Super puzzle. Thanks Loroso.
I only had a couple of answers after the first pass and after a while I thought I was not going to finish and have to post an embarrssing failure of a blog. However, each time I thought I had ground to a complete halt another clue would fall, and so it continued all the way to the end. Looking back I made steady progress, but at the time it felt touch-and-go all the way.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AGITPROP |
It could brainwash a sucker for power? (8)
A GIT (sucker) PRO (for) P (power) |
| 6 | HEAVEN |
Asgard is one cat’s name (6)
HEAVE (cat, to vomit) has N (name) |
| 9 | FROLIC |
Play around for most of lap (6)
FOR* anagram=round then LICk (lap, most of) |
| 10 | OFTTIMES |
Frequently exciting some, it’s wrapping paper (8)
anagram (exciting) of SOME IT is wrapping FT (paper) |
| 11 | CAVA |
Wine cases given to museum (4)
CA (cases) to V & A (Victoria and Albert Museum) |
| 12 | FAR EASTERN |
Oriental food similar to seagull (3,7)
FARE (food) then AS TERN (similar to seagull) |
| 14 | VENABLES |
Victory is helpful for soccer boss (8)
V (victory) ENABLES (is helpful for) – Terry Venables |
| 16 | GOTH |
Understood hotel’s gloomy music (4)
GOT (understood) H (hotel) |
| 18 | ODDS |
Difference in price (4)
double definition |
| 19 | ITAR TASS |
One sarcastic fool in Russian news agency (4,4)
I (one) TART (sarcastic) ASS (fool) |
| 21 | HAVE NO FEAR |
Rest assured The Listener’s safe here! (4,2,4)
a HAVEN OF EAR would be a place where an ear (the listener) would be safe |
| 22 | IMPI |
Those starting it make very good warriors (4)
It Make (starting letters of) and PI (pious, very good) |
| 24 | COMMANDO |
Soldier, died with no protection? (8)
COMMA (,) then NO containing (with…protection) D (died) |
| 26 | TOP HAT |
Headgear which masks minor surgery (3,3)
THAT (which) contains (masks) OP (surgery, minor=abbrev) |
| 27 | PRETTY |
This is quite fair (6)
double definition – plenty of additional cryptic definitions in here too |
| 28 | KNEADING |
Being a masseur without being heard (8)
sounds like (being heard) “needing” (without) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | GARDA |
Irish police turned troublesome (5)
A DRAG (troublesome) reversed (turned) |
| 3 | TALLAHASSEE |
A diocese that has parts south of big Florida city (11)
A SEE (diocese) containing (that…parts) HAS under (south of) TALL (big) |
| 4 | ROCKFALL |
Small island to circle following landslide (8)
ROCKALL (small island) contains (to circle) F (following) |
| 5 | PROGRESSIVE ROCK |
Musical genre one associated with Rolling Stones? (11,4)
definition/cryptic definition – a rolling stone is a rock that progresses |
| 6 | HITMAN |
That bloke’s out of time, given an offer (6)
HIM (that bloke) contains (is out of) T (time) given AN – someone who ‘offs’ people |
| 7 | ALI |
Clay, china-like pots (3)
found inside (potted by) chinA LIke – Cassius Clay |
| 8 | EXECRATES |
Cannot stand top brass salaries (9)
EXEC RATES (top brass salaries) |
| 13 | TIGHT-LIPPED |
Mum, with delicate crown, starts getting confused (5-6)
a Spoonerism (starts getting confused) of LIGHT-TIPPED (delicate crowned) |
| 15 | ENDEAVOUR |
Try to finish, constantly talking (9)
END (to finish) and EVEAOUR sounds like (talking) “ever” (constantly) |
| 17 | MAGRITTE |
Artist’s determination to have friend around (8)
GRIT (determination) inside MATE (friend) |
| 20 | COUNTY |
Beds, say, are important, the ultimate in luxury (6)
COUNT (are important) and luxurY (ultimate letter of) |
| 23 | PLAIN |
Simply left hurting? (5)
L (left) in PAIN (in pain=hurting) |
| 25 | MET |
Experienced writer close to journalist (3)
ME (the writer) and journalisT (closing letter of) |
definitions are underlined
The typo in 28a kneads to be fixed.
Thanks Rishi, sorted now.
My solving experience was similar to PeeDes’s in that I made progress in fits and starts, sometimes grinding to a brief halt before the penny dropped and I could fill in another answer. LOI was the superb 21a.
There is another typo in the explanation of 2d by the way.
I have to admit I just bunged HEAVEN in without any idea what “cat” and “heave” had to do with each other, but otherwise I enjoyed this greatly. Loroso is one of the setters (Monk being the other) whose work I study carefully with a view to plundering their tricks and gadgets for later use – which helps a great deal when solving because I simply assume none of the words mean what the surface indicates.
Splendid stuff thank you Loroso – too many ‘favourites’ to list.
Thanks to PeeDee too.
Thanks Loroso and PeeDee
This sure was a toughie – not only on getting the correct answer, but then getting / understanding the parsing. Came here without any idea on how to parse HEAVEN (not heard of the ‘cat’ term for being sick), ROCKFALL (had heard of the island in hindsight, but it didn’t present at the time – not helped by the cleverly disguised F for following) and the devious spoonerism with TIGHT-LIPPED.
Found that nearly every clue had to be chipped away at as a challenge in itself, even after having all of the crossing letters with some. There were a number of new terms to add to my problems – GARDA, ITAR TASS (had known of it’s predecessor, Tass) and CAVA (still could not find where CA=cases – also tried for a while to shoehorn KAVA in with a long stretch to call that a wine).
Even the ‘easier’ clues like ALI (clever hidden answer), COMMANDO (with all of the crossers – but with that tricky COMMA device) and PLAIN (with the inferred L in PAIN) needed a lot of work.
Throw in some cryptic definitions like ‘offer’ as a killer at 6d and ‘Beds’ as an abbreviation for Bedfordshire (not a sleeping place or garden) and there was no easy route home.
Despite all of that, actually managed to get all of the right letters into the grid, had a lot of fun doing it and all completed within the day – it doesn’t get much better than that !
Hi brucew,
I hadn’t seen cat before either so I looked it up. Cat is an old nautical term for a wooden beam that prevented the anchor banging against the side of a sailing ship.
To cat the anchor was to raise the anchor, heave it up to the cat. No need to explain how it came to mean vomit…
Thanks PeeDee and Loroso. And thanks too to Bruce who could just about be my alter ego. My experience was just about identical.
This really was hard – but rewarding – work with no easy answers and every clue needing to be chipped away at before giving in.
I read through all the across clues with nothing to show for the effort. And the I got GARDA and I could get a foothold.
But no complaints. There’s nothing self-indulgent in the setting. Just solid, tough puzzling. So thanks again.