As expected, plenty of double/cryptic defs and neat surfaces from Rufus, with a few other nice clues thrown in. My favourites were 11ac, 13ac, 8dn and 9dn.
Across
1 A helpful shipping line? (3,4)
TOW ROPE
cryptic def – “line” as in a rope, rather than a shipping business.
5 Aggressive action taken by those insulted (7)
OFFENCE
=”Aggressive action”; =”taken by those insulted”
10 A mother and father to all (4)
ADAM
=”father to all”. A plus DAM=”mother”
11 Some turned out great (10)
TREMENDOUS
=”great”. (some turned)*
12 Pluck shown in American kidnapping (6)
SNATCH
=”Pluck”; =”American kidnapping”
13 When to have a drink and eat? (3,5)
TEA BREAK
=”When to have a drink” / =&lit. “eat”=(TEA)*=TEA BREAK in crossword-ese
14 Where to find a paid informer? (9)
CLASSROOM
cryptic def – the “paid informer” being a teacher
16 They’re up for the celebration (5)
KNEES
cryptic def – a KNEES “up” is a “celebration”
17 Mountains in some volume (5)
ATLAS
=”Mountains” in NW Africa; =”some volume”
19 Blockhead! Our little boy is in the middle class (9)
BOURGEOIS
=”middle class”. B[lock]=”Blockhead”, plus OUR plus GEO[rge]=”little boy” plus IS
23 Is it operated by the ring finger? (4,4)
BELL PUSH
cryptic def – a BELL PUSH is operated by the finger that causes it to ring
24 Motorway place setting (6)
MILIEU
=”setting”. MI=M1=”Motorway”, plus LIEU=”place”
26 Sailor on an oil rig turning native (10)
ABORIGINAL
=”native”. AB=’able-bodied’=”Sailor” plus (an oil rig)*
27 They may be nibbled or bolted (4)
NUTS
=”They may be nibbled”; =”They may be… bolted”
28 Hawaiian offering certainly enjoyed by holidaymakers (7)
LEISURE
=”enjoyed by holidaymakers”. LEI=”Hawaiian offering”, plus SURE=”certainly” (in response to a request)
29 Roguish manner to make an entrance (7)
ARCHWAY
=”entrance”. ARCH=”Roguish” plus WAY=”manner”
Down
2 No cardinal has spoken about the noise (7)
ORDINAL
=”No cardinal”. ORAL=”spoken”, around DIN=”noise”
3 Put off mounting watch (5)
REMIT
=”Put off”. rev(TIMER)=”mounting watch”
4 Vessel without stabilisers? (7)
PITCHER
=”Vessel”; and a “Vessel without stablisers” might PITCH, and therefore be a PITCHER
6 Describing an unborn baby of late development (6)
FOETAL
=”Describing an unborn baby”; (of late)*
7 Continuing power of the Creed, a nun found out (9)
ENDURANCE
=”Continuing power”. (Creed a nun)*
8 Bottle company prompt, coming about midday (7)
COURAGE
=”Bottle”. CO[mpany] plus URGE=”prompt” around [d]A[y]=”mid day”
9 An almost negligible amount, like one in ten (4,2,7)
NEXT TO NOTHING
=”An almost negligible amount”. The digit ‘1’ is written in the number ’10’ next to the digit “0”, or NEXT TO NOTHING
15 Weapons that don’t reach very far? (5,4)
SMALL ARMS
=”Weapons”; =”[things] that don’t reach very far”
18 Shudder at music’s opening in a high pitched voice (7)
TREMBLE
=”Shudder”. M[usic]=”music’s opening” in TREBLE=”a high pitched voice”
20 Rose and disconnected speaker (7)
RAMBLER
=”Rose”; =”disconnected speaker”
21 Strangely, I earn it in doing nothing (7)
INERTIA
=”doing nothing”. (I earn it)*
22 Sounds like a tugboat, but isn’t (6)
LUGGER
=”isn’t” a tugboat, but rather a fishing boat, despite LUG being a synonym for ‘tug’
25 Such law implies a suspended sentence (5)
LYNCH
cryptic def – LYNCH law leads to a “suspended sentence” i.e. hanging
I thought that this was a little chewier than the usual Rufus fare, but nine the worse for that.
Thanks for the blog manehi.
Thanks Rufus and manehi
Some of the cryptic definitions needed quite a bit of lateral thinking – TOW ROPE took a long time to arrive! Favourite was NEXT TO NOTHING.
Thanks for the blog. I got as far as 19a before getting my first answer. Rufus is normally a write in so I was starting to wonder if it was me or him. Nothing too taxing but harder than his usual ones.
I liked 9d and 19a.
Funny how different minds work. I also thought it was a little chewier than the usual Rufus, but 19ac was my LOI rather than my FOI, and I stared at it for ages before the penny dropped.
I am having a very strange Rufus wavelength day today – his DT puzzle put up a fight and this one just wrote itself in.
Thanks to him and Manehi.
Didn’t write itself in for me, with vast sections of SE corner in particular needing further analysis. Partly my fault because for ages I couldn’t think beyond PENAL at 25. ARCH = roguish was the key, the WAY bit having in pencilled in for some time.
Oh and also I really don’t like clues like 3d which could as easily have been TIMER as REMIT.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who found this harder than Rufus usually is. Last in were MILIEU and LYNCH – LUGGER took a while too. Even by Rufus standards there were a lot of nautical references here.
Thanks to manehi and Rufus
Thanks manehi and Rufus. Quite tough. I thought NEXT TO NOTHING was very good. Didn’t like 1a – I had BOW ROPE, which just about fits. I think even cryptic definitions ought to point to unequivocally correct solutions;-)
Thanks manehi and Rufus
I only got to this this afternoon and found it harder than usual. Once into it, though, I found it quite entertaining. I ticked 16a, 19a, 4d, and 9d. I have some sympathy with Trailman about 3d because 1a and 12a took some time to see.
MikeC @9
In fact, there are only two ropes on a sailing ship – all the other “ropes” are called other thins (halyards, shrouds, sheets, warps etc.) The two are the TOW ROPE and the BELL ROPE. Curious that “bell” also appears in this puzzle.
Thanks to manehi for the blog. I had not spotted tea = eat* so I felt unsatisfied with 13a. (It reminds me of a favourite clue: Nommag(10)).
I agree with Trailman@7 where the answer could be remit or timer: you don’t know until you have a crosser.
On 24a I spent a lot of time trying to fit in site(=place) but eventually saw the light 🙁
No one else put Door Bell at first for 23a?
Thanks manehi. Most of it done in 20′, but as so often with Rufus, the last four or five were more of a struggle (LYNCH and those around it)
As one who had 14a as “newspaper” I agree with MikeC @9 about unequivocal answers. I enjoyed 9d, but thought 1a was an example my pet hate: the clue which is a comment on the solution rather than a means of reaching it.
Definitely the hardest Rufus I’ve come across for a while.
Anyone else get thrown by putting ‘door bell’ for 23 across?
No American says “snatch” for “kidnap.” At least, not in the last century or so. So why is it an American kidnapping? I’m almost insulted.
And as an American, I did enter “offense” for “offence,” and was thrown for quite a lot too long for “foetal,” since “fetal” didn’t fit. We spell better than you folks. ;-P
–M.
mrpenny
So you pronounce “fetal” to rhyme with “petal” or “metal” then?
No, it’s a long e, like in hero, zero, semen, serum, or Vera.
“oe,” to us, suggests either an accompanying consonant (w) sound (“oenophile”) or a German umlaut vowel (“Schroedinger”). “Foetal” contains neither of those, so not Anglicizing the spelling seems dumb.
We’ve gotten rid of the Latin-diphthong spellings in most medical words. We hemorrhage, get diarrhea, and visit orthopedists.
–M.
Er, Greek diphthongs, rather.
Not very often I comment to a Rufus puzzle nowadays.
As one who blogs nearly all his FT crosswords I am more than familiar with his style – even if recently I thought “why is it that I find it harder to finish a Rufus than a Dante”.
There were a few clues that were not my cup of tea, like 1ac – ROPE was clear enough but to do something with ?O? was a different matter.
Did nobody else enter SHORT ARMS at 15d? [a solution that was quickly rectified by 17ac].
Just like mrpenney, my PinC didn’t see any connection between SNATCH (12ac) and the US.
Like others said, 3d was unsatisfying because of its ambiguity.
On the other hand, clues like 11ac (TREMENDOUS, indeed!), 9d (NEXT TO NOTHING) and 13ac (TEA BREAK) were marvellous.
See, that’s how Rufus can be too!
10ac (ADAM) was immediately clear to me but at the time my PinC was ready for it, she entered IMAM ….
100% valid from a constructional point of view but not wholly in line with the definition. Although it came quite close.
Many thanks manehi for the blog, and Rufus for a puzzle that wasn’t the hardest on your scale but one that contained some real gems!
A clunky puzzle. I loved 9D, hated most of the rest of the rather sad lame clues. TOW ROPE? How am I supposed to prove that from “A helpful shipping line”? Nothing there. at 3d, “REMIT” does not mean “put off” as far as I can tell. 16 KNEES what? how? where? when? Awful clue. 17 What? ATLAS = some volumes?
And the worst, 23A “Bell push”? From “is it operated by the ring finger”? Pure garbage, there.
But I did love 9D.
Thanks for the “puzzle”, Rufus, and the blog manehi and the rest of you lot.