Dac is where he belongs this week, occupying the Wednesday compiling slot.
I found this particular puzzle to be towards the easy end of the Dac spectrum and made swift progress through it. That said, there is one clue that I haven’t been able to parse satisfactorily – 16 – and I thus look forward to being enlightened by fellow solvers – many thanks; blog amended accordingly. I’d also appreciate confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing at 14.
As usual, there is a generous helping of smooth surfaces here (17, 24, 28 …), but my favourite clue today is 1A, for surface and for maintaining the music theme in the wordplay.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | PAUL SIMON | Singer‘s No 1 hit recalled a day around mid-January
<jan>U<ary> (“mid-” means middle letter only) in [I (=No 1, i.e. oneself) + SLAP (=hit, with hand); “recalled” indicates reversal] + MON (=day, i.e. Monday); the reference is to American singer-songwriter Paul Simon (1941-) |
| 06 | SLANG | This language not entirely acceptable?
Hidden (“not entirely”) in “thiS LANGuage”; & lit. |
| 09 | LUCAN | Lord once missing rest rooms, reportedly
Homophone (“reportedly”) of LOO + CAN (=rest rooms); the reference is to the English peer and murder suspect Lord Lucan, who disappeared without trace in 1974 and is now presumed dead |
| 10 | THIRD-RATE | Drier that conked, not top quality
*(DRIER THAT); “conked” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | TRAVIS | With time to party endlessly, is following rock band
T (=time) = RAV<e> (=to party; “endlessly” means last letter dropped) + IS; the reference is to the Scottish rock band Travis, formed in Glasgow in 1990 |
| 12 | CHECK OFF | Tick name of Russian playwright, some say
Homophone (“some say”) of “(Anton) Chekhov (1860-1904) (=Russian playwright)” |
| 14 | HIGH SEASON | When many people holiday on the world’s oceans, principally?
HIGH SEAS (=the world’s oceans) + ON; “principally” seems to suggest that the expression “high seas” comes first in the solution |
| 15 | STAR | Who wants leading parts in street theatre and rep?
S<treet> T<heater> A<nd> R<ep>; “leading parts” means initial letters only; & lit. |
| 18 | LADA | Youngster with a Russian car
LAD (=youngster) + A |
| 19 | FAIR ENOUGH | Mentioned food one rejected? That’s revolting, I agree
FAIR (homophone of “fare” (=food)) + ENO (ONE; “rejected” indicates reversal) + UGH (=that’s revolting, as exclamation) |
| 21 | CASTAWAY | Movie actors not on set?
CAST (=actors) + AWAY (=not on set); the reference has to be to the 1986 film starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe, since the 2000 film of the same name with Tom Hands is written as two words |
| 23 | WONDER | Surprise about Democrat currently moving to the left
RE (=about) + D (=Democrat) + NOW (=currently); “moving to the left” indicates reversal |
| 26 | UNTYPICAL | Drastic cut in play not expected?
*(CUT IN PLAY); “drastic” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | MERES | Stretches of water in some resorts
Hidden (“in”) in “soME RESorts” |
| 28 | TENOR | Singer‘s note right, after short number
TE (=note, in music) + NO (=short number, i.e. an abbreviation) + R (=right) |
| 29 | REGULARLY | Developed urge to attend subversive rally often
*(URGE) + *(RALLY); “developed” and “subversive” are both anagram indicators |
| Down | ||
| 01 | PILOT | Test bed involves one
I (=one) in PLOT (=bed, for plants) |
| 02 | UNCHARGED | Released from custody, but unlikely to go off?
Cryptically, a person released from custody is “uncharged,” i.e. has not been charged with any offences; an uncharged/unloaded gun is unlikely to go off |
| 03 | SUNNIEST | Most optimistic Muslim is French
SUNNI (=Muslim) + EST (=is French, i.e. the French word for is) |
| 04 | METZ | Encountered character at last in French city
MET (=encountered) + Z (=character at last, i.e. the last letter of the alphabet) |
| 05 | NEIGHBOURS | TV programme shot in bush region
*(BUSH REGION); “shot” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the Australian soap opera Neighbours |
| 06 | SEDUCE | Pull broken down used car at the front, with minimum of energy
*(USED) + C<ar> (“at front” means first letter only) + E<nergy> (“minimum of” means first letter only); colloquially, to “pull” someone is to succeed in having a (sexual) relationship with them, hence “seduce” |
| 07 | ALAMO | A look round American battle site
AM (=AM) in [A + LO (=look)]; the reference is to the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution |
| 08 | GOES FORTH | Proceeds east, entering residential area of Newcastle
E (=east) in GOSFORTH (=residential area of Newcastle) |
| 13 | MADAGASCAR | Island very keen on a vehicle that’s petrol-filled?
MAD (=very keen) + A + GAS (=petrol) + CAR (=vehicle) |
| 14 | HOLD COURT | Former officer, outwardly injured, is to speak to followers
[OLD (=former) + CO (=officer, i.e. Commanding Officer)] in HURT (=injured) |
| 16 | THUNDERER | The Times – as seen in Perth?
The Thunderer is a former nickname of The Times newspaper; once this down solution has been entered in the grid, the letters TH can be seen UNDER the letters ER! |
| 17 | INFORMAL | Having good reason to expect degree, learner’s relaxed
IN FOR (an) MA (=having good reason to expect (a) degree) + L (=learner) |
| 20 | HAMPER | Cooked meat: something extra cut for picnic basket
HAM (=cooked meat) + PER<k> (=something extra; “cut” means last letter dropped) |
| 22 | SATIN | Material stood out? The opposite
SAT (=opposite of stood) + IN (=opposite of out) |
| 24 | RUSTY | Out of practice, rugby guy’s no amateur
RU (=rugby, i.e. rugby union) + ST<a>Y (=guy, i.e. rope; “no amateur (=A)” means letter “a” is dropped) |
| 25 | SLUG | Pellet – // that will do for garden pest
Double definition |
If you read PERTH vertically, then you see TH UNDER ER
In this down clue, ‘TH’ is UNDER ‘ER’ as in the word PERTH. My favourite clue in an otherwise straightforward offering, I thought. Thanks to both!
Everyone’s obviously too depressed today to come out to play on the Indy blog.
Enjoyable distraction from the main event of this morning, but I couldn’t see THUNDERER either, so thanks for that.
Thanks to S&B.
All straightforward enough, although I couldn’t parse THUNDERER either (I thought UNDER might have something to do with Perth in Oz being ‘down under’ but couldn’t see how).
So nothing to add except there’s a typo in the blog – 10ac is THIRD RATE.
Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku.