A tad tougher than Tuesday’s norm, and the better for it.
Some nicely-hidden definitions – ‘down’ for ingest and ‘shot’ for ‘iridescent’ were favourites – and one I can’t properly parse. Do write in.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COMPENSATE | Firm friend admits writing articles in attempt to limit damage (10) |
| CO (company, ‘firm’) + MATE includes PENS (‘writing articles’). | ||
| 7 | LYNX | Wild cat’s course by the sea given mention (4) |
| Homophone of ‘links’, seaside golf course. | ||
| 9 | ZETA | Sixth letter to Greeks, seventh to follow our last (4) |
| Z (English last letter) + ETA (Greek 7th letter) give ZETA, Gk 6th letter. Took some unravelling and, shamefully, looking up. | ||
| 10 | IRIDESCENT | One looking into Irish ancestry gets shot (10) |
| I (or 1) in IR (Irish) + DESCENT (‘ancestry’) to give ‘shot’, as in ‘shot silk’, where warp & weft are of different colours to give an iridescent effect. | ||
| 11 | ANGELA | Say Merkel makes investor apprehensive at first (6) |
| ANGEL (theatrical ‘investor’) + A (1st letter of ‘apprehensive’). | ||
| 12 | AVE MARIA | On tree-lined road Frau von Trapp offers prayer (3,5) |
| AVE (‘avenue’ tree-lined road) + MARIA. Problem solved. | ||
| 13 | CAPSICUM | This can be hot music, rocking on beat (8) |
| Anagram (‘rocking’) of MUSIC after CAP (to ‘beat’). | ||
| 15 | INGA | Scandinavian girl in Guam oddly (4) |
| IN + odd letters of GuAm. | ||
| 17 | IRAQ | Republican organisation put before Queen and Country (4) |
| IRA (Irish Republican Army) + Q. | ||
| 19 | GLOVE BOX | In GB, show great affection for cattle in lab’s toxic container (5,3) |
| LOVE (‘show great affection for’) in GB, + OX (‘cattle’). | ||
| 22 | AIREDALE | Barker’s first-rate ginger beer (8) |
| A1 (‘first-rate’) + RED (‘ginger’) + ALE. | ||
| 23 | INGEST | I seek avian habitat lined with good down (6) |
| I + NEST (‘Avian environment’) ‘line’ G for good, with a neatly hidden definition. | ||
| 25 | TORTELLINI | Back home, unwell after rich cake and pasta (10) |
| Reversal (‘back’) of IN (‘home’) + ILL, all after TORTE (‘rich cake’). | ||
| 26 | LEEK | Edible plant’s supplied by member in ship coming about (4) |
| Reversal (‘coming about’) of KEEL (a ship’s ‘member’). | ||
| 27 | USER | Addict taken in because relapsed (4) |
| Inclusion in becaUSE Relapsed. | ||
| 28 | ADMINISTER | Notice upright character in cathedral gets control (10) |
| AD (advertisement, ‘notice’) + MINSTER (‘cathedral’) including I (an ‘upright character’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OCEANIA | Area in a Green uprising where low-lying islands abound (7) |
| Reversal (‘uprising’ in this down clue) of A (‘area’) + IN + A + ECO (‘green’) | ||
| 3 | PLATE | Silver penny no longer in circulation? (5) |
| P (‘penny’) + LATE (deceased, ‘no longer in circulation’). | ||
| 4 | NUISANCE | Something obnoxious exists to split subtle difference (8) |
| IS (‘exists’) divides NUANCE (‘subtle difference’). | ||
| 5 | ANIMAL MAGNETISM | Mammal teasing in incredibly powerful attraction (6,9) |
| Anagram (‘incredibly’) of 1st 3 words. | ||
| 6 | ELEVEN | Buñuel’s The Constant Cardinal (6) |
| EL (‘the’ in Spanish, i.e. to such as Luis Bunuel) + EVEN (‘constant’) to give the ‘cardinal’ number. Easier, and therefore harder, than it looked. | ||
| 7 | LUCRATIVE | Cut a liver out – it’s producing profit (9) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of CUT A LIVER. | ||
| 8 | NANKING | Bread head gets past capital (7) |
| NAN (‘bread’) + KING (‘head’) to give ex-‘capital’ of China. | ||
| 14 | SEQUESTER | Appropriate search within bishopric on river (9) |
| QUEST (‘search’) hidden in SEE (a ‘bishopric’) + R for river. | ||
| 16 | DOMINION | Party favourite comes to power (8) |
| DO (a ‘party’) + MINION (a ‘favourite’). | ||
| 18 | RUINOUS | What suggests our US is causing destruction? (7) |
| I’m sure there’s a definitive answer to this, but I can’t quite make it parse. Obviously, there’s an anagram of OUR US, leaving IN to be accounted for. Or is the ‘ruin’ itself an indicator of another anag I can’t see? All help gratefully received. | ||
| 20 | OBSCENE | Shocking fuss after outside broadcast (7) |
| SCENE (a ‘fuss’) after OB (‘outside broadcast’). | ||
| 21 | DAHLIA | Trouble had upset lovely thing in bed (6) |
| Reversal (‘upset’) of AIL (‘trouble’) + HAD. | ||
| 24 | GILES | Infantryman emptied latrine over southern chap (5) |
| I was sure this was going to ‘Miles’, which slowed my gallop, but it’s GI (American ‘infantryman’) + LE (’emptied’ LatrinE) + S for southern. | ||
*anagram
Thanks Neo and Grant,
I loved GLOVE BOX and really enjoyed the insightful blog – e.g. “Easier and therefore harder than it looked re ELEVEN.”
I think RUINOUS may be a reverse clue: RU in OUS, which gives OUR US as one of the two possibilities.
Yup, thanks Muffyword, that cracks it.
18d may just be a typo…”What suggests our US in causing destruction” works fine.
Seems fine as it is. The word split up gives RU IN OUS, which ‘suggests’ OUR US. That’s logical.
Thanks Grant, and Neo for very nice puzzle.
I’m sure the Muffyword solution is right.
I was messin’ around trying to make ‘O’ be short for ‘our’ as in, say, S.O.S. = Save Our Souls but 1) It’s a spurious acronym and 2) even if it worked, not an anagram. Just didn’t spot the reverse clue. Damn.
Thanks Neo and Gavin
A really clever and entertaining puzzle here mainly because of the number of well disguised definitions (including ‘shot’ that I didn’t know), the tricky reverse word play to generate RUINOUS (that was too good for me) and some new learning with GLOVE BOX and ‘Luis Bunuel’.
Finished down in the SE corner with the unexpected GILES, LEEK and the last of the well disguised definition-ed INGEST as the last one in.