It’s Leonidas’s turn to rev up our brains this morning.
What an enjoyable puzzle this was. I gave ticks to about half of the answers, which is most unusual for me. My favourites were CHARLOTTE, INTENSIVE CARE, SUBEDITOR (nice &lit.), SPIDER PLANT, OBSTACLE, SKITTISHLY (had a giggle at that one) and BLANCHED. I also liked the “progressively in” part of the clue for SAG, which provided a new way of clueing a short word which must have been used many times before.
I originally had an unsatisfactorily parsed INLET at 22dn, but Diane has pointed out where I have gone wrong. As always, I am grateful to commenters who help with parsing.
Thanks Leonidas.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TESLA |
Inventor backed group affiliated to city (5)
|
| [backed] <=SET (“group”) affiliated to L.A. (“city”)
Refers to Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) |
||
| 4 | POT ROASTS |
Dishes sprouts out regularly right by ovens (3,6)
|
| (s)P(r)O(u)T(s) [out regularly] + R (right) by OASTS (“ovens”) | ||
| 9 | NAIL BAR |
Clippings collected in this digital centre (4,3)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | ASSEGAI |
Spear equine, say, in front of exposed lair (7)
|
| ASS (“equine”) + e.g. (“say”) in front of [exposed] (l)AI(r) | ||
| 11 | ENTOMOPHAGIST |
One who might enjoy a spot of cricket (13)
|
| Cryptic definition – an entomophagist is an insect-eater. | ||
| 14 | LAPP |
Nordic circuit finally replicated (4)
|
| LAP-P (“circuit”) with its last letter [finally] replicated) | ||
| 15 | UMBILICUS |
Bulimic changed by American feature on abdomen (9)
|
| *(bulimic) [anag:changed] by US (“American”) | ||
| 18 | CHARLOTTE |
Name hot beverage mostly after cold tart (9)
|
| TE(a) (“hot beverage”, mostly) after C (cold) + HARLOT (“tart”) | ||
| 19 | ORAL |
Royal residence failing comfort test (4)
|
| (balm)ORAL (castle in Scotland used by the Royal Family, a “royal residence”) failing (i.e. missing) BALM (“comfort”) | ||
| 21 | INTENSIVE CARE |
Nice trainees somehow saving very ill people here (9,4)
|
| *(nice trainees) [anag:somehow] saving (i.e. holding) V (very) | ||
| 24 | EPOCHAL |
On record, old rock mainly is of its time (7)
|
| On EP (extended play “record”), O (old) + CHAL(k) (“rock”, mainly) | ||
| 26 | TOCCATA |
Jazz fan on bed recalled a musical piece (7)
|
| CAT (“jazz fan”) on <=COT (“bed”, recalled) + A | ||
| 27 | SUBEDITOR |
Obits due for correction by her ultimately? (9)
|
| *(obits due) [anag:for correction] by (he)R [ultimatley] and &lit. | ||
| 28 | UTERI |
Components of computerised organs (5)
|
| Hidden in [components of] “compUTERIsed” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TUNA |
Fish expert who can use forks, some might say (4)
|
| Homophone [some might say] of TUNER (“expert who can use forks”) | ||
| 2 | SPIDER PLANT |
Rest shot that could be potted (6,5)
|
| SPIDER (“rest” in snooker) + PLANT (“shot” in cue games) | ||
| 3 | ABBOTS |
Religious men in program sporting muscles (6)
|
| BOT (automated computer “program”) sporting ABS (“muscles”) | ||
| 4 | PARAMOUNT |
Film company putting military person atop horse (9)
|
| PARA (“military person”) above MOUNT (“horse”) | ||
| 5 | TRAMP |
Ex-president essentially replaced by adult in March (5)
|
| TR(u>A)MP (“former president” (Trump) [essentially replaced by (i.e. with his middle letter changed to) A (adult) | ||
| 6 | OBSTACLE |
Crossing citadel, cats boldly climbed barrier (8)
|
| Hidden backwards in [crossing…climbed] “citadEL CATS BOldly” | ||
| 7 | SAG |
Drop progressively in share value regrettable (3)
|
| [progressively (i.e first letter, then second, then third) in] S(hare) (v)A(lue) (re)G(rettable) | ||
| 8 | SKITTISHLY |
Nervously modelled this kilt in centre of Rosyth (10)
|
| *(this kilt) [anag:modelled] in [centre of] (ro)SY(th) | ||
| 12 | INCARCERATE |
Cool motor outside of cottage judge put away (11)
|
| IN (“cool”) + CAR (“motor”) + [outside of] C(ottag)E + RATE (“judge”) | ||
| 13 | PLUCKINESS |
Spirit producer originally sat on fortune (10)
|
| P(roducer) [initially] sat on LUCKINESS (“fortune”) | ||
| 16 | BEEFEATER |
Guard in Tower 11 maybe stabbed by fellow (9)
|
| BEE-EATER (bird which eats bees) stabbed by F (fellow)
The 11 in the clue relates to 11 ac. |
||
| 17 | BLANCHED |
Half of cheese with vanilla coating turned white (8)
|
| [half of] CHE(ese) with BLAND (“vanilla”) coating | ||
| 20 | MANCHU |
Language channel in France mostly acceptable (6)
|
| (La) MANCH(e) (English “Channel” in French, mostly) + U (“acceptable”) | ||
| 22 | ISLET |
Piece of land has a tenant (5)
|
| If something has a tenant, it IS LET | ||
| 23 | MAGI |
Gift deliverers in Greece Amazon may initially upset (4)
|
| <= (I(n) G(reece) A(mazon) M(ay)) [initially upset] | ||
| 25 | ORB |
Singer once having stolen one kid’s ball (3)
|
| (Roy) ORB(ison) (“singer” once) having stolen (i.e. taken away) I (one) + SON (“kid”) |
I agree, Loonapick, super entertainment from Leonidas today with many a gem.
Standouts for me were the ‘cricket lover’ (11) and ‘guard’ (16) with 20’s ‘language’ in third place.
Needed the blog though to fully appreciate the parsing of 2,18 (latte? tea? cha? h[ot], c[old]? – easier to admit defeat here) and 25.
Thanks to Leonidas and Loonapick.
Oh, I had IS.LET for 22d.
Sorry, last word from me, besides the wonderful definition of 11, it is an anagram of ‘one might…a spot’.
Thanks, Diane – will edit ISLET. Well spotted on the anagram in 11, but there is no indication of an anagram in the clue, so that may just be coincidental, or the compiler noticed it but couldn’t quite find a way of building an anagram clue.
All same as loonapick and Diane. What an elegant puzzle.
Just to say that I thought of loonapick as I entered 1d. He’ll have appreciated the ‘SOME might say…’
Loonapick, I have great respect for you and the work that you do on this forum… but:
“LAP-P (“circuit” with it’s last letter [finally] replicated)” – “it’s”? – surely you mean “its”.
11A was new to me and isn’t it sad that we have lost the hyphen in words such as 27A which should be “sub-editor” – the setter’s fault, not Loonapick’s. Wasn’t there a recent discussion here about when “e-mail” became “email”. Maybe this old pedant is getting too old… Time to shuffle off…
Peter@6 – I could try to blame the early morning, the rush to get the blog out, or even autocorrect, but the truth is it’s (not its) just carelessness on my part. Error now corrected – consider your blogger suitably chastised!
Thanks for the blog , really enjoyed this, super clues the whole way through. I think BEEFEATER just beats the clue it references.
I loved TUNA
Still do if its blue fin with rice, wasabi etc
Hey Loona, my comment was not meant as “chastising”, just some good-natured ribbing. You do a great job and I have the advantage of not having to work and having had more than twelve hours of wakefulness as we are nine hours ahead of you.
I do love Leonidas’ puzzles! i can only echo all the praise.
Many thanks to both setter and blogger.
All good fun. At least I worked out the non-sporting sense of cricket at 11a but didn’t take the hint from 16d to get the correct answer.
I liked the Roy ORB(ison) reference and the ‘expert who can use forks’ homophone for TUNA.
Thanks to Leonidas and loonapick
Nice puzzle, thanks Leonidas & Loonapick
I liked the def for entomophagist but it does seem like quite a tricky word to get with no other help, as you have to know both your -phag- suffix and entom- prefix to be able to construct it. The extra bee-eater hint helps you decipher the clue, but no more. Maybe it’s a word more of us will become (familiar with) when the cows and chickens run out.
I fully agree with the plaudits for the puzzle and blog. I have played a lot of snooker but a plant as a term in cue and ball games was new to me . A little humbling to be so ignorant . So thanks to both.
We fairly flew through this. One or two false starts, such as in 4ac where we saw the alternate letters in ‘sPrOuTs’ and thought the answer was going to be some sort of potato; fortunately we realised thet was wrong before we’d finished pencilling it in. In 11ac we guessed that ‘cricket’ wasn’t the game and thought the answer must begin ENTOM——– and soon found it in Chambers.
We liked the double reference to snooker in the clue for 2dn and the reference to 11ac in 16dn. Others we liked were TOCCATA and OBSTACLE.
Thanks, Leonidas and loonapick.