Zamorca dishes out a fun challenge this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MUSIC BOX |
Recalled problem with one key set for clockwork instrument (5,3)
|
| MUS ( problem = SUM, reversed ) I ( one ) C ( key ) BOX ( set ) | ||
| 5 | ABBESS |
Religious leader and bishops, in the main, rejected Sunday opening (6)
|
| [ BB ( bishops ) in reverse of SEA ( main ) ] S ( Sunday, opening letter ) | ||
| 10 | THROB |
Drum and bass on the never-ending radio outside (5)
|
| THe ( never-ending i.e. without the last letter ) RO ( RadiO, outside i.e. end characters ) B ( bass ) | ||
| 11 | SIDEBOARD |
Vociferously moaned, fed up with old dining room furniture (9)
|
| sounds like SIGHED ( moaned ) BORED ( fed up ) | ||
| 12 | ENDANGERS |
Jeopardises aims when filled with rage (9)
|
| ENDS ( aims ) containing ANGER ( rage ) | ||
| 13 | LISZT |
Index includes unknown composer (5)
|
| LIST ( index ) containing Z ( unknown ) | ||
| 14 | JOSTLE |
Jack gets toes crushed crossing large crowd (6)
|
| J ( jack ) { [ TOES ]* containing L ( large ) } | ||
| 15 | PLAYFUL |
Humorous stage show’s almost at capacity (7)
|
| PLAY ( stage show ) FULl ( at capacity, almost ) | ||
| 18 | RETRIED |
Drew again, boxing ringleader so had another go (7)
|
| RE-TIED ( drew again ) containing R ( Ring, leader i.e. first letter ) | ||
| 20 | CUDDLE |
Play around with complex clue over a couple of days (6)
|
| [ CLUE ]* containing DD ( D – day, two of ) | ||
| 22 | CAPRI |
Crop off sign for island (5)
|
| CAPRIcorn ( sign , without CORN – crop ) | ||
| 24 | DRAG QUEEN |
RuPaul maybe agreed, sort of, to host question session at the end (4,5)
|
| { [ AGREED ]* containing QU ( question ) } N ( sessioN, end letter ) | ||
| 25 | SPECTACLE |
Show’s design caught at heart of story (9)
|
| SPEC ( design ) [ C ( caught ) in the middle of TALE ( story ) ] | ||
| 26 | EPOCH |
Record old church’s age (5)
|
| EP ( record ) O ( old ) CH ( church ) | ||
| 27 | SWEARY |
Partner in game getting bored, becomes foul-mouthed (6)
|
| S ( partner in game, South, bridge ) WEARY ( getting bored ) / I had this original down as SWEARS. See comments below. | ||
| 28 | LUCKY DIP |
Dr Spooner’s darling impudence is popular at kids’ party (5,3)
|
| spoonerism of DUCKY ( darling ) LIP ( impudence ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MITTEN |
Catch boy to return glove (6)
|
| NET ( catch ) TIM ( boy ), all reversed | ||
| 2 | STRIDE OUT |
Walk fast, second time lift’s gone (6,3)
|
| S ( second ) T ( time ) RIDE ( lift ) OUT ( gone ) | ||
| 3 | CABINET MINISTER |
Chancellor’s a bit insincere, somehow concealing tax matters at first (7,8)
|
| [ A BIT INSINCERE ]* containing TM ( Tax Matters, first letters ) | ||
| 4 | OBSCENE |
Stink raised by part of a play that’s very rude (7)
|
| OB ( stink = BO, body odor, raised ) SCENE ( part of play ) | ||
| 6 | BUBBLE AND SQUEAK |
Yelp after pan with no lid boiled over for cabbage and potato dish (6,3,6)
|
| [ BUBBLED ( boiled ) containing pAN ( no lid i.e. without first letter ) ] SQUEAK ( yelp ) | ||
| 7 | EXAMS |
Each cross in margins voided questions (5)
|
| [ X ( cross ) in EA ( each ) ] MS ( MarginS voided i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 8 | SEDATELY |
See Democrat in constituency going ahead quietly (8)
|
| [ D ( democrat ) in SEAT ( constituency ) ] ELY ( see ) | ||
| 9 | ADDS UP |
Reckons Dad’s confused by drink (4,2)
|
| [ DAD ]* SUP ( drink ) | ||
| 16 | FALSEHOOD |
Represent self as endlessly tough, which is not true (9)
|
| [ SELF As ( endlessly ) ]* HOOD ( tough ) | ||
| 17 | CROCUSES |
Worth wearing comfortable shoes to see flowers (8)
|
| USE ( worth ) in CROCS ( comfortable shoes ) ; needed help solving this one | ||
| 19 | DEDUCE |
University college indeed cultivated reason (6)
|
| [ U ( university ) C ( college ) ] in [ DEED ]* | ||
| 20 | CHATEAU |
Leaves twice, heading for uncle’s house in France (7)
|
| CHA TEA ( leaves ) U ( Uncle, first letter ) | ||
| 21 | UNSHIP |
Push in rudely to get off boat (6)
|
| [ PUSH IN ]* | ||
| 23 | PEEVE |
Note American Vice-President’s rising irritation (5)
|
| reverse of E ( note ) VEEP ( vice president, american ) |
Thanks, Zamorca and Turbolegs!
27 I had SWEARY (As the Well Done message appeared after completing the puzzle, I take SWEARY as the
official solution).
‘becomes’ then becomes a link word and ‘foul-mouthed’ the def.
Interesting — when I did the puzzle online I entered SWEAR-Y for 27 across because ‘bored’ seemed to suggest ‘weary.’ The computer accepted that solution but I can see the confusion that would lead to SWEARS, so it could have been a better clue. Otherwise, nothing to complain about here. Thanks to both.
{sorry, KVa, we crossed}
I learnt today that crocs are shoes. “Vociferously” is a nice, colourful homophone indicator that I’d not previously come across. Didn’t know of RuPaul, I’m pleased to say, but a quick Google search led immediately to the answer.
All in all enjoyable, with nothing too obscure or sticky, thanks Zamorca & Turbolegs.
Isn’t “unship” an ugly word?
Yes, I had SWEARY too!
Thanks, Zamorca & Turbolegs. This was indeed a fun challenge – with the emphasis perhaps more on the fun than the challenge. DRAG QUEEN and CHATEAU were my favourites.
Fairly straightforward and a pangram to boot. Thanks setter and blogger.
Glad I wasn’t the only one to be vaguely dissatisfied with SWEARY; I would be as I had SWEARS of course. A pity that the pangram didn’t help decide between the two options.
I found this on the harder side for Zamorca. I was interested to see a SIDEBOARD clued as an ‘old piece…’; probably means I’m getting old too.
Thanks to Zamorca and Turbolegs
Found this a gently satisfying pangram-enhanced puzzle.
Likes included CROCUSES for the ‘comfortable shoes’ (rakishly sported by David Hockney at his current show), the ‘leaves twice’ in CHATEAU (as Widdersbel says) and SEDATELY for the devious ‘see’ which could have clued ‘date’ or even provided letters itself to the answer but naturally, following the parsing, was Ely.
Rather red-faced that I didn’t see the ‘corn’ bit anyhow landed CAPRI.
Thanks to Zamorca and Turbolegs.
Very enjoyable other than the dnf as I too had SWEARS not the correct answer SWEARY, and I left it to last as I wasn’t sure too.
Thank you to Turbolegs and Zamorca.
Re 21D, I agree with GDU. Is “unship” really a word?
Re 20A: “CUDDLE” equals “PLAY AROUND WITH”? I remember “cuddling” girls and I remember “playing around” with girls and, believe me, I really enjoyed the latter more than the former.
I arrived at SWEARY straightaway, my LOI, based on the structure of the clue. This would need to say something like “gets boring” to lead directly to SWEARS, although the clues are not always that precise. Thanks to Turbolegs and Zamorca.
Thanks Turbolegs and Zamorca.
21dn: Chambers 2014 gives us all of this for unship: “vt to unload (cargo) from a ship or boat, etc; to remove from a fixed or allotted place (such as oars from the rowlocks); (of a horse) to unseat (the rider). – vi to be capable of or undergo unshipping.” The clue certainly fits the first of these definitions as a transitive verb.
Fun puzzle. I’m annoyed with myself for entering SWEARS at 27 even though I felt vaguely dissatisfied with it. SWEARY is obviously better – I should have trusted my feeing and persisted.
I also agree with Peter@11 about CUDDLES.
Thanks Zamorca and Turbolegs.
Thanks Zamorca for the usual fun. Despite a few “ugly” words like SWEARY and UNSHIP I enjoyed this. I think the clue for CROCUSES should have contained “hideous shoes” instead of “comfortable shoes” but I’m sure some will say that “hideous” is too subjective. (They would be wrong, of course.) I ticked PLAYFUL, CAPRI, SPECTACLE, OBSCENE, CHATEAU as favourites. I liked the surface of 3d and couldn’t parse SEDATELY or THROB so thanks Turbolegs for the help.
You are right, Tony @15!