A milder than usual puzzle from Loroso but no less entertaining. Thanks Loroso.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PERIAPTS | Revolting course of action, stealing two amulets (8) |
| STEP (course of action) contains (stealing) PAIR (two) all reversed (revolting) – a new word for me | ||
| 6 | FOREST | Starts to follow then support Nottingham? (6) |
| FOllow (starts to, first letters of) then REST (support) – Nottingham Forest perhaps, definition by example | ||
| 9 | BISTRO | Writer wants way to open restaurant (6) |
| BIRO (a pen, writer) contains (wants…to open) ST (street, a way) | ||
| 10 | RUN A MILE | Flee from single bloke turning into judge (3,1,4) |
| I (a single) MAN (bloke) reversed (turning) all inside (into) RULE (judge) | ||
| 11 | STAR | Brilliant opening, but not closing (4) |
| STARt (opening) missing last letter (but not closing) | ||
| 12 | PATISSERIE | Are its pies fancy? (10) |
| anagram (fancy) of ARE ITS PIES | ||
| 14 | BEHEMOTH | If he’s drawn to light he’s a monster (8) |
| BE HE MOTH (if he is a moth, if he is drawn to light) | ||
| 16, 18 | HARD CASH | Unlikely to give money? (4,4) |
| cryptic definition – if this money is hard it will not bend (give) | ||
| 19 | HOEDOWNS | More than one dance show done badly (8) |
| anagram (badly) of SHOW DONE | ||
| 21 | DEAD LETTER | Postal item not delivered late? (4,6) |
| if something is dead then it can be spoken of as “late” | ||
| 22 | OATH | Love’s a – mostly the – four- letter word (4) |
| O (love zero score) has A and THe (mostly) | ||
| 24 | FLAMBEAU | Following short, weak lover, held torch (8) |
| F (following) LAMe (weak, short) and BEAU (lover) | ||
| 26 | IRITIS | Seeing problem with current British clearing banks (6) |
| I (current, electrical symbol) and rRITISh missing the outside letters (clearing banks, sides of) | ||
| 27 | IDIOCY | One officer occupying self- assembly folly (6) |
| I (one) then OC (officer in charge) inside (occupying) DIY (self-assembly) | ||
| 28 | HERITAGE | Past I identify in present (8) |
| I TAG (identify) in HERE (present) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | EDICT | English detective wants court order (5) |
| E (English) DI (Detective Inspector) with CT (court) | ||
| 3 | INTERMESHED | From denim, there’s pants woven together (11) |
| anagram (pants, in a bad way) DEMIN THERE’S | ||
| 4 | POOH-POOH | Rubbish baskets overturned (4-4) |
| HOOP (basket, in basketball) twice, reversed (overturned) | ||
| 5 | STRETCH THE TRUTH | Colour in drawing? (7,3,5) |
| to draw is to pull, change the truth by drawing it | ||
| 6 | FINISH | Curtains sort of OK? (6) |
| FINISH read as fine-ish (sort of OK) | ||
| 7 | RAM | Pack your amazing sandwiches (3) |
| found inside (sandwiched by) youR AMazing | ||
| 8 | SOLDIER ON | Wise man, about to snuff it, right to persevere (7,2) |
| SOLON a wise man) contains (about) DIE (to snuff it) R (right) | ||
| 13 | ETHNOLOGIST | I study people on the move – see the idea? (11) |
| anagram (move) of ON THE then LO (see) and GIST (the idea) | ||
| 15 | ENAMELLED | Protected online identity beginning to look a little light (9) |
| E (online, eg e-commerce) NAME (identity) Look (beginning, first letter of) and LED (light emitting diode, a little light) – LEDs are typically much smaller than the equivalent traditional lamp | ||
| 17 | HEARTIER | On stage, try to be more enthusiastic (8) |
| TIER (stage) underneath (having…on) HEAR (try, in court) | ||
| 20 | HERESY | I give you a variable sort of free-thinking (6) |
| HERE’S (I give you) and Y (a variable, maths) | ||
| 23 | THING | Feeble good deed? (5) |
| THIN (feeble) G (good) – Chambers has “action” as one definition for thing, which is close enough to deed IMO | ||
| 25 | MOO | Without river, raised piece of land is low (3) |
| MOOr (raised piece of land) missing R (river) – moo like a cow | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Yes, a bit gentler than some others from this setter, but still enjoyable and with plenty to keep the solver thinking.
Didn’t know PERIAPTS, and missed the parsing for DEAD LETTER (is the whole clue the def.?-maybe not really) and STRETCH THE TRUTH which I just guessed and still don’t really get. Bunged in HARD CASH without understanding the ‘Unlikely to give’ wordplay – v. clever.
I’ll go for HERESY and PATISSERIE as my picks of the day.
Thanks to Loroso and PeeDee
Thanks PeeDee, Loroso
Certainly easier than usual, and I even thought I would finish, but defeated by PERIAPTS. I liked BEHEMOTH, IRITIS, POOH-POOH and HARD CASH.
DEAD LETTER was easy enough, but I can’t see how the clue is meant to be read. In 5d, I took drawing to mean describing, with the whole clue as a CD meaning ‘add colour to your description’. I don’t think ‘from’ is part of the definition of RUN A MILE.
I read both STRETCH THE TRUTH and DEAD LETTER in the same way, you get a definition followed by some additional information that enhances and confirms that definition. The additional information also provides a red herring: when read literally it completes the surface and leads you in the wrong direction; when read cryptically it reveals where the definition really lies and shows the right direction.
Yes, I think that must be right. Stretch/draw can’t be ignored and colour is sufficient as a definition. HARD CASH is the same. I think where DEAD LETTER was causing me trouble was in linking ‘not’ and ‘late’, but it’s (not delivered) late, not not (delivered late).
Easier than ‘usual’ for a Loroso but still a ‘Loroso’ level of enjoyment and trickiness throughout.
Thanks to him and to PeeDee too
What crypticsue said.
My favourites were IRITIS and the &lit PATISSERIE.
Very enjoyable thank loroso,
Nice to be able to complete and parse everything.
My mind read 5d as “colour in” as a kinda of def and “drawing?” as qualifier to give you stretching making it a cd, not suggesting that’s right.
Never heard of the amulets – good thing I started with 7d.
As always, love the concise clues, 4d brilliant, the whole puzzle exudes class.
And thank you for the usual excellent blog PeeDee
Thanks to Loroso and PeeDee. PERIAPTS defeated me and I’m still puzzled by HARD CASH, but I enjoyed the exercise.
ACD @8, I think it might help if you imagine hyphens in unlikely-to-give, so that it becomes adjectival.
Thought IRITIS had a clever way of indicating first and last deletions. Also reminded me of the current TSB debacle, despite it not being one of the clearing banks.
Thanks to PeeDee & Loroso.
Late to the party – thanks for the lovely blog PeeDee and to all for your kind comments. Glad it was found to be reasonably gentle!
There is a very modest grid feature if ahyone wants to look for it.
Thanks Loroso & PeeDee.
I thought that late (21 across) and snuff it (8 down) suggested a mini-theme of death, so, given the crossers, curtains (6 down) gave FINISH without further analysis.
Loroso @10, I wondered why I had the urge to listen to Steps while I was solving it. Two big ones each surrounded by four little ones? (And your typo was deliberate?)
Well spotted Nila!
😀 I bet Harry Hoskins liked it.
Wanderer has also been motivated by the typographical feature of this grid in two recent FT puzzles.
They do say it’s very addictive.
Thanks Loroso and PeeDee
Mustn’t have taken by brain pills before doing this one … it took longer than my usual FT solve time to do – across 3-4 sittings.
Didn’t spot the ‘unlikely to give’ = HARD which is quite good when explained. Didn’t really like the clues 5d or 21a, but they didn’t get in the way of solving them.
The rest of the puzzle was a sheer joy with a wide variety of devices to keep one on one’s toes.
Finished with that STRETCH THE TRUTH, FLAMBEAU and HERESY as the last few in.