A pretty straightforward crossword for our return from our spree by the Spree. Thanks for that, Bradman.
With the less common letters such as J,Q,X and Z all putting in an appearance we suspect this crossword has all the letters of the alphabet in it. The special feature was unobtrusive, as the less common letters were worked in very neatly, without the need to use obscure words.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PIPE DOWN |
Shut up something that descends to the drains? (4,4)
Cryptic definition. |
| 5 | SPROUT |
Descendant of French author, son coming to the fore (6)
Proust is the author concerned. The S (for son) moves to the front of the word. |
| 9 | RECOVERY |
Rescue dog beginning to yelp around city (8)
ROVER is the dog EC is the postal district of the City of London and Y is the beginning of yelp. |
| 10 | SKATER |
Participating in task, a terrific sportsperson (6)
Included (participating) in taSK A TERrific |
| 12 | AFTERNOON |
You can see here when it starts! (9)
12 is the number of the clue. 12 o’clock is when the afternoon begins. |
| 13 | SET TO |
Home of animal and duck fighting (3-2)
Badgers live in a sett. Add O for zero (or duck in cricket) and you have SET TO |
| 14 | JAIN |
Religious follower taking month to cross island (4)
Jan is the month concerned, with I, as an abbreviation for island, inserted. |
| 16 | HYALINE |
What sounds like superior policy is clear (7)
A homophone of higher (superior) line (policy). Hyaline is an uncommon word in English but the wordplay is straightforward. |
| 19 | QUONDAM |
Yesteryear’s Queen Mother could enthral one endlessly (7)
QU for queen, DAM (mother) with ON (one without the final letter) |
| 21 | SOFT |
Thus what you are reading may be politically moderate (4)
SO (thus) plus FT (the common appelation of the newspaper in which the crossword appears). |
| 24 | ANTIC |
Worker in charge a very old buffoon (5)
ANT (crosswordese for worker) plus IC as an acronym for in charge. The “very old” in the clue presumably refers to the fact that antic in the sense of a buffoon is an archaic word. |
| 25 | ZEITGEIST |
Current feeling? Enthusiasm to embrace it starts to get everyone interested (9)
ZEST (enthusiasm) embracing IT and GEI (the first letters of get everyone interested). |
| 27 | DIOXIN |
Clamour about farm animal making contact with one toxic chemical (6)
DIN (clamour) around OX (farm animal) and I (Roman numeral for one) |
| 28 | OPEN FIRE |
Commence hostilities from which domestic sparks may fly? (4,4)
Double definition – one more cryptic than the other. |
| 29 | ENDING |
Conclusion of library activity putting learner off (6)
Lending is what libraries do (or did). Delete (put off) the L (for learner). |
| 30 | FEARLESS |
Intrepid lass free to roam (8)
An anagram (roam is the indicator) of lass and free. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PARLAY |
What you’d expect to put down in one sort of bet (6)
PAR is what you would expect, and LAY is put down. Most British English speakers would refer to the bet concerned as an accumulator. |
| 2 | PICOTS |
wery good beds showing special edges (6)
PI (short for pious or very good – does one ever come across the word in this sense outside crosswords?) plus COTS (beds). I imagine the “wery” is deliberate (this isn’t the Grauniad, after all) and an allusion to Samuel Weller and his weal pie. |
| 3 | DOVER |
Port extremely inadequate served at the end of party (5)
VER (very, or extremely, minus its last letter (inadequate) appended to DO, or party. |
| 4 | WAR TORN |
Possibly raw, being badly affected by fighting (3-4)
Raw is an anagram (TORN as the indicator) of WAR. However, WAR WORN works just as well, with WORN acting as the anagram indicator. We tossed a coin to decide. |
| 6 | PIKESTAFF |
Support for an old weapon is perfectly clear (9)
A cryptic definition, referring to the phrase “plain as a pikestaff”. We were not convinced by the inclusion of “support for” in the definition. A pike is the entire weapon, including the staff. “Part of” would have been more accurate, but probably too easy. |
| 7 | OUTSTRIP |
Do better than expose second false step (8)
OUT (expose) plus S for second plus TRIP (false step). |
| 8 | TURNOVER |
Go to the next page to see amount of money changing hands (8)
Cryptic definition. |
| 11 | ANKH |
Sign of life in bank – heavens! (4)
included in bANK Heavens. Sign of life refers to the fact that the ankh was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read “life”. |
| 15 | ABDUCTION |
Act that’s criminal, wicked, heartless in sale (9)
BD (bad minus its middle letter – ie heartless) in AUCTION (sale) |
| 17 | SQUADDIE |
Soldier has injured side, run into by four-wheeled vehicle (8)
An anagram (injured) of side, plus QUAD, as in quad bike. |
| 18 | BOATLOAD |
A bad tool for fixing the jam- packed cargo on board? (8)
An anagram (for fixing) of A BAD TOOL |
| 20 | MAZE |
This writer embraces extreme characters in complicated system (4)
ME is the writer, with A and Z, the first and last characters of the alphabet, inserted. |
| 21 | STIPPLE |
It’s dotty, finishing with dangerous drink (7)
S (the last letter of dangerous) plus TIPPLE (drink) |
| 22 | DIVINE |
Guess one might be a theologian (6)
Double definition (one somewhat cryptic) |
| 23 | STEERS |
Wise folk traversing Thailand as guides (6)
SEERS are the wise folk, with T for Thailand inserted. We are’t keen on single-letter acronyms at the best of times but in this case the use of T for Thailand is inaccurate. The accepted acronym for Thailand is TH, not T. |
| 26 | GONER |
King’s daughter, one left out for whom there is no hope (5)
Goneril, King Lear’s eldest daughter, minus I (Roman numeral for one) and L (for left). |
Thank you, David & Linda. As you say, the device was worked in very obtrusively – I needed you to point it out to me! 1d took longest; a new word for me, but easily found from the word play. Liked 19ac – a lovely word.
Thank you, Bradman for a very pleasant start to the day.
Thanks, David and Linda.
I didn’t find this quite as straightforward as you (the grid didn’t help) but very enjoyable all the same.
T is the IVR code for Thailand.
Re 6d: a pikestaff is also a walking stick, hence ‘support’.
Totally defeated by the Don today. Thanks D&L for the super-clear blog and to Bradman for a rough challenge.
Cheers
TL
Hi passerby
I don’t see how that works, as the support is said to be for an old weapon. Could you clarify, please?
6d To me support indicates ‘staff’ plus ‘pike’ for the old weapon.
Thanks David & Linda and to Bradman for another fine puzzle.
Took longer than usual for an FT puzzle , mainly due to 4 new words (for me) – Parlay, Picots, Hyaline and Quondam.
But all were fairly clued so gettable from the wordplay with the help of a dictionary.
Similarly, I’m not familiar with the expression ‘clear as a pike staff’ so needed your explanation to understand the parsing.
Ref the ‘support for’ debate, one of my dictionary definitions has ‘pike’ purely as the pointed weapon – sometimes at the end of a spear. So I think the clue works well.
Finally, I guessed that 6d might have something to do with Sam Weller but it’s so long since I read the PPs that I still don’t get it. Maybe a stop off at the George & Vulture will help?
About the worst puzzle ever from the Don.
Was he taking the piss?
Thanks Bradman and D&L
Very late to this one from a back pile. Found it a pretty typical type crossword from him, so a little surprised by havrad@8 – guess that we all don’t have to like ’em.
Finished up in the NW corner with DOVER (took an age to see the truncated ‘very’ for some reason) and PICOTS (off put a little by the ‘wery’ start to the clue. Maybe this was done because of the use of very in these adjacent clues.