A clever and interesting challenge from WANDERER today – would have been very helpful for scrabble players if they had a certain sequence of 7 letters. đ Thoroughly enjoyed it.
One could marginally quibble about how a couple of the clues were set up (e.g. 14ac which one needs to come back to, after 15ac and 17ac) but that doesnt in anyway take away from the fun of the solve.
FF: 10 DD: 8
| Across | ||
| 1 | DECALOGUE | Finally mastered ego, with a clue about the Ten Commandments (9) |
| D (mastereD, finally) [ EGO A CLUE ]* | ||
| 6 | SUMAC | Shrub Greek character put back in bag (5) |
| UM (greek character = MU, reversed) in SAC (bag) | ||
| 9 | READY | Willing to study biology or chemistry at last (5) |
| READ (study) Y (last letter of either biologY or chemistrY) | ||
| 10 | ENLIGHTEN | Instruct 18 about Holland after last European leaves (9) |
| EIGHTEeN (18) around NL (holland, netherlands) with the third E ( European, third indicated by ‘last’) leaving. | ||
| 11 | CANDELABRA | Poorly balanced radioactive metal found in light fittings (10) |
| BALANCED* RA (radium, radioactive metal) | ||
| 12 | TORE | Rent large shop? Not initially . . . . . (4) |
| sTORE (large shop, without first letter) | ||
| 14 | GRANDEE | Nobleman possibly becoming . . . . (7) |
| 14a, 15a, 17a are solved by rearrangements of the same 7 letters | ||
| 15 | ENRAGED | . . . . badly . . . . (7) |
| cryptic def; anagram of 17a | ||
| 17 | ANGERED | . . . . wound up? (7) |
| cryptic def; anagram fodder for the previous two clues(14a and 15a) | ||
| 19 | GLEANER | One picking up information thatâs wrong in 19 down (7) |
| anagram of 19d – GENERAL | ||
| 20 | PROP | Support for party leader (4) |
| PRO (for) P (Party, first letter) | ||
| 22 | FRENCH BEAN | Dawn meets Sean, perhaps for something to eat (6,4) |
| FRENCH (dawn, actress) BEAN (sean, actor) | ||
| 25 | SWEETENER | Bribe small number in Home Counties region initially (9) |
| { [ WEE (small) TEN (number) ] in SE (home counties)Â } R (Region, first letter) | ||
| 26 | EVADE | To some extent, used a very backward-looking dodge (5) |
| hidden, reversed in “..usED A VEry..” | ||
| 27 | STAYS | Strips in corset and braces, guys! (5) |
| triple def; /Â [See comments below, i originally had the answer (incorrectly) as STAGS] | ||
| 28 | ENLISTERS | Those recruiting military nurses include a famous surgeon (9) |
| ENS (nurses) containing LISTER (famour surgeon, joseph lister, started antiseptic surgery) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DORIC | Dialect from Greenland or Iceland (5) |
| hidden in “..greenlanD OR ICeland” | ||
| 2 | CHAIN GANG | Caught hanging out with a group of convicts at work (5,4) |
| C (caught) [HANGING* containing A] | ||
| 3 | LAY READERS | Newspaper articles about Scottish townâs Anglican preachers? (3,7) |
| LEADERS (newspaper articles) about AYR (scottish town) | ||
| 4 | GRENADE | 15 about what might have gone off (7) |
| anagram of 15a | ||
| 5 | ENLARGE | Blow up another 19 down (7) |
| anagram of 19d | ||
| 6 | SAGE | Something established by habitual practice: going topless is wise (4) |
| uSAGE (something established by habitual practice, topless – without first letter) | ||
| 7 | METRO | Underground newspaper (5) |
| double def | ||
| 8 | CONTENDER | One competing with prisoner and nurse? (9) |
| CON (prisoner) TENDER (nurse) | ||
| 13 | FREEWHEELS | Spare tyres might be needed on these coasts (10) |
| FREE (spare) WHEELS (tyres) | ||
| 14 | GOALPOSTS | End dispatches showing what leading characters from Harlequins and Hull KR represent in their sports? (9) |
| GOAL (end) POSTS (dispatches) – referred to by the H (leading characters of Harlequins and Hull KR)Â shape of the goalposts in rugby | ||
| 16 | GINGER ALE | Drink with soldier (foreign 19 down) (6,3) |
| GI (soldier) [GENERAL]* | ||
| 18 | DERANGE | Make insane anagram of four other solutions (7) |
| anagram of 4d, 14a, 15a and 17a | ||
| 19 | GENERAL | Common anagram of two other solutions (7) |
| anagram of 5d and 19a | ||
| 21 | OPERA | Works periodically on Poetry article (5) |
| On PoEtRy (periodically, altenate letters) A (article) | ||
| 23 | NEEDS | Demands massages, say (5) |
| sounds like KNEADS (massages) | ||
| 24 | OTIS | They might provide you with a lift once the Indian summer starts (4) |
| starting letters of “..Once The Indian Summer..” | ||
*anagram
Enjoyable indded!
I have STAYS as my double defintion answer to 27ac….
Steven @1Â same here.
Lovely puzzle, as usual from Wanderer. Many thanks to him and Turbolegs.
Me too re STAYS.
Wanderer on top form – I really enjoyed that – thank you to him and Turbolegs
Whilst agreeing with Steven and Eileen about STAYS, I did wonder whether we were in triple definition territory?
I think you’re right, crypticsue.
Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs. Great fun. I’m another with STAYS. I took a while before getting FRENCH BEAN and even longer to get FREE WHEELS.
Lovely puzzle. I too have Stays in 23. Triple def.
I have to confess I gave up on 27ac. While ‘stays’ is persuasive for the corset, braces and guys, I’m less convinced (even after checking both in Chambers) that stays = strips. What am I missing?
Sarah @ 8 âStrips in corsetâ = âstaysâ.
Another STAYS as a triple def for me. Interesting use of anagrams which I don’t remember having seen before.
Nice misdirection for FREEWHEELS which was my last in.
Thanks to Turbolegs and Wanderer
Ah! Thanks, Simon â stupidly I hadn’t read “strips in corset” as a discrete phrase.
Very enjoyable
Agree with Grumpy
Also wrote STAYS. Liked the anagrams of DERANGE & GENERAL.
Very enjoyable with a brilliant use of anagrams. Never got STAYS because I could see “guy” being anything but a male — sexist thinking, I guess.
Re above posting: “Could” should be couldn’t — beer at lunch has its downside.
Thanks Wanderer and Turboleg
Took this on a 4 hour flight to Cairns and initially thought it would take a good part of the trip until GRANDEE fell at 14 and then it was a steady and enjoyable procession.
Enjoyed the wordplay of ENLIGHTEN when the penny finally dropped.
OTIS was the first in and finished with the crossers, FREEWHEELS (clsver) and FRENCH BEAN (where I had heard of the actress but not the actor).
Hi all,
For sure , my original answer for 27a needs to be corrected to STAYS. I didnt know about this meaning of the word. Funnily enough, I considered (very briefly) SEAMS and then moved to STAGS and googled to see if I had missed an alternate meaning of STAG. Google told me that ‘stag’ also means ‘roughly cut (a garment, especially a pair of trousers) to make it shorter’ – i hastily figured the clue must be in some sense, the British usage and moved ahead with the solve.
Thanks all for stopping by. Its good to see a delightful puzzle get the level of attention and appreciation it deserves.
Regards,
TL