A cracking puzzle. I enjoyed this very much. Thank you Redshank.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ASTROPHYSICIST |
A small cup is returned to old box in May perhaps (14)
A S (small) TROPHY (cup) IS reversed (returned) to CIST (old box for holding bones) – Brian May, better known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Queen. May holds a PhD in astrophysics (which took 37 years to complete!) and now collaborates with various academic and scientific institutions. |
| 10 | PSALM |
Parish singers always love music, primarily church music (5)
P (parish) then Singers Always Love Music (primarily, first letters of) |
| 11 | OCCASIONS |
Causes hole in footwear heading off (9)
O (a hole) in mOCCASINS (footware) missing heading (first letter) |
| 12 | ELEVATE |
Lift European tax shelter controls (7)
E (European) then VAT (tax) in (controlled by) LEE (shelter) |
| 13 | AMNESIA |
State in which men get confused, incontinent? (7)
MEN* anagram=confused in ASIA (in continent) – definition is partly &lit |
| 14 | E-BOAT |
Devour over half of book in vessel (1-4)
EAT (devour) contains (over) BOok (half of) – Enemy-Boat, the allied name for the German Schnellboot, a small and fast torpedo boat |
| 16 | TOM PEARCE |
Noted horse owner in furious race with poet over miles (3,6)
anagram (furious) of RACE with POET containing (over) M (miles) – character from the song Widecombe Fair: Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare. |
| 19 | INTERPRET |
Crack team, mostly attractive (9)
INTER (Inter Milan, football team) tehn PRETty (attractive, mostly) |
| 20 | EVITA |
She showed some initiative after revolution (5)
found inside (some of) initiATIVE reversed (after revolution) – definition is semi-&lit |
| 22 | ANDROID |
Designer genes backfired in robot (7)
DIOR (designer) DNA (genes) reversed (backfired) |
| 25 | BALDWIN |
Smooth victory in Stanley (7)
BALD (smooth) WIN (victory) – Stanley Baldwin, former British Prime Minister |
| 27 | IMPARTIAL |
Just one priest stops fighting (9)
I (one) then P (priest) inside (stops, like a cork) MARTIAL (fighting) |
| 28 | GETTY |
Crude tycoon, say, rebutted Times leader of yesterday (5)
EG (say) reversed (rebutted) the TT (time, two of) and Yesterday (leader, first letter) – a crude oil magnate |
| 29 | SHOPPING CENTRE |
It’s bustling at weekend, yet implicitly very quiet (8,6)
SHOPPING CENTRE implies that the centre of shopping is PP (pianissimo, very quiet) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | SCAPEGOAT |
Patsy invests a small stake in second film (9)
PEG (a small stake) inside (invested by) S (small) and COAT (film) |
| 3 | RUMBA |
Dance with odd beat every now and then (5)
RUM (odd) and BeAt (regular selection from, every now and then) |
| 4 | PROTESTER |
He objects to badger being fed rubbish (9)
PESTER (badger) containing (being fed) ROT (rubbish) |
| 5 | YUCCA |
Precision soars after scrapping vehicle plant (5)
ACCUracY (precision) reversed (soars, goes up in a down clue) missing CAR (vehicle) |
| 6 | INSINCERE |
Untruthful couples used to live here before nursing college (9)
IN SIN (where non-married couples used to live) and ERE (before) containing (nursing) C (college) |
| 7 | IRONS |
Actor’s clubs (5)
double definition – actor Jeremy Irons |
| 8 | TESTATE |
He’s left Will close to vast demesne (7)
vasT (closing letter of) and ESTATE (desmesne) – cf last will and testament |
| 9 | SPHERE |
Notice indicating location of bookmaker’s ball? (6)
“SP HERE” (starting prices here) might be written on a whimsical notice indicating the location of a bookmaker |
| 15 | TURBOPROP |
Use it to fly-fish endlessly for profit at first (9)
TURBOt (fish, endlessly) PRO (for) Profit (first letter of) – I am reminded of an old friend who carefully added a letter T on the back of his car so that he drove round in a Saab Turbot |
| 17 | METABOLIC |
Lad’s briefly into rock music, in charge of generating energy (9)
BOy (lad, briefly) in METAL (rock music) then IC (in charge) |
| 18 | RAINWATER |
Gunners taking a bath or shower? (9)
RA (Royal Arillery, gunners) IN WATER (taking a bath) |
| 19 | ITALICS |
Sort of socialist, extremely liberated type (7)
anagram (sort of) soCIALIST missing (liberated) SO (extremely) |
| 21 | ANNOYS |
A racket, say, and what it does (6)
sounds like (say) “a noise” (a racket) |
| 23 | DIPSO |
Drunk is necking quietly during party (5)
IS contains (necking, drinking) P (piano, quietly) inside (during) DO (party) |
| 24 | DEIGN |
Consent to plan to abandon Sweden (5)
DEsIGN (plan) missing (to abandon) S (Sweden) |
| 26 | LOG ON |
Brand new way to start networking? (3,2)
LOGO (brand) N (new) |
definitions are underlined
Thanks, PeeDee, for a great blog.
A rather surprisingly quick return for Redshank – there’s usually a longer gap – but that is not a complaint!
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle and have ticks all over the place – for OCCASIONS, AMNESIA [lovely!], ANDROID, SHOPPING CENTRE, SPHERE, TURBOPROP, ITALICS and LOG ON. And I could have had more.
Many thanks, as ever, to Redshank for another super puzzle.
Hats off to Redshank-classy stuff- and for blog!
I second everyone’s notion. Great stuff, Well said (and done) PeeDee, and hats off to Redshank.
Thanks, PeeDee. Superb crossword, as everyone says. I loved especially SHOPPING CENTRE and TOM PEARCE. Thanks, Redshank
I did find this Redshank puzzle much harder than some of his previous offerings.
It was only today that I wrote in my final solution (SCAPEGOAT).
But what a marvellous crossword it was – once more, I would say.
Favourites? Dunno.
I have seen SHOPPING CENTRE clued by PP before but it’s OK to have a nice find being repeated every now and then.
Adventurous clueing all the way through – nothing run-of-the-mill.
A joy to solve, for which thanks to Redshank.
Tx PD.
Came late to this but I can only echo what the preamble says.
Many thanks to both.
Thanks PeeDee and Redshank.
This is an absolutely top notch puzzle. Lots of creative clueing. Among my favourites:
AMNESIA – great surface
TOM PEARCE – brings back a lot of memories including the Rambling Sid Rumpo (aka Kenneth Williams)
METABOLIC – clever construction
YUCCA – very clever
Great stuff!
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee
Did this one close to publication time but only checked it off now. Nice puzzle as we’ ve come to expect from this setter … maybe slightly on the easier side to his normal difficulty level.
Smiled when I saw the Queen guitarist clued as an ASTROPHYSICIST !
Finished in the SW with TURBOPROP, the clever ANDROID and ITALICS the last few in.