It’s back to business for me, with a thank you to Duncan for so ably holding the fort in the last 3 weeks. A gentle landing for me with today’s puzzle, thanks to Gurney. Some nice surfaces, and 2 clever &lits. As usual, definitions are underlined in the clues. There are no hidden connections in today’s pictures, though you might recognise/identify the cities/towns where one might find the churches.
Across
1 Something that prevents quarrel where items are sold (6)
BARROW : BAR(something that prevents/stops) ROW(quarrel)
Defn: As used by street vendors selling fruit, vegetables, fish.
4 Taking lead from Sita, Stoic converted – embracing eastern philosophy (8)
TAOISTIC : Anagram of(converted) ITA{“Sita” minus(taking…from) “S”,lead,first letter} & STOIC. Nice surface, sort of, with reference to 2 -isms, and a goddess, though I don’t think she had anything to do with either.
Defn: Embracing Taoism (or Daoism), the hard-to-define eastern philosophy (with religious intertwinings) mainly practised by the Chinese.
10 Office item even more out-of-date quietly installed (7)
STAPLER : STALER(even more out-of-date/old hat) containing(installed) P(piano,to be quietly played)
11 Agree lecturer’s content to choose incumbent? (7)
REELECT : Hidden in(…’s content) agREE LECTurer
12 Only remaining shoemaker’s model (4)
LAST : Double defn.
13 Fez trainee refashioned – it’s useful in winter (10)
ANTIFREEZE : Anagram of(refashioned) FEZ TRAINEE
16 Finally changing sides, US president establishing trade body (6)
CARTEL : Carter(Jimmy, the peanut farmer former US president) with last letter(finally) “r”,right replaced by “l”,left(changing sides)
Defn: A gang,body of commercial/trade organisations who decide on collective action to further their interests and almost always regardless of, or at, additional expense to their clients/customers, eg. OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries).
17 Worker less productive after cold (7)
CLEANER : C(cold) LEANER(less productive, though sometimes less is more, as in “lean and mean”)
20 Like Venus de Milo, with no warlike threat? (7)
UNARMED : Cryptic defn: Descriptive of the famous statue of Venus/Aphrodite de Milo/of Milos, the Greek island where it was uncovered.
21 Landlord’s means of communication (6)
LETTER : Double defn.
24 After drink and kiss, joiner recalling song in Mediterranean port (10)
ALEXANDRIA : X(kiss) placed after(after) ALE(alcoholic drink) AND(conjunction in English grammar,joiner) plus reversal of(recalling) AIR(song)
Defn: The largest port on the Mediterranean coast, in Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great. Once famous for its Pharos Lighthouse, and its library, it is now a tourist attraction and a shipping and inustrial centre.
25 Gentle sort (4)
KIND : Double defn.
27 Motivate at home with religious feature (7)
INSPIRE : IN(at home and not out) plus(with) SPIRE(feature of a religious building/church)
29 Lacking time, take land out of production creating leisure area (7)
SEASIDE : “set aside”(take land out of production/productive use, in order to decrease crop production and maintain/increase prices) minus(lacking) “t”(time)
30 Search for fun the don is misrepresenting? Not entirely (8)
HEDONISM : Hidden in(not entirely) tHE DON IS Misrepresenting
Defn: Another -ism, this one more simply defined as the pursuit,search for and maximisation of net pleasure (pleasure minus pain),fun.
31 Doctor gin in filthy room? That’s mean (6)
STINGY : Anagram of(doctor) GIN contained in(in) STY(filthy room housing eg. pigs and teenagers?)
Down
1 Herb vicar’s uncovered in church (8)
BASILICA : BASIL(herb) ICA{“vicar” minus “v” & “r”, its outermost letters(uncovered)}
Defn: An early Christian or medieval church.
2 After resistance, change census area – that allays doubts (11)
REASSURANCE : Anagram of(change) CENSUS AREA placed after(after) R(in physics, symbol for electrical resistance)
3 City in Laos, look! (4)
OSLO : Hidden in(in) laOS LOok
5 There’s assistance here to welcome rerouted flier? (8)
AIRFIELD : AID(assistance) containing(to welcome) anagram of(rerouted) FLIER.
Defn: A nice &lit – if your flight has been rerouted to another airport/airfield, hopefully you’ll find some help there.
6 Shattered bike racer swallowing tablet – it relieves tension (10)
ICEBREAKER : Anagram of(shattered) BIKE RACER containing(swallowing) E(abbrev. for the drug ecstasy which comes in tablet form). Grim surface refering to athletes taking drugs.
Defn: That which breaks down the tension amongst strangers at a party, bar or even a business meeting. Could be a chat-up line, a party game, or even a “Aren’t we having nice weather today?”. Though nowadays, with certain people at certain venues, it might well be a tablet.
7 Tiger starts with it of course (3)
TEE : Double defn: 1st: The letter “t” with which the word “tiger” starts; and 2nd: What Tiger(Woods) starts with on a golf course (except, of course, the short holes of the course). An &lit double defn. though, I’m not sure, but it might have appeared somewhere before, I seem to recall vaguely.
8 Reduction in size permitted in meat (6)
CUTLET : CUT(reduction in size) LET(permitted)
Defn: A slice of meat
9 Mischievous act in Portugal, giving off bad smell (5)
PRANK : P(International Vehicle Registration for Portugal) RANK(giving off bad/offensive smell)
14 Unusually nice article, he might shed light? (11)
ELECTRICIAN : Anagram of(unusually) NICE ARTICLE
15 Play has racier tone unfortunately (10)
RECREATION : Anagram of(unfortunately) RACIER TONE
18 Annoys with criticism, singular, that’s avoidable (8)
NEEDLESS : NEEDLES(annoys with criticism) S(singular/single, as in eg. SWF in personal ads)
19 Urged to reform internally, gone off alcohol, very hard work! (8)
DRUDGERY : Anagram of(to reform) URGED contained in(internally) DRY(abstaining from/avoiding/gone off alcohol)
22 French city hotel in area known to clergyman (6)
PARISH : PARIS(French capital city) H(represented by “hotel” in the phonetic alphabet)
23 Most important tree on street (5)
FIRST : FIR(kind of tree) ST(abbrev. for street)
26 Actors discarded (4)
CAST : Double defn.
28 Unhappy as island regularly ignored (3)
SAD : “island” minus 1st,3rd, and 5th letters(regularly ignored)
Thanks scchua and Gurney. Good, clean fun. I was very slow on 20, being fixated on the idea that the answer must be armless. A heavy penny-dropping, eventually. D’oh!
Many thanks, scchua, for your superb blog and thanks to MikeC for his comment.
Hi Gurney, it’s always a pleasure to have the setter acknowledge one’s blog, especially if there’s a dearth of comments. 🙂 I guess it’s the nature of the (FT) beast, that it attracts a fewer number of comments than the Guardian Cryptic or the weekday Indy.