Serpent provides today’s challenge – we love his puzzles!
We were not disappointed. As usual, a great selection of clue types, good surfaces and another version of his trademark ninas. This time, there are four phrases round the perimeter, each made up of three four letter words, one taken as read (TAKE ONE’S TIME), one run together to make a two-word phrase (FREE THINKING) and two hyphenated phrases (FEATHER-BRAIN and WHAT’S-ITS-NAME). Only one new word for us today – 15ac. Our favourite clue has to be 19d for its brilliant surface.
Thanks to Serpent for the fun.
REEF (bar, as in a shoal or bank in the sea) with the ‘f’ (last letter) moved to the front or ‘opening’
Hidden (‘part of’) in growTH INdustry
G (good) after or ‘introduced by’ KIN (family)
AIR (express) SHOT (blasted)
An anagram (‘revolutionary’) of THINKErS missing or ‘suppressing’ the ‘r’ (resistance)
PORT (left) LAMENT (keen) round or ‘adopting’ N D C E (last letters or ‘terms’ of Corbyn and lunatic fringe)
A clue-as-definition: EVENS being 50/50 ‘odds’ in betting (‘yes’) , but also the opposite of ‘odds’ (‘no’)
hARROGATE’S (spa town’s) missing or ‘demolishing’ the ‘h’ (hotel) – a new word for us
BEST (elite) round or ‘guarding’ a reversal (‘retreated’) of IN WAR (conflict)
ROTAS (work schedules) with the ‘t’ (last letter or ‘end’ of shift) moved to the back
REconNAISSANCE (preliminary survey) MAN (staff) missing or ‘overlooking’ ‘con’ (Conservative)
An anagram (‘involved’) of ISN’T ‘cased’ in ILL (harmful)
IN (home) ‘neighboured’ by an anagram (‘affected’) of IRATE
Triple definition
OfficeS without the middle letters or ’empty’ round or ‘filled with’ NEw (modern) missing the last letter or ‘unfinished’
M (married) in or ‘seized by’ TIE (couple)
A homophone (‘dictator’s’) of FEET (measures)
EARL (noble) OBE (award – Order of the British Empire)
HIT (murdered) PARA (soldier) D E (last or ‘final’ letters of found beside)
sNAKED (wound) missing or ‘scrubbing’ the first letter or ‘opening’
KIND (class) + an anagram (‘muddles’) of R R R and TEENAGE
A reversal (‘lifted’) of IAN (Scotsman) + VEST (top)
PHOTO (picture) SENSITIVE (controversial)
A homophone (‘announcement’) of WATT (James Watt – 18th/19th century Scottish Engineer)
B (bishop) following HER (this female)
TENT (canvas) in or ‘opening up’ RE (on) rIVEr (middle letters only)
Hidden (‘clothed by’) and reversed (‘about’) in chaSTISed
An anagram (‘receiving treatment’) of MEN in ASIA (continent) – ‘lift and separate’
A (adult) CAN’T (cannot) HI (welcome)
RAisIN (fruit) missing or ‘extracting’ ‘is’
Hidden (‘from’) in colosSAL VOlcanoes
A reversal (‘about’) of AN (article) + ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis – ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’)
I always enjoy this setter’s (all to infrequent) appearances in The Telegraph and I enjoyed this hugely entertaining offering too.
Winners throughout the grid but I’ll mention PHOTOSENSITIVE and AIR SHOT for their misdirection but favourite has to be the brilliant AMNESIA.
Many thanks indeed to Serpent and B&J.
Thanks for the parsing of 12. I gave up trying. Puzzled by the thought of the kindergarteners themselves being the instructors, but otherwise very neat, tidy and enjoyable. Thanks, Serpent.
I had to look up KINDERGARTENERS as I thought this referred to the children. According to Chambers, this is US usage and it does indeed refer to the teachers. Live and learn. ARROGATES was new to me as well. Could only think of ABROGATES given the crossers, but that didn’t work. Always enjoy a Serpent.
Well Serpent is clearly in a generous mood today. I normally find this setter to be one of the hardest but, for some reason, today I sailed through with only NAKED unparsed as – once again – the double meaning of ‘wound’ managed to mislead me. Very, very enjoyable and the perimeter Ninas are neatly constructed.
Favourites include AIRSHOT, ROAST, RE(con)AISSANCE MAN, INERTIA, NAIVEST, PHOTOSENSITIVE, AMNESIA and, for the laugh, SALVO.
Thanks Serpent and B&J
Hovie @3: the HARROGATE/ARROGATE opportunity is one I’ve seen used on quite a few occasions – quite often the idea of ‘Yorkshire town lacking aspiration’ pops up; it’s hard to resist.
HoviS of course. Hovie sounds like a truly horrible familiarisation of your moniker. My apologies.
No probs PostMarkie.
Obvious to all of you but I hadn’t heard of acanthus as decoration on a Corinthian column (just in case anyone else was puzzled too!)
My only association for acanthus is as the principal distinguishing feature of a Corinthian capital.
On a good day for cryptic crosswords, this one was most enjoyable. I even noticed the Nina
Thanks very much to Serpent and B&J
Acanthus was also a Georgian plasterwork feature (cf swag & drop).
Is there more going on here? We have RENAISSANCE MAN and FREE THINKER… and RIP ECO in columns 2 and 10.
Thanks to Serpent and B&J
ING, not ER of course
All hail Serpent, grand wizard of the verb indicative, used here to superb effect in several clues. Outstanding, air-tight cluemanship throughout, but I must confess to having choked on my cucumber sandwiches at the unexpected little foray into Libertarianism at 19dn. And all wrapped up in a very inventive and rewarding peripheral Nina. Thanks to Serpent and B&J for the excellent puzzle and blog, respectively.
Thanks Bertandjoyce and Serpent.
Excellent.
I saw the ninas….not perfectly enough, as I was looking for a connection amongst them…
So, having lost F to FREE, I kept reading the rest as EAT HER BRAIN…
What purpose does ‘contents’ serve in 8 down?
JP @ 16 I read it as ‘with controversial contents’ = ‘sensitive’.
JP @ 16 I read it as if a photo CONTAINS sensitive material it is controversial .
Too slow typing. Agreed Simon S.
Superb puzzle from Serpent as usual.
With the Spider lady in the FT and the Pirate in the Guardian, today has indeed been a treat of a crossword day!
The Serpent reprint in yesterday’s i must have put us on his wavelength as we had few problems with this apart from not being able to parse FREE. A bit of headscratching here and there, of course, but an enjoyable solve all the same.
Thanks, Serpent and B&J
Thanks Serpent for another masterful crossword. [With Rosa Klebb in the FT and Picaroon in the G we are indeed fortunate today.] I saw the nina forming early and that helped with my solving. My favourites were RENAISSANCE MAN, NAKED, AMNESIA, and RAIN. I couldn’t fully parse FREE, PORTLAND CEMENT, and TIME so thanks B&J for the explanations.
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce – I love their blogs! – and to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment on the puzzle. Thanks to Simon S and gsolphotog for explaining “contents”. (One of the definitions in Chambersof “sensitive” is simply “with controversial contents”.)
Thank you Serpent, that was fun. Lovely stuff (but the parsing of FREE eluded me). My fave was 9down – I have a simple mind. Thanks also bertandjoyce.
Loved RE(CON)NAISSANCE MAN