Some of the clues in today’s Peto puzzle took me a bit of thinking to unravel, but I believe these parsings work . . .
. . . although with 25A and 17D, I cannot help feeling that I have missed something. See further discussion in the comments.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | REVOLT |
Labour leader overwhelmed by swing voter’s disgust (6)
|
| First letter of (leader) L[ABOUR] inside (overwhelmed by) anagram of (swing) VOTER | ||
| 4 | CONTRACT |
Agreement to kill Bond (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | TERMINATE |
Conclude with former head of state having time in art gallery (9)
|
| {ER (former head of state) + MIN. (time)} inside (in) TATE (art gallery) | ||
| 11 | ASSET |
American novel’s heroine brought about something advantageous (5)
|
| A (American) + TESS (novel’s heroine) reversed (brought about), referring to the Thomas Hardy novel | ||
| 12 | IMAM |
By no means all acclaim amuses prayer leader (4)
|
| Hidden in (by no means all) [ACCLA]IM AM[USES] | ||
| 13 | NO-NONSENSE |
Macron’s refusal to admit working on moral discernment is straightforward (2-8)
|
| NON ([Emmanuel] Macron’s refusal, i.e., “no” in French) around (to admit) ON (working) + SENSE (moral discernment) | ||
| 15 | EPITOME |
Defoe’s last good book’s a typical example (7)
|
| Last letter of [DEFO]E (“Defoe’s last”) +PI (good) + TOME (book) | ||
| 16 | SET OUT |
Arrange it for the most part with a solicitor (3,3)
|
| SE[X] (it, minus last letter [“for the most part”]) + TOUT (a solicitor) | ||
| 19 | REELED |
Staggered by Republican employing a slippery customer (6)
|
| RED (Republican, i.e., in the United States) around (employing) EEL (a slippery customer) | ||
| 21 | ABRIDGE |
Shorten brigade training (7)
|
| Anagram of (training) BRIGADE | ||
| 23 | HISTRIONIC |
Right after, this revolutionary order of architecture becomes affected (10)
|
| Anagram of (revolutionary) THIS + R (right, with “after” indicating position) + IONIC (order of architecture) | ||
| 25 | FREE |
Not a slave released ultimately left (4)
|
| FREE[D] (released) minus last letter (“ultimately left”). See further discussion in the comments. | ||
| 27 | LYING |
Why they say Heather embraces telling porkies (5)
|
| LING (heather) around (embraces) homophone of (they say) WHY (i.e., “Y”) | ||
| 28 | MELODRAMA |
Extremely theatrical behaviour from Hindu god after tune’s cut short (9)
|
| MELOD[Y] (tune minus last letter [“cut short”]) + RAMA (Hindu god) | ||
| 29 | TOLERATE |
Bear’s stomach (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 30 | BEADLE |
One involved in plot against the French college official (6)
|
| A (one) inside (involved in) BED (plot) + LE (the [in] French) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RETAINER |
Keep in mind Lear’s regularly ignored servant (8)
|
| RETAIN (keep in mind) + every other letter of (“regularly ignored”) [L]E[A]R | ||
| 2 | VERSATILE |
Realist rambling in the middle of Provence is adaptable (9)
|
| Anagram of (rambling) REALIST inside (in) middle [letters] of [PRO]VE[NCE] | ||
| 3 | LAID |
Put in position face up (4)
|
| DIAL (face) inverted (up) | ||
| 5 | ONEROUS |
Single start not entirely involving a great deal of effort (7)
|
| ONE (single) + ROUS[E] (start minus last letter [“not entirely”]) | ||
| 6 | TRANSITORY |
Conservative maintaining model fled earlier vanishing quickly (10)
|
| TORY (Conservative) around (maintaining) + {RAN (fled) + SIT (model)}, with “earlier” indicating position | ||
| 7 | ARSON |
Crime of American frontiersman initially dismissed (5)
|
| [C]ARSON (American frontiersman minus first letter [“initially dismissed”]), referring to Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson | ||
| 8 | TOTTER |
Fictional wizard with time for power of rock (6)
|
| [Harry] POTTER (fictional wizard) with T (time) [substituted] for P (power) | ||
| 9 | GALORE |
Georgia has learning in abundance (6)
|
| GA (Georgia) + LORE (learning) | ||
| 14 | JOLLY ROGER |
Jovial king finding terrible ogre a fear inducing sight (5,5)
|
| JOLLY (jovial) + R (king) + anagram of (terrible) OGRE | ||
| 17 | UNDERHAND |
Secret known by worker (9)
|
| UNDER (known by, e.g., proceeding under a pseudonym) + HAND (worker) | ||
| 18 | GENERATE |
Fellow finding note after return of oddly rejected dairy produce (8)
|
| GENE (fellow, i.e., a man’s name) + every other letter of (“oddly rejected”) [D]A[I]R[Y] inverted ([upon] return of) + TE (note), with “after” indicating position | ||
| 20 | DOORMAT |
Cross about pal almost becoming someone to walk all over (7)
|
| ROOD (cross) inverted (about) + MAT[E] (pal, minus last letter [“almost”]) | ||
| 21 | AVIDLY |
Nursed by David Lynch with great enthusiasm (6)
|
| Hidden in (nursed by) [D]AVID LY[NCH] | ||
| 22 | CHALET |
Fellow powerless to rent out house in the Alps (6)
|
| CHA[P] (fellow) minus P (“powerless,” i.e., less power) + LET (to rent out) | ||
| 24 | SKILL |
Expertise shown in section on ice (5)
|
| S (section) + KILL (ice) | ||
| 26 | EDGE |
An advantage to move gradually (4)
|
| Double definition |
Didn’t parse SET OUT, and when I saw what the wordplay was I groaned. Not comfortable with under/known (17d). Apparently these meanings of “ling” and “beadle” are British, so I’d not heard of them. Had to search to find Kit Carson.
I saw 25A as you did, Cineraria but I needed your help parsing not only SET OUT but ONEROUS too.
I did finish but it took a royal age to see GENERATE – don’t know why.
I liked HISTRIONIC, JOLLY ROGER, EPITOME and BEADLE (the latter because this time, I realised ‘plot was ‘bed’ (often miss this).
Thanks Peto and Cineraria.
Thanks for the blog, mostly good clues with neat wordplay , very enjoyable.
A couple I am not convinced about.
FREE – I had “Not a slave ” as FREED with released ultimately as D which left to leave FREE , I prefer your idea but do not like FREE as definition then FREEd as wordplay.
UNDERHAND , like Geoff@1 I cannot really see UNDER=known , even with your idea.
Thanks, Peto (good puzzle) and Cineraria (great blog)!
FREE
Parsed it as you did. Unable to sense any loose end.
Roz@3
Agree with you on the mismatch between ‘not a slave’ and FREE.
We may have to settle for:
X is not a slave=X is FREE
My previous comment was posted before reading your comment@3.
I took an age to see GENERATE too for the good reason that I found it very hard; all those E’s and an A left lots of possibilities, especially when the def wasn’t obvious. In the end it took a lift-and-separate of ‘dairy’ and ‘produce’ and the realisation that ‘produce’ was a verb, not a noun as suggested by the wordplay, to work out what was going on. I also had reservations about FREE as discussed by Cineraria and Roz and KVa above. What, no Daniel Boone for 7d; another hold-up for me there.
Favourite was the again not easy to spot def for DOORMAT.
Thanks to Peto and Cineraria
Perhaps a more sophisticated parsing of FREE reads the whole clue as semi-&lit:
FREE[D] (not a slave) minus (“left”) last letter of (“ultimately”) [RELEASE]D
I think that this is what Roz@3 was getting at.
I didn’t know PI = Good, but I do now. Plus, I just found Wikipedia’s list of cryptic crossword abbreviations, which I’m going to go and memorize. I may be gone for some time . . .
Cineraria@8
I understood Roz@3 as follows:
FREED D left. She proposed to use the whole clue for the wordplay, I think.
Then the whole clue can be read as the def?
Not a slave, released (and) ultimately left. This has to represent FREE.
UNDERHAND
‘known by’ =UNDER. I parsed it as in the blog.
Someone will have to check Chambers. In Collins, one of the meanings of
under is given as known by.
Cineraria@8
I have repeated what you said.
What is the definition in your opinion?
KVa@12: “Not a slave” works for me as a definition. I think that this usage would be commonplace in, for instance, literature about the American Civil War, and is akin to the usage “Slave States and Free States,” by which designations the sides were aligned.
FREE my version @3 was just how I solved it at the time and I am not convinced.
I think the explanation in the blog works fine, but I not fond of clues where the answer (FREE) is so similar to the wordplay (FREEd) . I prefer clues where the wordplay comes from a completely different angle.
Re 29A: shouldn’t the clue read “bear stomach”? What is the “s’ doing in there?
Re 16A: when did “sex” become “it”. I know that I have had a sheltered upbringing but I don’t know of this connection. I sort of remember the term “the it girl” in a reference to Clara Bow, but “the sex girl” doesn’t really translate to the answer.
Thanks Cineraria,
I didn’t like FREE because I got no pdm from it, no matter how you parse it. I liked GALORE because it’s a good !rish word: go leor
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/galore
‘Adjective – galore (not comparable) – (postpositive) – In abundance. [from late 17th c.] – “After the shipwreck there was Whisky Galore to be had for the taking.”‘
Today I learnt it can also be a noun, and plural: ‘Noun – galore (plural galores) – (archaic) – An abundance; plenty’ – (It can even be an adverb in Yola.)
It has a disambiguation page, containing The Cure, Kirsty MacColl & Pussy Galore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galore
Peter@15 – “bear’s” can be “bear is” or “bear has” – in this case it’s “is”
S[ex] A[ppeal] = sex = it — a rule in CrosswordLand since time immemorial.
NB – not IT – I worked in IT for too many years – it wasn’t sexy at all.
FrankieG @17 – you’re conflating two slightly different things. “Sex appeal” = “SA” = “it” in the sense of charisma, charm, personality, as in the phrase “it girl”, whereas “it” meaning “sex” is a euphemism you might associate with the Carry On films or saucy seaside postcards. Both rather old-fashioned and risqué in that peculiarly coy British way.
Thanks for the blog, Cineraria – your parsings all look fine to me. And thanks for a nicely challenging puzzle, Peto – like Wordplodder, DOORMAT was my favourite.
A few answers had to be pencilled in till we had crossing letters to confirm them but we managed to get, and parse, everything, We did, though, take a while to finish the SE corner with BEADLE and GENERATE our last ones in. Favourite was JOLLY ROGER.
Thanks, Peto and Cineraria.
UNDERHAND made me think of Winnie the Pooh living under the name of Sanders.
Thanks Peto. Liked ASSET, GALORE, and AVIDLY for the David Lynch surface. Missed BEADLE. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
Not my favourite clue either but there is no doubt that free is an antonym for slave, eg in Galatians 3.28:
‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’
Widdersbel@18 apologies for appearing to conflate things. In my rush to make my joke about the non-equivalence of IT & “it”, I made a mistake in the SA/sex/it
equation@17. That should have been ‘SA = it = sex’. I should have put it in the middle and had sex on the side, as it were. I had all the right bits, but not necessarily in the right places (© EricM).
Petert@20 – Your observation improves that clue no end. 🙂
Markan@22 – Your observation improves the other ever so slightly. 🙂 – but still no pdm.