Another thoroughly enjoyable offering from Vigo.
Nothing much to complain about and the surface meanings were excellent. I couldn’t quite work out the parsing of 20 down, but I’m probably misreading it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HEALTH | Fitness of line in open ground (6) |
| L(ine) in heath | ||
| 4 | MILLPOND | Record about to be set in calm body of water (8) |
| LP + on in mild. A millpond is proverbially calm, although the calm here isn’t part of the def. | ||
| 10 | RIDGEBACK | Canine riding in modified drag bike is dog from Southern Africa (9) |
| Seems to be c(anine) in (drag bike)*, although I’ve not seen the abbrev before | ||
| 11 | GIANT | Two soldiers getting monster (5) |
| GI + ant | ||
| 12 | UREA | Number one ingredient in office lacking boundaries (4) |
| [B]urea[u] | ||
| 13 | SCRIPTURES | Curses about including short death notice with first of this collection of sacred writings (10) |
| Curses* around RIP + t[his] | ||
| 15 | EASTERN | Oriental flower in middle of Battenberg (7) |
| Aster in middle two letters on battENberg | ||
| 16 | GOOGOL | A large number try returning small design (6) |
| Go + logo<. Googol is 1 followed by a hundred zeroes, a term invented by the nephew of a US mathematician. | ||
| 19 | BELONG | Live with desire to fit in (6) |
| Be + long | ||
| 21 | SASHIMI | Elite troops greeting Military Intelligence find something fishy (7) |
| SAS + hi + MI (the abbrev which gives rise to MI5 and MI6) | ||
| 23 | OAFISHNESS | Old American swimmer hitting head displays clumsiness (10) |
| O(ld) A(merican) fish + ness (a headland) | ||
| 25 | TERN | Bird act for the audience (4) |
| Hom. of turn | ||
| 27 | DECAF | Dealt with returning coffee with something lacking (5) |
| Faced< | ||
| 28 | SYMMETRIC | Emits cry wildly embracing male that’s well-proportioned (9) |
| (Emits cry)* around m(ale) | ||
| 29 | RESTLESS | Agitated way the French ship goes after engineers (8) |
| St(reet) + le + SS after RE | ||
| 30 | STABLE | Durable animal shelter (6) |
| DD, ref to horse stable. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HERCULES | Woman’s cryptic clues for divine hero (8) |
| Her + clues* | ||
| 2 | ADDRESSEE | One receiving letter from a Dutch groom on drugs (9) |
| A D(utch) dress(=groom in a verb sense) + two Es | ||
| 3 | TREK | Initially told rebellious, entitled kids to take a hike (4) |
| Initial letters of t(old) r(ebellious) e(ntitled) k(ids) | ||
| 5 | INKLING | Popular leader embracing left causes suspicion (7) |
| In king around l(eft) | ||
| 6 | LIGHTHOUSE | Amusing part of the zodiac is one that provides guidance for those at sea (10) |
| Light (as in light entertainment etc) + house (one of twelve divisions of the Zodiac) | ||
| 7 | ON AIR | Broadcasting revolutionary elements of vegetarian option (2,3) |
| Hidden, rev in vegetaRIAN Option | ||
| 8 | DETEST | Loathe handiest fellow leaving (6) |
| De[f]test | ||
| 9 | FALCON | Short trip to study bird (6) |
| Fal[l]) + con | ||
| 14 | REMORSEFUL | Sorry about detective foully dismissing alternate characters (10) |
| Re + Morse + odd letters of FoUlLy | ||
| 17 | OLIVE DRAB | Ban demon duck rising in shade (5,4) |
| (Bar + devil o)<. Olive drab is a shade in the colour sense – it was mainly used for US military items in World War 2. | ||
| 18 | PINNACLE | Fix Lance abused to get to top (8) |
| Pin(=fix) + Lance*. Nice misdirection on the anagram and a ref to disgraced cyclist, Lance Armstrong. | ||
| 20 | GENESIS | Origin of information little sibling holds in note (7) |
| Seems to be gen + sis around E(=note) but don’t understand the “in” | ||
| 21 | SESAME | Almost notice identical plant (6) |
| Se[e] + same | ||
| 22 | CONDOR | Swindle and cheat Republican predator (6) |
| Con + do + R(epublican) | ||
| 24 | FOCUS | Target for detailed cuts taking time (5) |
| Fo[r] (de-tailed = losing last letter) + cu[t]s (t[ime) being removed) | ||
| 26 | FELT | Material regularly found in feedlots (4) |
| Alternate letters in feedlots | ||
*anagram
Thanks to NealH and Vigo
At 20d I think “holds in” simply equates to “holds”
I don’t remember seeing C=canine before, is this supported in any dictionary?
I have seen C for canine before (in dentistry I hasten to add). Just checked – it is first entry in my Chambers.
Hovis @3
Thank you, Chambers is on my Christmas list.
Dansar @3. I use the apps (dictionary & thesaurus) on my iPad. Cheaper than paper version, gets updates and allows searching, word fits etc.
A lovely puzzle. I really enjoyed this.
Can someone please explain the rationale for the definition for 12a?
in 19a, I can’t make desire = long. Surely “to desire” means “to long for”.
Many thanks to Vigo and to NealH.
Rabbit Dave,
A number one is a pee, a number two is a poo.
Rabbit Dave @6
A good example is embedded in the clue “I desire to” = “I long to”
NNI @7. D’oh! Thanks very much for putting me out of my misery.
There’s always something very satisfying about a Vigo puzzle and today’s was no exception – even though I didn’t know GOOGOL and wasn’t very keen on 12a!
Many thanks, Vigo and thanks also to Neal for the blog.
A lovely start to the working week. I particularly liked DECAF, HERCULES and ADDRESSEE.
Thanks Vigo and Neal.
I didn’t know the South African dog, despite living there when young and I’d never seen C for canine, so had to take RIDGEBACK on trust. I failed to parse the witty UREA, so thanks for explaining that NNI @7. Otherwise all quite straightforward. I liked DECAF but MILLPOND my COD. Thanks Vigo and Neal.
Almost completed – we couldn’t get 12ac despite there being very few options for U-E-, and couldn’t parse MILLPOND. And 27ac was ambiguous, needing crossing letters to establish if it was DECAF or ‘faced’. But plenty to like, including SASHIMI, FALCON and REMORSEFUL.
Thanks, Vigo and NealH.