VELIA kicks off the week in style…
A highly enjoyable puzzle this, I thought. Lot’s of lovely clues. 1a, 9a, 12a, 5d, 14d, and 25d were all very nice. 26a made me chuckle. The only one I was not totally happy with was 8d, though perhaps I’ve missed something in the parsing. A bit of a political theme going on here too.
Thanks VELIA!
1, 6 Wickedly invent cool clue for parliament perhaps (10,4)
COLLECTIVE NOUN
(INVENT COOL CLUE)* (*wickedly)
A parliament of owls
9, 10 Illegal activity where apple farmers are said to be involved (7,7)
INSIDER TRADING
“in cider trading” (where apple farmers are “said” to be involved)
12, 13 Recite frequently by heart to get up to date (5,2,3,3)
STATE OF THE ART
STATE (recite) + OFT (frequently) by HEART
15 Choc-ice centre goes best (6)
CHOICE
16 More intelligent putting damper on Brexit, initially (8)
BRAINIER
RAINIER (damper) on B[rexit] (initially)
18 Distinct housing alien sold (8)
MARKETED
MARKED (distinct) housing ET (alien)
20 Services for the people (6)
MASSES
23 Bread left out for fool (3)
OAF
24 Exotic hound’s tail is wagging (10)
OUTLANDISH
(HOUNDS TAIL)* (*is wagging)
26 I like jelly essentially sour – do you agree? (1,3,3)
I ASK YOU
I + AS (like) + KY (jelly) + [s]OU[r] (essentially)
27 Divine claret may be drunk by old Scot (7)
PREDICT
RED (claret) may be drunk by PICT (old Scot)
28 Try extremely dubious cheap seats (4)
GODS
GO (try) + D[ubiou]S (extremely)
29 Make simple cooked meal in Australian English (10)
STREAMLINE
(MEAL)* (*cooked) in STRINE (Australian English)
1 Cousin leaving us a small amount of money (4)
COIN
2 Country hotel so dilapidated (7)
LESOTHO
(HOTEL SO)* (*dilapidated)
3 Mediocre, yet I’m capable of creating a mental image (7,6)
EIDETIC MEMORY
(MEDIOCRE YET IM)* (*capable of creating)
4 Panic and blunder under Tory leader . . . . (6)
TERROR
ERROR (blunder) under T[ory] (leader)
5 . . . . as the election starts clearing the road of vomitory political exhortation . . . . (4,4)
VOTE TORY
T[he] E[lection] (starts) clearing MI (the road) of VOMITORY
I.e., replace MI in VOMITORY with TE.
7 . . . . stupidly ignoring net emigration paperwork (7)
ORIGAMI
([e]MIGRA[t]IO[n] (ignoring NET))* (*stupidly)
8 Guinevere’s retiring kit – after transition, we’re told Lancelot’s possibly! (10)
NIGHTDRESS
“knight dress” (Lancelot’s, after transition, “we’re told”)
11 Cameramen raid compound in pursuit of happiness (8,5)
AMERICAN DREAM
(CAMERAMEN RAID)* (*compound)
14 Friendly talk from small school with low dynamism (10)
SCHMOOZING
SCH (small school) with MOO (low) + ZING (dynamism)
17 Crashed having left by public transport (train to begin with) (4,4)
WENT BUST
WENT (having left) by BUS (public transport) + T[rain] (to begin with)
19 Does climbing involve endless fuss? That’s denied (7)
REFUSED
(DEER (does))< (<climbing) involve FUS[s] (endless)
21 In Sainsbury’s, as “him indoors” gets fish (7)
SASHIMI
[sainsbury]S AS HIM I[ndoors] (in)
22 Dot’s very quiet hiding in the valley (6)
DAPPLE
PP (very quiet) hiding in DALE (valley)
25 Index a flirting game say (4)
FTSE
“footsie” (a flirting game, “say”)
A good Monday doddle for me, until I hit the SW which somehow outfoxed me for a long time. Thanks Velia for a grand start to the week, and to Teacow for the effort.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow. A good start to the day. I liked the long items but did not get FTSE.
Thanks Velia and Teacow. I did not get FTSE though I’ve certainly heard of it. What I did get but never heard before was GODS as cheap seats — I’ll have to start using this term since my hockey tickets are in the corner of the upper section of the arena.
5d has all the subtlety of a lump-hammer
Thanks Velia and Teacow
Nice pipe-opener for the week with a bit more bite than usual. Didn’t take all that long to fill the grid, but some of the word play took a while.
I ASK YOU was a case in point … took ages to separate the AS and the KY. Hadn’t seen the ‘exotic’ definition of OUTLANDISH before.
LESOTHO was the first one in with the tricky FTSE and AMERICAN DREAM the last couple.
I’d question whether FTSE can be pronounced “footsie”. Bad one.