I enjoyed this. I thought this was a nice level of difficulty; the answers did not give themselves away, but it was not a fight to the death like some of the Wednesday puzzles can be (setters – you know who you are!). Thanks Wanderer.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FRIPPERIES |
Chips? They’re eating Pied Piper trifles (10)
FIRES (chips) containing PIPER* anagram=pied |
| 6 | POND |
Group of whales crossing North Atlantic? (4)
POD (group of whales) containing (crossing) N (north) – ‘The Pond’ is slang for the Atlantic ocean |
| 9 |
See 1 down
|
|
| 10 | MEOW |
Catty remark that hurt setter, initially (4)
OW (that hurt!) with ME (setter) in front (initially) |
| 12 | ENFRANCHISED |
Freed serf can end his detailed rambling (12)
anagram (rambling) of SERF CAN END HIs (detailed) |
| 15 | NONPAREIL |
Unrivalled rear of Eva Peron, madly in love? (9)
anagram (madly) of evA (rear of) PERON inside NIL (love, zero tennis core) |
| 17 | PLAZA |
Parking zone – area beside city’s square (5)
P (parking) then Z (zone) A (area) following (beside) LA (city) |
| 18 | TYROL |
Mallory took turns covering this mountainous area (5)
found inside (with…covering this) malLORY Took reversed (turns) |
| 19 | PUSSYFOOT |
Be cautious when moving pawn after losing knight? (9)
if PAWN loses N (knight, chess) you get PAW, a pussy foot |
| 20 | ASCENSION DAY |
Festival marking consequence of Easter Rising (9,3)
cryptic definition – the rising of Christ (rather than of the Irish) |
| 24 | IFFY |
Uncertain as to whether ferry unloaded (4)
IF (whether) and FerrY (unloaded, no middle) |
| 25 | LEE TREVINO |
Golfer with bad lie, 10 over (3,7)
anagram (bad) of LIE TEN (10) OVER |
| 26 | MILL |
Frenchman dogged by bad press (4)
M (monsieur, a Frenchman) following (dogged by) ILL (bad) |
| 27 | ASSESSMENT |
Agree about “unholy mess” evaluation (10)
ASSENT (agreement) contains (about) MESS* anagram=unholy |
| Down | ||
| 1, 9 | FLAT AS A PANCAKE |
Like a 26 6, though still might get tossed around? (4,2,1,7)
definition and cryptic definition |
| 2 | IVAN |
Russian chap gets daughter out of bed (4)
dIVAN (bed) missing D (daughter) |
| 3 | PLAIN SAILING |
Aches, getting sick after eating large piece of cake (5,7)
PAINS (aches) getting AILING (sick) containing (after eating) L (large) |
| 4 | RACER |
Car carrying one bike and its rider? (5)
RR (Rolls Royce, car) containing ACE (one) |
| 5 | ENKINDLES |
Fires up new e-reader in El Salvador (9)
N (new) KINDLE (e-reader) in ES (El Salvador, IVR code) |
| 7 | OPEN SEASON |
Nothing by writer on main issue – everyone’s killing time? (4,6)
O (nothing) by PEN (writer) on SEA (main) SON (issue) – the hunting season |
| 8 | DOWNDRAFTS |
Currents blowing south from the US reportedly sank log boats (10)
sounds like (reportedly) “downed rafts” (sank log boats) |
| 11 | CHOPPY WATERS |
Cut pay heartlessly – steward briefed about what night ensue (6,6)
CHOP (cut) PaY (heartlessly) then anagram (about) of STEWARd (briefed, made short) – I assume night is just a typo for might |
| 13 | INITIALISM |
First one writing about RNLI? (10)
INITIAL (first) I (one) MS (manuscript, writing) reversed (about) – initials where each letter is pronounced individually, RNLI for example |
| 14 | UNGRACEFUL |
Cure fungal disorder that’s inelegant (10)
(CURE FUNGAL)* anagram=disorder |
| 16 | EMPTINESS |
Point in letter about politician showing vacuity (9)
TINE (point) in ESS (the letter s) containing (about) MP (politician) |
| 21 | NITRE |
Oxidising agent – used in explosion, it reacts (5)
found inside (used in) explosioN IT REacts |
| 22, 23 | LIFEBOAT |
Bad flea-bite almost needing oxygen intake aid in emergency (8)
anagram (bad) of FLEA and BITe (almost) containing O (oxygen) |
definitions are underlined
Agree this was a nice challenge, quite easy in parts, but not so easy in others. My last one in was 13d as I was neatly misdirected by Wanderer in thinking there was a mini nautical theme with 16 & 6a, 22 & 23d, and 11d.
Thanks PeeDee and Wanderer.
Enjoyed this – although it was over all too quickly.
This is the first time I’ve seen PIED as an anagrind. But I realised what was meant so nothing wrong with that.
Wanderer is clearly showing his age to define LEE TRAVINO as a golfer. But again I suppose that because it was clear what the answer was, then that’s OK too.
ASCENSION DAY seemed a bit lame, but then 7dn and 13 were excellent.
So thanks again.
Thanks Wanderer and PeeDee
Finished this one a while ago and only just checked it. Always find this setter an enjoyable challenge and although this one was done quicker than normal, it was still good fun.
Found that there were a few clues that I hadn’t parsed or parsed wrongly – NONPAREIL (missed the NIL bit), PUSSYFOOT (just didn’t see the PAW at all) and EMPTINESS (where had fixated on the point = E and then could not work out anything for the TINESS part).
Ended up in the middle band of the puzzle with NONPAREIL, PUSSYFOOT and CHOPPY WATERS the last few in.