Fun crossword today from Sleuth. Made rapid progress thanks to clean unambiguous cluing. Busy day up ahead so unfortunately dont have time to do justice in the preamble.
FF: 9 DD: 7
| Across | ||
| 1 | EQUIVOCAL | Questionable peer defending victor among Olympic officials (9) |
| EQUAL (peer) containing (defending) [ V (victor) in IOC (olympic officials, International Olympic Committee) ] | ||
| 6 | TAPER | Barperson not stumped for source of light (5) |
| TAPstER (barperson, someone who draws alcoholic drinks at a bar, without ‘ST’ – stumped, in cricket) – I struggled with this for a while. | ||
| 9 | GREMLIN | Bug government elite in Russia that’s faceless (7) |
| G (government) kREMLIN (elite in russia, faceless i.e. without starting character) | ||
| 10 | MANTRAP | Some Asian country kept back source of danger (7) |
| PART (some) “NAM (asian country – Vietnam) – all reversed | ||
| 11 | RESIN | Perhaps, amber flare’s incandescent in part (5) |
| hidden in “…flaRE’S INcandescent ..” | ||
| 12 | EFFICIENT | Fine fellow in charge that is in hospital department working well (9) |
| [ F (fine) F (fellow) IC (in charge) IE (that is) ] in ENT (hospital department) | ||
| 14 | GEL | Begin to work with cricket side after retirement (3) |
| LEG (side in cricket, as related to either side of the pitch, reversed) | ||
| 15 | EMPTY HEADED | Hyped team sadly found by journalist frivolous (5-6) |
| Anagram of HYPED TEAM followed by ED (journalist) | ||
| 17 | UNCERTAINTY | Doubt top conservationists harboured in new century (11) |
| [AI (top – A1) NT (conservationists)] in anagram of CENTURY | ||
| 19 | RAY | Fish is greasy with odd bits removed (3) |
| gReAsY (without the odd characters) | ||
| 20 | LAUNDRESS | Woman pressing in area around Hollywood strip (9) |
| LA (area around hollywood) UNDRESS (strip) | ||
| 22 | OCTET | Musical group caught in old film (5) |
| CT (caught) in [ O (old) ET (film) ] | ||
| 24 | INSIPID | Favourite drink I had in flat (7) |
| IN (favourite) SIP (drink) I’D (I had) | ||
| 26 | AGONISE | Struggle in past to overturn English mistake (7) |
| AGO (in past) [ reversed of E (english) SIN (mistake) ] | ||
| 27 | GILET | Serving man allowed sleeveless jacket (5) |
| GI (serving man, army) LET (allowed) | ||
| 28 | PETTY CASH | Small amounts of bread? (5,4) |
| cryptic clue | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EAGER | Keen to get on in US medical facility (5) |
| AGE (get on) in ER (US medical facility, Emergency Room) | ||
| 2 | UTENSIL | Pan, say, figure in American pile lacking exercise (7) |
| TEN (figure) in [ US (american) pILe (without the letters of PE – exercise) ] | ||
| 3 | VOLUNTEER | Terrier for one in novel true to form (9) |
| Anagram of NOVEL TRUE | ||
| 4 | CONTEMPLATE | One getting time with PA behind schedule to think (11) |
| CON (one getting time) TEMP (PA) LATE (behind schedule) | ||
| 5 | LAM | Beat sound of meat (3) |
| sounds like LAMB (meat) | ||
| 6 | TONIC | Note boost in bar product (5) |
| triple def | ||
| 7 | PORTEND | Betoken something far from right at sea? (7) |
| PORT stands for the left side in nautical parlance. Something far from right, would therefore be PORT END. | ||
| 8 | REPUTEDLY | Role deputy played, losing nothing by general reckoning (9) |
| Anagram of RoLE DEPUTY (losing ‘O’ – nothing) | ||
| 13 | FLYING START | Fraudulent celebrity in paper getting initial advantage (6,5) |
| [ LYING (fradulent) STAR (celebrity) ] in FT (paper) | ||
| 14 | GRUELLING | Very tough food largely put by the Spanish with fish (9) |
| GRUb (food, largely) EL (the, spanish) LING (fish) | ||
| 16 | ETYMOLOGY | Origin of unit to be expressed? (9) |
| A word could be defined as a unit of expression. ETYMOLOGY is the study of the origin of words. | ||
| 18 | COUNSEL | Advice from local body mentioned (7) |
| sounds like COUNCIL (local body) | ||
| 19 | RETSINA | Wine in upturned container missing lid (7) |
| cANISTER (container, without first character, reversed) | ||
| 21 | DEPOT | Remove plant perhaps in storehouse (5) |
| DE – POT (remove plant, perhaps) | ||
| 23 | TEETH | Force in corporate ethics (5) |
| hidden in “..corporaTE ETHics” | ||
| 25 | DIP | Decline in hummus, say (3) |
| duoble def | ||
*anagram
Thanks Sleuth and turbo legs. Guardian site late these days so I thought I’d transfer my affections to the FT. Very enjoyable, fair puzzle. I came here because I wasn’t entirely convinced I understood 16d. I think I get it now. One of those clues I’d never entirely get on my own. Capcha 1- one.
Thanks Turbolegs and Sleuth – I enjoyed this and was also stumped for a while in parsing 6A. Re 3D, at risk of stating the obvious, it might be worth mentioning that Terriers was a nickname for the Territorial Army volunteer reserve force.
Thanks, Sleuth, for another engrossing puzzle and TL for explaining some of the more convoluted clues. My last one in was 20ac LAUNDRESS — having kicked myself for being so thick I revelled in the fun.
Thanks Turbolegs and Sleuth.
Enjoyable solve.
I too was a bit 1ac about 16dn – but it has to be. Maybe we’re missing something.
Finished in the NE corner. I concluded that “some” is doing double duty – both meaning “part” and only part of the name for Vietnam. I know that “nam” was common usage in the 60’s and 70’s but the double interpretation adds to the solve in my opinion.
Liked the triple in 6dn.
Favourite was LAUNDRESS.
In 4D, why is PA “temp” ?
The closest that I can find for PA is Personal Assistant, which is by no means a Temporary Worker.
Hoping somebody can help.
Thanks Sleuth and Turbolegs
An enjoyable puzzle from the backlog pile … and as stated clear and fair clues led to a minimum of holdups. A variety of clue devices to increase the enjoyment – I too liked the triple definition at 6d.
TAPER was my first in – funny how we all see different things in clues at times, whereas I struggled to get GEL. Not often do you see a word broken down as much as EFFICIENT was.
New learning with GILET and finished in the SW corner with it, followed by GRUELLING and GEL last in.
Nregan, I had the same query initially as you – came to the conclusion that many temps did used to be secretary / PA type workers back in the day.