Today sees my monthly blogging encounter with Dac and his highly sound clues with their silky-smooth surfaces.
I got off to a flying start on this one but then struggled to solve the last handful of clues, in particular in the NE quadrant. Once I solved 5A, 5D quickly followed, although the word was new to me. The last one in was 8D, another new word for me, where I struggled both to find and then to parse the answer. Incidentally, I realised what the solution at 1D had to be early on, but it wasn’t until almost at the end that I managed to parse it satisfactorily.
My favourites today are 26, for its surface and sheer simplicity, and 7, for its surface and subtle definition. And this time, unlike last, I noticed that the completed grid is a pangram.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | WATCHED | Observed at church, entering married[AT + CH (=church)] in WED (=married) |
| 05 | JACQUES | Judge: without question one has a French nameJ (=judge) + [QU (=question) in ACE (=one, in cards)] + ‘S (=has) |
| 09 | SMALL CHANGE | Some coppers and officer leave the train here!SM (=officer, i.e. sergeant-major) + ALL CHANGE (=leave the train here!) |
| 10 | CAP | Sporting honour accepted by Celtic apparentlyHidden (“accepted”) in “CeltiC APparently” |
| 11 | REGION | Ignore newly-developed area*(IGNORE); “newly-developed” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | STRAINER | Someone making great effort as school teacherS (=school, as in LSE) + TRAINER (=trainer) |
| 15 | BLACKBERRY | Fruit // machine?Double definition: a BlackBerry is a wireless handheld telecommunications device, hence “machine” |
| 16 | SCOT | Northerner having time to back small businessS (=small) + CO (=business, i.e. company) + T (=time) |
| 18 | TIER | Person rewarding good service has no money in bankTI<pp>ER (=person rewarding good service); “has no money” means that letters “pp”, i.e. 2 x p=penny/pence, are dropped |
| 19 | ZABAGLIONE | A container left by one in part of town? That’s sweet[A + BAG (=container) + L (=left) + I (=one)] in ZONE (=part of town) |
| 21 | ORIGINAL | Love girl in a fresh novelO (=love) + *(GIRL IN A); “fresh” is anagram indicator |
| 22 | AMUSES | Entertains two Americans with Last of the MohicansAM (=American) + US (=American) + <th>E <Mohican>S (“last of” means last letters only) |
| 25 | SPA | Country without fashionable resortSPA<in> (=country); “without fashionable (=in)” means the letters “in” are dropped |
| 26 | CHIPPENDALE | Furniture // stripper?The reference is to the work of cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale and to male strippers The Chippendales |
| 28 | PRESTON | Northern team made determined advances, reportedlyHomophone (“reportedly”) of “pressed on” (=made determined advances) |
| 29 | SPOTTER | I spy … almost spy … an amphibious creatureSP<y> (“almost” means last letter dropped) + OTTER (=amphibious creature) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | WISER | Ruler of the Caribbean, say, is more enlightenedWI’s ER (=ruler of the Caribbean, say, i.e. the Queen of the West Indies) |
| 02 | TEA | Hurry, failing to finish mealTEA<r> (=hurry); “failing to finish” means last letter is dropped |
| 03 | HILLOCKS | I’ll steer, say, beyond either side of high slopesH (“either side of high”, i.e. first or last letter) + I’LL + homophone (“say”) of “ox” (=steer) |
| 04 | DAHL | Hard left supporting up-and-coming modern-day writerDA (AD=modern-day; “up-and-coming” indicates vertical reversal) + H (=hard) + L (=left); the reference is to British writer Roald Dahl (1916-90) |
| 05 | JANITORIAL | Caretaker’s case with nothing in after bank holiday?JAN 1 (=bank holiday, i.e. New Year’s Day) + [O (=nothing) in TRIAL (=case)] |
| 06 | CRETAN | Every other bit of current article is Greek to meC<u>R<r>E<n>T (“every other bit of” means alternative letters only are used) + AN (=article) |
| 07 | UNCONSCIOUS | Right-wingers caught infiltrating union, briefly wanting us out{[CONS (=right-wingers, i.e. conservatives) + C (=caught)] in UNIO<n> (“briefly” means last letter dropped)} + US |
| 08 | SUPERETTE | US shop in street arranged to stock dearer merchandise at last[UP (=dearer, of prices) + <merchandis>E (“at last” means last letter only)] in *(STREET); “arranged” is anagram indicator; a superette is a small local supermarket in Australia and North America |
| 12 | GRAVEN IMAGE | Millions captivated by terribly vain reggae idolM (=millions) in *(VAIN REGGAE); “terribly” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | RELAXATION | Maybe uncle grabs a kiss for fun?[A + X (=kiss, e.g. on letter)] in RELATION (=maybe uncle) |
| 15 | BOTTOMS UP | Toast initially burnt too much: order drinkB<urnt> (“initially” means first letter only) + OTT (=too much, i.e. over-the-top) + OM (=order, i.e. Order of Merit) + SUP (=drink) |
| 17 | FLAMENCO | Lover joins officer dancingFLAME (=lover) + NCO (=officer, i.e. non-commissioned officer) |
| 20 | DIDCOT | Daughter and I would get place to sleep somewhere in OxfordshireD (=daughter) + I’D (=I would) + COT (=place to sleep) |
| 23 | SPEAR | Weapon Egyptian leader kept in boxE<gyptian> (“leader” means first letter only) in SPAR (=box) |
| 24 | OPUS | Round piano, see us making musicO (=round, in shape) + P (=piano) + US |
| 27 | AFT | It’s at the back, silly, not the front<d>AFT (=silly); “not the front” means first letter is dropped |
Same experience as RR, started like a rocket and JACQUES hinted at a pangram, but ended up stuck in NE corner. Luckily no Z thus far, which helped.
A relief to be able to solve each clue individually, after yesterday….
Had trouble with 8D SUPERETTE. Notwithstanding the blog, in 50 years in Adelaide have never heard the word. Perhaps it’s some eastern States nonsense.
Thanks to Dac and RatkojaRiku.
Thanks RR – we completely missed the pangram which meant that we took longer to solve 19ac, our LOI.
Thanks Dac – smooth as ever.
missed the pangram but hardly held up at all, zabaglione as last in maybe took a minute but Dac at his solver and blogger friendliest even if you didn’t spot the possibility.
Thanks RR think you might still have sterner tests this year.
Phil
A very enjoyable puzzle, did not finish top right hand corner in time allowed, more from Dac please.