My first solve of the year and not a bad start from Armonie although I did have one Grrr moment…
Some lovely surfaces – 2d and 27a were standouts – but I did spend ten minutes doubting my sanity re 26d/28a.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DRESS REHEARSAL | Don tries cutting material in final run-through (5,9) |
| DRESS (‘don’, i.e. to put on an item of clothing) then HEARS (‘tries’) in REAL (‘material’). Though I’m not convinced that ‘don’ can be intransitve. | ||
| 10 | EXTRA | Spear-carrier turning right in fire (5) |
| RT (abb. for ‘right’) in AXE (‘fire), all reversed (‘turning’). | ||
| 11 | PROMOTION | Pushing for progress (9) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | CROWNED | Councillor kept sovereign (7) |
| CR (abb. for ‘councillor’) + OWNED (‘kept’). | ||
| 13 | SPOTLIT | Drug seen in fissure is made the centre of attention (7) |
| POT (‘drug’) in SPLIT (‘fissure’). | ||
| 14 | PASTE | Ancient Egyptian gum (5) |
| PAST (‘ancient’) + E (for ‘Egyptian’) | ||
| 16 | ATHEISTIC | Ungodly fellow is in garret (9) |
| HE IS (i.e., ‘fellow is’) in ATTIC. | ||
| 19 | PIECEMEAL | Story spread in stages (9) |
| PIECE (a newspaper ‘story’) + MEAL (a ‘spread’). | ||
| 20 | SYNOD | Fellows hold Yankee back in council (5) |
| Y (‘Yankee’ in radio-speak) in DONS (‘fellows’), all reversed. | ||
| 22 | TURN-UPS | In the US cuffs provide surprises (4-3) |
| Double definition. Cuffs on pants. Americans, honestly. | ||
| 25 | FUSSPOT | Feet no good? Mark’s a worrier! (7) |
| F (‘feet’) + US (‘no good’) + SPOT (a ‘mark’). | ||
| 27 | LANCASTER | Ancestral building – a royal house (9) |
| Very nice anagram (‘building’) of ANCESTRAL | ||
| 28 | RENDS | Queen finishes in tears (5) |
| R (for Regina or ‘queen’) + ENDS (‘finishes’). My last in, not because it was hard but because of 26d, qv. | ||
| 29 | A SHOT IN THE DARK | Wild stab made by night-time assassin (1,4,2,3,4) |
| Sort-of whole-clue cryptic definition + sort-of double def, but clear enough, I think. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | RETROUSSE | Turned up in badly made trousers, sweetheart? (9) |
| The letter ‘E’ (the ‘heart’ of ‘swEet’) plus the letters of TROUSERS are the fodder for an anagram (‘badly made’). Neat. | ||
| 3 | SPAIN | Formula 1 racing circuit in the country (5) |
| Spa-Francorchamps, or SPA for short, is a the Belgian Formula 1 motor-racing venue. Add IN for SPAIN. | ||
| 4 | REPUDIATE | Give up and eat up dire stew (9) |
| Anagaram (‘stew’) of EAT UP DIRE. | ||
| 5 | HOODS | Covert clothing for gangsters (5) |
| Double def. | ||
| 6 | APOLOGIES | Goalies off to catch Jerry? Excuses to be made! (9) |
| Anagram (‘off’) of GOALIES contains PO (a ‘Jerry’ or chamber-pot or ‘gazunder’ in our house). | ||
| 7 | SWILL | Son has desire for animal food (5) |
| S (‘son’) + WILL (‘desire’). | ||
| 8 | LUNATIC | Nutter left girl with muscular spasm (7) |
| L (‘left’) + UNA, a girl, + TIC (a ‘muscular spasm’). | ||
| 9 | REDCAP | MP (left-winger) gets better (6) |
| ‘MP’ is of course the Other Abbreviation: he’s a Military Policeman, or ‘Redcap’. So, RED (‘left-winger’) + CAP (to ‘better’). | ||
| 15 | EXECUTANT | Former employer initially axed worker for performing (9) |
| EX (‘former’) + E (‘Employer’ initially) + CUT (‘axed’) + ANT (‘worker’). Hard-working 4-parter. | ||
| 17 | HOLD FORTH | Successfully defend river and speak at length (4,5) |
| HOLD (‘successfully defend’) + FORTH (Scottish ‘river’). | ||
| 18 | TIN-OPENER | Can first one in get kitchen utensil? (3-6) |
| CAN (‘tin’) + OPENER (‘first one in’, first bat in cricket parlance). | ||
| 19 | PATELLA | Fondle girl on one’s knee (7) |
| PAT (‘fondle’) + ELLA, a girl. I’m being picky about the definition because I’m about to have a shiny new right knee, complete except for my existing patella. Wish me luck. | ||
| 21 | DETEST | Abhor English international supporting Germany (6) |
| E (‘English’) + TEST, under (‘supporting’ in this Down clue) G, for Germany. | ||
| 23 | RANCH | Managed Chinese farm (5) |
| RAN (‘managed’) + CH (abb. for ‘Chinese’). | ||
| 24 | SIT-IN | Protest is over money (3-2) |
| IS reversed (‘over’) + TIN (‘money’). | ||
| 26 | SHRED | Scrap bit of roofing kept in outhouse (5) |
| My one grump with the puzzle. I’d confidently put this in as SHERD, which Chambers confirms as ‘a scrap’ at definition #2. This left me with E-N-S for 28a which is of course insoluble. I thought there were rules about this sort of thing. Took me ages to sort it out. Anyway, whichever way round, it’s R (for ‘a bit of Roofing’) in SHED (‘an ‘outhouse’). |
||
*anagram
Thanks Grant & Armonie.
In 21 down you meant to say D for Germany of course.
Thanks Armonie and Grant.
11 I can sort of see as a double definition, but my take on it was ‘Pushing’ as the definition, with PRO (for) and MOTION (progress, noun) as the wordplay. One of those clues that’s open to multiple parsings, possibly.
All in all a fun solve.
Good luck with the knee!
In 13ac, for “fissure” I guess you meant SLIT. I was actually stuck on SPLIT but then couldn’t figure out for the life of me why OT might be “drug”… Thanks for elucidating!
Thanks Armonie and Grant
Did this one on publication day and found it typically neat and straightforward. Had not seen the US TURNUPS term for cuffs and had to re-acquaint myself with the other turn up, RETROUSSE.
It’s strange how differently solvers can look at a clue – SHERD never entered into calculations for me. Can’t remember now whether that was because I actually had RENDS in first or that SHRED just naturally went in.
[Imagine that you have had the knee surgery by now, Grant, and hope that all has gone well with it.]