Thanks to Steerpike for today’s puzzle.
A relatively straightforward challenge with some witty clues. Very enjoyable – thanks to Steerpike!
ACROSS
1. Irritating type emptied large kitchen utensil (6)
PESTLE
PEST (irritating type) + L[arg]E (emptied)
4. One who fought as revolutionary in rudimentary resistance (8)
CRUSADER
AS< (<revolutionary) in CRUDE (rudimentary) + R (resistance)
10. Steerpike, trapped in dilapidated castle, is resilient (7)
ELASTIC
I (Steerpike) trapped in (CASTLE)* (*dilapidated)
11. Model soldier given leave before end of mission (7)
PARAGON
PARA (soldier) given GO (leave) before [missio]N (end of)
12. Drew on section of omnibus edition (4)
USED
[Omnib]US ED[ition] (section of)
13. Paper regularly follows a lead on employee (10)
APPRENTICE
P[a]P[e]R (regularly) follows A + ENTICE (lead on)
16. Copies note about agricultural implements (6)
ECHOES
E (note) + C (about) + HOES (agricultural implements)
17. Brutal defeat by Italy disheartened everyone (7)
BESTIAL
BEST (defeat) by I (Italy) + A[l]L (everyone, disheartened)
20. Painter almost captures essence of extremely masculine hunter (7)
ARTEMIS
ARTIS[t] (painter, almost) captures E[xtremely] M[asculine] (essence of)
21. International award keeps Ireland’s foremost bachelor in drink (6)
IMBIBE
I (international) + MBE (award) keeps I[reland’s] (foremost) + B (bachelor)
24. Intrusive editor checks questionable old memes (10)
MEDDLESOME
ED (editor) checks (OLD MEMES)* (*questionable)
25. Plant a flower without earth (4)
ANIL
A + NIL[e] (flower, without E (earth))
27. English king consumed by infection around appendage (7)
EARLOBE
E (English) + R (king) consumed by EBOLA< (infection, <around)
29. Difficulty arranging route across Bengal’s borders (7)
TROUBLE
(*Arranging) (ROUTE)* across B[enga]L (borders
30. Start of trail in coastal reserve (3,5)
SET ASIDE
T[rail] (start of) in SEASIDE (coastal)
31. Wood from Spain is briefly stored in citadel (6)
FOREST
E (Spain) + ‘S (is, briefly) stored in FORT (citadel)
DOWN
1. Discontented partner avoids making introductions (8)
PRELUDES
P[artne]R (discontented) + ELUDES (avoids)
2. Fail to chastise clumsy head porters (5,3,3)
SPARE THE ROD
(HEAD PORTERS)* (*clumsy)
3. Outdated instrument spoils broadcast (4)
LUTE
“LOOT” (spoils, “broadcast”)
5. Conversation about art in gym goes over everyone’s head (8)
REPARTEE
RE (about) ART in PE (gym) goes over E[veryone’s] (head)
6. Well, I’m enthralled by film about renaissance period? (10)
SPRINGTIME
SPRING (well) + I’M enthralled by ET< (film, <about)
7. Detective finally retracting cruel comment (3)
DIG
DI (detective) + [retractin]G (finally)
8. Raising some cash for constituent of Wensleydale (6)
RENNET
TENNER< (<raising, some cash)
9. Check out room (5)
SCOPE
14. One banal line about European cannot be denied (11)
INALIENABLE
I (one) + (BANAL LINE)* (*about) + E (European)
15. Intractable puzzle involves 70’s band smuggling lithium (10)
REBELLIOUS
REBUS (puzzle) involves ELO (70s band) smuggling LI (Lithium)
18. Waste reports teacher wrote (8)
MISSPEND
(“Reports”) “MISS PENNED” (teacher wrote)
19. Resolute model supports measure adopted by classical beauty (4-4)
HELL-BENT
T (model) supports LB (measure) adopted by HELEN (classical beauty)
22. Those in club initially ignored burning matter (6)
EMBERS
[M]EMBERS (those in club, initially ignored)
23. Times condemned strike (5)
SMITE
26. Mad Mexican caught in toilet (4)
LOCO
C (caught) in LOO (toilet)
28. Fight to get female sport on television, primarily (3)
RUT
RU (sport, Rugby Union) on T[elevision] (primarily)
In 20a, I had extrEmely for the E. Pleased to work out 15d from wordplay – not the first word that comes to mind for ‘intractable’.
Good one, Steerpike. Very enjoyable. There were a few I didn’t parse, but all received a “D’oh!” when I came here.
I had to look up Steerpike on a search engine before finally realizing that it was the setter!
25A was unknown to me. I’m not too sure about 9D.
Thanks for the blog, very neat clues today , I agree with Hovis@1 for ARTEMIS , I always think of essence as the middle, it was a clever clue for the female hunter.
Peter@3 I did wonder about check out=SCOPE but it is in Chambers for medical uses.
E’s good innit
As a lute player myself, I have to take issue with “outdated” at 3D!
A most enjoyable puzzle, with ingenious and witty clues. I have far too many ticks to list but I can’t see a dud clue anywhere.
I didn’t know that meaning of ‘scope’, either but had sufficient confidence in the integrity of Steerpike’s cluing to enter it and check later.
Many thanks, both.
Many thanks to Oriel for blog and to everyone else for the comments. 20a was intended as Hovis and Roz parsed it. Apologies to Goujeers (and any other lute players out there)!
Thanks Steerpike. Got to this late but it was worth the wait. There were no dud clues as Eileen said. I did select ARTEMIS, IMBIBE, RENNET, REBELLIOUS, and RUT as noteworthy. Thanks Oriel for the blog.