On the easier side of Bradman’s offerings this Friday. Thanks Don, for a quick workout.
FF: 9 DD: 6
| Across | ||
| 1 | AUDACITY | Boldness of a superior daughter coming to a place like London (8) |
| A U (superior) D (daughter) A CITY (place like london) | ||
| 5 | SCOPES | Optical instruments in cloak smuggled aboard ship (6) |
| COPE (cloak) in SS (ship) | ||
| 10 | VALANCE | Very small church in which man’s placed decorative material (7) |
| [V (very) CE (church, small – abbreviated)] containing ALAN (man) | ||
| 11 | OMINOUS | Sinister old male, one we heard in Paris (7) |
| O (old) M (male) I (one) NOUS (we, in french) | ||
| 12 | COYPU | Rodent turning up, timid at first (5) |
| COY (timid) PU (reverse of UP) | ||
| 13 | OENOPHILE | New hotel I open, wasting little time – suits the wine connoisseur (9) |
| HOtEL I OPEN* (without T – time) | ||
| 14 | FIDDLESTICKS | Instrument won’t shift rubbish! (12) |
| FIDDLE (instrument) STICKS (~wont shift) | ||
| 18 | ADMONISHMENT | Rebuke from nan, mixed up with Methodism (12) |
| NAN METHODISM* | ||
| 21 | APOCRYPHA | Set of religious books that could make chap pray, having hidden love (9) |
| CHAP PRAY* containing O (love) | ||
| 23 | EXACT | Accurate performance by one who has been discarded? (5) |
| EX (~one who has been discarded) ACT (performance) | ||
| 24 | INTENSE | Feverish home has to confront future maybe (7) |
| IN (home) TENSE (future, may be) | ||
| 25 | UNIFORM | Even reluctant pupils may be forced to wear it (7) |
| cryptic def | ||
| 26 | STRING | Problem for Henry King in train (6) |
| cryptic def; from the poem henry king by hilaire belloc | ||
| 27 | PEA GREEN | Colour of enclosure encompassing match (3-5) |
| PEN (enclosure) containing AGREE (match) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ADVICE | Notice wickedness – provide counsel (6) |
| AD (notice) VICE (wickedness) | ||
| 2 | DELAYS | Periods restricting the Spanish – times when things don’t get going (6) |
| DAYS (periods) containing EL (‘the’ in spanish) | ||
| 3 | CONFUSION | Study potential source of future energy? It’s a mess (9) |
| CON (study) FUSION (source of future energy) | ||
| 4 | THE LORDS SUPPER | She slurped port – inappropriate for a holy meal (3,5,6) |
| SHE SLURPED PORT* | ||
| 6 | CRISP | Food from what is harvested is not zero quantity (5) |
| CRoP (what is harvested) with IS replacing O (zero quantity, not sure ‘quantity’ is needed though). | ||
| 7 | PROVINCE | Part of country giving Cable support? (8) |
| cryptic def; read as PRO VINCE (referring to vincent cable, leader of liberal democrats) | ||
| 8 | SUSPENSE | Anticipation of wisdom keeping us quiet (8) |
| SENSE (wisdom) containing [ US P (quiet)] | ||
| 9 | COUNTERMEASURE | Man on board, first person to introduce a certain retaliatory action (14) |
| COUNTER (man on board) ME (first person) A SURE (certain) | ||
| 15 | TINKERING | Messing around with money, one monarch entertaining another (9) |
| TIN (money) [ KING (one monarch) containing ER (another monarch) ] | ||
| 16 | MALADIES | Mum and other women getting ailments (8) |
| MA (mum) LADIES (women) | ||
| 17 | IMPOSTER | This writer’s one contributing to blog, a fraud (8) |
| read as I’M POSTER (as in one who posts, contributing to a blog) | ||
| 19 | PAROLE | European artist being held up inside gets temporary release (6) |
| AR (artist = RA, reversed) in POLE (european) | ||
| 20 | STAMEN | Reproductive organ set man apart (6) |
| SET MAN* | ||
| 22 | RUN-IN | Approach bringing disagreement (3-2) |
| double def | ||
*anagram
Had no problem with “raven” in one of yesterday’s cryptics but STRING is totally lost on me.
Didn’t like “heard” in 11a as it is not how it is heard in Paris. Also didn’t like “introduce” in 9d which suggested an inclusion to me.
The rest was ok but a bit on the dull side. Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs.
STRING defeated me too. There are so many S_R_N_ words and none seemed to fit!
I also agree that “heard” is misleading.
Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs. I’m another defeated by STRING. I took a bit longer than I should have because several times I tried to squeeze in words that did not work – e.g., remonstration for ADMONISHMENT; last supper for THE LORDS SUPPER.
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
It took as long to get an answer for 26a as it did to finish the rest of the puzzle. I did end up plumping for STRING but parsed it a little differently – had R (king) in STING (either referring to the main character, Henry, in the movie “The Sting” or the sting of Prince Harry during his speech at his father’s birthday). Both long draws of the bow – not sure whether they’re any longer than a reference to Henry King in a poem by Hilaire Belloc.
Enjoyed the rest of the puzzle !
STRING clue seems more suited to the Weekend polymath puzzle. You need to know an obscure poem to understand it.
Thanks to both. I have finally got round to the puzzle and, like many others, STRING was an uncomfortable solution. I agree with brucew@aus @ 4. I parsed it as a king (R) in STING – the movie character being Henry. That took some finding too. Will we ever really know?