This appears to be the first Sunday Raich that I’ve blogged, though I think it isn’t the first to be published. The first Raich puzzle that I remember attempting was an Inquisitor that won me a bottle of champagne, so maybe my luck will hold and this week will see me finally win that dictionary that I promised my mother some weeks ago.
A good puzzle, I think, very much in keeping with the Ios Style that we’re used to, though perhaps a little less challenging than one or two recent ones. That at least makes my task here easier!
I’m typing this very gingerly following a bite on the hand, and several claw wounds, from a terrified and yet remarkably aggressive squirrel that got into my house this week, so I hope you’ll forgive any slips.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | BESET – T[h]EBES*. |
| 4 | MECHANICS – [boo]M + (CASH NICE)*. |
| 9 | STATIONER – (TRAITS ONE)*. |
| 10 | MOTOR – MO[ni]TOR. |
| 11 | EVEREST – EVE + REST. |
| 12 | STERILE – STE[p] + RILE. |
| 13 | IRRITANT – (TRAIN TRI[p])* . |
| 15 | STAGY – S + TAG Y[ou]. |
| 18 | FLOOR – hom. of “flaw”. |
| 20 | MATTRESS – MA + T + RESTS*. |
| 23 | SURFACE – SURF ACE. |
| 24 | AT ISSUE – A + TISSUE. |
| 26 | BENCH – BEN + CH. |
| 27 | TWICE-TOLD – (COLD + WET IT’S)*. |
| 28 | EVERGREEN – E (Spain) + VER[y] + GENRE*. |
| 29 | SEEDY – S[u]E[d]E + D[owd]Y. |
| Down | |
| 1 | BAS-RELIEF – (A + SR) in BELIEF. |
| 2 | SPARE – SPA + [o]R[d]E[r]. |
| 3 | TRIDENT – RID in TENT. |
| 4 | MONOTONY – M + ON + O + TONY. |
| 5 | CARESS – [ki]SSER A C[asanova]<. |
| 6 | AIMLESS – (I[diotic] + ELM<) in ASS. |
| 7 | INTRICATE – (TITANIC + [b]ER[g])*. |
| 8 | SURGE – G in SURE. |
| 14 | RIO GRANDE – (GO< + RAN) in RIDE. One of my last in. |
| 16 | YESTERDAY – (ARTY + SEEDY)*. |
| 17 | BAVARIAN – (V + ARIA) in BAN. |
| 19 | ROAD HOG – (GAD + HOOR)*. |
| 21 | TRICEPS – CE in TRIPS. |
| 22 | SEETHE – SEE THE. |
| 23 | SABLE – B[UYER] IN SALE. |
| 25 | SHONE – SH + ONE. |
Thanks Simon and Raich.
Enjoyable crossword, though I found it a bit harder than you did.
I think 18D FLOOR is a homophone(reporter’s) of story = storey = floor (eg. a 10-storey building), though nowadays both spellings seem to be accepted. Thus I found this the last one to be parsed.
Enjoyable puzzle, not too easy and not too hard.
FLOOR was my last entry – nice clue.
The first IoS I’ve tried in a while. Very nice solving after taking a while to get going!
Well I did email Raich privately to thank him for this, FLOOR was my last one too, I felt reporter’s (hom) Story was beautifully (if not misleading, then very well disguised) done wordplay.
Och! in Scotland (Aberdeen) for at least three weeks to sort out an oil company’s computer gremlins, but dear Lord is it cold here.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Simon, and to all for their comments. Yes, the homophone of ‘storey’ was what was intended. Afraid you didn’t win one of the prizes, but I hope the squirrel effect is wearing off.