Robust clueing and very readable sufaces in today’s offering.
The Falcon flies in with a solid Tuesday puzzle. All done more-or-less first pass but no complaints apart from having nothing to whinge about. Thanks, Falcon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHEONGSAM | Mo changes exotic tight-fitting dress (9) |
| Anagram (‘exotic’) of MO CHANGES. | ||
| 6 | WHOLE | With flaw in one piece (5) |
| W[ith] + HOLE (‘flaw’, as in ‘there’s a hole in this argument’). | ||
| 9 | PRIAM | Stiffly formal welcoming a king of Troy (5) |
| PRIM (‘stiffly formal’) includes ‘A’. Priam, father of Hector & Paris and thereby hangs a tale. | ||
| 10, 11 | A BLESSING IN DISGUISE | Odd abiding issue involving novelist, an apparent misfortune that turned out well in the end (1,8,2,8) |
| Author Doris LESSING in anagram (‘odd’) of ABIDING ISSUE. | ||
| 12 | FETE | First of editorials in this newspaper on opening of Edinburgh festival (4) |
| E (1st of ‘Editorials’) in FT + E (1st of ‘Edinburgh’). | ||
| 14 | PRELATE | Quietly tell ecclesiastical dignitary (7) |
| P + RELATE. | ||
| 15 | NOSEGAY | Bouquet one’s arranged – brilliant (7) |
| Anagram of ONES + GAY (‘brilliant’, as in ‘a gay ball’, historically anyway). | ||
| 17 | RESPECT | Have a high opinion of some in wire spectacles (7) |
| Inclusion (‘some in’) in ‘wiRE SPECTacles’. | ||
| 19 | PIEBALD | Horse that is in lead has new lad on (7) |
| PB (‘lead’) includes IE (‘that is’) + anagram (‘new’) of LAD. | ||
| 20 | MACE | Foremost of motels with superb staff (4) |
| 1st of ‘Motels’ + ACE (‘superb’). | ||
| 22, 25 | WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE | What’s needed to play Poohsticks, past events put aside? (5,5,3,6) |
| Double definition, 1st jocular/cryptic. | ||
| 26 | UNAPT | Not suitable, a Parisian apartment (5) |
| UN (Fr. ‘a’) + AP[artmen]T. | ||
| 27 | RINSE | Get up around noon for a light wash (5) |
| RISE around N[oon]. | ||
| 28 | EASILY-LED | Weak-willed? See daily, drunk having imbibed litres (6,3) |
| Anagram (‘drunk’) of SEE DAILY includes L[itres]. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CAPRI | Caught a pair heading for Italian island (5) |
| C[aught] (in cricket &c) + P[ai]R + I[talian]. | ||
| 2 | EVIL-DOERS | I resolved to reform bad people (4-5) |
| Anagram (‘to reform’) of I RESOLVED. | ||
| 3 | NAMES NAMES | Identifies those responsible as men, perverted celebrities (5,5) |
| Anagram (‘perverted’) of AS MEN + NAMES (‘celebrities’). V. topical. | ||
| 4 | STATURE | Height of bust about right (7) |
| STATUE around R[ight]. | ||
| 5 | MALISON | Curse male with girl (7) |
| M[ale] + ALISON. Opposite of ‘benison’. | ||
| 6 | WASP | Insect in meadow, as portrayed (4) |
| Inclusion in ‘meadoW AS Portrayed’. | ||
| 7 | ON ICE | Nothing pleasant pending (2,3) |
| 0 + NICE. | ||
| 8 | EAGLE-EYED | Discerning journalist pocketing the old former US gold coin first (5-4) |
| EAGLE (US gold coin) precedes YE (‘old’ form of ‘the’) in ED[itor]. | ||
| 13 | AS PER USUAL | Typical when reading to secure entrance to university (2,3,5) |
| AS (‘when’) + PERUSAL (‘reading’) includes U[niversity]. | ||
| 14 | PERIMETER | Border: safe crossing eastern edge (9) |
| PETER (a ‘safe’) includes E[astern] RIM. | ||
| 16 | GUARDRAIL | Safety barrier may cause warder to scoff (9) |
| GUARD + RAIL (to ‘scoff’). | ||
| 18 | TWADDLE | Time to walk like a duck? Nonsense (7) |
| T[ime] + WADDLE. | ||
| 19 | POETESS | American writer on Hardy heroine and Emily Dickinson, say (7) |
| Edgar Allan POE + TESS (of the D’Urbervilles). | ||
| 21 | CLEAN | Honest about film director (5) |
| C[irca] (‘about’) + (David) LEAN. | ||
| 23 | RATED | Judge director admired (5) |
| RATE (‘judge’) + D[irector]. Judge/rate a bit close, perhaps? | ||
| 24 | FREE | Let out without charge (4) |
| Double def. | ||
*anagram
When CHEONGSAM last appeared in a cryptic some time ago, I thought to myself “I’ll never remember that”. And you know what … I didn’t.
Yes, as GB points out, some great surfaces … and yet 23dn RATED and 26ac UNAPT are a bit lame. Not complaining, Falcon, you’re always welcome.
I did manage to remember CHEONGSAM from a couple of previous crossword appearances, probably because of the visual association.
Most of this went in steadily enough, though I was lazy about some of the parsing, eg for A BLESSING IN DISGUISE. I’m afraid I hadn’t heard of ‘Poohsticks’ and was interested to read about it post-solve. MALISON may come in useful as a word for the future, for crosswords anyway, if not in real life!
Thanks to Falcon for an accessible and enjoyable puzzle and to Grant for the helpful blog.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant. Enjoyable – and over too quickly. I did not parse everything, but my main problem was figuring out where the vowels should be placed in CHEONGSAM which I vaguely remembered.
Thanks Falcon — always enjoyable, and Grant, always helpful. New words to remember — CHEONGSAM and MALISON. Favorite clue 19a, as I often get caught in the lead/lead trap but I had enough to parse PIEBALD.
Thanks Falcon and Grant
Pretty simples for me and all over in record time (I think).
Having been married to a Malaysian-Chinese lady for many years, CHEONGSAM was a write-in first up – she used to wear it to the more formal occasions that we went to. The only minor holdup that I had was having written in something else (cannot see what it is now) where eventually WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE had to go.
Lots of people / literary characters and idioms involved in the clues.
A quick but very entertaining puzzle.