VELIA kicks off the week…
A fun puzzle today! Plenty of great clues. We particularly liked the ones around the edge, and 19a and 6d were rather good.
Nothing too challenging, but we really enjoyed the solve.
Thanks VELIA!
Across
1, 5 Physical sort of dance music for city (8,6)
CONCRETE JUNGLE
CONCRETE (physical) + JUNGLE (sort of dance music)
9 Spinning round rubbish in circle (8)
ROTATING
(O (round) + TAT (rubbish)) in RING (circle)
10 Bond overheard Egyptian leader (6)
ADHERE
(HEARD)* (*over) + E[gyptian] (leader)
12 Oboe, violin up 50% – devious for sure (9)
OBVIOUSLY
OB[oe] VIO[lin] U[p] (50%) + SLY (devious)
13 Tries desperately to take another exam (5)
RESIT
(TRIES)* (*desperately)
14, 21 Delight in petition of course (8)
PLEASURE
PLEA (petition) + SURE (of course)
16 He’s in the Czech Republic, initially moving out, ignoring my place in Paris (4,3)
CHEZ MOI
HE in CZ (czech republic) + M[oving] O[ut] I[gnoring] (initially)
19 Start of computer reboot could be a revolution (7)
OCTOBER
(C[omputer] (start of) + REBOOT)* (*could be)
21 See 14
24 French and German agreement for the board (5)
OUIJA
OUI + JA (agreement, yes, in french and german)
25 Resting place for Hercules, rudely taking a pee, we hear (9)
SEPULCHRE
(HERCULES)* (*rudely) taking “pee” (P, “we hear”)
27 Press, I see, said to be funny (6)
IRONIC
IRON (press) + I + “see” (C, “said”)
28 Worthily translated the Bible (4,4)
HOLY WRIT
(WORTHILY)* (*translated)
29, 30 After ten Berlin goes beserk for wild child (6,8)
ENFANT TERRIBLE
(AFTER TEN BERLIN)* (*goes beserk)
Down
1, 17 Killer briefly in company (6,8)
CARBON MONOXIDE
CO (company, short for (briefly) carbon monoxide)
2 Simple cover for East End local (6)
NATIVE
NAIVE (simple) cover for [eas]T (end)
3 Proportion of celebrations (5)
RATIO
[celeb]RATIO[ns] (of)
4 Somewhere in North Africa most of Isis is tackled by swimmer (7)
TUNISIA
ISI[s] (most of) tackled by TUNA (swimmer)
6 On the map Sunderland is pants (9)
UNDERWEAR
Sunderland is UNDER WEAR on the map
7 Play with Lego and seem happy (8)
GLEESOME
(LEGO and SEEM)* (*play with)
8, 23 Select cricket openers dispatched, let out for making tea? (8,6)
ELECTRIC KETTLE
[s]ELECT [c]RICKET + (LET)* (*out)
11 Characters in Solzhenitsyn chronicle go together (4)
SYNC
[solzhenit]SYN C[hronicle] (characters in)
15 Browsers need her sign before rainstorm (9)
LIBRARIAN
LIBRA (sign) before (RAIN)* (*storm)
17 See 1
18 Undress for small, strangely fit Prof! (5,3)
STRIP OFF
S (small) + (FIT PROF)* (*strangely)
20 21 across – cunning device (4)
RUSE
(SURE (21 across))* (*cunning)
21 Expect to sit after drink (7)
SUPPOSE
POSE (sit) after SUP (drink)
22 Youngster hugging the female angel (6)
CHERUB
CUB (youngster) hugging HER (the female)
23 See 8
26 Actor lost top film (5)
LAYER
[p]LAYER (actor, lost top)
Thanks, Teacow — I might have got out of bed on the wrong side, but I found it very challenging. I don’t think I’ve bonded to Velia’s style of syntax yet. Anyway I completed in the end, with the NE corner more or less virgin until the last straight. Thanks, Velia — challenging or not, it was certainly fun. My favourite was 28ac HOLY WRIT
Lots of sneaky clues, I thought. 12a was devious for sure. ADHERE was my LOI, assuming for a long time that “overheard” signified a homonym. Very enjoyable. Thanks to Velia and Teacow.
Very enjoyable – only my last couple were challenging, the rest being nicely Monday-ish
The sneaky anagram and indicator in one word as in 10a seems to be a current trend – if only I could remember to look for it, I’d do much better!
Thanks to Velia and Teacow
Very good fun today! Many thanks Velia and Teacow.
The four long phrases around the edges make a satisfying shape.
I nearly decided I didn’t have time for a third puzzle today but I’m glad I changed my mind, as I really enjoyed this one.
I’ll echo the praise for the peripheral solutions – so much more satisfying and less frustrating than answers scattered throughout the grid [and 14,21 were pleasingly symmetrical, too].
My other favourites were OBVIOUSLY, SEPULCHRE and UNDERWEAR [nice to see pants not as an anagram indicator] and the simple little RESIT – lovely surface.
Many thanks to Velia and Teacow.
Thanks Velia and Teacow
Started off with the chestnut in OUIJA and hunted around the centre part (as in not getting any of the peripheral clues) of the puzzle in the early stages with a lot of the easier clues going in steadily. CONCRETE JUNGLE was the first of the long ones to go in (and had to confirm that JUNGLE was in fact dance music).
Thought that the construction of ELECTRIC KETTLE was excellent and the tricky lift and separate instruction made ADHERE the last one in.
Started off not particularly enjoying it, but finished it off quite satisfied.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow Lots of fun. My only problem was a lingering memory of the 1950 movie The Asphalt (as opposed to CONCRETE) Jungle.
I should get out more but I didn’t know that JUNGLE is a ‘sort of dance music’ either. I was fooled by ‘overheard’, undoubtedly as intended, so ADHERE was entered unparsed.
I was slow to get it as my last in, but I liked CARBON MONOXIDE and OCTOBER was an original take on ‘ a revolution’.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow
I count myself still as a beginner; but when I got CARBON MONOXIDE I thought that was a brilliant clue