENES (one’s inheritance) IS (one’s)
12 RIB CAGEÂ cd
13 SONÂ [mai]SON (house, in French)
14 ORIGINAL SINÂ cd
17 THETAÂ hidden in ‘impatienT HE TAlked’ – I cannot see the containment indicator, surely it cannot be ‘about’
18 TAUÂ A in TU (you, in French)
19 NAKEDÂ K (week end) in DEAN reversed
21 CONSECRATEDÂ *(CONES) CRATED (boxed up)
23 NOHÂ NO (negative) H (hard)
25 OBSERVE B (black) in *(EVER SO)
27 BOMBARDÂ MB (doctor) in BOARD (directors)
28 INERTÂ IN (at home) [leav]E [afte]R [breakfas]T
29 NET INCOMEÂ cd
Down
1 V-SIGNSÂ V[isible] SIGNS (indications)
2 EMINENCEÂ MINE (pit) in [f]ENCE (barrier)
3 PASSIONATEÂ AS (when) SION (Israel) in PATE (head)
4 TIESÂ TI[m]ES
5 TOURNIQUETÂ TOUR (trip) N (north) *(QUITE)
6 GARBÂ R (right) in GAB (talk)
7 SPEARSÂ PEAR (fruit) in SS (ship)
8 DEMEANEDÂ MEAN (intend to) in DEED (property transfer)
15 INTERREGNAÂ N (point) in *(A TREE RING)
16 ANNO DOMINIÂ *(NINA IN MOOD)
17 TECTONICÂ TEC (investigator) TONIC (fillip)
20 KANGAROOÂ cd
22 NOSIERÂ SON (13a) reversed IE (that is) R (right)
24 HIDDENÂ HI (homophone of ‘high’, lofty sounding) DD (theologian) E N (points)
26 RITEÂ IT in RE (about)
27 BUTTÂ BUT (certainly not) T[hinking]
And don’t forget the theme ! APPLE, GENESIS, RIB CAGE, ORIGINAL SIN, NAKED, and the ‘unches’ across the bottom of the grid.
Nice puzzle.
Yes – a very rewarding and well-constructed puzzle. I’ve solved a few Orense puzzles and in my opinion this is the hardest one I’ve done. It took me almost two hours to complete but it was worth it. A beautiful puzzle. I hope we can get more frequent contributions from Orense this year – a great compiler.
Thanks for that info ACP. I had completely missed the theme because generally the FT only has one on a Wednesday so that is the only day on which I look for something extra in the puzzle.