With a little help from PeeDee, I have been able to get the blog up at last.
This was a straughtforward crossword with some excellent clues, but overall it felt a bit dull. There wasn’t enough variation in the clues (“about” was used as a container indicator on three occasions, for example), and there was a homophone at 27ac that doesn’t work for me at all.
Thanks, Orense.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HAUNCH | Intuition about answer being rump (6) |
| HUNCH (intuition) about A(nswer) | ||
| 4 | SCORPION | Company locked in new prison finds bug (8) |
| Co.(mpany) locked in *(prison) | ||
| 10 | ARABESQUE | A bee’s wings seen in strange square dance pose (9) |
| A B(e)E in *(square) | ||
| 11 | SCANT | Insufficient time after survey (5) |
| T(ime) after SCAN (survey) | ||
| 12 | DABS | Applies light touches and prints (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | PERVERSION | Depravity of type that comes after exercise runs (10) |
| VERSION (type) after P.E. R(uns) | ||
| 15 | NATURAL | Normal person who’s the obvious choice (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | RECOUP | Recover from takeover by soldiers (6) |
| R.E. (Royal Engineers, so soldier) + COUP (takeover) | ||
| 19 | BROOCH | Open with love to replace a pin (6) |
| BRO(a)(O)CH O(love) to replace A | ||
| 21 | OVERDUE | Finished most of performance for two later than expected (7) |
| OVER (finished) + DUE(t) (“most of” performance for two) | ||
| 23 | INDISTINCT | Vague gut feeling about detective (10) |
| INSTINCT (gut feeling) about D.I. (detective (inspector)) | ||
| 25 | GRIM | Depressing border on the east of Strasbourg (4) |
| (Strasbour)G + RIM (border) | ||
| 27 | KHAKI | Colour of vehicle crucial, according to reports (5) |
| Supposedly a homophone of CAR (vehicle) KEY (crucial), but not where I come from. This is an example of where homophones don’t work. | ||
| 28 | HALF CROWN | Coin once subject to fifty percent cap? (4,5) |
| HALF (fifty per cent) + CROWN (cap) | ||
| 29 | REEF KNOT | Might this tie one up on rocks at sea? (4,4) |
| I think this is supposed to be a cryptic definition, but it isn’t terribly cryptic. | ||
| 30 | MORTAL | Source of tension in lesson is human (6) |
| T(ension) in MORAL (lesson) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HOARDING | Saving a place to display notices (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | ULAN BATOR | Capital of Aruba not moved across lake (4,5) |
| *(aruba not) across L(ake) – Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia | ||
| 3 | CLEF | Character on staff almost split (4) |
| CLEF(t) (“almost” split) | ||
| 5 | CLEAVER | Depart in credit, getting the axe (7) |
| LEAVE (depart) in Cr.(edit) | ||
| 6 | RESTRICTED | Relaxed about con being docked and kept with limits (10) |
| RESTED (relaxed) about TRIC(k) (con, “being docked”) | ||
| 7 | IRAQI | Asian island’s right answer on question one (5) |
| I(sland) + R(ight) + A(nswer) + Q(uestion) + I(one) | ||
| 8 | NOTING | Observing nonentity ignoring hospital (6) |
| NOTHING (nonentity) without the H(ospital) | ||
| 9 | SQUEAL | Confess, implicated in grotesque alliance (6) |
| Hidden in “groteSQUE ALliance” | ||
| 14 | BROOMSTICK | Cleaner sort of witchcraft? (10) |
| Double definition, the second of which is cryptic | ||
| 17 | UNDERFOOT | Where an arch may be in the way (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | TERMINAL | Concluding thoughts originally on development of mineral (8) |
| T(houghts) on *(mineral) | ||
| 20 | HEIGH HO | Oh dear – elevation is short on house (5-2) |
| HEIGH(t) (elevation “is short”) + Ho. (use) | ||
| 21 | OCCULT | Officer in charge of sect dealing in the supernatural (6) |
| O.C. (Officer in Charge)+ CULT (sect) | ||
| 22 | TICKER | Show of hesitation after second heart (6) |
| TICK (second) + ER (show of hesitation) | ||
| 24 | DRAPE | Primate supporting doctor’s hanging (5) |
| Dr. (doctor) + APE (primate) | ||
*anagram
A game of two halves for me. Rattled off the rhs then struggled and nearly gave up on the lhs. Got there in the end but had to use an anagram solver to get the Capital at 2d – geography is not my strong suit. Khaki works ok for me, but that’s often the case with homonyms: some work for some but not others. Felt there should be more to REEF KNOT but not that I can see. A pleasant enough solve but nothing to write home about. Thanks to all.
PeeDee, Why assume an American pronunciation of Khaki?
Richard, please excuse a Canuck butting in, but isn’t it a southern English pronunciation that’s assumed? e.g. Br-arse (S) vs. Br-ass (N.)
Antony Lewis’ WordWeb software has pronunciations in it.
Especially, the pronunciation in Collins comes very, very close to ‘car key’.
Now, I am not a Brit and I’m not going to argue about how it’s pronounced (or should be pronounced) in different parts of the UK.
But I actually liked this homophone.
In my opinion, stating so confidently This is an example of where homophones don’t work is a bit odd.
As for the rest of this puzzle, I found it extremely easy (as often with Orense).
It’s all OK and competent but that’s where it ends, I’m afraid.
No surprises.
Thanks for blogging, loonapick.
I said “not where I come from”. In Scotland, we pronounce the R at the end of CAR, but there is no R in khaki. So, if the clue had said “according to SOME reports”, that would have been better IN MY OPINION. Again, IN MY OPINION, homophones should only be included where they don’t include Rs as these will rarely work for Scots, Irish and Northern English solvers.
Richard@2 I’m loonapick – I’m sure PeeDee would agree with your opinion. After being confused with Brendan on Tuesday, I’m beginning to wonder who I am!
Thanks Orense and loonapick (or whoever you are disguised as 🙂 )
Found this OK … although it was one where I could only grab a few minutes here and there to do it – which may have helped. I did break the double definition of 15a slightly differently – had the first one as just ‘normal’ and the second as ‘person who’s the obvious choice’ – as in “he’s a natural”.
Finished in the SE corner with UNDERFOOT, MORTAL and ECHO the last few in.