A tough challenge from NEO this Friday, where my last 5 solves took as much time as the rest of the puzzle. Thanks NEO, for the treat.
FF: 9 DD: 9
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | ANTIPASTI |
Ace new wine list introduced for starters (9)
|
| [ A ( ace) N ( new ) ASTI ( wine ) ] containing TIP ( list ) | ||
| 10 | ANODE |
Pole will need some lines from Keats! (5)
|
| cryptic def; read as AN ODE ( some lines from keats ) | ||
| 11 | TREMOLO |
Technique required in piece written with quavers? (7)
|
| cryptic def; quaver could mean musical note or trembling | ||
| 12 | GESTAPO |
Police visitor we hear needs somewhere to go (7)
|
| GEST ( sounds like GUEST, visitor ) A PO ( somewhere to go, chamberpot ) | ||
| 13 | ELI |
Old person denied Roman Catholic priest (3)
|
| rELIc ( old person, without RC – Roman Catholic ) | ||
| 14 | STAKEHOLDER |
One with particular interest in slaying vampires? (11)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 17 | FINAL |
Decisive force in Arundel content to leave (5)
|
| F ( force ) IN AL ( ArundeL, without inner letters ) | ||
| 18 | ODD |
Rum brought back from Buckland Down (3)
|
| hidden , reversed in “..bucklanD DOwn” | ||
| 19 | ANKLE |
Cook at last stuffs fresh lean joint (5)
|
| K ( cooK, last letter ) in [ LEAN ]* | ||
| 21 | ATMOSPHERIC |
Compare this somehow with pervasive mood? (11)
|
| [ COMPARE THIS ]* | ||
| 23 | LAG |
Slowly follow one inside and insulate from cold (3)
|
| triple def; second referring to a prisoner | ||
| 25 | LESOTHO |
State quarters on the outside look all the same! (7)
|
| [ LO ( look ) outside ES ( quarters, East, South ) ] THO ( short for though, all the same ) | ||
| 27 | RIVIERA |
Abundant stream claims isle and a coastal region (7)
|
| [ RIVER ( abundant stream ) containing I ( isle ) ] A | ||
| 28 | SCOFF |
Bolt unattached behind first couple of screws (5)
|
| SC ( first couple of SCrews ) OFF ( unattached ) | ||
| 29 | IMPOTENCE |
One member when receiving note shows weakness (9)
|
| I ( one ) MP ( member ) [ ONCE ( when ) containing TE ( note ) ] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1, 7 | CASTLE HOWARD |
Lord watches bats outside American stately home (6,6)
|
| [ LORD WATCHES ] outside A ( American ) | ||
| 2 | ATHENIAN |
Three articles about Northern Ireland in Greek! (8)
|
| [ A THE AN ( three articles ) around NI ( Northern Ireland ) ] – polished clue. | ||
| 3 | EPSOM SALTS |
Medicine stops meals becoming problematic (5,5)
|
| [ STOPS MEALS ]* | ||
| 4 | OSLO |
Ducks circling small lake in city (4)
|
| OO ( ducks ) around [ S ( small ) L ( Lake ) ] | ||
| 5 | RINGLEADER |
Band’s number one songs heard with operatic work (10)
|
| RING ( operatic work ) LEADER ( sounds like LIEDER, songs ) | ||
| 6 |
See 20
|
|
| 7 |
See 1
|
|
| 8 | RESOURCE |
Reserves on booze reportedly! (8)
|
| RE ( on ) SOURCE ( sounds like SAUCE , booze ) | ||
| 15 | APOTHEOSIS |
Crowning point in a reflective work with opinion about love (10)
|
| A PO ( work = OP, reversed ) [ THESIS ( opinion ) around O ( love ) ] – while not incorrect, i feel thesis for opinion is a bit of a stretch | ||
| 16 | ORAL CAVITY |
Clairvoyant withholding name exercised mouth (4,6)
|
| [ CLAIRVOYAnT ( without N – name ) ]* | ||
| 17 | FEARLESS |
Confident female — and why she never listens? (8)
|
| F ( female ) EARLESS ( ~ why she never listens ) | ||
| 20, 6 | KILKENNY CATS |
Fighters proverbially tackle skinny criminal (8,4)
|
| [ TACKLE SKINNY ]* | ||
| 22 | MASCOT |
Maiden on course to show charming presence (6)
|
| M ( maiden ) ASCOT ( course ) | ||
| 24 | GRAVEL |
Good composer in small rock group? (6)
|
| G ( good ) RAVEL ( composer ) | ||
| 26 | TIFF |
Demanding head should be ignored in quarrel (4)
|
| sTIFF ( demanding, without first letter ) | ||
| 27 | RAPT |
Leader in revolt liable to be transported (4)
|
| R ( Revolt, first letter ) APT ( liable to be ) |
I too thought it tricky for a Neo but I enjoyed the solve. My favourite was the triple defintion 23a
Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs
Very tough but got there in the end, without cheats, although I had to google KILKENNY CATS to see what that was all about. Got stuck on my first attempt then came back and saw STAKEHOLDER & APOTHEOSIS and it all fell after that. A great workout.
I wondered if TREMOLO might be an &lit with MO for ‘Technique’, but there’s no such word as TRELO as I subsequently confirmed. Like crypticsue the three meanings for the three-lettered LAG was my pick for the day and I also liked the ‘Fighters proverbially’.
Is an ‘Old person’ really a RELIC? From a personal viewpoint, I hope not!
Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs
This was indeed tough. I needed online anagram help for the unknown Kilkenny Cats (nonsense tale, limerick, hurling club and Indie band!) to get the ball rolling as my first pass was so miserly. After that, solving was slow but steady until finishing in the SE corner where I had SCRAM for SCOFF, clearly the wrong sense of ‘bolt’.
An easier anagram and one I liked very much was that for EPSOM SALTS. FEARLESS, TREMOLO and RINGLEADER were my other picks.
Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs for shedding light where needed.
In line with others, I also appreciated the triply good LAG which, incidentally, gave me a sense of déjà vu: today’s grid is the same format as Gurney’s (16,860) and with some interesting correlations. LAG where there was TAG, SCOFF where there was SCORN.
OK, maybe it was just me then.
I didn’t find this crossword harder than the average Neo/Tees puzzle.
I bunged in the answers to the two cd-clues without much thought after I had enough crossers.
My pick of the day will be RINGLEADER (5dn) with its great surface – or, perhaps, 9ac which makes lovely use of ‘wine / list’.
Good crossword (despite me joining WordPlodder as to the meaning of ‘relic’ …).
Many thanks to Turbolegs & Neo.
ACD
Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs. Tough going for me. I failed to get KILKENNY CATS and did not hear the source-sauce link in RESOURCE but did work out CASTLE HOWARD..
Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
10ac: I really think this needs a question mark to indicate the definition by example.
15dn: I was happy with “opinion” for THESIS. The relevant definition of thesis in Chambers (2014) is “a position or that which is set down or advanced for argument”.
This took a bit of work but I got there in the end. I entered “Howard Castle” instead of CASTLE HOWARD and that slowed me down considerably. I needed a word finder for MASCOT but everything else fell into place. I couldn’t fully parse LESOTHO or LAG so thanks Turbolegs for clarifying. Favourites included STAKEHOLDER, APOHEOSIS, and FEARLESS. Thanks Neo.
Tough, but we got there without help. RESOURCE was our LOI as we weren’t convinced that ‘sauce’ = ‘booze’; a subsequent check in Chambers tells us that it is, but it’s American usage. And for ATMOSPHERIC we think that ‘with’ should be part of the definition rather than just a link word.
Lots to like here, including ANTIPASTI, STAKEHOLDER, RINGLEADER and APOTHEOSIS.
Thanks, Neo and Turbolegs
I also thought ‘recourse’ might work for 8d, as in having reserves or recourse for a problem.
The booze coukd be ‘Coors’ beer, a popular American brand.
Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
Did this near the date, but only got to check it off tonight after it fell to the bottom of the pile. I also found it difficult, taking nearly twice as long as normal to get it done. This is typical when this setter lands the Friday gig – the degree of difficulty is generally ratcheted up significantly from the usual level.
Didn’t properly parse a couple – didn’t twig to the third definition of LAG and couldn’t see how IMPOTENCE worked, not seeing the ‘when’=ONCE definition.
In retrospect LAG would also be my pick of a pretty good crop. Didn’t know CASTLE HOWARD or APOTHEOSIS and although KILKENNY CATS rang a bell, had to look up how it all worked.
Finished with the mansion at 1d, 7d and then in the SE corner with GRAVEL and that IMPOTENCE where I needed the E to eliminate a Y after not being able to parse one or the other. Nice tough puzzle.