I felt smaller than David in attacking this challenge from Goliath. I managed to get there in the end, but the parsing for a couple of clues evaded me, for which I turned to Gaufrid for help. Thanks Goliath, for raising crossword hell.
FF: 10 DD: 10 ++
| Across | ||
| 1 | TAPE DECK | What was used to record deep change in course (4,4) |
| Anagram of DEEP in TACK (course) | ||
| 5 | ACETIC | Acid makes Spartan lose his head? (6) |
| AsCETIC (spartan, losing his head i.e. S) | ||
| 9 | INDOLENT | Idle look back is in order (8) |
| OL (look = LO, reversed) in INDENT (order) | ||
| 10 | PRESTO | Break in work, back very quickly (6) |
| REST (break) in PO (work = PO, reversed) | ||
| 12 | SCINTILLA | Jot down all notes finally, italic style (9) |
| Anagram of NLS (last letters of “..dowN alL noteS..”) ITALIC | ||
| 13 | SIT UP | Exercise and beg for a bicycle (3,2) |
| SIT-UP-AND-BEG is a type of bicycle with the handlebars curved backwards | ||
| 14 | KIND | Genial type (4) |
| double def | ||
| 16 | TALIBAN | Starts to take alcoholic liquor in prohibition? They won’t like it (7) |
| starting letters of “..Take Alcoholic Liquor In..” BAN (prohibition) | ||
| 19 | TRICEPS | Dinosaur artist to get wasted muscle (7) |
| TRICEratoPS (dinosaur, without RA for artist and TO) | ||
| 21 | BUSH | Kate for president (4) |
| Reference to Kate Bush, english singer. | ||
| 24 | GIANT | Very large gin, mixed with a tonic to begin with (5) |
| Anagram of GIN A T (starting letter of Tonic) | ||
| 25 | TAXIDERMY | The lead variety of ready-mix stuffing (9) |
| T (The, first character) followed by anagram of READY MIX | ||
| 27 | SNITCH | Partners longing for grass (6) |
| SN (partners, South and North, in Bridge) ITCH (longing) | ||
| 28 | MOURNFUL | Second pot not quite full? That’s sad (8) |
| MO (second) URN (pot) FULl (not quite) | ||
| 29 | TITTLE | First list in small 12 (6) |
| LITTLE (small) with the first L changed to T (L is T) – Devious !!! Thanks Gaufrid! | ||
| 30 | EDUCATED | Learned of old money found in river from the east (8) |
| DUCAT (old money) in reverse of DEE (river) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | THIRST | Top and second to drop three places, needing a drink (6) |
| T-SHIRT (top) with the ‘S’ (second letter) dropping three places | ||
| 2 | PIDGIN | 12 strong macho leaders ousted by soft language (6) |
| A synonym for 12ac is SMIDGIN. Ousting SM (starting characters of “..Strong Macho..”) following P (soft) gives the answer. | ||
| 3 | DELFT | With skill wrapped plate of pottery (5) |
| DEFT (skill) wrapping L (plate, found on the car of a new driver) | ||
| 4 | CANDLED | Tested the freshness of tunic and lederhosen (7) |
| Hidden in “..tuniC AND LEDerhosen” | ||
| 6 | CHRYSALIS | Moth to be found in empty church? Roy Marner’s upset (9) |
| CH (empty ChurcH, without inner letters) RY (RoY, empty) [reverse of SILAS – Marner, novel by George Eliot] | ||
| 7 | TEST TUBE | Check underground for baby? (4,4) |
| TEST (check) TUBE (underground) | ||
| 8 | CLOPPING | Pop out and stick around for the sound of hooves (8) |
| Anagram of POP surrounded by CLING (stick) | ||
| 11 | RAPT | Delighted to be covered on the radio (4) |
| sounds like WRAPPED (covered) | ||
| 15 | IDENTICAL | Dine out, tucking into crab and lobster starters alike (9) |
| Anagram of DINE followed by starting letters of “..Tucking Into Crab And Lobster..” | ||
| 17 | STAGE SET | Gates’s background (5,3) |
| GATES can be crypically clued as STAGE SET | ||
| 18 | FINALIST | Broken nail in hand of successful competitor (8) |
| Anagram of NAIL in FIST (hand) | ||
| 20 | SITE | Location of collector’s items (4) |
| Hidden in “..collector’S ITEms” | ||
| 21 | BOXWOOD | Second bull to pursue Daisy, first to see tree (7) |
| B (second, A B …) OX (bull) WOO (pursue) D (first, Daisy) | ||
| 22 | PROFIT | Gain is mine when rising pro leaves (6) |
| if FOR (pro) reversed (when rising) is removed from (leaves) PROFIT you get PIT (mine). Thanks Gaufrid!! | ||
| 23 | EYELID | Palpebra hat reportedly made by the Apple Corporation? (6) |
| Sounds like i-Lid, a potential name for a lid that the Apple corp would make (in the lines of ipad, iphone etc) | ||
| 26 | DORIC | Section of Orlando rich in architectural style (5) |
| Hidden in “..orlanDO RICh..” | ||
*anagram
Well done and thanks, TL. I was goliathed on the ones that Gaufrid explained, and a couple of others. Keep going, Goliath — my sling will be tuned one day.
A giant (ogre even!) of a challenge, but enjoyed it all the same. Some fiendish misdirection, especially at 23d. Knew what “palpebra” meant but spent ages trying to think of terms for a hat, only to realise that the word I wanted was sitting in front of me all the time! Many thanks to Goliath.
Had trouble parsing “tittle” so really appreciated the blog, thank you Turblolegs (and Gaufrid, of course!).
Thanks Goliath, Gaufrid and TL. The parsing of 29a eluded me – but it’s a first-rate clue. A good challenge!
Thanks Goliath, Turbolegs and Gaufrid.
That was excellent, really enjoyed the tussle, especially after Wednesday’s graun Philistine (I believe from a comment of Eileen’s on today’s Picaroon that Goliath and Philistine are one and the same).
Struggled with some of the parsings, especially 29, and loved 23 & 25 among many other gems.
Hi Simon S@4
‘(I believe from a comment of Eileen’s on today’s Picaroon that Goliath and Philistine are one and the same)
Indeed they are – and thence jointly among my top-flight setters!
Favourites today [among many others]: 12, 25a 29ac and 6dn I loved ‘Silas Marner’ at school.
I love the link between ‘jot,12ac and TITTLE [wonderful clue! – see here:https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GUEA_en-GBGB655GB655&q=jot+and+tittle
Thanks for the confirmation Eileen
I was a little unsure as they aren’t linked or hyperlinked on this site’s home page – inside knowledge?
A great setter, in any event.
Some great clues and excellent explanation of them above. Only managed about half of them. Thanks!
Thanks Turbolegs, Goliath and Gaufrid.
I just couldn’t bring myself to enter TITTLE because I’d failed to spot the L is T! Fiendish indeed.
Otherwise hard but rewarding work. Got there in the end.
To CANDLE was a new definition for me but fairly clued so gettable.
23 was one of those that one is bound to get once one looks up the word – PALEBRA in this case which was also new for me.
Favourites were TAXIDERMY and STAGE SET.
Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs
A move to the Friday slot for this setter and he ratcheted up the degree of difficulty appropriately. Only got to it today and did it over dinner, taking a bit over an hour to complete filling in the grid. Parsing added more and still came here without the ‘sit-up-and-beg’ bicycle (not a term used down here at all) and PROFIT parsings done.
Lots of clever clueing used throughout. I did notice a heavy use of leading letters used in the word plays – 5A, 12A, 16A, 24A, 25A, 2D and 15D. Thought that CANDLED was very well hidden and liked the extraction from the dinosaur to get TRICEPS.
Finished mainly in the NW corner with SCINTILLA (making the themed words hard to get), INDOLENT and PIDGIN. The actual last one in was the very clever TITTLE (which was a new word to me) … and was happy to see the devious trick with ‘list’.