A pleasant start to the week.
We enjoyed this very much! Some great anagrams and interesting clues. ABIGAIL as “maid” was a new one for us, but easily parsed, and ARROGATE was also a new word. Some favourites include SCOTS PINE, PASSAGE, GRUMPY and AMUSED.
Thanks to Armonie!
Across
1 Better form of gas meter (8)
GAMESTER
(GAS METER)* (*form of)
5 Gloomy NCO occupied phone (6)
DISMAL
SM (NCO, sergeant major, non-commissioned officer) occupied DIAL (phone)
9 A couple of foreign articles means progress (5,3)
UNDER WAY
UN + DER (a couple of foreign articles) + WAY (means)
10 Exact time in court (4,2)
SPOT ON
T (time) in SPOON (court)
12 Prize bull, initially, is sound (5)
PLUMB
PLUM (prize) + B[ull] (initially)
13 Old Bob sleeps in? Terribly weak! (9)
SPINELESS
S (old bob) + (SLEEPS IN)* (*terribly)
14 A doctor clinging to practice is diverted (6)
AMUSED
A MD (doctor) clinging to USE (practice)
16 A girl wears old hat in the street (7)
PASSAGE
A G (a girl) wears PASSE (old hat)
19 Take away vehicle? That’s swell! (4,3)
CART OFF
CAR (vehicle) + TOFF (swell)
21 Corrupt French noble found in bishopric (6)
SEDUCE
DUC (French nobleman) found in SEE (bishopric)
23 Let down every single mum in the stronghold (4,5)
FALL SHORT
ALL (every single) + SH (mum) in FORT (stronghold)
25 Expose saint’s blunder (5)
STRIP
ST (saint) + RIP (blunder)
S (saint) + TRIP (blunder)
Thanks to Hovis @1 for pointing out this typo
26 Get wrecked in boat (6)
OBTAIN
(IN BOAT)* (*wrecked)
27 Claim for oneself Yorkshire town lacks aspiration (8)
ARROGATE
[h]ARROGATE (Yorkshire town, lacks aspiration)
28 Dig out enclosure beyond the river (6)
DEEPEN
PEN (enclosure) beyond the DEE (river)
29 Peer’s son formulated reply (8)
RESPONSE
(PEERS SON)* (*formulated)
Down
1 Cross when good steak’s unknown (6)
GRUMPY
G (good) + RUMP (steak) + Y (unknown)
2 Abigail is without a calculator for a period (9)
MIDSUMMER
M[a]ID (Abigail, without a) + SUMMER (calculator)
3 Discontinue loan without credit (5)
SCRUB
SUB (loan) without (on the outside of) CR (credit)
4 Journalist hides mistake that slipped by (7)
ELAPSED
ED (journalist) hides LAPSE (mistake)
6 One man begged to be moved (9)
IMPRESSED
I (one) + M (man) + PRESSED (begged)
7 Distance Tory leader goes into the water (5)
METRE
T[ory] (leader) goes into MERE (water)
8 Get Sibyl a painter (8)
LANDSEER
LAND (get) + SEER (Sybil)
11 Rudeness about son’s computer language (4)
LISP
LIP (rudeness) about S (son)
15 Tax spirit from wood (5,4)
SCOTS PINE
SCOT (tax) + SPINE (spirit)
17 Confirm when definite (9)
ASCERTAIN
AS (when) + CERTAIN (definite)
18 Platform for a couple of fellows in lecture (8)
SCAFFOLD
A FF (a couple of fellows) in SCOLD (lecture)
20 Movement of foxtrot’s subdued (4)
FLOW
F (foxtrot, NATO alphabet) + LOW (subdued)
21 Deliver apparatus for nothing (3,4)
SET FREE
SET (apparatus) + FREE (for nothing)
22 Spanish leaders present in province (6)
SPHERE
SP[anish] (leaders) + HERE (present)
24 Fired ambassador is flexible (5)
LITHE
LIT (fired) + HE (ambassador)
25 Cease keeping money for tramp (5)
STOMP
STOP (cease) keeping M (money)
I parsed 25a as S (saint) + TRIP (blunder).
Coincidentally, both Abigail as a maid and Sibyl (sic) as an oracle appeared in last Friday’s Maskarade puzzle in the Guardian.
Thanks Hovis@1 for pointing out the typo in 25a. Have now fixed it.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
A very neat crossword to kick off the week. Did notice the dual use of SPINE with similar effect at 13a and 15d though.
Was good to get the ‘computer language’ @ 11d and the ‘painter’ @ 8d relatively quickly.
Finished in the NW corner with GAMESTER and MIDSUMMER the last couple in.
I noticed the dual use of SPINE as well bruce@4. Nothing too tricky, but enough to make me stop and think. NE was my blind spot with DISMAL taking ages and then the corner succumbed. I liked SCOT’S PINE as well and it took a while for me to see SPHERE in the sense of province. Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. A big shower has just come over so maybe time to have a look at the Indy?
This was ok apart from Abigail = maid and tax = Scot.