A satisfying Monday challenge from Alchemi.
A few obscure words and names, and one slightly loose definition, but the wordplay in all cases is clear enough. Some elegantly concise clues and amusing / imaginative surfaces.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DETRACTS | Makes less of having begun to hold Charlie back (8) |
| STARTED (begun), holding C (Charlie in radio alphabet), backwards. | ||
| 5 | MADCAP | Eccentric American duck oddly included in plan (6) |
| A[merican] + D[u]C[k] (odd letters), included in MAP. | ||
| 9 | SHELVING | Woman, 56, finally on song, holding back for now (8) |
| SHE + LVI (56 in Roman numerals) + last letters of [o]N [son]G. Shelve (verb) = postpone. | ||
| 10 | ULSTER | Coat brings strange result (6) |
| Anagram (strange) of RESULT, or “a long loose overcoat” (Chambers). | ||
| 12 | ODOUR | Smell nothing grim (5) |
| O (zero) + DOUR. | ||
| 13 | WATERSHED | Gathering of waders the turning-point (9) |
| Anagram (gathering) of WADERS THE. | ||
| 14 | UNLESS | In case large body gets smaller (6) |
| UN (United Nations, a large body) + LESS. I’m not convinced by the definition: “in case” suggests “if it happens”, and “unless” suggests “if it doesn’t happen”, so they aren’t quite equivalent. But it’s an elegant surface. | ||
| 15 | RESORTS | Turns to finding gold during breaks (7) |
| OR (heraldic term for gold) in (during) RESTS (breaks). | ||
| 17 | TOM | Cat misses point of book (3) |
| TOME (book), missing the compass-point E[ast]. | ||
| 18 | HOOKAHS | Catch has bent pipes (7) |
| HOOK (catch) + anagram (bent) of HAS. | ||
| 20 | INVENT | Make things up during emotional outburst (6) |
| IN (during) + VENT (let out emotions). | ||
| 23 | REMAINDER | Mean rider upset the rest (9) |
| Anagram (upset) of MEAN RIDER. | ||
| 24 | ETHER | Alien female’s number (5) |
| ET (the crossword compiler’s favourite alien) + SHE. Number as in something that numbs = an anaesthetic. | ||
| 25 | OBSESS | Be preoccupied about manager losing head over complaint (6) |
| [b]OSS (manager losing first letter) around (over) BSE (complaint as in illness). | ||
| 26 | FIREARMS | Companies lug in weapons (8) |
| FIRMS (companies) with EAR (lug) inserted. | ||
| 28 | MACRON | In France, my car accident blocks the president (6) |
| MON (French masculine singular form of “my”), with an anagram (accident) of CAR blocking it. “In France” applies to “my”, but also helps to indicate “the president”. | ||
| 29 | OERSTEDS | Disturbed rest does for science units (8) |
| Anagram (disturbed) of REST DOES. Oersted is a unit of magnetic field strength. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DESPOT | Authoritarian period especially constrained (6) |
| DOT (period = full stop at the end of a sentence), containing ESP[ecially]. Authoritarian (noun) = tyrant. | ||
| 2 | THE SOUND OF MUSIC | Shout “I’m confused!”, inappropriate for film (3,5,2,5) |
| A wonderful anagram (inappropriate) of SHOUT I’M CONFUSED. Bonus points for using “confused” as the fodder instead of the anagram indicator. | ||
| 3 | ADVERSE | Unfavourable followers of chapter expelling knight (7) |
| AND VERSE (followers of chapter as in “chapter and verse”), removing N (knight in chess notation). | ||
| 4 | TAN | Function to make leather (3) |
| Double definition: Tangent (mathematical function), or to tan a hide. | ||
| 6 | ALLURES | Seduces every one of the engineers in America (7) |
| ALL (every one) + RE (Royal Engineers) in US. Great surface too. | ||
| 7 | CATCHER IN THE RYE | Book pet singer hypothetically to drop round with drug (7,2,3,3) |
| CAT (pet) + CHER (singer) + IN THEORY (hypothetically) dropping the O (round) + E[cstasy] (drug). The novel by J D Salinger. | ||
| 8 | PARODIST | Normal poet one takes off (8) |
| PAR (normal as in golf scoring) + ODIST (a writer of odes, according to Chambers, though I suspect the word is more useful to crossword compilers than to anyone else). Take off = imitate for comic effect. | ||
| 11 | STORMIER | Decay infesting French city on the rise in deteriorating weather (8) |
| ROT (decay) inside (infesting) REIMS (also spelled Rheims, city in NE France), all “on the rise” (upwards in a down clue). | ||
| 13 | WEST SIDE | Sets out extra covering for musical story (4,4) |
| WIDE (an “extra” in cricket) covering an anagram (out) of SETS. Bernstein’s West Side Story. | ||
| 16 | KHARTOUM | City announces where they buried Clio? (8) |
| Announces (sounds like) CAR TOMB, which might be the last resting place of a Renault Clio. | ||
| 19 | ARIOSTO | Impresario stops hiding old poet (7) |
| Hidden answer in impresARIO STOps. Ludovico Ariosto, Italian Renaissance poet. | ||
| 21 | VIEWERS | Partners stop competitors being spectators (7) |
| E[ast] and W[est] (bridge partners), inserted into (stopping) VIERS (competitors, who vie with one another). Another elegant surface. | ||
| 22 | PRISES | Pressure increases forces (6) |
| P[ressure] RISES. Prise = to separate by force. | ||
| 27 | IRE | Passion kept hidden in Cirencester (3) |
| Hidden answer in cIREncester. Anger rather than the usual sort of passion. | ||
Much enjoyed this. Meeting a new old poet didn’t pose a problem, and was only help up a little by the ADVERSE SHELVING.
Smiled at the surface of ALLURES, and as an ailurophile, always happy to see a couple of felines.
Thanks Alchemi and Quirister.
A nice steady solve with nothing too taxing – just right for a Monday. Our favourite was ADVERSE – most ingenious.
Thanks, alchemi and Quirister.
Very enjoyable Monday solve. Runaway favourite was 7 down. I kept rereading the sentence and smiled every time.
A lovely start to a cold Monday morning. 3d was my favourite.
Many thanks to Alchemi and to Quirister.
RD @4. Oops. It’s Tuesday! That’s what having been away for a long weekend and being retired does for you!