Huzzah, a ‘normal’ Tuesday FT. After a brief run of absolute stinkers (which were fun but mucked up my modest life-schedule, and yours if you finished them), a straightforward and elegantly composed mid-week puzzle. Thanks to Armonie and the powers that be.
Still not sure about ALBUMIN though…
| Across | ||
| 1 | CASTRO | Revolutionary leader gripped by Vedic astrologers (6) |
| Inclusion (‘gripped by’) in ‘vediC ASTROlogers’. | ||
| 4 | BLACKCAP | Ban international winger (8) |
| BLACK (‘ban’) + CAP (‘international’) for the warbler whose cock sports a trim black crown. | ||
| 10 | LYRICAL | Car Lily wrecked is carried away (7) |
| Anagram of CAR LILY. Carried away, one conventionally waxes lyrical. No idea why. | ||
| 11 | SAMARIA | Man has song from old Israeli capital (7) |
| SAM + ARIA. Samaria was the capital of northern Israel in the 8th century B.C., as we all know. | ||
| 12 | SOPS | Concessions for son having surgical procedures (4) |
| S (‘son’) + OPS. | ||
| 13 | SIDE-SADDLE | Teams become confused when not sitting up straight (4-6) |
| SIDES + ADDLE. Does anyone do this now apart from Her Maj on the big days? Please do not write in: I’m betting there are side-saddle show-jumping events about which I don’t want to know. | ||
| 16 | AGENCY | Means business (6) |
| Double def, and a very nice surface. | ||
| 17 | MALAISE | Discomfort from a meal is dreadful (7) |
| Anagram of A MEAL IS. | ||
| 20 | FLOUTED | Disregarded G-man arresting yob (7) |
| LOUT in FED. | ||
| 21 | SLACKS | Old Bob has no trousers (6) |
| LACKS (‘has no’) after ‘S’ = old or pre-decimal ‘Shilling’ = ‘Bob’, which Chambers unhelpfully tells us is probably not from the old French ‘bobe’ = one-and-a-half sous. One has time for these side-bars in a normal Tuesday puzzle. | ||
| 24 | FIRST OF ALL | Trees to come down before anything else (5,2,3) |
| FIRS TO FALL. | ||
| 25 | BALE | Pack of Bishop’s Tipple (4) |
| B (‘bishop’) + ALE. | ||
| 27 | ALBUMIN | Book concerned with protein (7) |
| ALBUM (‘book’) + IN (‘concerned with’). Or it could conceivably be ALBUMEN, if you think as I do that ‘EN’ (used in the French manner) could be made to mean ‘concerned with’ as in en train de something-or-other. Chambers gives either as a protein. |
||
| 29 | ATHEIST | Sceptic engaged in armed robbery (7) |
| AT (‘engaged in’) + HEIST (‘armed robbery’). | ||
| 30 | RAPIDITY | Speed with which pair tidy mess (8) |
| Anagram (‘mess’) of PAIR TIDY. | ||
| 31 | ADONIS | Handsome youth rejected wickedness after trouble (6) |
| SIN (‘wickedness’) reversed after ADO (‘trouble’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COLD SNAP | Complaints drop off in bad weather (4,4) |
| COLDS (‘complaints’) + NAP (‘drop off’). | ||
| 2 | SCRAP DEALER | Boxing promoter in the waste business (5,6) |
| Cryptic double definition. Or more-or-less. Fair enough, I thought, with or without a question-mark. | ||
| 3 | RACE | Retriever originally best of breed (4) |
| ‘R’ (first letter or ‘originally’ of Retriever + ACE (‘best’). | ||
| 5 | LAS VEGAS | Girl embraces star in US resort (3,5) |
| LASS around VEGA | ||
| 6 | COMPARABLE | Like commander’s moral tale (10) |
| COM + PARABLE. | ||
| 7 | CUR | Scoundrel runs after copper (3) |
| ‘R’ (‘runs’ in cricket) after ‘Cu’ (‘copper’). [I’d just like to say that this is one of the many pleasingly unforced surfaces in this puzzle]. |
||
| 8 | PLANET | World’s energy consumed by factory (6) |
| E (‘energy’) in PLANT | ||
| 9 | PLAIN | Left in agony? That’s evident! (5) |
| L in PAIN. | ||
| 14 | DESECRATION | Curiously considerate to religious vandalism (11) |
| Anagram of CONSIDERATE TO. | ||
| 15 | ACCUSTOMED | Cat kept by defendant at home (10) |
| TOM (cat) in ACCUSED, with another nice definition. | ||
| 18 | REEF KNOT | Bank on bird’s entanglement (4,4) |
| REEF (a bank) over KNOT (a bird). | ||
| 19 | ASBESTOS | A call for help, being without optimal fire retardant (8) |
| An S.O.S. outside BEST. | ||
| 22 | OFF-AIR | Not broadcasting from exhibition (3-3) |
| OFF (‘from’) + AIR (‘exhibition’, just about). | ||
| 23 | CLEAN | Many slim and lift weights (5) |
| C (a hundred, ‘many’) + LEAN (‘slim’). In the sport of weightlifting, a ‘clean’ is a lift of the weight to the shoulders where it is held with the arms bent. One sort-of knew that, but glad of the excuse to look it up. | ||
| 26 | SHED | Get rid of outhouse (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 28 | BOP | Hum softly in dance (3) |
| B.O. (body odour, ‘hum’) + P (‘softly’). | ||
*anagram
I suspect that 22D is OF meaning FROM plus FAIR for exhibition.
Minor typo in description of 14D. TO does not form part of the anagram
Pleased to see you were confused by the albumin/en question as it was the only thing that held me up.
Thanks to Armonie and Grant
27A: Chambers give a meaning of “in” as “concerned or involved with”, so I think ALBUMIN is the right answer.
Thanks Armonie and David
Nice to get a more straightforward one again. Am up the country with only limited access to printers so only got to this one late last night.
The usual crispness in the clues with some that needed to get thought through a little more than others. ALBUMIN was one of those – not helped by having HOP (ho hum 🙁 ) rather than BOP initially – ended up opting for the IN finish, which I see now is the official answer. Had not heard of the BLACKCAP and thought that it was cleverly clued. Also enjoyed REEF KNOT when it fell.
Finished in the lhs with DESECRATION, SLACKS and COMPARABLE the last few in.
Oops … that’d be Grant … sorry !!!
I think you mean the rhs! Or is it to do with being in Australia?!