Yet another delightful puzzle from REDSHANK. Seemingly inscrutable in places but enjoyable all through out.
FF: 9 DD : 8
| Across | ||
| 1 | VOGUE | Very old visitor stumped off in rage (5) |
| V (very) O (old) GUEst (visitor, without ST – stumped) | ||
| 4 | PIKESTAFF | Handle fish on southern river (9) |
| PIKE (fish) S (southern) TAFF (river) | ||
| 9 | GUNSHOT | Report part exchange of 7 (7) |
| cryptic def; 7d is ARM (of which gun is an example) | ||
| 10 | OPTIMAL | The best work by male couple (7) |
| OP (work) TIM AL (male couple) | ||
| 11 | NORFOLK JACKET | Ron felt OK awkwardly holding flag in hunting gear (7,6) |
| RON FELT OK* containing JACK (flag) | ||
| 14 | INTO | Fascinated by what’s around during hot night (4) |
| hidden, reversed in “..hOT NIght” | ||
| 15 | RUNNERS UP | Carpets lifted in seconds (7-2) |
| RUNNERS (carpets) UP (lifted) | ||
| 18 | GONDOLIER | Grand one primarily rowed across choppy Lido (9) |
| &lit; [G (grand) ONE R (Rowed, primarily) ] containing LIDO* | ||
| 19 | GORE | Horn’s choice of keys (4) |
| cryptic def; read as G OR E (choice of keys) | ||
| 21 | SECOND GUESSED | Extra client for auditors anticipated (6-7) |
| SECOND (extra) GUESSED (sounds like GUEST – client) | ||
| 24 | INANELY | How fools behave in an East Anglian city (7) |
| IN AN ELY (east anglian city) | ||
| 26 | EMIRATE | English couple acquires Irish land in Gulf (7) |
| [ E (english) MATE (couple) ] containing IR (irish) | ||
| 27 | GOLD MEDAL | Award for first girl crossing ancient sea (4,5) |
| GAL (girl) containing [ OLD (ancient) MED (sea) ] | ||
| 28 | YAHOO | Swift beast’s site (5) |
| double def | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | VEGA | Star such as appears in Virginia (4) |
| EG (such as) in VA (virginia) | ||
| 2 | GIN AND TONIC | Drink containing bubbly? Duke tucked in (3,3,5) |
| CONTAINING* containing D (duke) | ||
| 3 | EXHORT | Command other rebels bearing cross (6) |
| OTHER* containing X (cross) | ||
| 4 | POTPOURRI | Jardiniere, bucket and fruit regularly mix (9) |
| POT (jardiniere) POUR (bucket) RI (fRuIt, regularly) | ||
| 5 | KNOCK | Pink roast (5) |
| double def | ||
| 6 | SATIATED | Stuffed, with or without temporary blockage in vessel (8) |
| cryptic def; SATIATED and SAtiaTED (without TIA – Transient Ischemic Attack, blockage in vessel) both mean the same | ||
| 7 | ARM | Dangerous piece and what it may do in East End? (3) |
| cryptic def; ‘ARM (what it may do, east end way of saying HARM) | ||
| 8 | FELT-TIP PEN | Writer sensed dump next to sty (4-3,3) |
| FELT (sensed) TIP (dump) PEN (sty) | ||
| 12 | KISS OF DEATH | Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? On the contrary (4,2,5) |
| cryptic def | ||
| 13 | DISGUSTING | Offensive copper to admit concealing blow (10) |
| [DI (copper) SING (admit) ] containing GUST (blow) | ||
| 16 | NERVE CELL | Tiny transmitter in cavity under bottle (5,4) |
| NERVE (bottle) CELL (cavity) | ||
| 17 | MOONBEAM | Expose bottom timber for nightlight (8) |
| MOON (expose bottom) BEAM (timber) | ||
| 20 | OSSIFY | Get tough and cross if you’re eating it (6) |
| hidden in “..crOSS IF You’re..” | ||
| 22 | GUYED | Reported mentor’s subjected to ridicule (5) |
| sounds like GUIDE (mentor) | ||
| 23 | HERO | Celeb’s drug’s missing at home (4) |
| HEROin (drug, without IN – at home) | ||
| 25 | AWL | It bores everyone in conversation (3) |
| sounds like ALL (everyone) | ||
*anagram
Very nice as usual.
Thanks Turbolegs
I think 9ac is SHOTGUN (arm) with the two parts exchanged to give GUNSHOT.
Very enjoyable thank you Redshank and Turbolegs
Thanks for explaining 9a, Gaufrid. That one passed me by.
Very good, but with one what would be called a MER (= minor eyebrow raise) in another place and that is TIA for ‘temporary blockage in vessel’ in 6d. Is this a term which your average Joe would be familiar with? If so it’s an example of the demystification of medical jargon which I suppose is a good thing.
Some excellent clues including the &lit GONDOLIER, KISS OF DEATH and the ‘ Tiny transmitter’ at 16d.
Thanks to Turbolegs, Gaufrid for explaining 9a and to Redshank.
Thanks to Redshank, Turbolegs, and Gaufrid. Lots of fun. I got off to a slow start but did finish, though I needed help parsing SHOTGUN and SATIATED (though I did know TIA) and was not sure that KNOCK = pink or pour = bucket.
Thanks redshank, very enjoyable.
I didn’t realise where TIA came from, and I missed the swift beast. Thanks gaufrid for shotgun, I didn’t see that either. Lots to like. I enjoyed 15a, drink containing bubbly, and 25a, as well as many more
Thanks turbolegs
I too thought that NERVE CELL was delightful
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Late to this one but very enjoyable once I got to it. Missed the parsing of GUNSHOT and got the DISGUSTING parsing wrong – D (copper) IS GUSTING (to somehow mean ‘admit concealing blow – which obviously does not work in the light of day).
Good to see ELY just clued as a city rather than a ‘diocese’ or cathedral’. Thought that YAHOO was clever and numerous other ones were above average as well.
Finished in the NE corner with POTPOURRI (didn’t know ‘jardiniere’ – just thought that it was a French garden), KNOCK (with it’s two unusual meanings)( and RUNNERS UP (a clever one to finish off with it)