Some good concise cluing by Armonie. Nothing really requiring special comment, but no complaints either. The usual level of difficulty for a Tuesday FT.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | NOTICE OT (Old Testament = books) in NICE (amusing) |
| 4 | CHAPLAIN CHA (tea) PLAIN (frank) |
| 10 | PETTINESS PRETTINESS (beauty) minus R (Romeo in the NATO alphabet) |
| 11 | SCOLD S (Bob, as in shilling) COLD (reserved) |
| 12 | TALE T (Tory leader) ALE (porter) |
| 13 | IMPALEMENT A (American) in IMPLEMENT (device) |
| 15 | SCARLET CARL (Carl Nielsen, the Danish composer) in SET (group). “Sinful” as in The Scarlet Letter. |
| 16 | EASTER E (East or Oriental) ASTER (flower). |
| 19 | REGENT E.G. (for example) in RENT (breach) |
| 21 | BLOATER L (large) in BOATER (gondolier) |
| 23 | COLLATERAL COL (pass) LATERAL (to the side) |
| 25 | LEAN LEA (meadow) N (nitrogen) |
| 27 | MASAI MA’S (mother’s) AI (A-1, in good health) |
| 28 | APOLOGIST A POLO (game) GIST (point) |
| 29 | NOSINESS SINE (a relationship) in *(SONS) |
| 30 | BLITHE B (bishop) LITHE (flexible) |
| Down | |
| 1 | NEPOTISM *(ME IN POST) |
| 2 | TITILLATE I TILL (I work [the land]) in TATE (art gallery) |
| 3 | CHIT C (college) HIT (buffet) |
| 5 | HOSTAGE HO (Home Office) STAGE (present, as in to stage a play) |
| 6 | POSSESSION SOP. (soprano) reversed + SESSION (term) |
| 7 | ABODE A + BODE (herald) |
| 8 | NUDITY *(DUTY IN) |
| 9 | PELMET *(TEMPLE) A new word for me; my wife, looking over my shoulder, knew it immediately |
| 14 | ALLEGATION A L (the Latin sinister) LEGATION (a diplomatic mission) |
| 17 | EXTREMIST *(SETTER MIX) |
| 18 | BRUNETTE RUN (leak) in BETTE (Miss Davis) |
| 20 | THE OAKS THE (article) OAKS (trees). The (Epsom) Oaks is one of the Classics of horse racing |
| 21 | BEACON Francis BACON around E (energy) |
| 22 | ACUMEN AC (bill) U (initially, “upset”) MEN (people) |
| 24 | LISTS dd |
| 26 | TOLL dd |
Thank you, but in 22 down, why does AC mean BILL?