A highly enjoyable Tuesday morning romp.
Loads to like and admire in this relatively brisk solve, all as it should be in a Tuesday FT. Plenty of quirky cryptic definitions, very readable surfaces and some clever constructions, GROUND (9a) being my clue-of-the-day. Exemplary stuff. Thanks, Neo.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HARDSHIP | Is obliged to cross road in difficulty (8) |
| HAS (‘is obliged’) surrounds R[oa]D + HIP (trendy, ‘in’). | ||
| 6 | DIRECT | Frank to call the shots (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 9 | GROUND | Go for train? (6) |
| I.e., ‘give a grounding in’. GO might be clued as “G + ROUND (a circle, ‘O’)”. | ||
| 10 | NONSENSE | Fool’s speech in production of Lear? (8) |
| Double def, Edward Lear being a producer of humorous ‘nonsense’ verse, w sneaky misdirection towards Shakespeare. | ||
| 11 | IDOL | Hero from Left ending response in union ceremony (4) |
| L[eft] after ‘I DO’, said in wedding (‘union ceremony’). | ||
| 12 | ENID BLYTON | Writer being weirdly tiny blonde (4,6) |
| Anagram (‘weirdly’) of TINY BLONDE. | ||
| 14 | SPECIOUS | Son cherished? Not right, but superficially plausible (8) |
| S[on] + PrECIOUS (‘cherished’) without R[ight]. | ||
| 16 | LOIN | Meat from wild animal on the turn inside (4) |
| LION, with interior letters reversed. | ||
| 18 | EPEE | Three Europeans holding power in sports event (4) |
| 3xE[uropean] surrounds P[ower]. | ||
| 19 | ALL-ROUND | General resemblance to Humpty Dumpty? (3-5) |
| HD being traditionally depicted as egg-shaped. | ||
| 21 | GRIM REAPER | One delivering curtains for you? (4,6) |
| Cryptic definition. Larson-esque image of Death carrying a roll of chintz over his shoulder instead of the usual scythe. | ||
| 22 | FUME | Iron-clad shell of uranium to give out gas (4) |
| FE (‘iron’) surrounds ‘shell’ of UraniuM. | ||
| 24 | FOUNTAIN | Spurt from female ousting male in spectacular rise (8) |
| F[emale] replaces M[ale] in ‘mOUNTAIN’ (a ‘spectacular rise’). | ||
| 26 | INVENT | Coin occupying hole (6) |
| I.e. IN VENT. | ||
| 27 | SKEWER | Spit in the food? (6) |
| Rather tasteless cryptic def. | ||
| 28 | RETURNED | Wind coming through grass reversed (8) |
| TURN (to ‘wind’) in REED (‘grass’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ACRID | Parched, drinking cold bitter (5) |
| C[old] in ARID. | ||
| 3 | DOUBLE CREAM | Dairy product best in two helpings? (6,5) |
| CREAM = ‘best’, so double that. | ||
| 4 | HEDGEHOG | Hard border control is something prickly (8) |
| H[ard] + EDGE (‘border’) + HOG (aggressively to take ‘control’ of limelight, conversation, bedclothes &c). | ||
| 5 | PENCIL SHARPENER | Writer’s device for emphasising point? (6,9) |
| Cryptic def. | ||
| 6 | DANUBE | A U-bend unusual in river (6) |
| Anagram (‘unusual’) of A UBEND. | ||
| 7 | RYE | Grain found regularly in Argyle (3) |
| Alternate letters of ‘aRgYlE’. | ||
| 8 | CUSTODIAN | Count said to be disguised as caretaker (9) |
| Anagram (‘to be disguised’) of COUNT SAID. | ||
| 13 | YELLOW FEVER | Outbreak of cowardice? (6,5) |
| Another CD. | ||
| 15 | PAPERWORK | Daily grind in clerical occupation (9) |
| PAPER (‘daily’) + WORK (to ‘grind’, as in e.g. ‘work the crushed garlic into the sea-salt’) &lit, near as dammit. | ||
| 17 | ALARMIST | One magnifies danger in local armistice (8) |
| Very nice inclusion in ‘locAL ARMISTice’. | ||
| 20 | REPAIR | Theatre character in shape (6) |
| REP (‘theatre’) + AIR (‘character’). | ||
| 23 | MANSE | Saint in shock comes to church property (5) |
| S[aint] in MANE (‘shock’ of hair). | ||
| 25 | NEW | Novel from Irvine Welsh (3) |
| Appropriately hidden in ‘irviNE Welsh’. | ||
*anagram
GROUND was too good for me. Yes, very clever now it’s been explained. Note to self for the future: ‘Go’=G+ROUND
I enjoyed the cryptic defs, even if the surface for SKEWER was a bit much!
GRIM REAPER and the ‘weirdly tiny blonde’ for ENID BLYTON were my picks of the day.
Thanks to Neo and Grant
A DNF for me courtesy of REPAIR @ 20d, which I still can’t see. If someone could explain the context of REPAIR = shape I’d appreciate it. The only other one I couldn’t parse was GROUND, which in hindsight was one of Neo’s best.
Thanks to Neo and Grant.
To Niltac:
I think ‘repair’ and ‘shape’ are nouns, both meaning, roughly, ‘state’ or ‘condition’. By the good old substitution test, if something is ‘in good repair’, then it’s ‘in good shape’. That’s how I read it, anyway.
For the second time today, I’m going to agree with the prologue
Thanks to Neo and Grant
Thanks for the clarification @ 3 Grant. Your explanation makes total sense to me now.
I can’t find epee (or épée) as anything other than a fencing sword. Is it an event too? Or am I on completely the wrong track?
Kevin Wilkinson @6
My usual three references don’t list it as an event but Wikipedia has “While modern sport fencing has three weapons—foil, épée, and sabre, each a separate event—épée is the only one in which the entire body is the valid target area …” so it appears that Neo has got it right.
Thanks to Neo and Grant. I did not parse GROUND and was not certain that “air” = “character” in REPAIR,
Thanks to Grant and Neo
A pleasant crossword, not too easy or hard, but one or two points:
I find FOR YOU unnecessary/inelegant in 21a
9a I don’t question the setter’s right to use GROUND = TRAIN (it’s in Chambers), but for me GROUND = INITIATE in this sense. I liked the GO though.
12a I don’t see why BEING WEIRDLY rather than IS WEIRD.
Minor quibbles though.
Thanks Neo and Grant
An entertaining crossword with a good mix of clues that took about average time to solve. Some particularly clever clues, including YELLOW FEVER, the misleading ‘Lear’ in NONSENSE and my last one in GROUND (which I was pleased to finally work out).