Tough for a Tueday, I thought, but fair and satisfying in the end.
I’m back in harness afrer a short break and I might be a bit rusty, but I found this a challenge by normal Tuesady FT standards. Not complaining, just saying. Thanks to Sleuth: enjoyed it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | APPOSITE | A very quiet old location for fitting (8) |
| A + PP (musically = pianissimo, ’very quiet’) + O[ld] + SITE (‘location’). | ||
| 5 | OBJECT | End part of a sentence (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 9 | DETAILED | Exhaustive conclusion in legal document (8) |
| TAIL (‘conclusion’) in DEED (‘legal document’). | ||
| 10 | STAYER | Celebrity hoarding a lot of currency is durable figure (6) |
| STAR (‘celebrity’) contains YEn (the majority of the Japanese ‘currency’). | ||
| 12 | CATEGORIC | Pet, say, on lead for exercise excited corgi? That’s positive (9) |
| CAT (‘pet’) + EG (‘say’) + E (leading letter of Excercise) + GORIC (= anagram – ‘excited’ – of CORGI). Hardworking clue. | ||
| 13 | OCTET | Note in autumn period musical group (5) |
| TE (7th ‘note’ of the sol-fa scale) in OCT[ober], an ‘autumn period’. | ||
| 14 | FILM | Thin layer in art form (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 16 | WASSAIL | On reflection, noticed son facing trouble in drinking bout (7) |
| Reversal (‘on reflecion’) of SAW (‘noticed’) then S[on] + AIL (‘trouble’). | ||
| 19 | MYANMAR | Chap touring yard with damage in Asian country (7) |
| MAN around Y[ard] + MAR (‘damage’) for another of those oriental places to whose new names we have to become accustomed. | ||
| 21 | COPE | Manage croupier on a regular basis (4) |
| Alternate letters (‘on a regular basis’) of ‘CrOuPiEr’. | ||
| 24 | SPEED | Heartfelt source of sorrow recalled in dispatch (5) |
| Reversal of DEEP (‘heartfelt’) and 1st letter of ’Sorrow”. | ||
| 25 | CASHPOINT | Charlie remains with purpose as source of money (9) |
| C[harlie] + ASH (‘remains’) + POINT (‘purpose’). | ||
| 27 | IN-TRAY | Shade without initial evidence of sun – a feature of office life? (2-4) |
| tINT (‘shade’ without first letter) + RAY (‘evidence of sun’). | ||
| 28 | MACAROON | Marks a tin containing a limited space for biscuit (8) |
| M[arks] + A + CAN (‘tin’) around ROOm (‘space’, shortened or ‘limited’). Another cog-winder, as my Grandad would have said. | ||
| 29 | GEYSER | Old bloke, it’s said, one that lets off steam (6) |
| Homophone (‘it’s said’) of GEEZER (’old bloke’). Actually, I’d dispute the ‘old‘ bit. Certainly true in America but over here a ‘geezer’ is still any kind of bloke, diamond or otherwise. | ||
| 30 | ADVOCATE | Support about to be found in commercial poll (8) |
| C[irc]A (‘about’) in AD (‘commercial’) + VOTE (‘poll’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ABDUCT | Take away a book on French aristocrat over time (6) |
| A + B[ook] above DUC (‘French aristocrat’) & T[ime]. | ||
| 2 | POTATO | Layabout turned up in spot at opera (6) |
| Reversed (‘turned up’) inclusion in ’spOT AT OPera’. As it happens, the ‘turned up’ is unnecessary to the clue if you look closely. | ||
| 3 | SLING | Toss medical support (5) |
| Double def. | ||
| 4 | THEOREM | Sympathetic expression by Mike about round proposition (7) |
| THERE (‘sympathetic expression’, more commonly ‘there, there’) + M[ike] surround ‘O’ (a ‘round’). | ||
| 6 | BOTTOMS UP | Something cheeky with drink in a toast (7,2) |
| BOTTOM (a thing with 2 cheeks) + SUP (‘drink’). | ||
| 7 | EGYPTIAN | Type in outskirts of Giza possibly? (8) |
| Anagram (‘possibly’) of TYPE IN plus ‘outskirts’ of ‘GizA’, and whole-clue def. | ||
| 8 | THROTTLE | Excessive line restrained by trio almost in silence (8) |
| OTT (‘excessive’) contained in ’THREe’ (‘trio, almost’). ‘Silence’ as verb, natch. | ||
| 11 | SCOW | Bosun’s heart is with lower flat- bottomed boat (4) |
| ’Heart’ of ‘boSun’ + COW (one which ‘loweth’). | ||
| 15 | IMMEDIATE | Direct broadcasting etc in turbulent time (9) |
| MEDIA (‘broadcasting etc’) in anagram (‘turbulent’) of TIME. | ||
| 17 | SMASHING | Excellent feature of tennis? (8) |
| DD. | ||
| 18 | TAPESTRY | Sample after records ornamental textile (8) |
| TRY (to ‘sample’) after TAPES (‘records’). | ||
| 20 | ROCK | Stagger very loyal person (4) |
| Another double def. | ||
| 21 | CUSTARD | American sailor in Washington held up accompaniment for dessert (7) |
| US TAR in Washington DC (reversed). | ||
| 22 | MIMOSA | Suspect aims about working method in plant (6) |
| Anagram (‘suspect’) of AIMS around M[ethod] of O[peration]. | ||
| 23 | STANCE | Attitude adopted among finest ancestors (6) |
| Inclusion in ‘fineST ANCestors. | ||
| 26 | PIANO | Greek character with a number quietly in bars (5) |
| PI (‘Greek character’) + A + NO (‘number’) for instruction to play quietly in written music (‘in bars’, of course). | ||
*anagram
Straightforward for me. Liked POTATO best. Could not find a reasonable meaning for the surface at 18D. Good variety and fun. Many thanks.
Found this mostly straightforward but a few held me up.
Note that EGYPTIAN is ‘a square slab serif’ type.
Thanks to Sleuth and GB.
Thanks Sleuth and Grant (welcome back)
Didn’t have too many problems in filling the grid. Did have two that I didn’t parse fully – EGYPTIAN (thought it was a weak cryptic definition – not seeing the anagram not knowing the typeface!) and IN-TRAY (where I didn’t see ‘tint’).
Knew of a couch POTATO as an inactive person but not POTATO by itself.
Finished in the SW corner with TAPESTRY, IN-TRAY and SPEED the last few in.
Thanks to Sleuth and Grant. I needed help parsing IN-TRAY (I missed the (t)int) but otherwise proceeded smoothly. Re CATEGORIC, there’s an extra E in the blog (the eg is not needed – as I read it, it’s linked to “pet” as example of cat).
Thanks Sleuth and GB
BobS @ 1: how about “First sample records plain cloth, sample after records ornamental textile”?