A fine Monday offering from Gila to start the Indy crossword week.
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 Fancy Chelsea bar with a Google presence?
SEARCHABLE
(CHELSEA BAR)* wuth ‘fancy’ as the anagrind.
6 Informal get-together regularly seems to take hours
SESH
A charade of the odd letters of SeEmS and H.
10 Medic with a certain surveillance tool
DRONE
A charade of DR and ONE. ‘A certain Harry Kane fired in England’s winner/One Harry Kane fired in England’s winner.’
11 Some deliveries leading to a profit once more
OVER AGAIN
A charade of OVER (think cricket), A and GAIN.
12 Director of marketing sent back rubbish creative works featuring car
ADMINISTRATOR
An insertion of MINI in AD and ROT ART reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘featuring’.
14 Being defiant is unacceptable in a casual relationship
FLOUTING
An insertion of OUT in FLING. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
16 Bad new cocaine found in police bust
RANCID
An insertion of N and C in RAID. The insertion indicator is ‘found in’.
18 Mammal sitting next to her unopened egg?
ERMINE
A charade of [H]ER and MINE. ‘Egg’ is slang for an explosive MINE. To make sense of the surface, the mammal would have to be an monotreme, of course …
20 Extremely decisive number of people prepare to step on the gas?
DECLUTCH
A charade of DE for the outside letters of ‘decisive’ and CLUTCH. If you DECLUTCH in a car then you are ready to press the accelerator or ‘step on the gas’.
22 Shocked traders finally do business after crash
THUNDERSTRUCK
A charade of THUNDER, S for the final letter of ‘traders’ and TRUCK.
26 Ignoring lines, Ryan Gosling organised a group chant
SINGALONG
You need to consider ‘lines’ as railway or RY; then it’s ([RY]AN GOSLING)*. Ryan Gosling is a Canadian actor. Perhaps you knew that already. But of course, this being crosswordland, you didn’t need to know to solve the clue.
27 Essentially cheap, lousy type of resin
EPOXY
A charade of E for the central letter of ‘cheap’ and POXY.
28 Get nurse to take a breather in the end
EARN
An insertion of A and R for the final letter of ‘breather’ in EN for (enrolled) ‘nurse’. The insertion indicator is ‘get … to take’.
29 Understudy is on first, and going to pieces!
STAND IN FOR
(ON FIRST AND)* with ‘going to pieces’ as the anagrind.
Down
1 Obnoxious sort needing a drink
SODA
A charade of SOD and A.
2 Fruit and veggies primarily supplied by online grocer
AVOCADO
A charade of A and V for the initial letters of ‘and’ and ‘veggies’ and OCADO for the online delivery service.
3 Application that’s ultimately fantastic on paper?
CREAM
A charade of C for the last letter of ‘fantastic’ and REAM.
4 Decorating requires a pronounced start
ADORNING
A charade of A and a homophone (‘pronounced’) of DAWNING.
5 Lights bordering Eastern city
LEEDS
An insertion of E in LEDS.
7 Subject to price fluctuations, some illicit sales see an upturn
ELASTIC
Hidden reversed in illiCIT SALEs.
8 Doctor in hospital shunted around many small parts
HUNDREDTHS
An insertion of DR in H and (SHUNTED)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’; the anagrind is ‘around’.
9 Hard shot that fails to create a problem for Tom?
HAIRBALL
A charade of H and AIR BALL. An AIR BALL is a basketball term for a shot that misses the basket and backboard completely. Good job Kitty isn’t blogging this one, otherwise you’d be offered an intimate image of what one of our feline friends has just hawked up.
13 Dessert, note, containing that oddly bitter tang?
AFTERTASTE
An insertion of TA for the odd letters of ‘that’ in AFTERS and TE for the musical ‘note’.
15 One fated to be treated as musically incompetent
TONE DEAF
(ONE FATED)*
17 Tracking device put in enclosure beside government building
PENTAGON
An insertion of TAG in PEN and ON.
19 Bereaved person more worried about location of ashes?
MOURNER
An insertion of URN in (MORE)* and a cad, if you wish to read it that way. The insertion indicator is ‘about’; the anagrind is ‘worried’.
21 Go ape?
TAKE OFF
A dd.
23 Marsupials have time to settle down
ROOST
A charade of ROOS and T. Marsupials as well as monotremes …
24 Partly computerised development sites
UTERI
Hidden in ‘compUTERIsed’. What placental mammals have … A bit of a mini-theme on mammalian reproduction this morning.
25 Someone changing their locks? Sounds terrible!
DYER
A homophone (‘sounds’) of DIRE. You have to read ‘locks’ in the ‘hair’ sense, of course.
Many thanks to Gila for today’s puzzle.
Good Monday puzzle (best of those on offer today) which was harder to solve properly than it was to fill the grid correctly. I didn’t separate the ‘Director’ and ‘of marketing’ at 12a, had forgotten ‘egg?’ for MINE at 18a and had no idea about OCADO at 2d. I wasn’t familiar with AIR BALL as a specific term in basketball either.
Most cars in this part of the world are automatic so DECLUTCH took a while to come to mind. Now you mention the mini-theme of mammalian reproduction, perhaps the CLUTCH is part of it.
Thanks to Gila and Pierre
This made a challenging and very enjoyable start to the week. With plenty of goodies to choose from, my top picks are FLOUTING, RANCID, LEEDS, HUNDREDTHS and PENTAGON.
Many thanks to Gila and to Pierre.
A good range of clues with some nicely tricky numbers and intricate wordplay.
Certainly deserves more thumbs ups than the number of posts would imply.
Thank you to Gila and Pierre
Don’t think I’ve come across the slang term in 6a being spelt out previously but I guess that’s how it looks!
Top three for me were SODA, ADORNING & LEEDS.
Thanks to Gila and to Pierre for the review.
This is the first time I got the majority of the answers without having to resort to any hints, rather than obtaining useful cross letters and limping my way to a finish. I think it’s more due to excellent clues today than any increase of skill on my part. (Largely because I recognized several of the answers with no clue about the wordplay.) I take it that the “cad” remark for 19a is a joke, since it quite cleanly separates into “bereaved person” as the definition and then all the wordplay you need.
Funnily enough, being more familiar with my own failings at golf than I am with the sport of Michael Jordan, I took AIR BALL to be the same as an ‘air shot’ – ie a swing that completely misses the ball. Wrong parse, right answer!
SEARCHABLE, FLOUTING, DECLUTCH (though I’ve been driving an automatic for years), EPOXY, ELASTIC and MOURNERS were my favourites. A slight eyebrow at Director = ADMINISTRATOR only because I’ve spent a business life being very aware of the difference between those who should be leading organisations and those who keep things ticking over but Chambers is less pernickity about such distinctions.
Thanks Gila and Pierre
Not too many problems. As a non-driver who last tried to drive in 1974, I’d almost totally forgotten DECLUTCH. But I had heard of Ryan Gosling.
I can remember having to learn how to double DECLUTCH, but I don’t recall using the word since. A well-constructed puzzle and an enjoyable blog.
Please can anyone explain why I can’t get to the “Print” page on my laptop. It just keeps going to an advert page for all Independent games.