A quick one today
Both the puzzle and the blog…
…just about to go into a day-long meeting, so a short blog.
Good surfaces, let down by a couple of not very cryptic clues.
No theme or NINA that I can see at a quick glance.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TOTALABSTAINER | Doctor is not late at bar – he never drinks! (5,9) |
| *(is not late at bar) | ||
| 10 | EXPAT | Émigré needs English vote backing strike (5) |
| E + X(“vote”) +<=TAP | ||
| 11 | UNBUTTONS | Possibly releases a French victim on Sunday (9) |
| UN + BUTT (as in “butt of a joke”) ON + S(unday) | ||
| 12 | MUSKRAT | Essential to take boat west to spot the beaver (7) |
| <=ARK in MUST | ||
| 13 | REPOSED | Retired, being embarassed about the act (7) |
| RED about POSE | ||
| 14 | SATYR | Starts, oddly, with a year-old goat (5) |
| S(t)A(r)T(s) + YR | ||
| 16 | ROUNDHEAD | Ringleader clearly not a Royalist (9) |
| ROUND(“riing”) + HEAD(“leader”) | ||
| 19 | TEST STRIP | Litmus paper eg to peel off after examination (4,5) |
| STRIP after TEST | ||
| 20 | SAUDI | Arab gets Skoda’s first German car (5) |
| S(koda) + AUDI | ||
| 22 | NINEPIN | Enter quickly (without directions) to obtain skittle (7) |
| NE(“directions” in NIP IN | ||
| 25 | RAT FLEA | RAF tale about a dangerous carrier (3-4) |
| *(raf tale) | ||
| 27 | OFF COURSE | Found. initially, in no doubt – then lost (3-6) |
| F(ound) in OF COURSE | ||
| 28 | NAIVE | Green bottled water makes a comeback (5) |
| <=EVIAN | ||
| 29 | DAYOFRECKONING | Last Judgment, financially speaking (3,2,9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OPPOSITES | They should attract young and old, for instance (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | ALTER | Change brought about by Raleigh’s beheading (5) |
| (w)ALTER (Raleigh) | ||
| 4 | ADULTERER | Husband affected by wanderlust you could say (9) |
| (Not very) cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | SOBER | Southern Region introduces decoration on the wagon (5) |
| O.B.E. in S.R. | ||
| 6 | ANTIPODES | Does it pan out where diggers are found? (9) |
| *(does it pan) | ||
| 7 | NOOKS | Cramped spaces are fine in small numbers (5) |
| O.K. in Nos. | ||
| 8 | RESIDED | Lived as desired, after a revolution (7) |
| *(desired) | ||
| 9 | HERMES | Either message shows who might carry it (6) |
| Hidden in eitHER MESsage. | ||
| 15 | RUSTPROOF | Full of anti-oxidants? (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | UPPER DECK | Part of London bus also overlooked from the bridge (5,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | EQUAL SIGN | Short parallel lines, in pairs, symbolically (5,4) |
| More a description than a cryptic clue? | ||
| 19 | TENFOLD | Juliet’s last embrace means so much more (7) |
| (julie)T + ENFOLD | ||
| 21 | ISABEL | This girl is a beauty, we’re told (6) |
| Homophone of IS A BELLE | ||
| 23 | NIFTY | Smart leaders of new industries fire their yesmen (5) |
| First letters (“leaders of”) the last five words. | ||
| 24 | NORSE | Old language in code starting with next letter (5) |
| N(instead of M)ORSE | ||
| 26 | TENON | Saw a risk for trapeze artist when climbing (5) |
| <=NO NET | ||
*anagram
Thanks Crux and loonapick
Was a relatively quick solve, done mostly on the train ride home. Not sure whether Crux is much of a theme or nina man !
Thought at 4d, it may have been a sound alike clue – ‘ adult error’ – guess that would be close in some pronunciations. Actually liked EQUAL SIGN when the penny dropped with it.
Took an age to sort out the parsing of MUSKRAT … and afterwards wondered why!
Finished up the top with ANTIPODES (shamefacedly, for not seeing it earlier), OPPOSITES (likewise, but held up by a wrongly entered ECLAT at 10) and EXPAT (after seeing the erors of my ways)!
I normally find Crux more brain-shattering than this, so I must have been having a good day — thanks, anyway, Crux. Some clues really impressed, some a little more mundane. Thanks for fitting in the blog, loonapick
Thanks Crux and loonapick.
An up and down puzzle this.
Yes, an exceptionally quick solve with some nice clues – I particularly liked ANTIPODES and TENON – and some pretty poor – why “Full of” in the clue for RUSTPROOF?
12ac reminded me of Deputy Dawg so that’s OK!