Hypnos has a pleasing and tractable puzzle for us to enjoy over Sunday morning coffee.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Poet overlooking lake and way for ramblers?
PATH
P[L]ATH, referencing the American author of The Bell Jar, and much else.
3 Stunt Grace arranged in random fashion?
SCATTER-GUN
(STUNT GRACE)* with ‘arranged’ as the anagrind.
10 What bores might do to trap old regimental figure
DRAGOON
An insertion of O in DRAG ON. The insertion indicator is ‘to trap’.
11 Line put in joke with time set back part of Ireland
KILDARE
A charade of L in KID and ERA reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘put in’ and the reversal indicator is ‘set back’.
12 Vigilant owner ultimately enters a rental property
ALERT
An insertion of R for the last letter of ‘owner’ in A LET. The insertion indicator is ‘enters’.
13 Voluntary work of a speculative kind with number leaving
OPTIONAL
A charade of OP and [NO]TIONAL.
16 Disown note with negative tone lacking weight
RENEGE
A charade of RE for the musical ‘note’, NEG and [TON]E.
17 Greek character touring a second trading area from the East for seasoned meat
PASTRAMI
An insertion of A, S and MART reversed in PI. The insertion indicator is ‘touring’ and the reversal indicator is ‘from the East’, which is crosswordspeak that’s worth remembering if you are newish to all this stuff.
19 One refilling a pen instinctively?
SHEEPDOG
A cd.
21 Young male left in exercise venue largely in a thrilled way
GLADLY
An insertion of LAD and L in GY[M]. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
24 Graduate is taken with league in Swiss city for sport
BASEBALL
An insertion of BA and L in BASEL. The insertion indicator is ‘is taken’.
25 Be in the military, switching initial directions to show bravery
NERVE
Hypnos is inviting you to change the S in SERVE to N.
27 Phrase I developed for muscular pooch
SHAR-PEI
(PHRASE I)* with ‘developed’ as the anagrind.
29 Some couples do this over start of holiday in Cuba? Not a huge amount
COHABIT
This seems to be an insertion of O and H for the initial letter of ‘holiday’ in CA, followed by BIT, but I can’t find CA for ‘Cuba’ anywhere. The ISO two-letter code is CU and the vehicle registration abbreviation is C.
30 Mischievous sort rejected a flyer right away with a shabby look?
FLEA-BITTEN
A charade of ELF reversed, A and BITTE[R]N.
31 Former Enrolled Nurses only
MERE
Hidden in ForMER Enrolled. A little language factoid for those interested in such things: MERE is one of a small number of adjectives that can only be used in the attributive position, before the noun; it can’t be used in the predicative position, in other words, after the noun. You can say ‘it was a deep scratch’ and ‘the scratch was deep’. And you can say ‘it was a mere scratch’; but you can’t say ‘the scratch was mere’.
Down
1 One with digital expertise traps idiot at work
PODIATRIST
(TRAPS IDIOTS)* with ‘at work’ as the anagrind.
2 Exploit a slogan to encourage retailing?
TRADE ON
A dd cum cd.
4 Accepted rule covering tense Swiss region
CANTON
An insertion of T in CANON. The insertion indicator is ‘covering’.
5 Opinion given on ragged material encapsulating hard musical group
TAKE THAT
A charade of TAKE and H inserted into TAT. The insertion indicator is ‘encapsulating’. ‘What’s your opinion/take on Hypnos’ puzzles?’
6 Consider clearing fine jellied food
EEL
[F]EEL
7 Government managed commercial area in Spanish city
GRANADA
A charade of G, RAN, AD and A.
8 Requirement none expected when being extremely selective
NEED
N[ON]E E[XPECTE]D ‘Being extremely selective’ is an instruction to choose only the outside letters.
9 Get a nice pot with no end of decoration for cooking meat dish
COTTAGE PIE
(GET A [N]ICE POT)* with ‘for cooking’ as the anagrind.
14 Chef got in hotel in resort
OTTOLENGHI
(GOT IN HOTEL)* with ‘in resort’ – which you have to read as ‘re-sort’ – as the anagrind. I have a couple of cookbooks by Yotam OTTOLENGHI in my kitchen, but we’ll no doubt find out below whether he’s that well-known.
15 It could represent what one’s looking for in area to shop?
CITY CENTRE
This works because ‘it’ is the CENTRE of CITY.
18 Band member starts to visit orchestral conductor with a compilation of items
VOCALIST
A charade of VOC for the initial letters of ‘visit’, ‘orchestral’ and ‘conductor’ and A LIST.
20 European staff had to come out
EMANATE
A charade of E, MAN and ATE.
22 Lasting source of uplift in English novelist after bringing out one book
DURABLE
An insertion of U for the initial letter of ‘uplift’ in DRAB[B]LE. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the reference is to Margaret DRABBLE. Like Sylvia PLATH, she is an alumna of Newnham College, Cambridge, but I don’t think that constitutes a theme.
23 Tight-knit group not half supported by revolutionary stuff of a trite nature
CLICHÉ
A charade of CLI[QUE] and CHE [Guevara].
26 Dubious expression regularly mars riffs
AS IF
The even letters of mArS rIfFs.
28 Local uniform adopted by leaders of parading band
PUB
A final insertion: of U for the phonetic alphabet ‘uniform’ in P and B for the initial letters of ‘parading’ and ‘band’.
Many thanks to Hypnos for this Sunday’s puzzle.
COHABIT
My parsing:
OH in C +A BIT (C for Cuba and A BIT for not a huge amount)
Thanks, KVa, that makes much more sense.
I’m happy, Pierre, to be the first (maybe the mere!) data point wrt OTTOLENGHI: I enjoy him and his engaging style on TV, he creates fabulous dishes, the books are well-written and I, too, have two. From which I’m afraid I’ve only ever cooked one dish! Not the easiest.
It took a while for the penny to drop wrt CITY CENTRE which I have never considered representative of my inner aspirations – and then I saw ‘it’, wondered about sex and concluded it was in the centre of city so all good.
No individual clue leaps out at me today but that is not a put down; I think Pierre has summed it up perfectly (as so often!) with those two words, pleasing and tractable. Just right for first thing on a Sunday. [Yeah – that’s my one issue, Pierre: ‘to enjoy over Sunday morning coffee’ sounds like you’ve been up for hours and puts me to shame. I did it with a coffee too but I’m still in bed, mate! 😀 ]
Thanks Hypnos and Pierre
Thanks both. I did have to check OTTOLENGHI before entering, though the clue was clear in terms of the letters to use – with a name like that, I suspect Chelsea FC will put in a bid for his signature any day soon. Incidentally, this was a welcome relief following yesterday’s Nimrod mauling, which I was unlikely to complete in a month of sunny Sabbaths
I’m afraid I’d never heard of OTTOLENGHI and had to semi-guess his name by slotting in the non-crossing letters from the anagram fodder. Of the rest, I had a brain fade for the parsing of RENEGE and at the end, I stared blankly at S_E_P_O_ for quite a while until inspiration struck.
The CITY CENTRE trick and the descriptive FLEA-BITTEN were my favourites.
Thanks to Hypnos and Pierre
Thanks, Hypnos and Pierre. “Pleasing and tractable” is a perfect description. I found NERVE, FLEA-BITTEN and DURABLE particularly pleasing.
Well I’m commenting on 15 Squared at last. Did this one and today’s (not the one blogged today) Everyman, and this one was the easier of the two, and maybe the more pleasant to solve. Mr Ottolenghi needed a check as, although he’s well-enough-known, I would say that offhand no-one would have a clue how to spell him. Not me anyway. Should he be anagrammed? Not sure, as I wouldn’t fancy writing a nonagram one for him!
Tx Pierre and HYpnos for some good stuff.
Late to comment but I did need to visit in order to check on a couple of my parsing attempts and the spelling of the chef’s name. All sorted now thanks to our excellent blogger and my favourite was FLEA-BITTEN.
Thanks to the little leprechaun for the puzzle and to Pierre for the helpful review – sorry there were no bird link opportunities for you today.
If this is your first comment, Ui Imair, welcome.
Yes, a lurker, hi Pierre, great blog.
We were at a loss for ages with 14dn but eventually we got all the crossing letters and concluded it must begin OTTO… and once we put those letters into Google there was the answer. We might have heard the name before but it didn’t ring any bells.
After that we were left with a few on the left hand side but once we realised 1dn was an anagram the rest fell into place. LOI was SHEEPDOG; that and CITY CENTRE were our favourites.
Thanks, Hypnos and Pierre.
Didn’t find time to do Hypnos’ puzzle until this morning. Only here because I am still sniggering at the first solution for 12a that came into my head which was FLART.
Hello to Ui Imair (am quite new to this site myself) and of course thanks to Hypnos and Pierre.