Julius is now a regular favourite of mine. Both general knowledge and ingenuity are required to solve the clues, but neither is going to get you there on its own. Thank you Julius.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SPIDER MONKEY | Rainforest dweller promised to develop new island (6,6) |
| anagram (to develop) of PROMISED and KEY (island) | ||
| 10 | ENGAGED | Took on mature engineer (7) |
| AGED (mature) following (on) ENG (engineer) – possibly ON is part of the definition rather than the wordplay | ||
| 11 | TAPIOCA | Missing recipe: apricot crumble (a pudding) (7) |
| anagram (crumble) of APrICOT missing R (recipe) then A | ||
| 12 | DIRGE | Flipping online crossword – its bars are revealed very slowly! (5) |
| E (online) and GRID (crossword) swapping places (flipping) – a slow piece of music | ||
| 13 | RECKONER | It calculates city investment in Danish currency after upfront swap (8) |
| EC (The City of London, postcode) in KRONER (Danish currency) with first two letters swapped | ||
| 15 | ABNORMALLY | Seaman (ordinary) vacated Llandovery unexpectedly (10) |
| AB (able seaman) NORMAL (ordinary) and LlandoverY (vacated=emptied, no middle) | ||
| 16 | NEAT | Elegant descendant of 19 (4) |
| double definition – neat is cattle | ||
| 18 | BEAR | Animal’s stomach or shoulder? (4) |
| triple definition | ||
| 20 | GIANT PANDA | Adapting an unusually temperamental Chinese import (5,5) |
| anagram (unusually) of ADAPTING AN – I think the definition suggests the difficulty of getting pandas to breed in foreign zoos | ||
| 22 | UPROOTAL | Removal of leading England batsman, having a half century (8) |
| UP (leading) ROOT (England batsman) with A and L (50, half a centiry) | ||
| 24 | TROTH | Old-fashioned trust to run hotel (5) |
| TROT (to run) and H (hotel) | ||
| 26 | COCKIER | Increasingly bumptious dog mounts setter (7) |
| COCKER (dog, cocker spaniel) contains (mounts) I (the setter) | ||
| 27 | CHICAGO | A windy place, Karachi; cagoule is essential (7) |
| found inside (essential to) karaCHI CAGOule – nicknamed The Windy City | ||
| 28 | SHEEPISH GRIN | Embarrassed expression of one about to get fleeced? (8,4) |
| definition/cryptic definition – this could have been sheepish look or sheepish grin, both seemed equally plausible to me. I think clues should contain at least a hint to which answer the setter requires. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | PIG IRON | Metal bars, secure code protecting bank payment (3,4) |
| PIN (secure code) contains GIRO (bank payment) | ||
| 3 | DOGBERRY | A muddle-headed character to follow Chuck (8) |
| DOG (to follow) and Chuck BERRY – character from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, a bit of an ass | ||
| 4 | RUDD | Oddly rounded fish (4) |
| odd letters od RoUnDeD | ||
| 5 | ON THE BLINK | Ninth bloke out getting poor reception (2,3,5) |
| anagram (out) of NINTH BLOKE | ||
| 6 | KAPOK | Earmark a Pokemon as stocking filler (5) |
| found inside (stocked by) earmarK A POKamon | ||
| 7 | YAOUNDE | About to eliminate resistance in the old African capital (7) |
| ArOUND (about) missing (to eliminate) R (resistance) inside YE (the, old) | ||
| 8 | DEAD CAT BOUNCE | Weak stock market rally came too late for Tom! (4,3,6) |
| definition/cryptic definition – a tom is a cat, for whom things failed to improve quickly enough | ||
| 9 | PARROT FASHION | Sporting rainproof hats, trot out this way! (6,7) |
| anagram (sporting) of RAINPROOF HATS | ||
| 14 | RAT IN A TRAP | Carrying protective ‘eadgear, gunners’ charge ensnared pest (3,2,1,4) |
| TIN hAT (protective ‘eadgear) inside (with…carrying) RA (Royel Artillery, gunners) and RAP (charge) | ||
| 17 | SPITTING | With rain in the air, Silverstone leader’s going for new tyres (8) |
| Silverstone (leader, first letter of) and PITTING (going for new tyres in a race) | ||
| 19 | AUROCHS | An extinct creature, gold fabulous bird has wings! (7) |
| AU (gold, chem symbol) ROC (fabulous bird) and HaS (wings, outside letters of) | ||
| 21 | NEO NAZI | Part of the revolution of Syriza, no endorsement for Golden Dawn member? (3-4) |
| found reversed (revolution) inside (part of the) syrIZA NO ENdorsement – far right political party in Greece | ||
| 23 | OVINE | 1/6 = 2/3 of 28? (5) |
| 1/6 is “one over six” = ONE containing (over) VI (six) – definition is sheepish, 2/3 of 28 across | ||
| 25 | ICES | They’re at the back of the menu (nicest part!) (4) |
| found inside (part) nICESt | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee – I agree entirely with your preamble.
I was actually nearly going to give up for a while with the left hand side embarrassingly sparsely filled [I’d never heard of DEAD CAT BOUNCE, which would have been a great help] but then I got DOGBERRY and DIRGE [both great clues] which gave me the necessary kick start. Last one in was OVINE, which meant the ending was particularly satisfying.
I had SHEEPISH LOOK to begin with but NEO-NAZI – another great clue – put paid to that. Other favourites were GIANT PANDA – loved the definition – CHICAGO, KAPOK and PARROT FASHION, all great surfaces.
Super puzzle – many thanks, Julius.
That were reet gradely! DEAD CAT BOUNCE, DOGBERRY,UPROOTAL- all great and thats just for starters.Enough entry points such as KAPOK,CHICAGO and SHEEPISH GRIN to get started. Then the battle began. NEO NAZI another favourite.
Oi’ll give it foive!
Failed down in the SW corner, not being able to guess the last word of 8d, and missing out on UPROOTAL (such a common term too!), COCKIER and AUROCHS. Not too frustrating though and I enjoyed many clues including DIRGE, DOGBERRY and my favourite OVINE.
Incidentally, two Aussie Prime Ministers referenced in the early down clues – PIG IRON Bob (Sir Robert Menzies) and Kevin RUDD. Can’t see any others.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee
Spider, monkey, neat, bear, panda, cock, sheep, pig, dog, cat, parrot, rat, ochs ….
… ounce …
Any more?
Thanks for untangling OVINE PeeDee! Very enjoyable puzzle as come to be expected from Julius. Took a little bit longer than usual to get going but my train was running late as often so had time to finish. Thanks Julius.
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
It’s only been a fortnight since his last puzzle and must say that I wasn’t too unhappy about that !! Have enjoyed all of his past offerings and this was no different.
Needed electronic help to find the last bit of DEAD CAT BOUNCE and to confirm YAOUNDE, KAPOK and UPROOTAL. His usual large variety of device types ensured that the entertainment factor was up as well as pulling on a broad range of knowledge fields.
Was lucky with opting for SHEEPISH GRIN as my third answer (after the gimme CHICAGO and ICES) – didn’t really consider the LOOK option. A good battle to the end, although I did finish this one in much quicker time than I have done any of his others. Last few in were that DEAD CAT BOUNCE, the clever triple BEAR and the rather obscure UPROOTAL.
Sil @5, they are trying to breed cattle back to get as close to AUROCHS as possible here on the Jura in France – a few years back we had them overwintering in the field below our house on the lower slopes of the mountains (we are in the Réserve Naturelle Nationale Haute Chaine du Jura).
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee and for the comments of course.
I’m sorry about the ambiguity in SHEEPISH GRIN but I’ve never heard the expression “sheepish look”.
warmest regards, Rob/Julius