A real curate’s egg, in that parts of it were indeed excellent…
…but with a couple of minor spoilers. See what you think. Thanks to Jason for the (many) good bits.
| Across | ||
| 9 | REFLEXIVE | Judge to be round former mate’s without thought (9) |
| REF (‘judge’) + LIVE (‘to be’) around EX (‘former mate’). | ||
| 10 | IGLOO | One grand convenience in a northern home (5) |
| 1 + G[rand] + LOO (‘convenience’). | ||
| 11 | SISTERS | Relatives doin’ it for themselves? (7) |
| Ref. Eurythmics/Aretha Franklin 1985 hit song, “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves”. | ||
| 12 | TWEEDLE | Cloth the French counterfeit (7) |
| TWEED (‘cloth’) + LE (‘the’ in French)’. I’ve only ever seen ‘tweedle’ this way in crosswords. | ||
| 13 | YEA | Affirmation among many earlier (3) |
| Inclusion (‘among’) in ‘manY EArlier’. | ||
| 14 | TRAVEL AGENT | One booking great Levant tours (6,5) |
| Anagram (‘tours’) of GREAT LEVANT, plus, perhaps, a reinforcing whole clue definition. | ||
| 17 | OBELI | Buddy of Asterix almost showing signs of doubt (5) |
| Almost complete OBELIx (my personal hero) to give plural of ‘obelus’, the ‘†’ or ‘dagger’ sign for doubtful words or passages in old documents. | ||
| 18 | ASH | What’s left of tree? (3) |
| Double (& possible whole, post-infernal) definition. | ||
| 19 | OPTIC | Sort of nerve vital to see from where spirit comes (5) |
| Double def, 2nd re. drink dispenser. Mine’s a Laphraoig. | ||
| 21 | EATING APPLE | Elegant app I developed to identify fruit (6,5) |
| Anagram (‘developed’) of ELEGANT APP I. | ||
| 23 | ROB | Turn over rifle (3) |
| Two definitions, I think, though they’re not far apart… | ||
| 25 | DEPOSIT | Is Oscar back in bureau’s bank? (7) |
| IS, + O[scar] (in radio code), both reversed in DEP[artment]T (‘bureau’). | ||
| 27 | EMOTION | Feeling mine too, strangely (7) |
| Anagram (‘strangely’) of MINE TOO. | ||
| 28 | AROMA | Nose about Italian’s capital (5) |
| A[bout] + ROMA (‘Rome’ in Italy, obvs.). | ||
| 29 | UNDER FIRE | Inferior Kindle getting criticism (5,4) |
| UNDER (‘inferior’) + FIRE (to ‘kindle’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TRUSTY | Reliable if time-worn? (6) |
| T[ime] + RUSTY (‘worn’). | ||
| 2 | OFFSTAGE | Gaffes to engage where the spectators can’t see (8) |
| Anagram (‘engage’. Well, anything can indicate an anagram, we’re told) of GAFFES TO. | ||
| 3 | PEDESTRIAN | A president possibly lacking wit (10) |
| Anagram (‘possibly’ – that’s more like it) of A PRESIDENT. | ||
| 4 | DIGS | Enjoys accommodation (4) |
| Double def. | ||
| 5 | GET THE CHOP | Go for meal and suffer the worst? (3,3,4) |
| Cryptic +/- double definition, or just about. H’mm. | ||
| 6 | DINE | Row over English feast (4) |
| DIN (‘row’) + E[nglish]. | ||
| 7 | PLEDGE | Place with keenness for promise (6) |
| PL[ace] + EDGE (‘keenness’). | ||
| 8 | DOMESTIC | Items doc ordered daily (8) |
| Anagram (‘ordered’) of ITEMS DOC. | ||
| 15 | AGAPANTHUS | Plant Khan, say, then sweep accordingly (10) |
| AGA (as in Aga ‘Khan’) + PAN (a turning, cinematic ‘sweep’ camera-shot) + THUS (‘accordingly’). | ||
| 16 | ABOVE BOARD | Frank with more clout than the directors? (5,5) |
| Cryptic def. A powerful corporate entity might be said to be ABOVE the BOARD of directors. | ||
| 17 | OVERDRAW | You go now on attraction to take too much? (8) |
| Clue of the day. ‘OVER’ in radio parlance = ‘I’ve finished: your turn to speak’ or ‘You go now’. DRAW = ‘attraction’. | ||
| 20 | TERRIFIC | Fantastic artificer lacking lead: dreadful (8) |
| Anagram (‘fantastic’) of aRTIFICER without first letter (‘lead’). | ||
| 22 | TIPTOP | Turn grass up – excellent (6) |
| Cleverer than it looked, to me anyway, and my last parse. To TIP is to ‘turn’ – as of, say, a set of scales – then POT (the drug ‘grass’) reversed. | ||
| 24 | BANGER | Outlaw German vehicle, a clapped-out one (6) |
| BAN (‘outlaw’) + GER[man]. | ||
| 26 | SLAP | Mate’s turned up cuff (4) |
| PALS (“mate’s”, upended in this down clue). | ||
| 27 | EDDY | Father separated from little boy in a whirl (4) |
| FR (‘father’) removed from ‘frEDDY’, a ‘little boy’. Again, probably only me, but this took a bit of teasing out. | ||
*anagram
I agree. Lots to like and lots to dislike. Although I got 11a straight away, I think it is a poor clue. Cheated on 15d, which I don’t remember seeing before but probably have. Given the crossers, all I could think of was ‘adamantium’, the substance coating Wolverine’s skeleton. For ages, I thought 17d was going to be ‘overdose’ but the penny finally dropped. I also agree the clue for ROB was poor imo. I knew of the menhir toting Gaul, so OBELI was filled in. I knew they were the dagger symbols but not that they referred to doubtful words/passages. Thanks both.
Thanks to Jason and GB. I did not get AGAPANTHUS (I guessed Amaranthus), needed help parsing FrEDDY and SISTERS, and missed the second sense of ROB.
Thanks Jason and Grant
Simliar experience to others with the same weaker definitions in the clues mentioned – especially ‘suffer the worst’ for GET THE CHOP.
Didn’t parse (FR)EDDY and had not heard of this definition of TWEEDLE.
Finished with AGAPANTHUS (which I used a word finder to get and then was cross with myself for being lazy and not taking the time to use the very gettable word play to derive it – they seem to be in so many gardens in Melbourne, almost in weed proportions) and TIPTOP (which was a lot more tricky to get than it should have been).
I interpreted 23a as “over” being both part of the clue for the first ROB and also indicating a reversal of BOR, being a type of rifle.
In 20d the anagram indicator is “dreadful”. Fantastic = terrific
To Mark M @5:
I think you’re right, but curiously, it does work the other way too. Chambers gives ‘dreadful’ as a meaning of ‘terrific’.
And to Teacow @4:
1. Again, I think you may be right but
2. I’d never heard of a Bor rifle (not that that’s a test, I’m not a gun chap, but Googled it & evidently it’s A Thing) but
3. H’mm, even so, The double-duty device seems a bit thin for an unfamiliar word. Sten, Bren, Luger, Bofors, all of these we’ve seen often in Xwords, but BOR is a new one on me. Grumping from ignorance, perhaps, and noted for future use, obvs, but borderline unfair, I’d say. Anyone else have a view?
In the US, if I ROB someone, I might TURN OVER their apartment and RIFLE their closets.
Jim T@8:
That was the double def I intended in the blog, noticing that the defs seemed a bit too similar for Ximenesians. The reversal of BOR wd make it more interesting, but with the reservation I posted @8 above.