A puzzle from the Don himself this morning.
Apart from a couple of queries (28ac and 4/8 dn), this was an enjoyable, if somewhat straightforward, solve. A couple of chestnuts (CUBIT, eg) but in the main a crossword that a beginner would find useful. A little general knowledge may be required (sen, zebu, eg) but nothing is terribly obscure.
Thanks, Bradman.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DECAMPMENT | Detective grabs theatrical chaps making secret escape (10) |
| Det. (detective) grabs CAMP (“theatrical”) + MEN (“chaps”) | ||
| 7 | POLO | Horses are needed for this explorer (4) |
| Double definition, the first referring to the sport, the second to Marco Polo. | ||
| 9 | OPAL | Old china that is glittery with many colours (4) |
| O (old) + PAL (“china”) | ||
| 10 | SACRAMENTO | Escort a man abused in US city (10) |
| *(escort a man) | ||
| 11 | CRITIC | Judge starts to castigate rogue, getting one twitching (6) |
| [starts to] C(astigate) R(ogie) getting I (one) + TIC (“twitching”) | ||
| 12 | APOSTLES | Followers given job with drinks all round (8) |
| POST (“job”) with ALES (“drinks”) all round | ||
| 13 | CAMBODIA | Country river – help old boy to get back to it (8) |
| CAM (“river” in Eastern England) + <=AID O.B. (“help old boy”, to get back) | ||
| 15 | ORYX | Beast making comeback in sexy romance (4) |
| Hidden backwards [making comeback] in “seXY ROmance” | ||
| 17 | ORCA | Whale involved in major catastrophe (4) |
| Hidden [involved] in “majOR CAtastrophe” | ||
| 19 | IRONSIDE | Very brave man in club team (8) |
| IRON (golf “club”) + SIDE (“team”) | ||
| 22 | SEND DOWN | Bit of money, two old pence now chucked or put away (4,4) |
| SEN (“bit of money”) + D D (“two old pence”) + *(now)
A sen is a small coin in some South-East Asian countires, as well as being a former Japanese coin. |
||
| 23 | DECENT | At year’s end hospital department is in good order (6) |
| Dec. (December, so “year’s end”) + E.N.T. (“hospital department”) | ||
| 25 | OUT OF PLACE | Fat couple troubled about nothing seen as inappropriate (3,2,5) |
| *(fat couple) about O (“nothing”) | ||
| 26 | BEAD | Venerable man said to provide this aid to prayer? (4) |
| Homophone of [said to provide] BEDE | ||
| 27 | SKIM | Hastily read second novel by Kipling (4) |
| S (second) + KIM (“novel by Kipling”) | ||
| 28 | TAKE TO TASK | Provide a lift prior to work or lecture (4,2,4) |
| TAKE TO (“provde a lift”) prior to TASK (“work”)
I’m not sure this clue works or if my parsing is wrong here, as “take to” would be synonymous with “give a lift to”, but I can’t use the “to ” in the clue as it is part of “prior to”. See comment 1 for plausible parsing. |
||
| Down | ||
| 2 | EMPORIA | I am pro the termination of some dreadful stores (7) |
| *(i am pro E) where the E is the termination of (some)E | ||
| 3 | ALLOT | Give out set of books, missing out none of them (5) |
| ALL of the O.T. (Old Testament) (“set of books, missing out none of them”) | ||
| 4, 8 | POSTCODE LOTTERY | Address concern when provision depends on chance? (8,7) |
| POSTCODE (“address”) + LOTTERY (“concern”)
I can’t think of an example where “lottery” and “concern” are synonymous? |
||
| 5 | EXCLAMATION MARK | Oral exam – tick man off! (11,4) |
| *(oral exam tick man) | ||
| 6 | TEAPOT | One’s spouted at the meal table (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | PLENTEOUS | Being rich, one lets up foolishly (9) |
| *(one lets up) | ||
| 8 | See 4 | |
| 14 | BOARDROOM | Part of the company building is cleaner when Dora’s worked inside it (9) |
| BROOM (“cleaner”) with *(dora) inside it | ||
| 16 | ROWDIEST | Most raucous quarrel fades over time (8) |
| ROW (“quarrel”) + DIES (“fades”) over T (time) | ||
| 18 | ROEBUCK | Ox not unknown to get stuck in crag – or some other animal (7) |
| (z)EBU (“ox”, not unknown (z – think algebra)) to get stuck in ROCK (“crag”) | ||
| 20 | DENIALS | Rebuffs from Stormy Daniels? (7) |
| *(daniels) | ||
| 21 | POPPET | Sweet child – dad’s favourite (6) |
| POP (“dad”) + PET (“favourite”) | ||
| 24 | CUBIT | Length of old copper piece (5) |
| Cu (“copper) + BIT (“piece”) | ||
*anagram
Took me ages to get BEAD.
Wasn’t too concerned with 28a. If you are giving someone a lift to their place of work then you are taking them to task. It could then be argued “why include ‘prior’ in clue?”. Personally, I wouldn’t but, I guess, it’s there to emphasise that the lift is to, not from, work.
Wasted time on 18d seeing if REBUCK was a crag. Eventually realised the crag must be rock and so ox had to be zebu.
Thanks to Bradman and loonapick.
Thanks to Loonapick and Bradman
I think “concern” is part of the definition of “lottery”, with the whole clue referring to the entry. Typo with ZEBO (ZEBU)
I took “concern” to mean “business” and the lottery could be construed as one but not fully convinced.
I took 4,8 as a literal whole whereby, in the case of medical treatment for instance, you might have a concern because whether the treatment you require is available or not might depend upon where you live.
Thanks to Bradman and loonapick. Enjoyable. POSTCODE LOTTERY was new to me so once I got the solution I did not pursue “concern.” In recent puzzles I have come across COMMA and COLON, so to run into EXCLAMATION MARK (“point” in the US) adds to the collection. Maybe $ # @ % & *+ ; ‘ ” are yet to come.
ACD @ 5:
AMPERSAND was in Pan’s graun puzzle 27245, 10/7/17 and Bradman’s FT 15855, 11/5/18, and HASHTAG in Nutmeg’s graun 26970, 23/8/16 and Loglady’s IoS 1478, 24/6/18. There may be other instances, of course.
Quite easy, LOI POLO,remember him from history lesson when l was in std 5 in 1976.
Thanks Bradman and loonapick
Finished the puzzle a little quicker than normal for this setter. Was familiar with the ‘Venerable Bede’, so 26a was an early entry.
POSTCODE LOTTERY did not jump out at me, even after getting the POSTCODE bit, but the term did resonate when I looked it up. It was the third to last in – followed by PLENTEOUS (which was determined purely from the anagram fodder and confirmed later) with POLO the last in (and in retrospect shouldn’t have been).
Zebu was new to me, and plenteous isn’t part of my normal vocab. Otherwise a quick and pleasant solve. Thanks to setter and blogger.
‘Plenteous Grace with thee is found/Grace to cover all my sin’ from ‘Jesu, lover of my soul’ by Charles Wesley were Colin Dexter’s favourite hymn lines and were sung at his memorial service in Oxford in April.