A good puzzle with some ingenious clues.
I particularly liked 17d and the linked pair of 27 and 13. There didn’t seem to be an obvious theme – there was one reference to a major sporting event going on at the moment, but couldn’t see much else linked to it. It’s possible I haven’t looked deep enough.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ROSE | Revolted by announcement of banks (4) |
| Hom of rows (rose as in to rise against something). | ||
| 4 | TRAVEL | Journey time by road through centre of Berlin (6) |
| T(ime) + ave(nue) in [be]rl[in] | ||
| 11 | EMBROIDER | Dress up bride more elaborately (9) |
| (Bride more)* | ||
| 12 | CROWN | Bird beginning to nest in top of tree (5) |
| Crow + n[est] | ||
| 13 | LADY | Posh woman‘s complaint getting old woman dismissed (4) |
| [Ma]lady | ||
| 14 | NEURAL NETS | Intelligent systems learn tunes in an unusual way (6,4) |
| (Learn tunes)* | ||
| 16 | WIMBLEDON | We put on strapping for broken limb in tournament (9) |
| We don around limb* | ||
| 18 | SPOON | One that may serve court (5) |
| DD | ||
| 20 | KINGS | Heads of state return, not heralded by cheers (5) |
| [Ta]kings | ||
| 21 | MARINATED | Drain meat boiled and steeped in cooking liquid (9) |
| (Drain meat)* | ||
| 23 | NEWSLETTER | Puppy apparently steals scrap of loo paper (10) |
| New setter (a possible way of describing a puppy) around l[oo] – I suppose this is a ref to the Andrex adverts. | ||
| 26 | TALC | Antenatal clinic uses very soft material (4) |
| Hidden in antenaTAL Clinic | ||
| 28 | LODGE | Place to spend the night (5) |
| DD/&lit possibly – I suppose lodge could be used as a verb (to lodge something), making it a genuine DD, but it still seems a little weak since the whole clue could equally well be taken to be the answer. | ||
| 29 | BLACKBIRD | Support offer embracing both sides in flyer (9) |
| Back bid around l + r | ||
| 30 | WETHER | Feeble woman castrated sheep (6) |
| Wet(=feeble colloquially) + her(=woman). Wether is normally only heard in the term bellwether, which was the lead sheep in a flock. | ||
| 31 | ARMS | Arsenal provides room for these members (4) |
| DD, Arsenal used in its more general sense as a weapons store. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OMBUDSMAN | One hears complaints and moans about accommodating male friend (9) |
| Moans* around m(ale) bud | ||
| 3 | EROS | God swiftly abandons aerospace (4) |
| [a]eros[pace] – apace=swiftly | ||
| 5 | RARER | More bloody resistance for parent to get upset about (5) |
| R(esistance) in rear<, rarer as in steaks. | ||
| 6 | VOCALISING | Articulating something unequivocal is, in general, only part of it (10) |
| Hidden in unequiVOCAL IS IN General | ||
| 7 | LOOSE | Can opposing players let go? (5) |
| Loo + SE (opposing players in bridge) | ||
| 8 | MELLOW | Become more tolerant when slightly drunk (6) |
| DD | ||
| 9 | ADDENDUM | Rider possibly put on Final Score after its inception (8) |
| Add + end + [s]um | ||
| 10 | UNISON | Higher education institutions working in harmony (6) |
| Unis (short for universities) + on(=working) | ||
| 15 | FLESHLIEST | Pervert tells if he’s most sensual (10) |
| (tells if he’s)* | ||
| 17 | NORSEMAN | Munch perhaps on remains one’s left decomposing (8) |
| (On rema[i]ns)*, ref to Edvard Munch, best known as the painter of The Scream (which actually isn’t a single painting – there are four different versions of it). | ||
| 19 | OSTRACISM | Exclusion from East German xenophobia (9) |
| Ost (German for East) + racism | ||
| 20 | KINDLE | Electronic gadget linked with hacking (6) |
| Linked* | ||
| 22 | DECIDE | Conclude killer of 3 maybe first one to abscond (6) |
| De[i]cide – this can refer to either the person killing a god or the act thereof. | ||
| 24 | WIDOW | Opportunity to sacrifice knight and queen missing mate? (5) |
| Wi[n]dow. Knight is abbrev to N in chess notation (I imagine they can’t use K because it would be confused with King). | ||
| 25 | TABLE | Board provided no leadership in firm (5) |
| [S]table | ||
| 27 | OKRA | Fine artist displays 13’s fingers (4) |
| OK + ra (Lady’s Fingers is another name for the vegetable, okra) | ||
*anagram
Great puzzle. It’s a barred grid, as it were.
WETHER and SPOON were my way into it
Thanks Serpent & NealH
Thanks, Neal.
We’ve had a good variety of setters for the Monday puzzle of late, and Serpent has given us a pleasing and tractable one here.
I liked the Munch misdirection too, once I’d twigged it. Not sure I’d use NORSEMAN in a contemporary setting but it didn’t bother me that much. OMBUDSMAN was also a favourite this morning.
Thanks to Serpent too.
Thanks Neal and Serpent – most entertaining.
And thanks, baerchen, for the clever tip-off. I thought there must be one but missed it, of course.
My favourites were NEWSLETTER, NORSEMAN and OSTRACISM and I thought VOCALISING was very neatly hidden, with a nice surface.
baerchen@1-I’m always on the lookout for such things in Serpent-I found 4 pairs and could there perhaps be a Blackbird in Earls Court?
I like barred grid.
Where’s that Hoskins chap?
Thanks Serpent and NealH
As Neal says, some really ingenious stuff, which kept me thoroughly entertained. It took some chewing over – perhaps because there are quite a few deletions which I can find hard, or perhaps because I have had something of a themed weekend.
I tried quite hard to make WIDOW SCREW until I finally got NEWSLETTER (nice penny-drop there).
Missed the bars – gah. Cheers baerchen!
And cheers to Serpent and to Neal.
Good stuff as always. I found it a medium-level Serpent and missed a few in the SW as well as, annoyingly, 1a. Also missed the theme, but then I had been in a few of them prior to solving. Fave clue goes to 5d for the nicely done def and amusing surface so thanks to The Snake for the puzzle and to NealH for the enlightenment.
Wot, Serpent on a Monday.
Must be easy then.
Indeed, in the first 15 minutes I made some much progress that I wondered what had happened to Serpent.
But – fortunately – I came very soon after that flying start to some kind of halt.
Fortunately? Yes, because I would like to see Serpent as a challenging setter.
In the end, I couldn’t explain 22d and – much to my shame – couldn’t find 1ac.
Missed the theme too.
Where does that leave me? Somewhere in the middle, I guess.
There are times that I agree with Hoskins: ‘Good stuff as always’.
Yep.
Thanks to Serpent and NealH for the blog.
Thanks to NealH for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment. And chapeau to baerchen for spotting the theme, which was supposed to be imperceptible to the naked eye.
Cheers
Jason