Good Monday puzzle from Armonie.
No surprises – a good Monday puzzle with a nice mix of clues. Thanks Armonie!
Across
1 Quarter fruit in a dignified way (6)
SEDATE
SE (quarter) + DATE (fruit)
4 Charles ruled and had a laugh (8)
CHUCKLED
CHUCK (Charles) + LED (ruled)
9 Composer holds accountant is mysterious (6)
ARCANE
ARNE (composer) holds CA (accountant)
10 Searches for drink with Mike a long time (8)
RUMMAGES
RUM (drink) + M (Mike) + AGES (a long time)
12 Find fault with food fish (4)
CARP
Double definition
13 Moving missive means nothing to landlord (4,6)
LOVE LETTER
LOVE (nothing) + LETTER (landlord)
15 Parmesan’s not unusual in Paris (12)
MONTPARNASSE
(PARMESAN’S NOT)* (*unusual)
18 Game Chinese gangs put together – they fix locks (7,5)
CURLING TONGS
CURLING (game) + TONGS (Chinese gang)
21 Genuine couple’s real estate (10)
PROPERTIES
PROPER (genuine) + TIES (couples)
22 Satisfactory penalty (4)
FINE
Double definition
24 Making an erotic collage (8)
CREATION
(AN EROTIC)* (*collage)
25 Sissy departed after officer’s hostility (6)
COWARD
CO (officer) + WAR (hostility) + D (departed)
26 Film director makes a hit about southern Spain (8)
SCORSESE
SCORES (makes a hit) about S (southern) + E (Spain)
27 Scold daughter for being clever (6)
SHREWD
SHREW (scold) + D (daughter)
Down
1 I don’t know saucy maiden in court (6,2)
SEARCH ME
ARCH (saucy) + M (maiden) in SEE (court)
2 Set of beliefs developed on credit (8)
DOCTRINE
(ON CREDIT)* (*developed)
3 Shelter oriental caught in explosive situation (4)
TENT
E (oriental, east) caught in TNT (explosive situation)
5 Craftsman is to take in rope (5,7)
HOUSE PAINTER
HOUSE (to take in) + PAINTER (rope)
6 Writer settled in advance to make amends (10)
COMPENSATE
PEN (writer) + SAT (settled) in COME (advance)
7 The French have opening for ambassador (6)
LEGATE
LE (the French) + GATE (opening)
8 Rested awkwardly in place of solitude (6)
DESERT
(RESTED)* (*awkwardly)
11 Company man gets family members in associations (12)
CORRELATIONS
CO (company) + R (man, rook in chess) gets RELATIONS (family members)
14 Record allowed set-up to adopt gold embellishments on uniform (10)
EPAULETTES
EP (record) + LET (allowed) + SET< (up) to adopt AU (gold)
16 Imagine vines that are twisted with maturity (8)
ENVISAGE
(VINES)* (*twisted) with AGE (maturity)
17 Rose, like Charlie, has finished (8)
ASCENDED
AS (like) + C (Charlie) has ENDED (finished)
19 Areas for small steps (6)
SPACES
S (small) + PACES (steps)
20 Shown the way in, as well, in Spain (6)
TOLEDO
LED (shown the way) in TOO (as well)
23 Officer’s hard weapon (4)
COSH
COS (officers) + H (hard)
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
A pretty straightforward solve to ease into the week with only MONTPARNASSE requiring a look up check. Was stumped with the first R in CORRELATION for a little while until I remembered who the setter was and his penchant for using ‘man’ for any of the chess pieces.
Finished in the NW corner with DOCTRINE, SEDATE and SEARCH ME as the last few in.
A pleasant solve with a fair few clues needing a bit of thought. It did seem a bit clumsy to have CO for ‘officer’ in crossing clues, 25a, 23d. Admittedly, in 25a, ‘officer’s’ has to be read as ‘officer has’ in the cryptic reading to account for the missing S in the answer.
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow.
Good puzzle today however did have to come here to complete the grid.
Could someone please help me understand the connection between Arch and Saucy in 1d?
Good puzzle today however did have to come here to complete the grid.
Could someone please help me understand the connection between Arch and Saucy in 1 down?
Hi Gregoire
In Collins online dictionary , it has:
arch: playfully or affectedly roguish or mischievous.
That could be defined as saucy
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. An enjoyable Monday puzzle. I was surprised that ‘led” turned up twice (4ac, 20d). I took a while spotting the “house” in HOUSE PAINTER, and LOVE LETTER was my LOI.