An enjoyable, relatively straightforward puzzle from Chalmie, thanks to whom for a good Friday morning workout. I caught on to the theme pretty quickly and that lead me on a couple of wild goose chases where Chalmie had been devious in his misdirection. Overall, a fun puzzle and ideal for solvers moving beyond the beginners stage.
This was one puzzle to cap it all, nearly. 🙂
FF – 9 DD – 7
| Across | ||
| 1 | TIGERS |
Banks receive deposit of German cats (6)
TIERS (banks) receiving G (german) |
| 4 | DAMASCUS |
American furious about active Nazis getting hold of essentially incalculable capital (8)
[ A (american) MAD (furious), reversed ] Â {SS (active nazis) holding CU (essentially incalCUlable)} |
| 10 | PYONGYANG |
Pony beaten by criminals around Yankee capital (9)
Anagram of PONY followed by [ GANG (criminals) around Y (yankee) ] |
| 11 | OWN UP |
Admit it hurts to reject groan- worthy joke (3,2)
OW (~ hurts) NUP (groan-worthy joke = PUN, reversed) |
| 12 | SUVA |
Big car excellent for island capital (4)
SUV (big car) A (excellent) – In Fiji. |
| 13 | SIDEWINDER |
Team get a good result bringing back coloured snake (10)
SIDE (team) WIN (good result) DER (colour = RED, reversed) |
| 15 | ATLANTA |
American capital network beset by American traders trashing America initially (7)
LAN (network) beset by ATTA (initial characters of “..American Traders Trashing America…”) |
| 16 | SHIN UP |
Mountaineering centre cheerful after quiet climb (4,2)
[IN (mountaINeering centre) UP (cheerful)] after SH (quiet) |
| 19 | GENERA |
Not quite officer sorts (6)
GENERAl (officer, not quite) – plural of genus |
| 21 | SCAMPER |
Run small van (7)
S (small) CAMPER (van) |
| 23 | COPENHAGEN |
Capital in surprising change accepts golf tournament (10)
Anagram of CHANGE around OPEN (golf tournament) |
| 25 | ERAS |
Times editors regularly attack socialist leaders (4)
starting charcters of “..Editors Regularly Attack Socialist..” |
| 27 | TULLE |
In Chantilly, you return a length of fabric (5)
TU (you, in french – Chantilly is a place in France) LLE (length = ell, reversed) |
| 28 | IN PRIVATE |
Secretly sought after soldier (2,7)
IN (sought after, as in the “..in thing”) PRIVATE (solider) |
| 29 | EQUITIES |
European society accepts one coming in to fairly share capital (8)
{ E (European) S (society) } accepts [ I (one) in QUITE (fairly) ] |
| 30 | ATHENS |
Capital busy with birds (6)
AT (busy) HENS (birds) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TAPAS BAR |
Listen in illegally while lawyers eat and drink here (5,3)
TAP (listen in illegally) AS (while) BAR (lawyers) |
| 2 | GOOD VALUE |
Sludge expected to cover toilet up is well worth the money (4,5)
GOO (sludge) [ DUE (expected) covering VAL (toilet = LAV, reversed) ] |
| 3 | RIGA |
Artist going round Italy’s grand capital (4)
RA (Artist) going around [ I (italy) G (grand) ] – Latvia’s capital |
| 5 | ALGIERS |
Capital lager is brewed (7)
Anagram of LAGER IS – Algeria’s capital |
| 6 | APOLITICAL |
Not having a party ruined oil capital (10)
Anagram of OIL CAPITAL – this one had me going down the wrong path too before I found the right angle. |
| 7 | CANED |
Beaten tin with extended sides (5)
CAN (tin) ED (sides of ExtendeD) |
| 8 | SUPERB |
Capital loan keeping pressure on exchange rate at first (6)
SUB (loan) keeping [ P (pressure) on ER (Exchange Rate, initial characters) ] |
| 9 | MANILA |
Capital’s wild animal (6)
Anagram of ANIMAL – Philippines’ capital |
| 14 | INTERNMENT |
Confinement among bird people ultimately unpleasant (10)
IN (among) TERN (bird) MEN (people) T (unpleasanT, ultimately) |
| 17 | UPPER CASE |
Capital text winning a lawsuit (5,4)
UPPER (winning) CASE (law suit) – I was briefly misdirected by the ‘capital’ here. 🙂 |
| 18 | BRUSSELS |
Capital has less urban parts coming from the south (8)
Hidden, reversed in “..haS LESS URBab..” |
| 20 | AVARICE |
Upheaval at vicarage after golf is banned as a sin (7)
Anagram of VICARAgE (minus ‘G” – golf) |
| 21 | SHERPA |
Succeeded that woman’s father as guide (6)
S (succeeded) HER (that woman’s) PA (father) |
| 22 | SCYTHE |
Implement the last of many in battered chest (6)
Y (last of manY) in anagram of CHEST |
| 24 | PILAU |
Place one inside gold dish (5)
[ PL (place) containing I (one) ] AU (gold) |
| 26 | FIAT |
Order car (4)
double def |
Nice pun, Turbolegs! As you say, a relatively straightforward puzzle, apart from the clever misdirections, so thanks to Chalmie.
My last one in was 26d – good one when it finally came to me.
Thanks JuneG @1. Glad you enjoyed it.
Cheers
TL
Thanks for the blog and comments, TL. Very glad to see that I still get a high fun factor rating from you, ‘cos that’s the important one.
Hope you don’t mind if I remind people that my website is http://www.alchemipuzzles.com and I’ve recently uploaded another little batch of puzzles.
This was indeed unusually easy for a Chalmie.
I started this puzzle just after midnight and it was over before I fell asleep, which was not long after.
(I didn’t fall asleep while solving!)
It was a fun puzzle with some different uses of ‘capital’ other than geographical giving it a bit of bite.
I didn’t see how 15ac worked but I see it now.
My LOI was once again a double definition (26d, FIAT) – they’re either easy or difficult, aren’t they?
Thanks Turbolegs and Chalmie.
Fiat last one, apolitical most annoying/best for devious misdirection. Thanks TL and alchemi* quite enjoyed that despite it being from one of the lesser light of the crossword world ?
/eightyearoldrant I’ve seen your crosswords, they’re rubbish /end rant Tee hee. Thanks Michael
Thanks Turbolegs and Chalmie.
A very good intermediate puzzle indeed.
I thought it was going to be a breeze until I found that the capitals were being mixed up a bit.
Lots of good misdirection and a good range of clue types.
Good fun.
Thanks Chalmie and Turbolegs
This one fell on to the back pile and took the chance to get to it this afternoon. My way into the theme was with COPENHAGEN and enjoyed tracking down some of the less often used cities here. Tricky diversions made sure that one was on one’s toes though !
Like most here, FIAT was my last in, after getting BRUSSELS and ATHENS.
Liked the construction of PYONGYANG, TAPAS BAR and ATLANTA..