A lovely crisp sunny morning to do a crossword
Mostly rather easy with some very gentle wordplay, no Nimrod this. Got a couple of reservations though.
Thanks ViGo
Across
1 Knowing when to find time in day (6)
ASTUTE
AS = WHEN & T(ime) in TUE(sday)
4 Kind and discerning? Me too! (8)
LIKEWISE
LIKE (kind) & WISE (discerniing, well, maybe at a push)
10 Idiotic having no support around home (9)
BRAINLESS
IN (home) in BRA-LESS (having no support)
11 Primate in spin daily? (5)
PAPER
APE (primate) in P(ublic) R(elations) – spin
12 Starts to employ mindfulness practising tantric yoga bare (5)
EMPTY
Initial letters of Employ Mindfulness Practicing Tantric Yoga
13 Signing off on finale involving yellow submarine to start with (9)
ENDORSING
OR (yellow) & S(ubmarine) in ENDING (finale)
14 Drives heartless copper to church on Sabbath (7)
COERCES
Heartless CO(pp)ER & C.E. & S(abbath)
16 Attack Republican disaster-relief funding (4)
RAID
R(epublican) & AID
19 Animals celebrated revolution (4)
GNUS
SUNG reversed
21 Cow on top of a headless sheep (7)
OVERAWE
OVER (on top of) & A & a headless (e)WE
24 Show on here (9)
REPRESENT
RE (on) & PRESENT (here)
25 Arrest witnesses reported (5)
SEIZE
Sounds like SEES
26 Receding fossil beds uncovered paradise (5)
BLISS
hidden reversed answer
27 Rising to almost cover courteous male (9)
INSURGENT
Almost INSUR(e) & GENT
28 Balanced meal in irregularly sided container (8)
STEADIED
TEA in SIDED* irregularly.
29 Hired journalist following split (6)
RENTED
RENT (split) & ED(itor)
Down
1 Manic bee spoiled atmosphere (8)
AMBIENCE
Personally I find wasps much worse, my dog doesn’t like any buzzing insect, bless her. [MANIC BEE]* spoiled
2 American argued after public transport crushed (8)
TRAMPLED
TRAM & PLED (US past part. for PLEAD)
3 Cheap time in New York (5)
TINNY
T(ime) & IN & NY
5 One who knows the secrets of popular drink we hear (7)
INSIDER
IN (popular) & hom of CIDER
6 Priest swimming in river shows proficiency (9)
EXPERTISE
PRIEST* swimming in the crossword fav river the EXE
7 Spoil naughty child’s appearance (6)
IMPAIR
IMP & AIR. Not exactly the most convoluted clue I’ve ever had to blog.
8 Infuriate general left out in action (6)
ENRAGE
L(eft) removed from [GENERA(l)]* in action. Nice clue and surface
9 Break alcove (6)
RECESS
Double def
15 Admitted deploying seconds to collect iron (9)
CONFESSED
A bit sneaky but it’s SECONDS* deployed witrh FE (Iron) inserted
17 Reveal chap providing electric shock treatment (8)
MANIFEST
MAN & IF & E.S.T. for the shock treatment, but I always thought it was E.C.T.
18 Disheartened daughter gets expelled (8)
DEJECTED
D(aughter) & EJECTED
20 Clean steps surrounding queen (7)
STERILE
E.R. in STILE
21 Slow broadband provider carrying nothing to exploit (6)
OBTUSE
Does this one work properly? It reads as O in BT, but I guess you could claim the O is carried by BT in a down clue & USE (exploit)
22 Beers oddly containing bone and carrots (6)
BRIBES
As in stick and carrot, RIB in BeErS
23 Join Labour leader in excitement (6)
SPLICE
Leader of L(abour) in SPICE (of life)
25 Drunken bout regularly superseded (5)
SPREE
SuPeRsEdEd
Thanks flashling and Vigo.
Count me as another who thought ‘ect’ but Vigo is right. The c stands for convulsive, whereas the s stands for shock, as she says.
Ok, 7 down was a write in, but there is some good stuff here, 15 down and 21 down for instance, misleadingly sending you the wrong way at first reading. And, again at first reading you think she has deployed the same device twice,(‘heartless copper’ and ‘disheartened daughter’) only to be proved wrong when you realise disheartened is the definition.
It proves you can provide a satisfying solve without it having to be a brain buster.
Thanks again Vigo.
Well you wouldnt want a Nimrod every day, nor would he probably fancy maintaining his quality if “mass-produced”.
But I did love his Double A Side puzzle.
Thanks, flashling and Vigo.
I’m with Conrad all the way on this. As for wise = discerning, it reminded me of Miles Kington’s ‘Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad’ – I reckon that’s discernment!
Excellent fare for a Monday with some super clues. From some setters a grid with only two links between top and bottom halves would have caused some difficulty, but not here. CoD for me was GNUS – even though I first bunged in RATS.
Btw, Eileen@3, did you know that according to this article a tomato is legally a vegetable in the USA?
Thanks, Vigo and flashling.
allan_c @4 – Yes, I heard that on some quiz programme last week!
Well, you don’t find tomatoes with the “fruit” in the supermarket, do you, but with the bell peppers, aubergines, courgettes etc. which are also fruits? Actually, tomatoes can make can make lovely “fruit” salads….