A rarely seen setter on a Friday, Cincinnus gives us a straightforward challenge with just a touch of some unusual words to keep things interesting. Clean, unambiguous cluing meant that the parsing was a breeze. 14ac and 30ac were new words for me, both of which were “getable” from the clue.
As an aside, this is my 2nd anniversary as a Blogger on 15^2! More power to all of us here – setters, bloggers, solvers and readers alike !
FF: 8 DD:
| Across | ||
| 1 | CENOTAPH |
Rogue can’t hope for monument (8)
Anagram of CAN’T HOPE |
| 5 | LOGGED |
What woodman did is recorded (6)
cryptic clue |
| 9 | MATURING |
Conclusion of theorem a mathematician is developing (8)
M (conclusion of theoreM) A TURING (mathematician, Alan) |
| 10 | AFFAIR |
Business not bad after a false start (6)
FAIR (not bad) after A F (False, starting character) |
| 12 | DANCE HALL |
Introduction of crutches in European hospital? Everyone hops here (5,4)
[ C (introduction of Crutches) in DANE (European) ] H (hospital) ALL (everyone) |
| 13 | CREDO |
Clubs overhaul declaration of faith (5)
C (clubs) RE-DO (overhaul) |
| 14 | ORFE |
Fish back from the front (4)
HIdden (reversed) in “.. thE FROnt”. I guessed this one having never come across this fishy clue before. |
| 16 | PEANUTS |
Offering no resistance, US parent worked for a pittance (7)
Anagram of US PArENT (no resistance – ‘R’) |
| 19 | BOUNCER |
Black cat right behind doorman (7)
B (black) OUNCE (cat) R (right) |
| 21 | CITE |
Mention spot on the radio (4)
Sounds like SIGHT (spot) |
| 24 | EXTRA |
Bonus required by forex traders (5)
Hidden in “..forEX TRAders” |
| 25 | MORATORIA |
Temporary halts for speaker in westbound train (9)
ORATOR (speaker) in MIA (train = AIM, as in the context of “..trained his gun on..”, westbound = reversed) |
| 27 | TRAUMA |
Half of us in vehicle getting a shock (6)
[ U (half of Us) in TRAM (vehicle)] A |
| 28 | OVERAWED |
Intimidated old girl got hitched (8)
Charade of O (old) VERA (girl) WED (hitched) |
| 29 | RESIDE |
What remains when university’s abandoned lodge? (6)
RESIDuE (what remains, without ‘U’ – university) |
| 30 | FLAMBEAU |
Complaint about beam thrown by a torch (8)
FLU (complaint) about [ anagram of BEAM, A ] |
| Down | ||
| 1 | COMEDY |
Arrive on time without a lot of laughs? (6)
COME (arrive) DaY (time, without A) |
| 2 | NOTING |
Observing nowt after losing heart (6)
NOThING (nowt, without heart – central character) |
| 3 | TIREE |
Flag on English or Scottish island (5)
TIRE (flag) E (english) |
| 4 | PINNACE |
Sodium and carbon in long boat (7)
[ NA (sodium, symbol) C (carbon, symbol) ] in PINE (long) |
| 6 | OFFICIANT |
On holiday I’m unable to ring current service provider (9)
OFF (on holiday) [ I CAN’T (I’m unable) around (~ring) I (current) ] |
| 7 | GEARED UP |
In Prague new editor gets set (6,2)
ED (editor) in anagram of PRAGUE |
| 8 | DORMOUSE |
Small creature finding somewhere to sleep by river (8)
Charade of DORM (somewhere to sleep) OUSE (river) |
| 11 | CLIP |
Film part for retainer (4)
double def |
| 15 | RECLAIMED |
Cider drunk with meal may be taken back (9)
Anagram of CIDER MEAL |
| 17 | OBJECTOR |
One who won’t accept goal starts to offend referee (8)
OBJECT (goal) OR (starting characters of “.. Offend Referee” ) |
| 18 | NUPTIALS |
Terribly plain suit one rejected for wedding (8)
Anagram of PLAiN SUIT (without ‘i’ – one rejected) |
| 20 | ROME |
Travel announcement in capital (4)
Sounds like ROAM (travel) |
| 21 | CARAVEL |
Vessel caught by a composer (7)
C (caught) A RAVEL (composer, Maurice) |
| 22 | BROWSE |
Casually read lines in vacated bookstore (6)
ROWS (lines) in BE (vacated BookstorE) |
| 23 | LANDAU |
Secure gold carriage (6)
LAND (secure) AU (gold) |
| 26 | THRUM |
This is dropped with peculiar monotonous sound (5)
THis (is dropped) RUM (peculiar) |
Thanks Turbolegs — yes, Cincinnus was being very benign this morning. I especially liked DANCEHALL for some reason. Thanks, Cincinnus
Thanks Turbolegs and Cincinnus. Good clean fun!
Congratulations on your second anniversary as a blogger. Thank you. Always learning from you!
Thanks for this. Learnt a new word and never seen the use of “I” for current – though I believe, if memory serves, that this is its letter in physics. Not sure of the significance of “radio” in the 21 across but overall a good entertaining crossword.
Thanks Cincinnus and Turbolegs
AFWard@4 re 21ac: “on the radio” is a fairly standard homophone indicator. If someone says “sight” you could hear it as “cite”, whether the person is speaking on the radio or in the same room.
Many thanks for that explanation – I’ve learnt even more out of that crossword! I did not realise the use of radio in that context.
Thanks Cincinnus and Turbolegs
As stated, a fairly straightforward offering from this setter which I got to on a quiet Sunday afternoon after a good solid week of pre-Christmas celebrations.
Hadn’t seen OFFICIANT previously and only vaguely aware of CARAVEL and TIREE.
Finished down in the SE corner with THRUM, the barely remembered CARAVEL and CITE last of all.
Congratulations TL on the completion of your second year – always enjoy your blogs.
Congratulations on your 2nd anniversary Turbolegs and thanks for the blog.
And thanks to Cincinnus for a benign challenge with just a few new words – PINNACE, FLAMBEAU and CARAVEL – to feed the interest.
Though I hadn’t heard of the latter, I seem to recall a French airliner of the 60’s – spelt CARAVELLE. Odd looking thing with the tail wing halfway up the tail fin.
Hadn’t been able to see TRAIN = AIM in MORATORIA so thanks for explaining that. Otherwise very clearly clued.
Thanks to all for the comments and the wishes. Honestly, I have learned so much from having been on this site that I wonder/regret why/that I wasn’t here earlier (at least as a reader to begin with). Geoff has been a fantastic mentor, and allowed me the time to improve.
I am happy if my blogs offered a little help with your solving.
Cheers
TL