A bank holiday Monday MOO…
Apologies for the lateness of this blog… I may have overindulged at a barbecue yesterday.
A definite royal theme in the clues today, can't imagine why.
A fun solve with some lovely clues.
Thanks MOO!
ACROSS
1. Laugh about Charlie encountering moose heading west (6)
CACKLE
CA (about) + C (Charlie) encountering (ELK)< (moose, <heading west)
4. Shop in communist hands is given back (8)
RESTORED
STORE (shop) in RED (communist)
10. Express Robespierre’s objections to taking power (3-4)
NON-STOP
NONS (Robespierre's objections) + TO taking P (power)
11. Happiness of aunt perhaps when going topless (7)
ELATION
[r]ELATION (aunt perhaps, going topless)
12. I run backwards in space (4)
ROOM
(MOO (I) + R (run))< (<backwards)
13. Ceasefire broken by mutinous uncle’s aggression (10)
TRUCULENCE
TRUCE (ceasefire) broken by (UNCLE)* (*mutinous)
15. Mistakes in Pliny the Elder’s writings? (6)
ERRATA
16. Pursue troubled king, one with illegitimate claim (7)
USURPER
(PURSUE)* (*troubled) + R (king)
20. Rebellious US agent backing island colonist (7)
DEFIANT
(FED)< (US agent, <backing) + I (island) + ANT (colonist)
21. Transfer Chinese academic (4,2)
HAND ON
HAN (Chinese) + DON (academic)
24. Such music disturbing Eton cleric (10)
ELECTRONIC
(ETON CLERIC)* (*disturbing)
26. Spirit of writer taking one to a different place (4)
BRIO
BIRO (writer) taking I (one) to a different place
28. Report of a republican imprisoned by northern judge (7)
NARRATE
(A + R (republican)) imprisoned by (N (northern) + RATE (judge))
29. Fish eaten by harbour (7)
HADDOCK
HAD (eaten) by DOCK (harbour)
30. East End institution reportedly allowed to serve food (8)
OMELETTE
[h]OME (institution, East End) + "let" (allowed, "reportedly")
31. Disheartened student becoming increasingly thin (6)
LEANER
LEA[r]NER (student, disheartened)
DOWN
1. Calls about article on American islands (8)
CANARIES
CRIES (calls) about (AN (article) on A (American))
2. Hall providing training for Tories? (9)
CONCOURSE
COURSE (training) for CON (Tories)
3. Female abandoning one instrument for another (4)
LUTE
[f]LUTE (instrument, F (female) abandoning)
5. Charles’s mum in tax trouble (8)
EXERCISE
ER (Charles's mum) in EXCISE (tax)
6. One focused on net profit? (10)
TRAWLERMAN
7. Announced downfall of the monarchy (5)
REIGN
"rain" (downfall, "announced")
8. Jenny’s an idiot (6)
DONKEY
9. Have mercy on redundant royal (5)
SPARE
14. Perverted priests at English night club act (10)
STRIPTEASE
(PRIESTS AT)* (*perverted) + E (English)
17. I wondered about getting a winter warmer (9)
EIDERDOWN
18. Free from sin, as many popes were (8)
INNOCENT
19. Observer in toilet with royal couple (8)
ONLOOKER
ON LOO (in toilet) with K ER (royal couple)
22. Go slowly round a hut (4-2)
LEAN-TO
LENTO (go slowly) around A
23. Sunak seduced by Paris Hilton (5)
RISHI
[pa]RIS HI[lton] (seduced by)
25. Dictator’s sinister observation post (5)
EYRIE
"eerie" (sinister, "dictator's")
27. Steal heroin from fence (4)
EDGE
[h]EDGE (fence, H (heroin) from)
Moo’s offering today serves up an antidote to Saturday’s excesses, perhaps!
A hefty dose of irreverence sprinkled throughout the clues made this a lot of fun.
My picks were SPARE and ONLOOKER for the cheeky surface.
Thanks to Moo and Teacow (always like writing these names in the same sentence).
Why is trouble exercise? 30a doesn’t work for me, as I say om-let, not ome-let. I tend to think of spooky for eerie, not sinister, but no doubt someone will tell me it’s legit. I was unaware that many popes were Innocent, so I’ve learnt something.
Thanks Moo & Teacow.
22d doesn’t work. The solution is not a hut. I agree with GDU about 30a too. Oh well . . . That’s the nits picked.
Geoff,
Chambers gives “exercise” as meaning to trouble, concern or occupy someone’s thoughts. I think it’s something a Jane Austen character might say.
I agree that 30a seems ambiguous but, as per the blog, I took the reportedly bit to mean -‘lette’ for ‘let’ and not ‘ome where it’s the East End manner to drop the aitch.
Thanks for the blog , very neat and concise set of clues.
I agree with Diane@4 twice. I thought of exercise/trouble one’s conscience. I took 30Ac in two parts – (h)OME and then only the LETTE reportedly.
With SPARE, what does “royal” have to do with the definition? Just “redundant,” I would understand.
Good job on the blog.
Cineraria@6 the royal line needs an heir and a spare ( younger sibling often redundant ) .
Yes, Roz, and the name of Harry’s book.
Thanks Moo, that was fun. I particularly liked ROOM, HADDOCK, LEANER, EIDERDOWN, RISHI, and STRIPTEASE, the latter for its surface. I didn’t know EDGE meant steal but it was the obvious answer. I needed a word finder for CONCOURSE. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
Tony@9 steal=EDGE in the sense to move stealthily.
Took a couple of visits with Lean-to and Omelette causing the hold up.
Thanks @Roz for explain Steal.
Roz @10: Of course. I was thinking along the lines of other British terms for steal like nick or pinch. By the way, have you ever considered becoming a 15-squared blogger yourself?
[Thanks Tony but I do not have the time or the skills, I am busy with work and usually do not look at the Guardian or FT puzzle until my journey home . My IT skills are zero, I do not have email or a mobile phone , someone has kindly set up this Chromebook I use, when I open it there are three pictures to click on – this site , the BBC and JWST . I never use the internet , Google etc.
It would take me a week to type out a blog and it would still be a mess. If blogs could be hand-written …. ]
Thanks, Moo and Teacow. I wondered if there would be a “royal” theme this day.
Last one in was the clever rebus CANARIES.
A couple of clues work better in print than pronounced, I think. I agree with GDU on OMELETTE – it works when written (‘ome) but pronounced with a short O, ahm-let. And I’ve always said “air-ee” for EYRIE (alternate spelling AERIE), but “ear-ee” for “eerie”. Close enough, however, that I got them.
Roz @13 is obviously living the dream. What a wonderful picture we are presented with in that post.