An enjoyable and straightforward Monday crossword. Thanks Armonie!
Nothing terribly controversial here, though we did think “around” in 16A was a bit odd. Hadn’t heard of basalt as pottery, but other than that no problems. A pleasant start to the week.
Across
1 Manager protects a number showing emaciation (8)
BONINESS
BOSS (manager) around (protects) NINE (a number)
5 Cleaner working for ferry operator (6)
CHARON
CHAR (cleaner) + ON (working)
9 Judge returned hand tool to prospector (8)
EXAMINER
AXE< (hand tool, returned) + MINER (prospector)
10 Catch out Tory leader and remove (4,2)
TRIP UP
T[ory] + RIP UP (remove)
12 Edit novel about probe (5,4)
DELVE INTO
*(EDIT NOVEL) (*about)
13 Fortune tellers scathing about Oscar (5)
TAROT
TART (scathing) about O[scar] (phonetic alphabet)
14 A cat that’s very small (4)
ATOM
A + TOM (cat)
16 Fraudulent enterprises around game (7)
RACKETS
Double definition
19 Promised to be occupied (7)
ENGAGED
Double definition
21 Charlie’s full name (4)
CALL
C (Charlie, phonetic alphabet again) + ALL (full)
24 Proofreader’s mark shows concern with the letter “t” (5)
CARET
CARE (concern) + T (the letter “t”)
25 Winger in a last-minute switch (9)
ALTERNATE
TERN (winger) in A + LATE (last minute)
27 Discharge from old drain cut (6)
EXEMPT
EX (old) + EMPT[y] (drain cut)
28 Turning point for country evangelist (8)
LANDMARK
LAND (country) + MARK (evangelist)
29 Quiet about passion for case (6)
SHEATH
SH (quiet) about HEAT (passion)
30 Smirk when taking in this month in Irish province (8)
LEINSTER
LEER (smirk) taking in INST (this month – abbreviation for instante mense)
Down
1 Girl’s supporter about to expire (6)
BRENDA
BRA (supporter) about END (to expire)
2 Nobleman arrives in New York? Almost! (6)
NEARLY
EARL (nobleman) arrives in NY (New York)
3 The first person in the body of the church is unworldly (5)
NAIVE
I (first person) inside NAVE (body of the church)
4 Reckoning to eat fowl – part of the breast (7)
STERNUM
SUM (reckoning) around (to eat) TERN (fowl)
6 Claire, the doctor, is dissident (9)
HERETICAL
*(CLAIRE THE) (*doctor)
7 Soldier gets drink for correspondent (8)
REPORTER
RE (soldier) + PORTER (drink)
8 Partiality gets me in post improperly (8)
NEPOTISM
*(ME IN POST) *(improperly) &lit
11 Fly high? Sounds painful! (4)
SOAR
“sore” (sounds like painful)
15 Hose gets Kitty in an awkward situation (5,4)
TIGHT SPOT
TIGHTS (hose) + POT (kitty)
17 Drinks held dear in French coaches (8)
TEACHERS
TEAS (drinks) held CHER (dear in French)
18 Give gear out? That’ll cause distress! (8)
AGGRIEVE
*(GIVE GEAR) (*out)
20 Wooden handle (4)
DEAL
double definition
21 Bed to deteriorate after time in country home (7)
COTTAGE
COT (bed) + AGE (to deteriorate) after T (time)
22 Type of pottery made with Barium compound (6)
BASALT
BA (Barium) + SALT (compound)
23 Tumbler has cook taking drug (6)
BEAKER
BAKER (cook) taking E (drug)
26 Health hazard creates fuss among sailors (5)
RADON
ADO (fuss) among RN (Royal Navy)
I agree this was starightforwad. Pity about using ‘tern’ twice in the puzzle (25ac and 4d).
Thanks setter and bloggers.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
A typically precise and clearly clued puzzle on the gentler side for the FT and as Steven points out, an unusual double up with TERN as a part of the wordplay in a couple of clues. Did originally write in BREIDA at 1d with DIE about in BRA … but finally saw that it didn’t quite work and there wasn’t quite a girl’s name as such !! That was the only part that held me up … along with having to look up BASALT (my last one in) as a kind of pottery – black stoneware developed by Mr Wedgwood, apparently.
To Stephen @ 1: Tongue-in-cheek from Armonie, I think. ‘One good tern…’
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. I too was held up by BASALT so took a bit longer with the SE corner but did get through and much enjoyed the process. I knew the abbreviation inst but never took the trouble to look it up, so thanks to Teacow for supplying instante mense.
BASALT a major problem not helped by UMBRIA (also a type of pottery) being an anagram go BARIUM.
Thanks Teacow for a wonderful (and colourful) blog!
Just like you I didn’t see why Armonie used ‘around’ in 16ac. I don’t think it’s a good (or even valid) link word but no-one else seems to care.
There were two occasions on which I thought ‘Hey, that’s not the Armonie I know’.
6ac: ‘doctor’ is, IMO, not a suitable anagram indicator when positioned behind the fodder. Armonie could have avoided that by writing ‘Doctor Claire, the dissident’ [which doesn’t ruin the surface].
17d: One of my gripes against a handful of setters is that they’re happy using the past tense when it should be [again, IMO] the present tense. I know the surface calls for it but the cryptic grammar should come first. Here it doesn’t.
Nice ‘n’ easy start of the week. Having now crosswords available interactively doesn’t seem to make a change yet to the number of commenters. Spread the news!