As expected we enjoyed this puzzle from Punk.
There are quite a few proper nouns among the entries, but we don’t think there’s a connection between them. All good fun, with only a modicum of the anticipated toilet humour (at 10ac and 30ac).
| Across | ||
| 1 | German city, flipping bonkers destination (7) | |
| POTSDAM | MAD (bonkers) STOP (destination) all reversed or ‘flipping’ | |
| 5 | Standard after midnight on the slide around classy Balearic resort (7) | |
| MAGALUF | FLAG (standard) AM (after midnight) reversed or ‘on the slide’ around U (classy) | |
| 9 | Old Turkish governor remains in outskirts of Persia (5) | |
| PASHA | ASH (remains) in first and last letters or ‘outskirts’ of P |
|
| 10 | Regulator and contractor being rich, spent lavishly (9) | |
| SPHINCTER | An anagram of RICH SPENT – anagrind is ‘lavishly’ | |
| 11 | Someone more likely to help pitch your tent in part of the Peak District? (6,5) | |
| KINDER SCOUT | A KINDER SCOUT would presumably be more likely to help you pitch your tent – a reference to the Peak, moorland plateau and Nature Reserve in Derbyshire | |
| 13 | Piece of downhiller’s kit (3) | |
| SKI | Cryptic definition – hidden in or a ‘piece of’ ‘downhiller’S KIt | |
| 14 | Supporter outlining decay for property manager (7) | |
| TRUSTEE | TEE (supporter) round or ‘outlining’ RUST (decay) | |
| 16 | Not finding sanctuary in beer garden, wild flower (7) | |
| GERBERA | An anagram of BEER GAR |
|
| 18 | Blue tie turned up (7) | |
| SKYWARD | SKY (blue) + DRAW (tie) reversed or ‘turned’ | |
| 20 | African capital where African’s in retreat, British coming in for victory (7) | |
| NAIROBI | I |
|
| 21 | Problematic spirit (3) | |
| RUM | Double definition | |
| 23 | Book marks for me to get my teeth into from the continent, did you say? (11) | |
| PUNCTUATION | Sounds like (‘did you say’) PUNK (me – the setter) CHEW (‘get my teeth into’) ASIAN (‘from the continent’) | |
| 25 | Island nation in accomplished Asian country once falling short (9) | |
| INDONESIA | IN DONE (accomplished) SIA |
|
| 27 | Head in cerebra contained by skull, perhaps – here? (5) | |
| BONCE | Cryptic definition – C (first letter or ‘head’ of ‘cerebra’) in BONE (skull, perhaps) | |
| 29 | Kitchen walls in residence primarily for balcony (7) | |
| GALLERY | GALLEY (kitchen) round or ‘walling in’ R (first or ‘prime’ letter of ‘residence’ | |
| 30 | Swedish exercise to evacuate area in an escape of wind? (7) | |
| FARTLEK | FART LE |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Up-and-down energy? (3) | |
| PEP | PEP (energy) which is a palindrome (‘up and down’) | |
| 2 | Rage following heavyweight boxer (5,4) | |
| TYSON FURY | FURY (rage) following TYSON (Mike Tyson – heavyweight boxer) | |
| 3 | Famous Elizabethan duke and ladies’ man (5) | |
| DRAKE | D (duke) RAKE (ladies’ man) | |
| 4 | Highly recommended viewing way inside the Louvre, perhaps? (4-3) | |
| MUST-SEE | ST (street – way) in MUSEE (French for museum, e.g. the Louvre) | |
| 5 | Game amateur upset authoress (3-4) | |
| MAH-JONG | HAM (amateur) reversed or ‘upset’ JONG (Erica Jong – authoress) | |
| 6 | Game spirit (3) | |
| GIN | Double definition | |
| 7 | Flower ending in tableau – something to draw around? (5) | |
| LOTUS | U (last letter or ‘ending’ of ‘tableau’) in LOTS (something to draw, as in drawing lots) | |
| 8 | Crawling sensation I see in military order (11) | |
| FORMICATION | I C (see) in FORMATION (military order) | |
| 11 | Man keeping fit sure to swim in watersport (11) | |
| KITESURFING | KING (man, in chess) round or ‘keeping’ an anagram of FIT SURE – anagrind is ‘to swim’ | |
| 12 | Trunks pinched by sexpot or siren (5) | |
| TORSI | Hidden in or ‘pinched by’ ‘sexpoT OR SIren’ | |
| 15 | Bum snare catching bottom in the end (5) | |
| TRAMP | TRAP (snare) round or ‘catching’ M (last letter or ‘end’ of ‘bottom’) | |
| 17 | Moving to Milan, one gutted to move (9) | |
| EMOTIONAL | An anagram of TO MILAN O |
|
| 19 | One of seven eviscerated, loathsome family! (7) | |
| DYNASTY | D |
|
| 20 | Far off the total – totally! (3,4) | |
| NOT HALF | You’d be ‘far off the total’ if you’re NOT HALF way there | |
| 22 | By the ears, stick your nose in something round your neck! (5) | |
| MEDAL | Sounds like (‘by the ears’ MEDDLE (stick your nose in) | |
| 24 | Church roof taken from room that’s dark yellow (5) | |
| AMBER | ||
| 26 | Born nefarious, evil empire’s leaders (3) | |
| NEE | First letters or ‘leaders’ of Nefarious Evil Empire’s | |
| 28 | Submissive, going topless? Yikes! (3) | |
| EEK | ||
Thanks to Punk and to B&J. Fun puzzle, with SKYWARD my favourite for its cunning definition. I cruelly eviscerated DOPEY as my one-of-seven in 19. Still worked. I can’t see a Nina either, but I can see Kinder Scout in it winter colours from my window as I type…
Enjoyable and fairly quick to finish; the SE corner was last to complete, never having heard of the Swedish exercise. On the other hand KINDER SCOUT was a write-in, having experienced it in all sorts of weather over the years (I envy you, Grant, being able actually to see it). A bit more racy humour in the clues (12dn, 15dn) as well as the answers.
Thanks, Punk and B&J
found this on the tough side myself, with the bottom left holding me up. In the end, I had to do a search on 11dn to unlock it.
Thanks, both.
Usual witty puzzle from Punk. Got going quite quickly but then had to slow down for the last few. Needed you to parse SKYWARD. Not sure that I’d ever heard of FORMICATION before, but a bit of French helped, since une fourmi is ‘an ant’ (and formic acid is related, if you’re a chemist).
SPHINCTER was funny. And for once, ‘midnight’ didn’t mean G.
A day late, sorry. Thanks, Punk, for an enjoyable workout, and Bertandjoyce for parsing Magaluf. I failed to do so, and still have a quibble that AM does not mean “after midnight,” it means “ante meridiem,” though before noon is in practiccal terms after midnight, so I suppose the wordplay still works.