A lively and well-constructed crossword.
There was plenty of subtle misdirection in the definitions and the solutions also formed a pangram.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PSYCHOANALYSIS | Sly casino pays out, covering hospital therapy (14) |
| (Sly casino pays)* around h(ospital) | ||
| 10 | AZURE | Extreme characters on river that’s blue (5) |
| AZ + Ure | ||
| 11 | JUXTAPOSE | Put together project involving unknown and anonymous model (9) |
| Jut around X + a(nonymous) pose | ||
| 12 | MOBSTER | Male crustacean with head hidden in hood (7) |
| M(ale) + [l]obster | ||
| 13 | SNIPPET | Sticks around to canoodle a little bit (7) |
| Pins< + pet | ||
| 14 | RELIC | Artefact old priest found in reinforced concrete (5) |
| Eli (biblical priest) in R(einforced) C(oncrete), an odd choice for the abbreviation given that RC also stands for Roman Catholic, which would have fitted better with the rest of the clue. | ||
| 16 | AFFLICTED | A fine French policeman regularly attends sick (9) |
| A + f(ine) + flic + even letters of aTtEnDs | ||
| 19 | UNDERWEAR | German and English back covering up Welsh bloomers? (9) |
| Und + E(nglish) rear around W(elsh) | ||
| 20 | YIKES | Agreement to carry one thousand leads to alarmed expression (5) |
| Yes around I K | ||
| 22 | AMPHORA | Jar arm and hop around before applying a tiny bit of arnica (7) |
| (Arm + hop)* + a[rnica] | ||
| 25 | ARTICLE | Perhaps a piece of heart I cleaned (7) |
| Hidden in heART I CLEaned | ||
| 27 | MALLEABLE | Label meal cooked in plastic (9) |
| (Label meal)* | ||
| 28 | LIVID | Black and blue hat worn by 6 (5) |
| VI in lid | ||
| 29 | DOUBLE ENTENDRE | Noted nude rebel broadcast something a little risque (6,8) |
| (Noted nude rebel)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | SQUABBLED | Scrapped fat oozed out (9) |
| Squab + bled | ||
| 3 | CHEAT | Two-timer caught by US police (5) |
| C(aught) + heat | ||
| 4 | OBJURGATE | Criticise unnaturally great job hemming uniform (9) |
| (Great job)* around u(niform) | ||
| 5 | NEXUS | Bond star rising to embrace old flame (5) |
| Sun< around ex | ||
| 6 | LIABILITY | Burden left to current power (9) |
| L + i + ability | ||
| 7 | SCOOP | Bail out of special cage (5) |
| S(pecial) + coop | ||
| 8 | SCENTED | Became aware of spiralling descent (7) |
| Descent* | ||
| 9 | FARMER | One rearing fish perhaps in distant French sea (6) |
| Far + mer | ||
| 15 | CORPOREAL | Small hole in dark pink material (9) |
| Pore in coral | ||
| 17 | FIRMAMENT | Tense after forceful last word? Heavens above! (9) |
| T[ense] after firm amen | ||
| 18 | TAKE COVER | Shelter head of contracts during buyout (4,5) |
| C[ontracts] in take-over | ||
| 19 | UNARMED | Defenceless university managed to rise above heads of mediocre Education Department (7) |
| U(niversity) + ran< + initial letters of mediocre Education Department. | ||
| 21 | STEADY | Fixed small meal at beginning and end of day (6) |
| S(mall) + tea + d[a]y | ||
| 23 | PILAU | Cheek served up on gold dish (5) |
| Pil< + AU(=gold in periodic table) | ||
| 24 | AMBLE | Male buried in powerful drift (5) |
| M(ale) in able | ||
| 26 | TALON | Short story about nail (5) |
| Tal[e] + on(=about) | ||
*anagram
A nice, pleasant solve. Favourites include SNIPPET, YIKES, DOUBLE ENTENDRE and CORPOREAL, which more than make up for the contender for worst anagram at 8d. Thanks to S&B.
Splendid, satisfying puzzle. Tricky sometimes but worth the effort. OBJURGATE is a new word for me, gettable thanks to the wordplay. Favourite clue was DOUBLE ENTENDRE.
Thanks Vigo and NealH.
Just the tonic for a M*nday. Much enjoyed.
I was glad to have met the French policeman recently. Not sure I knew the 2d word for fat, and had to check the reinforced concrete (well, truth be told I was lazy and just assumed, counting on the blogger to do the checking). Yes, Roman Catholic would have fitted there. Maybe a little too well.
Lots of smiles, including those mentioned above, but I can’t pick a favourite. I did think it a slight shame that 29a wasn’t defined by example … 🙂
Thanks to Vigo and Neal.
25a – I think the definition is just ‘Perhaps a’. Straightforward clues as befits a Monday, but with the odd unusual word, e.g. Objurgate, to make it interesting.
Thanks to S&B
At the risk of repeating myself, I do enjoy puzzles from Vigo. Like Kitty, I had to check the ‘fat’ in 2d and took a chance over the reinforced concrete, but otherwise all went well – I even remembered how to spell 4d!
Plenty of contenders for the top spot – 10,12&13a plus 3d worthy of particular mention.
Thanks to Vigo and to Neal for the review.
She’s good, you know. Lovely crossword to start the Indy week. I agree with Neal – lively and well-constructed.
I learned a new word in OBJURGATE. Since it was an anagram and had helpful crossing letters I managed it without too much pain. No special favourites today; all good. Brava, that woman, and thanks to Neal for blogging.
Yes, we enjoyed this one. Spotting that it was heading for a pangram helped us get the OBJURGATE/JUXTAPOSE crossers. Thought the reinforced concrete was deliberate in that Roman Catholic, while helping the surface, might have given the game away too easily; as it was, my first thought was ‘rebar’ (reinforcing bar) although I knew it couldn’t possibly be.
A small and probably insignificant niggle about the use of ‘ability’ for ‘power’ in the clue for 6dn and then ‘powerful’ for ‘able’ in that for 24dn.
Such a lot to like here, it would be invidious to name a CoD.
Thanks, Vigo and NealH.
Very enjoyable stuff – of course, I missed the pangram but then I do only have my own brain to work with. Smooth and friendly clues for the most part making a nice and easy solve, though with a couple of head-scratchers for good measure. Fave clues 13 and 29a so thanks to the V for Very Nice Crosswords and to Nealh for the blogs.
Please you could make it, Harry. Please give Mrs Jalopy my congratulations on her new appointment.
To Kitty@2…
Woman goes into a bar, says to the landlord, “I’d like a 29a, please” and so he gives her one.
I wouldn’t have missed a Vigo for the world, Jane @9 – and will pass your congratz on to Mrs J.
Oo-er, Grant@10, please remember that Kitty is still a young kitten.
Having said that, it did amuse me!
Thank you to NealH for the blog and to everyone for comments. You have all cheered me immeasurably on a less than perfect day! Really enjoyed Grant’s alternative clue for 29a. I originally had church = rc rather than reinforced concrete but wasn’t sure about it when queried as to validity and quite liked image of relic in concrete. Thank you all. V
Just got round to this thanks V and Neal, having just spent time with Harry H the idea of 29 being so clean was so shocking I’ll have to go and groom my cats…