A proper head-scratcher from REDSHANK, thanks to whom for an excellent Friday treat.
FF: 9 DD: 9
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DREAMY |
Lovely old mates of Brian Cox last in astronomy (6)
|
| D: REAM ( old mates of brian cox, name of the music band he was a part of ) Y ( astronomY, last letter ) | ||
| 4 | TRUE BLUE |
Staunch Tory regularly tortures police officer (4-4)
|
| TRUE ( ToRtUrEs, regularly ) BLUE ( police officer ) | ||
| 9 | A LEVEL |
Test All About Eve (1,5)
|
| ALL around EVE – not very cryptic | ||
| 10 | INVEIGLE |
Sweet-talk pair of Europeans living abroad (8)
|
| [ EE ( pair of europeans ) LIVING ]* | ||
| 12 | NEAR |
Close down earmarked stores (4)
|
| hidden in “..dowN EARmarked..” | ||
| 13 | HELIOTROPE |
He left grease around heart of green plant (10)
|
| HE [ reverse of { PORT ( left ) OIL ( grease } ] E ( heart of grEen ) | ||
| 15 | GOBBLEDEGOOK |
Put away vanity and sanction bull (12)
|
| GOBBLED ( put away ) EGO ( vanity ) OK ( sanction ) | ||
| 18 | TRAUMATISING |
Shocking yet refreshing amusing trait (12)
|
| [ AMUSING TRAIT ]* | ||
| 21 | ROOD SCREEN |
Back entry to show division in church (4,6)
|
| ROOD ( entry = DOOR, reversed ) SCREEN ( show ) | ||
| 22 | SPAT |
Rained a little, leading to flood briefly (4)
|
| SPATe ( flood, briefly ) – my loi | ||
| 24 | CLEANSER |
Son enthralled by daily soap (8)
|
| S ( son ) in CLEANER ( daily ) , my foi | ||
| 25 | WALNUT |
Regulation rejected by head cabinetmaker (6)
|
| WAL ( regulation = LAW , reversed ) NUT ( head ) | ||
| 26 | EXORCISE |
Troops interrupt duty to get rid of spirit (8)
|
| OR ( troops ) in EXCISE ( duty ) | ||
| 27 | BEHEAD |
Top eastern ambassador visits poor (6)
|
| [ E ( eastern ) HE ( ambassador, His Excellency ) ] in BAD ( poor ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DRAINAGE |
What sickly gardenia needs? (8)
|
| &lit; [ GARDENIA ]* | ||
| 2 | EWE LAMBS |
English doctor in Wales knitted jumpers in spring (3,5)
|
| E ( english ) [ MB ( doctor ) WALES ]* | ||
| 3 | MIEN |
The look of one who’s in pieces (4)
|
| I ( one ) in MEN ( pieces, chess ) | ||
| 5 | RUNNING MATES |
Fellow candidates competing against couples (7,5)
|
| RUNNING ( competing ) MATES ( couples ) | ||
| 6 | ELECTRONIC |
Pick different iron clubs, exploiting chips? (10)
|
| ELECT ( pick ) [ IRON ]* C ( clubs ) | ||
| 7 | LEGION |
Celeb, say, boring host (6)
|
| EG ( say ) in LION ( celeb ) | ||
| 8 | EYELET |
By the sound of it, I’ll film small opening (6)
|
| EYEL ( sounds like i’ll) ET ( film ) | ||
| 11 | HEADQUARTERS |
Base local idiots drinking two pints (12)
|
| HEADERS ( local idiots ) containing QUART ( two pints ) | ||
| 14 | ULTRASONIC |
Like bats or lunatics, raving? (10)
|
| [ OR LUNATICS ]* | ||
| 16 | SIXPENCE |
Former cost of videos halved? (8)
|
| cryptic def; expansion of VIDeos ( halved ) ; SIX ( VI ) PENCE ( D ) | ||
| 17 | AGITATED |
Old paper and rubbish imported in a distressed state (8)
|
| AGED ( old ) containing [ I ( paper ) TAT ( rubbish ) ] | ||
| 19 | ORACLE |
Authority hide boat with no bow (6)
|
| cORACLE ( hide boat , without bow i.e. without starting letter ) | ||
| 20 | BOLERO |
The Spanish up in Middlesbrough dance (6)
|
| LE ( reverse of EL, ‘the’ in spanish ) in BORO ( middlesbrough ) | ||
| 23 | DAME |
Titled woman furious about drug (4)
|
| DAM ( furious = MAD , reversed ) E ( drug, Ecstasy ) |
Thanks Turbolegs and Redshank.
It was a head-scratcher as you say; I came to see parsing for: DREAMY, HELIOTROPE, SIXPENCE.
Very nice, indeed.
Thanks for the blog and the explanation for 11D, I have not seen HEADERS before in this sense.
Very fine puzzle, a few favourites to name, SIXPENCE for the VI D , HELIOTROPE and GOBBLEDEGOOK both seem to fit together so nicely.
Not quite sure for ORACLE even though the wordplay is fine. “Authority hide boat ” does not seem right , unless authority is a plural , authority hideS boat would spoil the word play.
I paused too at the surface of 19d but drew the same conclusion as Roz. I very much like Redshank as a setter but this grid got the better of me today. There were simply too many things I didn’t know like ‘headers’, the Brian Cox band and WALNUT in this sense (lovely word though).
GOBBLEDEGOOK, SPAT and INVEIGLE were favourites.
It was not without its moments, however, so thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs.
Ah…I misunderstood WALNUT as ébeniste instead of walnut used to make cabinets. In.any case, a nice clue.
Thanks, R and T!
My favs: SIXPENCE and EYELET.
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
2dn: I think this should be taken as E + MB in [WALES]*: this accounts for the word “in” in the clue and avoids the indirect anagram.
Redshank in top form. Too many favourites to list them all, so I’ll leave it at the ‘vid’ wordplay for SIXPENCE and the HELIOTROPE head scratcher at the very end.
A worthy Friday challenge.
Thanks to Turbolegs and Redshank
I loved the clues for GOBBLEDEGOOK and WALNUT
Lovely puzzle
Thanks all
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Roz @ 2: how about “The local authority hide clarity behind a wall of verbiage”?
Great Friday puzzle but why are headers local idiots??
gsolphotog @10. I didn’t know this either. My Chambers app didn’t shed any light but my Collins mentions that header is a dialect term (hence local) for a mentally unbalanced person.
Why is “or” “troops”?
Geoff@12: Other Ranks (soldiers who are not officers).
Thank you, Pelham. Must brush up on my Britishisms …
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Found this quite tough, taking nearly twice the normal solving time to finish it. A number of clues that I had to look up things to get me going – D REAM was a band that I had never heard of until looking up Brian Cox, HEADERS (for ‘idiots’) was a new term needed an anagram finder to help find TRAUMATISING and ULTRASONIC to get momentum going after a lull.
Thought that SIXPENCE was the best of a very good bunch of clues.
Finished in the NE corner with ELECTRONIC, HELIOTROPE and LEGION the last few in.
My understanding is that a coracle is a boat often made from reeds, branches etc. and hide or other natural cover materials.
Thanks to everyone. Good puzzle.