A very good puzzle let down by repetition.
The very good surfaces of this puzzle were let down slightly by the repeated use of “to feed” at 1ac and 7dn, and “covering” and “to cover” at 11ac, 5dn and 26ac.
It was also very close to being pangrammatic.
Thanks, Mudd.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISINFECTANT | Fine rum and coke primarily to feed cold – some bug killer! (12) |
| (*(fine) + C(oke)) in (“to feed”) DISTANT (“cold”) | ||
| 10 | WISTFUL | Melancholy wife, female in lust I suspect (7) |
| W(ife) + F(emale) in *(lust I) | ||
| 11 | TRANSIT | Opposite directions covered by quality conveyance (7) |
| N and S (“opposite directions”) “covered by” TRAIT (“quality”) | ||
| 12 | RAYON | Material that is beyond artist (5) |
| YON (“that”) “beyond” R.A. (“artist”) | ||
| 13 | FALSTAFF | Roguish character, ultimate in thorns between two flowers (8) |
| (thorn)S in FAL and TAFF, (two rivers, therefore “flowers”)
Falstaff appears in three Shakespeare plays. |
||
| 15 | SOUBRIQUET | Something set alight by very posh nickname (10) |
| BRIQUET (“something set alight”) “by” SO U (“very posh”) | ||
| 16 | PASS | I haven’t a clue to deliver (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | ACTS | Book those required for a variety performance? (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | CANIS MAJOR | Jack overwhelmed by main Oscar somehow, seeing collection of stars (5,5) |
| J(ack) “overwhelmed by” *(main oscar) | ||
| 22 | STRAPPED | Short of money, beaten (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | NICHE | Hippo’s head stuck in particular opening (5) |
| H(ippo) “stuck in” NICE (“particular”) | ||
| 26 | IN UTERO | That is to cover head or back while carried by a woman (2,5) |
| I.E. “to cover” NUT (“head”) + <=OR | ||
| 27 | BRITAIN | Interception of computer technology by mastermind for the state (7) |
| I.T. (“computer technology”) in BRAIN (“mastermind”) | ||
| 28 | EGYPTOLOGIST | European polyglot, having dropped Latin, translated meaning for Carter perhaps? (12) |
| E(uropean) + *(polygot) + GIST (“meaning”)
Refers to Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922. |
||
| Down | ||
| 2 | I ASK YOU | A media giant breaking promise of repayment, what a surprise! (1,3,3) |
| A SKY (“a media giant”) “breaking” I.O.U. (“promise of repayment”) | ||
| 3 | INFANTRY | Keeping cooler, cool topless soldiers (8) |
| (w)INTRY (cool) “keeping” FAN (“cooler”) | ||
| 4 | FELT | Fabric caressed (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | COTTAGE PIE | Cook got a piece to cover last of meat in dish (7,3) |
| (*got a piece) “to cover” (mea)T | ||
| 6 | ADAMS | US president up in arms, mad apparently! (5) |
| Hidden backwards (or upwards) in “armS MAD Apparently”
Could refer to John Adams, 2nd president of the US, or John Quincy Adams, 6th president. |
||
| 7 | TOSTADA | Way to feed worm a Mexican dish (7) |
| ST (“way”) “to feed” TOAD (“worm”) + A | ||
| 8 | SWORDSMANSHIP | Skill shown in fighting hard to gatecrash Swiss romp, and failing (13) |
| H “to gatecrash” *(swiss romp and) | ||
| 9 | STAFF SERGEANT | County eager to alter testament for NCO (5,8) |
| STAFFS. (“county”) + *(eager) + N.T. (new “testament”) | ||
| 14 | SQUARE ROOT | Short and thick coats on marsupial – 2 of 4, perhaps? (6,4) |
| SQUAT (“short and thick”) “coats” RE ROO (“on marsupial”) | ||
| 17 | AMENDING | Then PM beginning to be making changes? (8) |
| A.M. ENDING, so P.M. begins | ||
| 19 | TORTURE | Rack pulled apart, vertical groove in it (7) |
| <=RUT (“groove”) “in” TORE (“pulled apart”) | ||
| 21 | JACKALS | Game to bite almost everyone, canines (7) |
| JACKS (“game”) “to bite” AL(l) | ||
| 23 | PIETY | Pastry case in tray – good stuff! (5) |
| PIE (“pastry”) + T(ra)Y | ||
| 25 | ABEL | Old murder victim in Lincoln Continental’s trunk (4) |
| ABE (Lincoln) + (continenta)L | ||
*anagram
ah.. couldnt parse amending and acts.. thank u 🙂 This was a good puzzle
Good fun. We also had FalSTAFF crossing with STAFF Sergeant. And talking of repetition, yesterday (Julius) we had NICHE and SOUBRIQUET. How spooky is that!
Thanks Loonapick & Mudd.
jmac: I noticed that too, but it was made a bit trickier by Julius using SOBRIQUET (no U) and Mudd using SOUBRIQUET.
Thanks Loonapick and Mudd.
Thanks Mudd and loonapick
Enjoyable puzzle that I started on Thursday but only got to finish off on Saturday morning (had just misplaced it somehow). Strange how sometimes you don’t pick up on things like the repetitious use of clue types and sometimes you do – I didn’t in this one. Did notice the very similar clues for SOUBRIQUET / SOBRIQUET that happened on consecutive days – not NICHE though.
‘
Many good clues – with the two long across ones in DISINFECTANT and EGYPTOLOGIST the pick of them.
Finished down the bottom with EGYPTOLOGIST, JACKALS and STRAPPED as the last few in.