A breezy challenge from BRADMAN , with a small number of difficult clues to keep things interesting.
FF: 9 DD: 8
ACROSS | ||
1 | RECIFE |
Fierce drunk in Brazilian port (6)
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[ FIERCE ]* |
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4 | GADABOUT |
Gossip about a daughter away from home – one looking for pleasure? (8)
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[ GAB ( gossip ) around A D ( daughter ) ] OUT ( away from home ) |
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9 | BORIS |
Man responsible for stink, reverse of gentleman (5)
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BO ( stink ) RIS ( gentleman = SIR, reversed ) |
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10 | SUBSTANCE |
Character in position behind reversing vehicle (9)
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STANCE ( position ) after reverse of BUS ( vehicle ) |
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11 | LEAFIER |
Having more green growth in meadow before terrible fire (7)
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LEA ( meadow ) [ FIRE ]* |
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12 | REGARDS |
Looks at final expression of goodwill (7)
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double def |
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13 | EELS |
Fish caught by reel sometimes (4)
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hidden in "..rEEL Sometimes" |
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14 | PENCHANT |
Liking singing in church, having joined the fold? (8)
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CHANT ( singing in church ) after PEN ( fold ) |
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17 | DOWNFALL |
Ruin brought by county female wanting everything (8)
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DOWN ( county ) F ( female ) ALL ( everything ) |
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19 | SPAR |
Hits back in fight (4)
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reverse of RAPS ( hits ) |
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22 | LAPPING |
Drinking gin, getting sozzled alongside Scandinavian (7)
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LAPP ( scandinavian ) [ GIN ]* |
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24 | UNCLEAN |
Dirty member of the family, fellow hiding head (7)
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UNCLE ( member of the family ) mAN ( fellow, hiding head i.e. without first letter ) |
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25 | ARISTOTLE |
Philosopher is alert to change (9)
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[ IS ALERT TO ]* |
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26 | LOADS |
See notices – not just one or two (5)
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LO ( see ) ADS ( notices ) |
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27 | SYMMETRY |
A supposed feature of beauty – yet my Mrs is different! (8)
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[ YET MY MRS ]* |
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28 | STAY ON |
Remain to offer support, no going back (4,2)
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STAY ( support ) ON ( reverse of NO ) |
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DOWN | ||
1 | REBELLED |
Rose phoned again? (8)
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cryptic def; read as RE-BELLED ( called again ) |
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2 | CURTAILED |
Sounds like German chap suffered, being diminished (9)
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CURT ( sounds like KURT, german chap ) AILED ( suffered ) |
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3 | FOSSIL |
An oldie into rock? (6)
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cryptic def |
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5 | ARBORICULTURE |
Practice in the country when deal is wanted? (13)
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cryptic def; deal referring to the tree |
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6 | ANTIGUA |
Island worker on Lammas standing on head (7)
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ANT ( worker ) IGUA ( lammas is AUG I -> AUG I, reversed ; christian holiday – didnt know this and had to look it up ) |
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7 | OWNER |
One appears in gown erotically – one having a certain something (5)
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hidden in "..gOWN ERotically.." |
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8 | THEIST |
The fellow is entertained by abstemious sort of believer (6)
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[ HE ( the fellow ) IS ] in TT ( abstemious sort, teetotaler ) |
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10 | STREET FIGHTER |
Register theft when this aggressive person has run wild (6,7)
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[ STREET FIGHTER ]* = REGISTER THEFT ; reverse anagram clue |
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15 | TIPPERARY |
Attempt to restrict a piper playing somewhere in Ireland (9)
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TRY ( attempt ) containing [ A PIPER ]* |
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16 | GRANDSON |
Maybe young boy and knight beset by terrible dragons (8)
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N ( knight ) in [ DRAGONS ]* |
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18 | WHISTLE |
Left with little energy after game, back in dressing-room after this? (7)
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WHIST ( game ) L ( left ) E ( energy, little ) |
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20 | BLEATS |
Cries with bowl being empty – food to follow (6)
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BL ( BowL, empty i.e. without inner characters ) EATS ( food ) |
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21 | OCELOT |
“Catty” type in old church group (6)
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O ( old ) CE ( church ) LOT ( group ) |
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23 | PRIAM |
The king and I squeezing into small carriage (5)
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I in PRAM ( small carriage ) , king of troy |
Yes, a few harder ones here and I mis-spelt ARBORICULTURE as my last in. I had no idea about the ‘Lammas’ date either so couldn’t parse ANTIGUA properly. Otherwise I was glad there weren’t many other obscure words, as we sometimes get with Bradman.
I liked the amusing surface for SYMMETRY.
Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs
A sound and enjoyable puzzle from Bradman. I liked ARISTOTLE best for its pleasing brevity, SYMMETRY for the reason Wordplodder mentions, STREETFIGHTER and PRIAM.
Once I realized 16d was GRANDSON, I saw that SPAR (and not SPAT as I first thought) was the answer required.
I messed up in the NW, though, because I’d written in RECALLED and consequently didn’t net BORIS which is a shame (keep ’em coming!)
The only minor wrinkle for me was that ‘about’ featured in the surface of GADABOUT making it too easy even if the wordplay was derived otherwise.
Certainly didn’t detract from the overall fun of the grid though.
Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs (didn’t understand the ‘igua’ part of 6d either).
Like Diane, I confidently wrote in SPAT for 19A only to change it for my last one in at 16D.
6D was easy to guess with the solved letters but I have never heard of the LAMMAS/IGUA connection.
I spent ages trying to parse HEDONIST for 4A before whiting it out and finally using the solved letters to achieve the correct solution. In my defence, it did have a “D” for “daughter in it!
I don’t believe that I have ever seen a “reverse anagram clue” like in 10D.
Thanks for the blog, Turbolegs.
I will echo all three commenters, I had spat until I figured “dragons” as anagram fodder, had no T; I thought Augi Lammas might be some person I’d never heard of; I had to change “recalled” to get a B for BORIS; I did not get F-S-I- , so DNF. Thanks both.
Peter@3,
‘Hedonist’ was my first thought, too, but the crossers I had by then forced a rethink.
Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs. I eventually figured out IGUA but was delayed because I missed the letter i in 5 down so that and PENCHANT were my LOI.
I very much liked the not-too-subtle slur of 10a {shurely shome mishtake?} and you could almost see a Brexit/Boris theme here : Stay in, Downfall, Rebelled, Whistle {on the matter of paying the UK’s committments to EU spending on leaving, Boris said they could “go whistle”, I think}. Just a shame that 5d didn’t quite include Boris Culture, which will of course save the planet.
Thanks Bradman for a Friday challenge. I found this to be moderately difficult but I got there in the end even though I couldn’t parse 5d, 10d, or ANTIGUA. I also fell into the hedonist/spat trap and it took me forever to get BLEATS because I was sure the definition was food and not cries. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Spat, recalled, and even occult for 21d are potentially good. So I was never able to finish this puzzle!
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
Got to this in four mini-sessions across a Friday work day. Started with RECALLED at 1d and finished back at the same place by correcting it to REBELLED after discovering that only BORIS could go in at 9a.
Some cleverly constructed anagrammatic clues along the way. I wondered whether the Russian Kola Peninsula is regarded as Scandinavia as a part of the world of Lapps – although there is one horror who would like to think that it be the reverse !
‘Lappas’ was new but after noticing AUG I reversed, was able to check up and find the feast date.
6d stumped me, but otherwise pretty straightforward. Very enjoyable.