A Monday MOO…
A fairly gentle, but very entertaining, start to the week. I particularly enjoyed 1d.
Thanks MOO!
ACROSS
1. Local loudly expresses disapproval of old queen (6)
BOOZER
“boos” (expresses disapproval, “loudly”) + ER (old queen)
4. Unbeliever acting so strangely (8)
AGNOSTIC
(ACTING SO)* (*strangely)
10. Revolutionary ideologue Varanasi takes in (7)
GUEVARA
[idealo]GUE VARA[nasi] (takes in)
11. Madwoman Hazel hidden away here? (7)
NUTCASE
Double (cryptic) definition
12. Repeat the code word for an E (4)
ECHO
13. A shrewd planner, son targets IT realignment (10)
STRATEGIST
(S (son) + TARGETS IT)* (*realignment)
16. One flogging Titian paintings in recession (6)
TRADER
(RED ART (Titian paintings))< (<in recession)
17. I’m done with Picasso’s extreme style of painting (7)
IMPASTO
IM + PAST (done) with [picass]O (extreme)
20. Visits providing advice from the church? (5,2)
STOPS IN
STOP SIN (advice from church?)
21. Swear about love’s passing (6)
COURSE
CURSE (swear) about O (love)
24. Fruit for Chuck’s big brother? (10)
ELDERBERRY
Double (cryptic) definition
25. I name one such as Io (4)
MOON
27. Honourable way of the President — and his promise at the altar? (7)
BUSHIDO
BUSH (president) and I DO (promise at the altar)
29. Extravagant display of food for lovers? (7)
FANFARE
FAN FARE (food for lovers?)
30. Alarmed, began to cross lake (8)
STARTLED
STARTED (began) to cross L (lake)
31. In retirement McEnroe tempted to throttle streaker (6)
METEOR
([mcen]ROE TEM[pted])< (<in retirement)
DOWN
1. Jean-Paul Sartre’s pain? (8)
BAGUETTE
Cryptic definition
“Pain” being “bread” in French
2. Kindly old writer tried to welcome alien’s return (4-7)
OPEN-HEARTED
O (old) + PEN (writer) + (HEARD (tried) to welcome (ET)< (alien, <return))
3. Cockney chap reportedly spotted a hairy man (4)
ESAU
“‘e saw” (Cockney chap spotted, “reportedly”)
5. Nice policeman (8)
GENDARME
Cryptic definition
Nice – France
6. How AA member might be travelling? (2,3,5)
ON THE WAGON
7. Leaves A&E with temperature rising (3)
TEA
(A & E with T (temperature))< (<rising)
8. Found answer in Mediterranean isle (6)
CREATE
A (answer) in CRETE (Mediterranean isle)
9. Soirée perhaps that’s quietly pretentious (5)
PARTY
P (quietly) + ARTY (pretentious)
14. Question second of soldiers retreating in disarray (11)
INTERROGATE
([s]O[ldiers] (second of) + RETREATING)* (*in disarray)
15. Sweet to attack a moneymaker? (10)
PEPPERMINT
PEPPER (attack) + MINT (moneymaker)
18. Wretched Tories depressing me — so annoying! (8)
TIRESOME
(TORIES)* (*wretched) depressing ME
19. Vixen perhaps … and caribou (8)
REINDEER
Double definition
Referring to one of Santa’s reindeer
22. Island where you’ll find drunken English slobs (6)
LESBOS
(E (English) + SLOBS)* (*drunken)
23. Maybe smack His Majesty’s behind? (5)
CRAFT
CR (His Majesty) + AFT (behind)
Smack being a kind of fishing vessel
26. Head leaving Britain long ago (4)
ONCE
[b]ONCE (head, leaving B (Britain))
28. Recess briefly after upset in Bath (3)
SPA
(APS[e] (recess, briefly))< (<upset)
An enjoyably nimble start to the week with a few smiles here and there. Only got this sense of ‘smack’ (23d) after checking online but otherwise, all happily done and dusted.
Thanks to Moo and Teacow.
28D clue is missing from the pdf unfortunately.
it appears to be in the app though
Liked ELDERBERRY, BAGUETTE, ON THE WAGON and CRAFT.
Thanks, Moo and Teacow!
As Mark, I was clueless about 28d.
Personally, I prefer not to include the S for “son” as part of the anagram fodder for 13a.
Bit of a mixed bag for me but enjoyable overall. I particularly like the neat clue for TEA and the play on “found” in 8d.
I had a miserable time attempting the two Guardian offerings today, and was verging on giving up on cryptics and taking up trainspotting, but Moo has restored my self-confidence.
Passing/course was a bit strange, I thought. Never heard of “bonce” — looks like it’s a British thing? ESAU was unknown to me, as waw BUSHIDO. It took me forever to get BAGUETTE, but when the penny dropped it elicited a smile.
Thanks Moo & Teacow.
Thanks for the blog , a very neat and amusing puzzle , I liked too many clues to start listing them.
Agree with Hovis@4 for son=S being separate to avoid even a hint of an indirect anagram .
A lovely Monday solve – didn’t know ‘smack’ as a CRAFT, and FANFARE took a little while to drop. BUSHIDO also new to me, but the crossers were kind. Nice to see GUEVARA rather than ‘Che’ for once.
‘Bonce’ is British as far as I know.
Thanks Moo & Teacow.
Late to this but had to pop in to add my praise – “gentle but very entertaining” sums it up perfectly for me. Thanks, Moo and Teacow.
Smacks are very much associated with the small fishing town where I live. There’s even a pub called The Smack.
We couldn’t finish as we downloaded the pdf where 28dn was missing. Also, we took ages to see how STOPS IN = ‘visits’, when ‘drops in’ seemed an obvious answer that fitted the clue equally well. Apart from those niggles, though, an enjoyable and gentle Monday solve.
Thanks, Moo and Teacow.