There were a few rather rare words in this crossword which I won’t mention here since a passing observer won’t want them to be given away, but you will know what they are. However, they were all as usual fairly and well clued by Phi.
Definitions, underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
With Phi it tends to be obligatory to hunt for the Nina, since he so often has them. But of course I can’t see one; is this a Phi double-bluff, or simply what you usually get from me?
| Across | ||
| 1 | INSIGHT | Comprehension apparently soon to arrive? (7) |
| in sight — if something is in sight it is apparently about to appear | ||
| 5 | ROSEBUD | Hint of blossom came up – familiar? (7) |
| rose [= came up] bud [term for ‘friend’ or ‘familiar (noun)’ in US] | ||
| 9 | GREATCOAT | Worry, getting cold, with little money around – warm clothing required (9) |
| gr(eat c)oat | ||
| 10 | BOSCH | Artist offering nonsense about source of colour (5) |
| bos(c{olour})h — Hieronymus Bosch | ||
| 11 | TOPIC | Winner of photography contest showing no duplicate subject-matter (5) |
| top pic with no repetition of the p | ||
| 12 | LONG-FACED | Thrashed, having cuddled willing girlfriend, hence looking sad (4-5) |
| lac(on gf)ed — I didn’t know the gf abbreviation but it’s in Collins and Chambers | ||
| 14 | PINEAPPLE | Fruit tree beside which parish priest tucks into beer (9) |
| pine a(PP)le | ||
| 17 | RIATA | Cheers after recall of song line (5) |
| (air)rev. ta — a riata is an American term for a lariat | ||
| 18 | ROUGH | Harsh depression doing head in (5) |
| {t}rough | ||
| 19 | PARACLETE | Advocate soldier getting allowed into church (9) |
| para C(let)E —unusual word, but I knew that it was a word; this is what Collins says about it | ||
| 20 | CHOIRGIRL | Rich Gloria endlessly circulating from this singer (9) |
| (Rich Glori{a})* | ||
| 22 | ASPIC | Glazing very good in a Southern college (5) |
| a S (pi) C | ||
| 25 | USHER | American woman’s a character in Poe (5) |
| US her — I didn’t know the character in Poe personally, but since Poe wrote a book called ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ this seemed pretty plausible | ||
| 27 | CHECKMATE | Completion of game requires way to pay American friend (9) |
| check [American spelling of cheque] mate | ||
| 28 | EXPRESS | State railway system, in part? (7) |
| an express train is part of a railway system | ||
| 29 | THRILLS | Works in field about an hour – exciting stuff (7) |
| t(hr)ills | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | INGOT | Attempt to crack clue (not hard) for ‘bar’ (5) |
| {h}in(go)t | ||
| 2 | SHEEP | Followers quietly go uphill (5) |
| sh! (pee)rev. — is it my imagination or are we nowadays increasingly often seeing go = pee in crosswords? | ||
| 3 | GATECRASHER | Freeloader possibly rates charge misplaced (11) |
| (rates charge)* | ||
| 4 | TOODLE-PIP | Cheers Spooner’s suggestion for dog breeder (6-3) |
| Spooner would say “poodle tip” — I’m not absolutely sure where ‘breeder’ comes in | ||
| 5 | RAT ON | Betray part of city in Florida (3,2) |
| The city in Florida is Boca Raton — of which I’d never heard, thinking to begin with the clue was about Baton Rouge, but that’s in Louisiana anyway | ||
| 6 | SOB | American insult making you cry? (3) |
| S.O.B. — son of bitch | ||
| 7 | BASIC RATE | It’s a caber, tossed – no more than your civic duty (5,4) |
| (It’s a caber)* — cunning definition using the tax sense of duty | ||
| 8 | DEHYDRATE | He’d turned up late, turning up with vehicle finally dry (9) |
| (He’d)rev. (tardy)rev. {vehicl}e | ||
| 13 | FIRECRACKER | Get rid of safe worker? It’ll lead to an explosion (11) |
| fire cracker [the person who cracks safes] | ||
| 14 | PARACHUTE | People securing building after old man triggers escape mechanism (9) |
| Pa rac(hut)e | ||
| 15 | NEUROCHIP | Network item – Chopin waltzes – involving 26 getting upset (9) |
| Since 26 is RUE, this is (rue)rev. in (Chopin)* — a neurochip, of which I hadn’t heard really but it sounded vaguely familiar, is much what you’d expect | ||
| 16 | ENROLMENT | Chaps coming in to learn, confused after missing a preparation for course (9) |
| men in (to learn – a)* [Thanks Gwep@2] [later: no I was too happy to accept what Gwep was saying @2 and in fact my original version was correct; blog changed again] | ||
| 21 | INCUS | Suffers, after removal of right bone (5) |
| incu{r}s | ||
| 23 | PEARL | Jewel Queen received in a ring (5) |
| pea(R)l | ||
| 24 | CHESS | Boxes, losing bout finally? Here’s another game (5) |
| ches{t}s — I’m surprised that Phi didn’t somehow link this to 27ac, but perhaps he, like many people, is not fond of linked clues and one in a crossword (15dn) is his limit | ||
| 26 | RUE | Regret the European way (3) |
| rue is French for road | ||
*anagram
If Enigmatist was a black slope today, this was pleasantly blue with not a pangram in sight.
Thanks John and Phi.
Finished without too much trouble, except for some parsing – thanks for explaining LONG-FACED and PARACHUTE.
Typo in 16D – “to” is not part of the anagram fodder.
Thanks to Phi and John.
A few new/unusual words such as RIATA and NEUROCHIP kept me on my toes. I didn’t know what it meant, but I had heard of ‘Three Cheers for the PARACLETE’ a novel by Thomas Keneally, so fortunately that one went in pretty easily.
Seeing ROSEBUD made me wonder about a ‘Citizen Kane’ theme, but as I know little else about the film, I’m still in the dark I’m afraid.
I agree with your ‘go = pee’ comment at 2d. Almost the first ‘go’ synonym you think of these days.
Thanks to Phi and John.
A puzzle of two halves for me with the bottom half going in smoothly and the top putting up quite a fight.
I learnt a few new things along the way: 12a girlfriend abbreviation, 17a answer, 5d city, 15d answer.
All good fun. Thanks to Phi and John.
Indeed, some unfamiliar stuff here, but I found the wordplay relatively friendly and enjoyed the solve. Yes, setters frequently need to go/pee, but I’ve no complaints and liked the SHEEP.
Thanks Phi and John.
No theme or nina that we can see, but with Phi that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. We didn’t find this too difficult and got it all without help, only confirming RIATA in Chambers afterwards, and likewise the Florida city in an atlas. Favourite was PINEAPPLE for the delightful imagery of the surface.
Thanks, Phi and John.
This was my annual excursion into the odd corners of the Wellington on a Plate food festival (https://www.visawoap.com/), which features oddly named burgers, to wit, this year: Rosebud, Pineapple Express, Sheep Thrills, Gatecrasher and Firecracker.
There were 150+ others, with a surprising amount of candied bacon around.
Not a Nina you should expect to get, but it was fun building a grid around the two 11-letter ones.
New things learned along the way – 17&19a plus 15d and the ‘gf’ abbreviation.
Top two here were 6&14d.
One question – if the ‘TO’ is not included in the anagram fodder for 16d, where do the necessary extra letters come from?
Thanks to Phi and to John for the blog.
Good question jane @ 8. TO is essential.
Mea maxima culpa.