Aardvark, but not at his best?
All the clues are charades of one form or another (put a word meaning X in one meaning Y etc). There are no double definitions, cryptic definitions, homophones etc at all. Once I realised this the puzzle became something of a mechanical excercise to complete. Whilst the clues are each fine and enjoyable individually, collectively there were no ‘aha’ moments as there was no variation to cause any surprises. Thank you Aardvark.
| Across | ||
| 8 | SAMOAN |
Islander discovering bird no longer in hospital (6)
MOA (extinct bird) in SAN (sanitorium, hospital) |
| 9 | DESOLATE |
Wretched lower grades showing such tardiness (8)
D and E (lower grades, in exam) with SO LATE (showing such tardiness) |
| 10 | FELT |
Material used in Eiffel Tower (4)
found inside eiFEL Tower |
| 11 | HEART-THROB |
Pop idol perhaps drumming with vigour (5-5)
THROB (drumming) following (with) HEART (vigour) |
| 12 | BLOC |
League’s county has extra run retracted (4)
CO (county) and LB (leg bye, extra run in cricket) reversed (retracted) |
| 13 | ABOMINABLE |
Odious sailors, the latter disrupting oilmen working (10)
AB AB (able sailor, twice) teh second instance inside OILMEN* anagram=working |
| 17 | WOOL |
Court martial’s latest character that produces a yarn? (4)
WOO (court) and martiaL (latest, last letter of) |
| 18 | IMBUE |
Fill minutes regularly detaining doctor (5)
mInUtEs (regular selection of) contains (detaining) MB (doctor) |
| 19 | BARB |
Insult legendary Sevillian, without hesitation (4)
BARBer (the Barber of Seville) missing ER (hesitation) |
| 21 | ENTICEMENT |
Carrot or stick used by medical department and institute? (10)
CEMENT (stick) followig (used by) ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat medical department) and I (institute) |
| 23 | ROUT |
United, during peak, overcoming defeat (4)
U (united) inside (during) TOR (peak) reversed (overcoming) |
| 24 | SCRUFFIEST |
Tie’s ripped on back of neck – most untidy (10)
TIE’S* anagram=ripped following (on back of) SCRUFF (neck) |
| 28 | HA-HA |
Ditch headwear, ignoring temperature repeatedly (2-2)
HAt (headware) missing T (temperature) twice (repeatedly) |
| 29 | ESCALOPE |
Duck circling lake takes old piece of meat (8)
ESCAPE (duck) contains (cricling) L (lake) with O (old) |
| 30 | DELIUS |
Food shops absorbing posh composer (6)
DELIS (food shops) contain (absorbing) U (posh) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | WATERLOO |
Battle with army over royal throne? (8)
W (with) TA (Territorial Army) reversed (over) RE (The Quuen, a royal) LOO (throne, toilet) |
| 2 | BOTTICELLI |
Artist initially bears excessive chill, turning poorly (10)
Bears (initial letter of) OTT (excessive) ICE (chill) then LLI (poorly) reversed (turning) |
| 3 | ANTHRACITE |
Two articles about motorists with Italian fuel (10)
AN and THE (two articles., grammar) contain (about) RAC (motoring prganisation) with IT (Italian) |
| 4 | IDEA |
Plan centrepieces of Cider Day (4)
cIDEr and dAy (centre letters of) |
| 5 | PSST |
Elite body in training that attracts attention (4)
SS (elite body, Nazi) in PT (physical training) |
| 6 | BLAH |
It’s disgusting eating left tripe (4)
BAH! (it’s disgusting) containing L (left) |
| 7 | STROLL |
Meander in bad temper, having to avoid parking lines (6)
STROp (bad temper) missing P (parking) with LL (line, two of) |
| 14 | OMBRE |
Cockney house entertaining bridge card game (5)
‘OME (home, in cockney accent) contains (entertaining) BR (bridge) |
| 15 | INEPTITUDE |
Popular record, new duet covering it being useless (10)
IN (popular) EP (extended play recoed) then DUET* anagram=new containing IT |
| 16 | ALBERT HALL |
Vacating annual accommodation, everyone sees London landmark (6,4)
AnnuaL (vacating, no middle) BERTH (accomodation) then ALL (everyone) |
| 20 | ROUGH CUT |
Copper, during aridness, topless for part of film (5,3)
CU (copper) in dROUGHT (aridness, topless) |
| 22 | NICISH |
Rather lovely end to vacation here in France with mum (6)
vacatioN (end of) ICI (here, in French) with SH (mum). The spelling looks odd to me, but it is in Chambers. |
| 25 | URAL |
Flower attached to a wall (minute leaves) (4)
mURAL (attached to a wall) missing M (minute) – the River Ural, something that flows |
| 26 | FROG |
Jumper Roger needed in misty conditions (4)
R (roger, radio comms abbreviation) in FOG (misty conditions) – R is for ‘roger’ meaning received or understood, not the letter R in the phonetic alphabet which is usually Romeo |
| 27 | EWER |
Member of flock close to altar using vessel (4)
EWE (member of flock) with altaR (closng letter of) |
definitions are underlined
for 3D, we seem to be one “T” short
aid @1, probably PeeDee meant IT for Italian…
Fixed now. I always think of Gin & It. Once a big favourite but now they just get me hopelessly drunk and give me a headache.
I agree with PeeDee (as usual). It was good fun, though.
Re the terminology here a charade is two or more parts following each other e.g. HAT+RED for HATRED. It would I guess be quite a challenge to set a puzzle consisting solely of those!
So there is perhaps wider variety in this puzzle than the preamble might appear to suggest.
OK, if ‘charade’ won’t do then I’m happy to use whatever alternative word you would like to suggest. But varied it is not, whatever you call it.
PeeDee has a point about the lack of variety in the devices used for the clues but I have to admit that I did not notice it whilst solving.
I enjoyed the puzzle and in particular 21a. To get ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ in the same clue was masterful.
Thanks to all concerned.
Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee.
I’m with you on this one PeeDee. A distinct lack of variety and – although the FROG was a write-in – I’m not convinced about R for Roger.
At least the simplicity meant that I didn’t have my normal problem with this grid – I normally find the surfeit of four-letter words challenging.
OMBRÉ was new for me so thanks for that.
Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee
Did this one on the day and can’t remember being offput by the lack of devices. Can remember having to do a double take with ENTICEMENT and ALBERT HALL.
Finished in the left hand side with URAL, SAMOAN and the corrected ENTICEMENT the last few in.