A brisk Tuesday workout, slowed only by a couple of new words.
Done & dusted in minutes, all perfectly sound, just a couple of confirmatory look-ups needed (well, three, if you count the dredged-up memory of the logarithmic base). Thanks to Falcon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISTURB | Upset sub, dirt flying (7) |
| Anagram of DUB + DIRT. | ||
| 5 | QUARREL | Pane of glass in row (7) |
| Double definition, the first being new to me. | ||
| 9 | TENET | Opinion expressed by European entering marquee (5) |
| E[uropean] in TENT. | ||
| 10 | IMITATION | Check, having lost original copy (9) |
| {L}IMITATION (‘a ‘check’) without first letter. | ||
| 11 | SPOTLIGHT | Draw attention to minor concealing cannabis (9) |
| SLIGHT (‘minor’) surrounds POT. | ||
| 12 | YEARN | Long period of time before end of action (5) |
| YEAR + end of ‘actioN’. | ||
| 13 | SNAG | Small horse’s disadvantage (4) |
| S[mall] + NAG. | ||
| 15 | ANTELOPE | Held by Durante, lop-eared animal (8) |
| Concealed in ‘durANTE LOP-Eared’. | ||
| 18 | FRONT ROW | In which one may see prop forward’s boldness by line (5,3) |
| FRONT (‘boldness’) + ROW (‘line’). | ||
| 19 | SEND | Forward’s second goal (4) |
| S[econd] + END (‘goal’). | ||
| 22 | LEAVE | Permission to depart (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 24 | FREELANCE | Working for oneself in European country catching fish (9) |
| EEL in FRANCE. | ||
| 26 | CAP IN HAND | International being taken care of, humbly (3,2,4) |
| CAP (‘international’) + IN HAND (‘being taken care of’). | ||
| 27 | CLUBS | Extremely cool American collecting black suit (5) |
| B[lack] in ends of CooL + US. | ||
| 28 | STARTLE | Surprise the Parisian after dawn (7) |
| START (‘dawn’) + LE (Fr. ‘the’). | ||
| 29 | DITTANY | Little poem to be sung about an aromatic plant (7) |
| DITTY (‘little poem to be sung’) surrounds AN. Another novelty. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DETEST | Hate day on English river (6) |
| D[ay] + E[nglish] + TEST (‘river’). | ||
| 2 | SUNDOWNER | Newspaper proprietor taking daughter inside for a drink (9) |
| SUN + OWNER around D[aughter]. | ||
| 3 | UNTIL | Before jaunt, I loaded cases (5) |
| Included in (‘cases’) ‘jaUNT I Loaded’. | ||
| 4 | BRIGG FAIR | Folk song: bass fiddle reportedly reasonable (5,4) |
| B[ass] + homphone of RIG (‘to fiddle’) + FAIR (‘reasonable’). Lovely old ballad. | ||
| 5 | QUIET | Going round base, stop still (5) |
| QUIT (‘stop’) surrounds E (logarithmic ‘base’). | ||
| 6 | AMARYLLIS | Shelf put up to support a girl’s plant (9) |
| SILL (‘shelf’) reversed under A + MARY. | ||
| 7 | RAITA | Educated girl holding a dish from India (5) |
| RITA (from play/film ‘Educating Rita’) surrounds ‘A’. | ||
| 8 | LINING | Inlay in poplin in gaberdine (6) |
| Another inclusion, in ‘popLIN IN Gaberdine’. | ||
| 14 | GINGER NUT | Biscuit barrel brought over after mixing drink? (6,3) |
| TUN (‘barrel’) reversed after GINGER (a ‘mixing drink’, as in whisky-and-ginger). | ||
| 16 | TOW-HEADED | Blonde in front pulled outside (3-6) |
| HEAD (‘front’) surrounded by TOWED (‘pulled’). | ||
| 17 | PENINSULA | Writer, mostly aloof, develops narrow strip of land (9) |
| PEN (‘writer’) + most of INSULAr (‘aloof’). | ||
| 20 | SLACKS | Son needs trousers (6) |
| S[on] + LACKS. | ||
| 21 | FEISTY | Spirited female is yet to be beaten (6) |
| F[emale] + anagram (‘to be beaten’) of IS YET. | ||
| 23 | ALPHA | A Greek starter (5) |
| Double defnition, just. | ||
| 24 | FRAME | Celebrity sinking first of reds in game of snooker (5) |
| R (1st of ‘Reds’) in FAME (‘celebrity’). | ||
| 25 | LICIT | Legitimate request? Not so (5) |
| To soLICIT (‘request’) without SO. | ||
*anagram
Yes, a few more unknowns than usual from Falcon, including the two plants, ‘the pane of glass’ sense for QUARREL, TOW-HEADED and BRIGG FAIR. I also had trouble with some of the parsing including the ‘mixing drink’ and wondered if there might be something more to ALPHA. Doesn’t look like there is.
More than enough to keep the mind ticking over. Favourites were the surfaces for SNAG and CLUBS.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant
Thanks Falcon and Grant
A bit longer than ‘minutes’ but well under the average time to complete an FT puzzle. A few new terms for me in SUNDOWNER, the glass definition of QUARREL, TOW-HEADED and my last one in BRIGG FAIR.
Reckon that I’ve seen both GINGER NUT and RAITA at least once if not more in recent puzzles.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant. I struggled with the items already mentioned but did eventually get most of them (with some confirmation from Google) but was defeated by BRIGG FAIR even though I do know a lot of ballads.
Thanks, Grant.
Only 5ac, 16, & 29 made me grumpy today… 🙂