A fantastic puzzle from REDSHANK this Friday – needed some external help to augment my general knowledge but all in all, a thoroughly enjoyable solve. Much to like about this puzzle, including elegant surfaces and clever misdirections!
FF: 10 DD: 9
| Across | ||
| 1 | MISER | Economiser? Not half! (5) |
| half of econoMISER – didnt particularly like the clue, as it was hardly cryptic. | ||
| 4 | ANALGESIC | Obsessive is, say, back on drug – this one? (9) |
| ANAL (obsessive) [reverse of IS EG (say) ] C (drug) | ||
| 9 | MILLDAM | Retainer’s mother nursing sick daughter (7) |
| MAM (mother) containing [ILL (sick) D (daughter)] – new word for me but gettable from crossers / clue structure | ||
| 10 | DOSSIER | He sleeps rough, clutching current papers (7) |
| DOSSER (he sleeps rough) containing I (current) | ||
| 11 | CASH DISPENSER | Islamic judge securing quiet poet’s source of notes (4,9) |
| [ CADI (islamic judge) containing SH (quiet) ] SPENSER (poet) | ||
| 14 | ACNE | It worries adolescent, except oldest maybe (4) |
| AdolesCENt* (without letters of OLDEST) – neat clue !! | ||
| 15 | LEASEHOLD | All he does is bankrupt property (9) |
| ALL HE DOES* | ||
| 18 | ANHYDROUS | An American’s taken over spa with no water (9) |
| [ AN US (american) ] around HYDRO (spa) | ||
| 19 | HEBE | Evergreen shrub among the begonias (4) |
| hidden in “..tHE BEgonias” | ||
| 21 | HYPOCHONDRIAC | Phony chair doc arranged for him? (13) |
| PHONY CHAIR DOC* – nice surface! | ||
| 24 | ARBUTUS | Bush was popular but useless to some extent (7) |
| hidden in “..populAR BUT USeless..” | ||
| 26 | OROGENY | Outcome of smashing plates in one orgy possibly (7) |
| ONE OGY* – how mountains are formed; needed google to help with this. | ||
| 27 | ENTERITIS | Tube complaint? It is put on record (9) |
| ENTER (record) IT IS | ||
| 28 | FENCE | Old fellow avoids wrong dealer (5) |
| ofFENCE [ wrong, without O (old) F (fellow) ] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MIMI | Puccini’s seamstress repeated note (4) |
| from the opera la boheme | ||
| 2 | SILICON CHIP | Colin fiddled with his PC, installing one? (7,4) |
| semi &lit; COLIN HIS PIC* containing I (one) | ||
| 3 | RADISH | Girl spots wrapping for vegetable (6) |
| RASH (spots) around DI (girl) | ||
| 4 | ARMADILLO | What’s run over by learner in windy Lima road? (9) |
| L (learner) in LIMA ROAD* | ||
| 5 | ANDES | Chilean desert borders them (5) |
| hidden in “chileAN DESert ..” | ||
| 6 | GAS METER | Fuel tank lacks ordinary means of tapping it (3,5) |
| GAS (fuel) METEoR (tank, without O – ordinary; refers to the rolls royce meteor tank used in wwii) | ||
| 7 | SKI | What to do in Zürs, Kitzbühel etc (3) |
| hidden in “..zurS KItzbuhel..” | ||
| 8 | CARTRIDGES | They bring down 100 game birds, taking pressure off (10) |
| C (100) [pARTRIDGES (birds, without P – pressure) ] | ||
| 12 | SMOKESCREEN | Cover small donkey spied touring Cork regularly (11) |
| S (small) MOKE (donkey) [ SEEN (spied) around CoRk (regularly) ] | ||
| 13 | PARAPHRASE | Reword speech of soldier on stage carrying spear finally (10) |
| PARA (soldier) [ PHASE (stage) containing R (speaR, finally) ] | ||
| 16 | ASSIDUOUS | Hard-working Saudis everywhere love the FT (9) |
| SAUDIS* O (love) US (ft) | ||
| 17 | EDUCATOR | Teacher mounted offensive, engaging censor once (8) |
| EDUR (offensive = RUDE, reversed) containing CATO (censor; referring to cato the censor, a roman senator who lived from 234 bc to 149 bc); thanks to google. | ||
| 20 | TIP-OFF | Lead row across river (3-3) |
| TIFF (row) across PO (river) | ||
| 22 | ONSET | Start filming (5) |
| cryptic def; read as ON SET (~where one would start filming) | ||
| 23 | BYTE | Perhaps 8 25s? (4) |
| cryptic clue; 8 BITS (answer to 25d) make a byte in the language of computer data storage. misled by the 8 , where i was trying to make sense of CARTRIDGES BITS for the longest time ever .. | ||
| 25 | BIT | Sank teeth into fragment (3) |
| double def | ||
*anagram
I think 6d is simply ‘gasometer’ minus the ‘o’. I enjoyed this too so thans Redshank and Turbolgs.
I agree with Steven@1.
This following Puck in the Graun doubled the grin on my face.
What copmus said!
I read 6d as Steven and hovis did. My favourites today were 4, 14 and 15ac and 2dn.
Many thanks, as ever, to Redshank.
And thanks to Turbolegs, too, of course. [I usually put that first, ;- ]
I did wonder about the currency of CANE for the answer to 14A, PARAPHRASE and SILICON CHIP already in. That held me up for a while. My view overall was of fairly routine stuff.
Funny how different clues take us. MISER was actually my favourite: not hard, not very cryptic, but a neat little ‘&lit’ for the def, I thought. ACNE the same. I agree with the body-of-the-kirk view on GASoMETER but I think the Meteor Tank thing works quite as well though I’d never heard of it. Thanks to both.
Totally failed the SE corner due to entering BUCK for 23 down. Living in US, two bits is slang for a quarter, so 8 bits is a dollar (buck in slang) ! ugh!
Great puzzle today! Many thanks!
Thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs. I could not parse the meter in GAS METER and correctly guessed BYTE (my LOI) without understanding the clue. MILLDOM and OROGENY were new to me, though I could parse them. Still, an enjoyable solve.
Another lovely puzzle from Redshank.
The alter ego of this prolific setter that frequently comes up with a (semi) &lit or two. Today we had 14ac, 21ac and 2d.
There’s a lot to admire here but instead of highlighting the highlights, I want to say something about the clues that weren’t fully up my street.
The aforementioned 14ac only works perfectly well if there are two anagram indicators. So I would say ‘the answer’ [it] ‘worries’ ‘adolescent’ first before an anagram of ‘oldest’ [indicated by maybe] is subtracted.
I am with turbolegs (many thx for blogging) that 1ac is a bit meagre. I do see why Grant @7 likes it, though.
The only clue I found really disappointing was 23d. Yes, 8 bits are a BYTE but is there actually something cryptic going on here? Not for me.
All in all, good crossword – not exceptional, just what we expect from this setter [who is always above par].
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Enjoyed this over a couple of sittings. A few new terms for me to absorb – MILLDAM, ANHYDROUS, OROGENY, the two ski resorts in 7d and the two plants – HEBE and ARBUTUS.
MISER was my first in and a write in, but with trepidation, since you usually don’t get a gimme like that from this setter. Missed the hidden ANDES, just thinking that it was some sort of ‘not so cryptic’ definition.
I liked BYTE when I stopped thinking about what was in 8d.
Finished with the 13th row of ARBUTUS and OROGENY (needing all crossing letters for both).