A very gentle start to the week from VELIA…
A lot of nicely set clues, nothing proving to be too taxing, with 4d and 11a as our favourites.
Thanks VELIA!
Across
1 Practise heartless commendation (6)
PRAISE
PRA[ct]ISE (heartless)
4 Doctor accepts foreign money given by a senior citizen (7)
GRANDPA
(GP (doctor) accepts RAND (foreign money)) by A
9 Ascertaining the size of plastic geraniums (9)
MEASURING
(GERANIUMS)* (*plastic)
10 Originally on active service in safe haven (5)
OASIS
O[n] A[ctive] S[ervice] I[n] S[afe] (originally)
11 Len’s back being embraced by Katie, we hear, and prepared to propose (5)
KNELT
(LEN)< (<back) embraced by KT (“katie”, we hear)
12 Run amok, girls, for the Stones substitute (9)
KILOGRAMS
(AMOK GIRLS)* (*run)
13 Alan Turing not half upset, it’s normal (7)
NATURAL
(ALAN TUR[ing] (not half))* (*upset)
15 Spent a penny in deserted Salisbury – fast! (6)
SPEEDY
PEED (spent a penny) in S[alisbur]Y (deserted)
17 Painful offer (6)
TENDER
Double definition
19 Pigs briefly led astray in scam (7)
SWINDLE
SWIN[e] (pigs, briefly) + (LED)* (*astray)
22 Make changes to neat arrangement every second (9)
ALTERNATE
ALTER (make changes to) + (NEAT)* (*arrangment)
24 Baby’s first dribble is the hard stuff (5)
BOOZE
B[aby] (first) + OOZE (dribble)
26 Fear father’s taking note (5)
DREAD
DAD (father) taking RE (note)
27 Rock concert to include Elgar’s finale after Verdi’s? That must be wrong (9)
INCORRECT
(CONCERT)* (*rock) to include [elga]R (finale) after [verd]I (finale)
28 Radical old meter fixed (7)
EXTREME
EX (old) + (METER)* (*fixed)
29 Pursued innocent by phone (6)
CHASED
“chaste” (innocent, by phone)
Down
1 Question family’s potential fairy tale transport (7)
PUMPKIN
PUMP (question) + KIN (family)
2 Conscious of fighting in A&E (5)
AWARE
WAR (fighting) in AE (A&E)
3 Walked slowly to arrange date with nurse (9)
SAUNTERED
(DATE with NURSE)* (*arrange)
4 Looks wide-eyed and searches the internet when it’s midnight for love (7)
GOGGLES
GOOGLES (searches the internet) with [ni]G[ht] (midnight) replacing O (love)
5 In the middle of wanting some – dream on Geri! (5)
AMONG
[dre]AM ON G[eri] (some)
6 Dad’s squiffy with cider – trashed! (9)
DISCARDED
(DADS with CIDER)* (*squiffy)
7 Help beast of burden first (6)
ASSIST
ASS (beast of burden) + IST (first)
8 Steal the Spanish coin (6)
NICKEL
NICK (steal) + EL (the, in Spanish)
14 Care team swimming in a river (9)
TREATMENT
(TEAM)* (*swimming) in TRENT (river)
16 Bride hung around fringe city (9)
EDINBURGH
(BRIDE HUNG)* (*around)
18 Get easier with left movement (7)
REALISE
(EASIER with L (left))* (*movement)
19 Outline small vessel (6)
SKETCH
S (small) + KETCH (vessel)
20 Put up before court judge ruled finally (7)
ERECTED
ERE (before) + CT (court) + [judg]E [rule]D (finally)
21 Bishop shockingly aided law breaker? (6)
BADDIE
B (bishop) + (AIDED)* (*shockingly)
23 Refrigerator missing top shelf (5)
RIDGE
[f]RIDGE (refrigerator, missing top)
25 Listens to some cheesy e-book review (5)
OBEYS
([chee]SY EBO[ok] (some))< (<review)
Thanks Teacow – I was held in the SW until ALTERNATE went in. I also had GRANDMA? for 4a and didn’t go back to it. My ticks were against KILOGRAMS (nice definition) ALTERNATE and PUMPKIN. Thanks also to Veila.
Only one minor hold-up having entered unparsed BANDIT for 21d. getting EXTREME fixed that. Thanks both.
My fastest ever finish, so must have been straightforward. Some nice clueing but perhaps too many anagrams. Thanks to all.
Solved this tonight (out on the Oregon coast, the FT comes by mail). I find I really love Velia’s work. They don’t seem easy, but they are so darn elegant, they just make sense to me. Thanks to everyone!
Thanks Velia and Teacow
One of the easiest FT puzzles that I’d done for a while, finishing in about half my average solve time. Thought that there were some lovely anagrams, including the ones at 9a, 10a and 13a. Did also momentarily enter BANDIT at 21d, tutting at the obviously wrong anagram fodder, before having it corrected by 28a.
Must have been under a rock and had to look up the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, currently underway for this year as I write this, to fully understand the full definition of 16d.
Finished in the SE corner with CHASED, OBEYS (cleverly hidden) and BOOZE the last few in.