Some Monday morning fun from JASON
We hope you all had a very happy Easter!
Teacow this week are split between South Africa (weather – bleak) and Hong Kong (weather – lovely and sunny), which made our usual joint solve a little more interesting. Also, due to an online format change, the blogging tool had problems recognising the grid. So, apologies if this is a tad late.
Thought 5d was nice, 28a a bit of a struggle, and, oddly, 22a was LOI.
Thanks JASON!
Across
1 Stifling in the way of local news? About right (8)
TROPICAL
TOPICAL (in the way of local news) + R (about right)
6 Nut starting to crumble when cut (6)
CASHEW
C[rumble] (starting to) + AS (when) + HEW (cut)
9 Stick trailer in this place (6)
ADHERE
AD (trailer, like a movie trailer) + HERE (in this place)
10 Chief sin, perhaps (8)
CARDINAL
Double Definition
11 Stingy bloke whipping last of these (4)
MEAN
MAN (bloke) + [these]E (last of)
12 Strong belief in iconic TV with no changes (10)
CONVICTION
(ICONIC TV + NO)* (*changes)
14 Gent is sashaying about taking in church art (8)
ETCHINGS
(GENT IS)* (*sashaying) around (taking in) [CH]urch
16 Can over go west here? (4)
OVAL
(LAV (can, toilet) + O (over))< (go west) &lit
18 Stylish and swanky hotel hiding an advantage (4)
PLUS
PLUS[h] (stylish and swanky, lacking (hiding) H (hotel))
19 Othello, say, facing yonks in places to lie up (8)
MOORAGES
MOOR (Othello, shakespeare character) + AGES (yonks)
21 Shock of age nags racers (10)
GREYHOUNDS
GREY (shock of age) + HOUNDS (nags)
22 Catch hoodie’s head on lug (4)
HEAR
H[oodie] (head) + EAR (lug)
24 Devious sappers in charge (8)
INDIRECT
RE (sappers) in INDICT (charge)
26 Coroner recruits dogs (6)
CORGIS
COR (coroner) + GIS (recruits)
27 Modern European Community in split (6)
RECENT
EC (European Community) in RENT (split)
28 Poems run out by Auden modifying ten (8)
RONDEAUX
RO (run out) + (AUDEN)* (*modifying) + X (ten)
Down
2 Cycle round grand high spot (5)
RIDGE
RIDE (cycle) round G (grand)
3 Airline food, I guess, gives false hope (3,2,3,3)
PIE IN THE SKY
Double definition
4 Growing tips of China rose effuse perfume (8)
CRESCENT
C[hina] R[ose] E[ffuse] (tips) + SCENT (perfume)
5 Hard Scotsmen (loners) failing to find this (4,4,7)
LOCH NESS MONSTER
(H (hard) SCOTSMEN LONERS)* (*failing)
6 Actor, a rat, to settle up (6)
CURTIS
CUR (rat) + (SIT (settle))< (up)
7 Runner is bound to lose power (3)
SKI
SKI[p] (bound, losing P (POWER))
8 Pack up old duty being fussy (9)
ELABORATE
(BALE (pack))< (up) + O (old) + RATE (duty)
13 Cause of corruption or the beginning of the end for Paris and co? (6,5)
TROJAN HORSE
Double definition
15 Spaniard’s cry cleaving unaware state’s fortitude (9)
TOLERANCE
OLE (Spaniard’s cry) cleaving TRANCE (unaware)
17 I’m amazed! Such an islander (8)
CORSICAN
COR (I’m amazed) + SIC (such) + AN
20 Blunt edges start to tear (6)
HONEST
HONES (edges) + T[ear] (start)
23 Macron’s farewell to end in Australia (5)
ADIEU
DIE (to end) in AU (Australia)
25 Fury that is about Republican (3)
IRE
IE (that is) about R (republican)
Good Monday morning fun, as you say. For me, the stand out clue was the wonderful anagram for 5d. OVAL was my last one in and was another beaut. Thanks to Jason and Teacow.
Defeated by the surface for OVAL and couldn’t bring the ‘Actor’ to mind, despite having seen ‘Some Like It Hot’ recently. The ‘Shock of age’ was good and is something I can (reluctantly) identify with.
I wondered if TROJAN HORSE might indicate a little Easter egg in the grid, but nothing that I can see.
Thanks to Jason and Teacow.
Thanks to Jason and Teacow. I struggled with PLUS and OVAL (my LOI) and with the NE corner (until I got CURTIS) but I much enjoyed this puzzle.
Can someone explain the non-cryptic portion of 16a? I get “(LAV (can, toilet) + O (over)” but not “(go west) &lit”
Hi Alex. The “go west” part was to explain why “LAV O” should be read backwards – i.e. from east to west/right to left. The “&lit” meant that the whole clue defines OVAL, the cricket ground – where an over could possibly go west. Sorry, we would have explained that better in the blog had we not been so pushed for time yesterday.
Thanks Teacow. That’s the first answer I haven’t immediately understood reading this blog so you aren’t doing too badly!
Thanks Jason and Teacow
A harder than normal puzzle from this setter for mine. It brought about two errors – with CURTIS and OVAL – had an unparsed CARRIE and OBAN – so really messed up that NE corner.
A lot of good clues throughout, including the ones that I got wrong. Favourites were the anagram to make the LOCH NESS MONSTER, the construction of RONDEAUX and ‘shock of age’ at 21a.