As I exchange the open roads of Australia for congested roads of the UK, albeit with the occasional snake, it’s time for another offering from Serpent – whose puzzles I am beginning to really enjoy.
Some lovely clues as I’m coming to expect – 3 I would pick out are:
- 11ac is an absolute gem of a clue, once the penny drops.
- The construction of 17ac was interesting – certainly for the purists but I liked it.
- The imagery in the surface of 3dn
There are plenty others I could have picked – short and complex but logically precise.
And all of the across clues contained an F.
Many thanks Serpent – a delight to solve.
Key:
Rev. (reverse) DD Double definition; * anagram; underline dfinition
Across
1 Placid old man racing competition to take on role of US president (7)
Pa (old man) + F1 (Racing completion) in CIC (role of US president (commander in chief) = PACIFIC
5 New sketch made by artist cutting coloured paper (7)
Ra (artist) in red (coloured) + FT (paper) = REDRAFT
9 Position in church organisation, high up, which deacon finally enters (5,4)
Org (organisation) + aloft (high up) around n (deacon finally) = ORGAN LOFT
10 Move screen round hospital (5)
Sift (screen) around h (hospital) = SHIFT
11 Bits of alfalfa may be reduced to this vegetable matter (5)
F, L or A (bits of alfalfa) = FLORA
12 Bore loudly interrupts harangue (9)
F (loudly) in perorate (harangue) = PERFORATE
14 One sentence following another repeatedly (4,5,4)
Time (sentence) + after (following) + time (another) = TIME AFTER TIME
17 This falseness is not true (13)
(this falseness is)* = FAITHLESSNESS
18 Legitimacy forsaken by leader in appalling state (9)
Lawfulness (legitimacy) – l (leader) = AWFULNESS
21 Burning issue’s beginning to fuel irrational fear (5)
(I + fear)* = AFIRE
23 It’s frequently made from revolutionary mesh (5)
Of (made from) + Rev. net (mesh) = OFTEN
24 Card file I rearranged and cleared up (9)
(card file I)* = CLARIFIED
25 This might colour one’s image having experienced upset (4,3)
Felt (having experienced) + tip (upset) = FELT TIP
26 Engineer cunningly providing turning at oblique angle (7)
Rev. if (providing) + (angle)* = FINAGLE
Down
1 Academic accepting nothing is watertight (5)
Prof (academic) around o (nothing) = PROOF
2 Company moaning about nicknames (9)
Co (Company) + (moaning)* = COGNOMINA
3 Kelvin perhaps made nun flaunt it all over the place (11,4)
(made nun flaunt it)* = FUNDAMENTAL UNIT (as in Temperature scale)
4 School accepting learner makes progress rather noisily (5)
Comp (school) around l(learner) = CLOMP
5 People coming back to provide one way to “see” (9)
Return (provide) + Rev. see = RETURNEES
6 Break dance one set up to occupy people (15)
Disco (dance) + Rev. unit (one) in nation (people) = DISCONTINUATION
7 Brute that’s somewhat lacking in soul (5)
Animal (brute) – l = ANIMA
8 Tenth part of article about intercourse (5)
The (article) about it (intercourse) = TITHE
13 Broadcast national fixture (3)
Homonym Thai (national) = TIE
15 Part of car bonnet covered by packing (6,3)
Filler (packing) + cap (bonnet) = FILLER CAP
16 Young woman almost causing anxiety (9)
Miss (young woman) – s + giving (causing) = MISGIVING
17 Not many said that’s a relief (3)
Homonym Phew (that’s a relief) = FEW
18 Unsociable ladies perhaps lining absolutely nothing up (5)
Loo (ladies) in Rev. FA (absolutely nothing) = ALOOF
19 Large case of alcohol causing death (5)
Fat (large) + al (case of alcohol) = FATAL
20 Stick man (5)
DD STAFF
22 Provide material for Beethoven duet (5)
Hidden BeethovEN DUEt = ENDUE
Very nice mixture of “gettable” clues and real head scratchers.Thanks Serpent and twencelas
Surprised nobody’s mentioned that, as well as F being in all across clues, it also appears in the blanks left and right. A tough solve for me, failing at the last hurdle at 15d and 25a. Not sure I fully understand 5d yet. Why does ‘one way to’ denote reversal, unless backwards is thought of as one way; and why is “see” in inverted commas? Thanks twencelas for explanations and to Serpent for the workout.
Thanks, twencelas, for the great blog. I’m delighted you enjoyed the puzzle.
In answer to Hovis @2, my intended parsing of RETURNEES is to view the answer as RETURN EES: that is, ‘to provide one way to “see”‘.
Minor point: FAITHLESSNESS is intended to be an all-in-one clue, with the entire clue being both definition and wordplay.
I was just rethinking 5d whilst vacuuming and the answer came to me. Then I found Serpent had beaten me to it – honest. I might add that I’d never met that plural of cognomen before – easy to guess but nice to add it to my vocabulary. At least temporarily given my aging memory.
great puzzle, as always from S.
I found myself thinking at first that maybe this one had been misdirected having seen FT in quite a few acrossers but saw the light eventually.
Thanks to Serpent & twencelas
Excellent puzzle as agreed by all. Not familiar with FILLER CAP.
4D – I don’t think “makes” is part of the definition, otherwise the answer would be CLOMPS. Parsing is COMP around L “makes” the word CLOMP (which means [to] progress rather noisily).
Thanks to Serpent for the workout and entertainment and to twencelas for the blog.
Great stuff. More please.
Yes, good puzzle, with all the across F’s helping to solve some clues. I agree that FLORA was a beauty and I also liked FAITHLESSNESS – ? all-in-one clue = &lit. Maybe a less controversial term anyway.
Not sure I quite understand the significance of the def for 25a, and whether it has anything to do with this being a sort of gateway clue – F is TIP (first letter) of word FELT. Maybe I’m just over-parsing and looking for something that’s not there.
Thanks to Serpent and twencelas.