A challenging puzzle from Alberich this cold Thurday morning…
… but I got ther in the end. There are a couple of clues that I’m not convinced by, but that may be because I haven’t had time to completely think through the parsing. They are 1ac which I think is intended to be an &lit, and 9dn, which I can’t quite parse.
As usual, I am sure that the solvers out there will help.
Thanks, Alberich.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GRASPING | Panting to get hold of riches, for a start? (8) |
| GASPING (panting) “to get hold of” R(iches)
I think this is meant to be an &lit clue, but I’m not convinced that it works. |
||
| 5 | PLAGUE | Capital changes hands for dog (6) |
| P(L instead of R)AGUE | ||
| 10 | TOSSPOT | Drunkard covers another’s back (7) |
| <=TOPS + SOT (“covers” and “another” (drunkard) back) | ||
| 11 | EMPRESS | Powerful woman is seducer but no tease, we hear (7) |
| (t)EMP(t)RESS the T’s have been removed (“no tease” is a homophone of No Ts, inidcated by “we hear”) | ||
| 12 | OVINE | Old climber is sheepish (5) |
| O(ld) + VINE | ||
| 13 | ORDINANCE | Religious practice, one adopted by the big guns (9) |
| I (“one”) “adopted by” ORDNANCE (“big guns”) | ||
| 14 | ROMAN NUMERAL | Yours truly feeds sick rural man on IV, perhaps (5,7) |
| ME (“yours truly”) + *(rural man on) | ||
| 18 | MULLIGATAWNY | Soup Ingmar regularly sampled in island port (12) |
| I(n)G(m)A(r) “in” MULL (“island” off the west of Scotland) + TAWNY (a type of strong “port”) | ||
| 21 | COUP D’ETAT | Political upheaval in Cuba’s capital shown by up-to-date broadcast (4,5) |
| C(uba) + *(up-to-date) | ||
| 23 | SLOTH | Son’s reluctant to become tree-climber (5) |
| S(on) + LOTH (reluctant) | ||
| 24 | BEEHIVE | Social gathering’s first to honour Alberich’s hairdo (7) |
| BEE (“social gathering”, such as a sewing bee) + H(onour) + I’VE (“Alberich’s”) | ||
| 25 | COURIER | Tour guide indicates font (7) |
| Double definition – a courier is a tour guide and courier is also a typeface. | ||
| 26 | ESTATE | One who made will primarily disposed of . . . this? (6) |
| (t)ESTATE (“one who made a will” with its “primary” letter disposed of) | ||
| 27 | CEMETERY | Minute exotic tree planted in church yard – or churchyard? (8) |
| M(inute) + *(tree) “planted in CE (Church (of England)) Y(ard), so CE(M-ETER)Y | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GUTROT | Climbing hill, Yank gets tummy trouble (6) |
| <= TOR(hill) TUG (yank) | ||
| 2 | ASSAIL | Genoa perhaps is under a second attack (6) |
| SAIL (of which genoa is a type) “under” A S(econd) | ||
| 3 | PEPPERONI | Former investment in opera? Sadly, not a sausage (9) |
| PEP (Personal Equity Plan, so “former investment”) + *(in oper) | ||
| 4 | NATIONAL ANTHEM | No love, not a man to inhale fresh air of the country (8,6) |
| *(nt a man to inhale) | ||
| 6 | LUPIN | In vexation I pull up plant (5) |
| Hidden backwards in “vexatioN I PULl” | ||
| 7 | GREENERY | Frenchman’s held up by drab vegetation (8) |
| <= RENE “held up by” GREY (“drab”) so, GRE(ENER)Y | ||
| 8 | EASTERLY | Wind section’s opening note coming in too soon (8) |
| S(ection) + TE (“note”) “coming in” EARLY (“too soon”) | ||
| 9 | LEADING ARTICLE | In two senses, a feature of The Times? (7,7) |
| “The Times” features a LEADING ARTICLE, so ARTICLE is a feature. I think the setter is indicating that LEADING is also a description of The Times, but that is subjective. Am I missing something? See comments below for alternative readings. | ||
| 15 | MINUSCULE | Very trivial cryptic clue requiring less up top (9) |
| *(clue) with MINUS (“less”) on top | ||
| 16 | AMICABLE | Can your setter keep Conservative sweet? (8) |
| AM I ABLE (“can your setter”) “keeping” C(onservative) | ||
| 17 | FLAUBERT | French writer of fine novel La Brute (8) |
| F(ine) + *(la brute)
Refers to Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) who wrote Madame Bovary, one of my favourite novels. |
||
| 19 | POLITE | Refined crude oil is stored in part by European (6) |
| *(oil) “stored in Pt. (“part”) + E(uropean) | ||
| 20 | CHERRY | Shout about the woman’s virginity (6) |
| CRY (shout) “about” HER (“the woman’s”) | ||
| 22 | DRIFT | Germany’s crack tenor (5) |
| D (Germany) + RIFT (“crack”) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Alberich and loonapick
Agree with your comments on 1a. With 9d, the first sense is the Times front page feature – the second sense refers to the ‘a’ being the leading A-rticle.
Really enjoyable puzzle that took three shortish sessions to get out. Lots of very clever clues with MULLIGATAWNY, ROMAN NUMERAL and that LEADING ARTICLE as my favourites.
Thanks loonapick and Alberich,
Excellent puzzle.
I thought for 9d that the “The” in “The Times” was the leading article. Now I am less sure. I also thought a leading article was the same as a leader or editorial, rather than a front page article.
I had POLISH at 19d for a while (partial anagram of oil inside posh, with def being by European). Oh well.
In 9 down I took the second sense as referring to the “The” in The Times. All good fun. Thanks Alberich and Loonapick.
I had no problem with 9d and agree with bruce”s second sense of “a”. By the way, in The Times the leading article (aka Editorial) isn’t on the front page – it’s nearer the middle.
An enjoyable solve, thanks to Alberich & loonapick.
I was wondering if just ‘A feature of The Times?’ could work, but it seems a bit of a stretch. My other thing is that ‘leading article’ does not mean ‘a’.
It’s the contentious clue in a nice puzzle.
Thanks Alberich; fine puzzle with lots of good clues and smooth surfaces.
Thanks loonapick; I took ‘a’ as the LEADING ARTICLE of ‘a’ and ‘The,’ as well as ‘feature of The Times.’
I had a great day solving this in tea breaks and two journeys on public transport. Solved the hard ones, like 9d, despite myself and could not get 5a and and 8d which were actually quite easy in the grand scheme of things. Thanks for the clues and the solution.