A very quick blog today as I am having to write this at work due to IT problems at home.
This was a very quick solve, although it took me a while to parse 20dn. The top half and the some of the down answers went in almost without pause, helped by a couple of the down clues being ones I’m sure I’ve seen before (8 and 9).
There were a couple of harder clues in the bottom half, with the aforementioned 20dn being a write-in that took a while to parse, and I cn imagine that some solvers may not have come across encomium (see 16d) before. By happy coincidence, I only came across the word for the first time myself yesterday!
I had only one niggle (see 28ac).
Thanks, Dogberry
| Across | ||
| 1 | TAKEAWAY | Subtract fast food (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | FAMOUS | Celebrated note to tailless rodent (6) |
| FA (“note”) + MOUS(e) (“rodent” without its tail) | ||
| 10 | U-BOAT | Messed about with vessel (1-4) |
| *(about) | ||
| 11 | SYNAGOGUE | Place of worship by Ganges you rebuilt (9) |
| *(ganges you) | ||
| 12 | TOLERANCE | Putting up with joyous cry of Iberian being hypnotised? (9) |
| OLE (“joyous cry of Iberian”) in TRANCE (“hypnotised” = in trance) | ||
| 13 | RUNIC | Swear unicorn’s concealed in ancient script (5) |
| Concealed in “sweaR UNICorn” | ||
| 14 | IDEATE | Imagine being fed on fish! (6) |
| ATE (“fed”) on IDE (“fish”) | ||
| 15 | TRAMPLE | Heartless tiger given plenty to stamp on (7) |
| T(ige)R given AMPLE (“plenty”) | ||
| 18 | AMERICA | Crimea – a troubled country (7) |
| *(crimea a) | ||
| 20 | AVAUNT | “Clear off!” (formerly, a boast) (6) |
| A VAUNT (“a boat”)
Avaunt is old-fashioned word for “away with you” |
||
| 22 | DOWSE | Women in medicine look for water (5) |
| W(omen) in DOSE (“medicine”) | ||
| 24 | PASSENGER | Fellow traveller means to summon loch, back inside (9) |
| PAGER (“means to summon”) with <=NESS (“loch”, back) inside | ||
| 25 | MARMALADE | Equip a boy to fight, interrupting compiler’s spread (9) |
| ARM A LAD (“equip a boy to fight”) interrupting ME (“compiler”) | ||
| 26 | EYRIE | 7 securing state of nest (5) |
| EYE (an organ, see 7dn), securing R.I. (“state”, ie Rhode Island) | ||
| 27 | MUTATE | Dog swallowing a tablet to enter altered state (6) |
| MUTT (“dog”) swallowing A + E (“tablet”, ie ecstasy), so MUT(A)T-E | ||
| 28 | VERTICAL | Meat-carrying lorry losing roof (straight up!) (8) |
| VEAL (“meat”) carrying (a)RTIC (“lorry” without its roof (ie top letter))
Slight issue with, as I think the “losing roof” would be more appropriate to a down clue. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TRUSTY | Dependable type of shirt suffering from lack of use (6) |
| T (“type of shirt”) + RUSTY (“suffering from lack of use”) | ||
| 2 | KNOWLEDGE | Learning king’s currently on shelf (9) |
| K(ing) + NOW (“currently”) on LEDGE (“shelf”) | ||
| 3 | ALTERNATIVE FACT | Feat 28 ant performed? That’s a lie! (11,4) |
| *(feat vertical ant), where 28 refers to 28 across’s solution | ||
| 4 | ABSENCE | Expert admitting Ben’s troubled by non-attendance (7) |
| ACE (“expert”) admitting *(bens) | ||
| 6 | ANGER MANAGEMENT | Therapy for ten-man medley suppressing Teutonic period (5,10) |
| *(tenman) suppressing GERMAN AGE (“Teutonic period”) | ||
| 7 | ORGAN | Won a grown-up’s heart, for instance? (5) |
| Hidden backwards in “woN A GROwn” | ||
| 8 | SKETCHES | Pictures of skipper’s first boats (8) |
| S(kipper) + KETCHES (“boats”) | ||
| 9 | INTENT | Purpose of camping? (6) |
| If you’re camping you’re in a tent. | ||
| 16 | PANEGYRIC | Turned grey in fear of encomium (9) |
| *(grey) in PANIC (“fear”) | ||
| 17 | CARDAMOM | Spice showing jester where to see recent pictures mounted (8) |
| CARD (“jester”) + <=M.O.M.A. (“where to see recent pictures”, mounted)
M.O.M.A. stands for Museum of Modern Art, in New York. |
||
| 19 | APPEAL | Shock secures electronic attraction (6) |
| APPAL (“shock”) secures E(lectronic) | ||
| 20 | AUSTERE | Harsh wind from the south-east (7) |
| AUSTER (Roman word for “wind from (the) south”) + E(ast) | ||
| 21 | ORDEAL | Struggle with gold and wood (6) |
| OR (“gold”) + DEAL (“wood”) | ||
| 23 | WORST | Best? Quite the contrary (5) |
| Double definition | ||
*anagram
An enjoyable middle-of-the-road puzzle for me. Didn’t get the MOMA reference in 17d, but should have. I didn’t know the word ‘encomium’. Unfortunately, I looked it up and saw the word ‘panegyric’ which gave the game away. This appeared not too long ago in some cryptic or other but I’m not convinced I would have remembered it. Thanks to S&B.
Solved on a Covent Garden Underground Station platform while waiting for a train – the solve took less time than the wait
I enjoyed it very much and was particularly pleased with myself for remembering both the wind and the encomium
Thanks to Dogberry and Loonapick too
Thanks Dogberry and loonapick
I gave the setter the benefit of the doubt in 28ac, VERTICAL.
If the word were to be written “(straight up!)” and not horizontally, as required in the grid,
then ARCTIC could be seen to be losing its roof!
Thanks Dogberry and loonapick
Found this to be one of the more easy puzzles by this setter that I have done. Finished down in the bottom half with AUSTERE (did remember the wind – same root word as where I’m from) the last one in but no real stoppers down there either.
Did like the way that he was able to get some phrases into the charades that he used – ARM A LAD and GERMAN AGE.