A well-made Tuesday puzzle.
Solid and entertaining stuff needing only a smidgen of UK general knowledge (golf & politics). Thanks to the Sleuth.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DRAUGHT |
Plan, it’s said, to get some liquor (7)
|
| Homophone of ‘draft’. | ||
| 5 | MID-OFF |
Spymaster with institute to remove one in the field? (3-3)
|
| M (‘spymaster’ in Bond franchise) + I[nstitute] + DOFF (‘to remove’, usu. of hats). Fielder stationed (diagramatically) about NE of RH batsman in cricket. | ||
| 8 | SANGFROID |
Doctor faring so with director shows composure (9)
|
| Anagram (‘doctor’) of FARING SO + D[irector]. | ||
| 9 | RIGHT |
Republican showing delicacy ignoring liberal? That’s correct (5)
|
| R[epublican] + {L}IGHT (‘showing delicacy’) without L[iberal]. | ||
| 11 | RANGE |
Fashion includes new line of products (5)
|
| RA.GE (‘fashion’, ‘all the rage’) includes N[ew]. | ||
| 12 | BENCHMARK |
Something found in a park to notice as a yardstick (9)
|
| BENCH (‘found in park’) + MARK (to ‘notice’). | ||
| 13 | TASERING |
Gain rest after deploying way to pacify an offender? (8)
|
| Anagram (‘after deploying’) of GAIN REST. | ||
| 15 | GRAPPA |
Good old man accepts criticism for Italian spirit (6)
|
| G[ood] PA contains RAP (‘criticism’). | ||
| 17 | ONSIDE |
Part of revolution’s ideology considered legitimate? (6)
|
| Contained in ‘revolutiONS IDEology’. | ||
| 19 | VALENCIA |
Traditional farewell by Northern agents in Spanish city (8)
|
| VALE (Latin ‘farewell’) + N[orthern] + CIA (intelligence ‘agents’) | ||
| 22 | AT A LOW EBB |
A lecture curtailed by old, old socialist in a weak state (2,1,3,3)
|
| A + TALk (‘lecture’, shortened) + O[ld] + WEBB (Sidney of that ilk, 1859 – 1947, early Labourite, creator of Clause IV). | ||
| 23 | CRACK |
First-rate friendly chat in the Highlands? (5)
|
| Double definition, second Scottish. Related to but not quite the same as the Irish ‘craic’. | ||
| 24 | YOUTH |
Teenager revealed in back of country hotel (5)
|
| OUT (‘revealed’) in last of ‘countrY’ + H[otel]. | ||
| 25 | PARSONAGE |
Standard person that’s wise to skirt working minister’s residence? (9)
|
| PAR (‘standard’) + SAGE (‘person that’s wise’) contain (‘skirt’) ON (‘working’). | ||
| 26 | MAGNET |
Frenchman represented agent as attractive type (6)
|
| M[onsieur] (‘Frenchman’) + anagram (‘represented’) of AGENT. | ||
| 27 | ELEMENT |
Tin, say, in part of a cooker (7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DISCRETIONARY |
Start to contribute in renovation of ordinary site? It’s optional (13)
|
| Anagram (‘in renovation’) of 1st of Contribute + ORDINARY SITE. | ||
| 2 | AWNINGS |
Disorientated wag in sun essentially lacking shades (7)
|
| Anagram (‘disoriented’) of WAG IN + SuN without centre letter (‘essentially lacking’). | ||
| 3 | GAFFE |
One with great neck overlooking Ireland makes slip (5)
|
| GirAFFE without IR[eland]. | ||
| 4 | TROMBONE |
Doctor entering course with little energy finds instrument (8)
|
| MB (‘doctor’) in (Royal) TRO.ON (famous Scottish golf ‘course’, a venue for the Open Championship) + E[nergy]. | ||
| 5 | MEDINA |
Racket during most of supper, maybe, in ancient quarter (6)
|
| DIN (‘racket’) in most of ME.A{L}, e,g,, ‘supper’. | ||
| 6 | DARK HORSE |
Obscure thing used by a gymnast, an unknown quantity? (4,5)
|
| DARK (‘obscure’) + HORSE (‘thing used by gymnast’). | ||
| 7 | FOG LAMP |
Dandy keeps alluring feature of a car (3,4)
|
| FO.P (‘dandy’) contains ‘GLAM’ (alluring). | ||
| 10 | TAKE A BACK SEAT |
What nervous passengers might do to adopt a passive role? (4,1,4,4)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 14 | RADIOTHON |
A donor hit mistakenly in US fundraising event (9)
|
| Anagram (‘mistakenly’) of A DONOR HIT. | ||
| 16 | JAMBOREE |
Sticky situation tolerated by first of expats in lively gathering (8)
|
| JAM (‘sticky situation’) + BOR.E (pt, ‘tolerated’) contains 1st of ‘Expats’. | ||
| 18 | SPATULA |
Flattened spoon alas put in a different position (7)
|
| Anagram (‘in a different position’) of ALAS PUT. | ||
| 20 | CHARADE |
Pretence of cleaner hoarding Ecstasy (7)
|
| CHAR (daily cleaning woman) + AD[vertisement ‘hoarding’]+ E[cstasy]. | ||
| 21 | DESPOT |
Those in heart of Aden see authoritarian figure (6)
|
| DE (those letters ‘in heart of aDEn’) + SPOT (‘see’). | ||
| 23 | CLOVE |
Piece of garlic is left in bay (5)
|
| L[eft] in C.OVE (‘bay’). |
A very quick solve for me until I hit the crossing JAMBOREE & ELEMENT which took me a while to tease out. Minor error in blog for 4d. Should be MB in TROON + E (little energy).
To Hovis:
Oops. Blog amended.
Much enjoyed and a welcome way to wind down after the Anto in the G from about a month ago which I’ve just done today and found v. hard. I liked the cricket and golf references in 5a and 4d as well as the clue for JAMBOREE, a word I don’t recall having come across very often in crossword land.
I liked the ONSIDE “double hidden” in 17a.
Thanks to Sleuth and Grant
Grant @2. Oops again. Energy not East.
About right for a Tuesday and enjoyable too
Thanks to Sleuth and Grant
Very enjoyable indeed. DISCRETIONARY, SANGFROID, DARK HORSE and JAMBOREE were my picks today. Even navigated successfully through the golf/cricket references – which I don’t always – while the footy one was up my alley.
It was GAFFE, aptly enough, which caught me out (thinking of swans and ostriches)!
Thanks to Sleuth and Grant.
Thanks Sleuth and GB
In 16 I think it’s just BORE next to (by) E(expats) – no need for an exclusion.
23a would be fairer as:
First-rate remark
20d: don’t see any connection of HOARDING to AD. ADVERTISEMENT is somehow HOARDING?
A rare excursion into the FT for me – thanks to crypticsue for letting me know that one of my favourite compilers was on parade today.
A very enjoyable solve with FOG LAMP and JAMBOREE taking the honours.
Thanks to Sleuth aka the twinkly-eyed leprechaun and also to Grant for the review.
To Les:
You’re meant to think of a roadside advertising hoarding, I think. And my Scottish partner goes on Zoom these days to enjoy ‘a wee bit crack’ with her girlfriends.
Both good for me.
Left-hand side was pretty much a write in, but the right took longer. Also got stuck on draft / draught for no good reason. LOI was Valencia, because I forgot Vale = welcome.
Thanks
Thanks Sleuth for a nicely crafted crossword. It’s always gratifying to solve a puzzle with no errors and needing only minimal blog assistance to understand all the parsing as was the case with MID-OFF and CHARADE. Favourites included GAFFE and JAMBOREE. Thanks Grant for the write-up.
Very pleasant.. as with Moly@11… I was staring at a very one-sided grid.. then 1dn split it wide open… and the rest is history.. well for me anyway.. no complaints… altho pleased to have YOUTH explained to me.. all part of getting old i guess
Thanks Sleuth n Grant Baynham
Thanks Sleuth & Grant.
The clue for charade is a charade!
1Ac, liquor is not served in draught. A draught drink is always a beer of some kind.
But an enjoyable crossie.
An enjoyable and fairly quick solve. A minor fly in the ointment was that PARSONAGE is only one letter different from ‘personage’, somewhat synonymous with ‘person’ from the clue. But some great clues elsewhere – VALENCIA and AT A LOW EBB were among our favourites.
Martin@15: Chambers has ‘a quantity drunk in one breath’ and ‘a dose of liquor or medicine’ among the meanings of DRAUGHT.
Thanks, Sleuth and Grant.
Thanks Sleuth and Grant
A reasonably straightforward solve which was a little different to Moly@11 and Undrell@13, starting in the bottom left and basically working around the grid in an anticlockwise direction to end up in the NW corner.
Had parsed JAMBOREE the same as the blog but think that Simon@7 is right, with the E not having to be inserted. Like Diane@6, I initially went looking for a long-necked bird rather than the GIRAFFE, but found him soon enough.
Lots of interesting clues with the Scottish CRACK the only new term for me. Finished with SANGFROID and AWNINGS as the last couple in.