Gila gets us going with as mild as they used to be Monday puzzle
There seems a minor theme of role playing and one word had me scratching my head and checking the dictionary to see if it existed, still thanks Gila for a gentle one.
ACROSS
1. Social event you should try to get out of? (6,4)
ESCAPE ROOM
6. Top expert netting millions (4)
ACME
Meep meep! M(illions) inside – netted by ACE – expert
9. Fruit pips frequently found in long drinks (10)
PINEAPPLES
Alternate letters of PiPs in PINE – long, ache, yearn & ALES – drinks
10. Advert withdrawn? Uh-oh! (4)
GULP
12. Railway network coming from Bath and ending in Ilfracombe (4)
TUBE
A.k.a. the London underground. TUB – bath & end of (ilfracomb)E
13. Filo cut in pieces to wrap a small dessert (9)
CLAFOUTIS
A inside [FILO CUT]* in pieces & S(mall) No? me neither.
15. Indulgences on extremely remote yoga getaways? (8)
RETREATS
Extremities of R(emot)E & TREATS – indulgences
16. Supporting character appearing in end of film with Kelly Macdonald? (6)
MASCOT
End of (fil)M & Kelly Macdonald who is A SCOT
18. Crossing river, reached cave (6)
GROTTO
GOT TO – reached with R(iver) inserted
20. Sought help from fantastic tutor (with input from new editor) (6,2)
TURNED TO
N(ew) ED(itor) inserted in a fantastic TUTOR*
23. Got a tunic fashioned for role-playing (6,3)
ACTING OUT
A fashioned [GOT A TUNIC]*
24. Some caramel doughnut mixture (4)
MELD
Hidden in carMEL Doughnut
26. Podcaster’s shabby appearance (4)
MIEN
Podcasts are spoken so it’s a sounds like MEAN, shabby
27. Did one of the Spice Girls perform over musical instrument? (10)
DIDGERIDOO
DID & GERI – spice girl & DO – perform & O(ver)
28. Get out of endless photographic assignment (4)
SHOO
29. Tormented worker perhaps overwhelmed by various details (10)
TANTALISED
ANT – worker maybe inside a various DETAILS*
DOWN
1. Medium gift you initially pick out (4)
ESPY
ESP what mediums allegedly have & Y(ou) inintially
2. Frauds ultimately do overpaid corporate projects? (7)
CONSULT
Although more cynically and yes more accurately the whole clue is the definition, CONS – frauds & ULT(imately)
3. Someone’s crockery, cutlery and glassware get clean with spit, possibly (5,7)
PLACE SETTING
[GET CLEAN SPIT]* possibly
4. Criticise a successful Premier League club’s greed (8)
RAPACITY
RAP – criticise & A & (probably manchester) CITY
5. Type of band playing with rising reputation (3-3)
ONE MAN
ON – playing & NAME – reputation reversed – rising in a down clue
7. Blimey, criticism sounded severe! (7)
CAUSTIC
Sounds like COR – blimey & STICK – criticism
8. Explanation of a previous job? (10)
EXPOSITION
EX – former, previous & POSITION – job
11. I for one maybe run around with amoral men (5,7)
ROMAN NUMERAL
[RUN AMORAL MEN]* around. Fixed thanks Hovis@3 I blame old age & stupidity
14. MMORPGs are designed for strategies (10)
PROGRAMMES
[MMORPGS ARE]* designed. MMORPGS are Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. I’ve never played one either but they do seem a tad popular amongst the youths of today, when I were young we had it tough…
17. Try hard, though, to bring posh single guy on board (4,1,3)
BUST A GUT
U – posh & STAG – single man all brought on board BUT – though
19. Busy part of month (e.g. October) (2,3,2)
ON THE GO
hidden in mONTH EG October
21. Cool guys entertaining the Spanish kids (7)
DELUDES
EL – the Spanish inside DUDES – cool guys
22. Controversial book that’s funny and primarily intended to aggravate (6)
LOLITA
LOL – that’s funny & I(ntended) T(o) A(ggravate)
25. Invalid, very old passport? (4)
VOID
V(ery) & O(ld) & ID – a passport say
Thanks, Gila and flashling!
My top faves: MASCOT, DIDGERIDOO and CAUSTIC.
So we have a new homophone indicator in podcaster’s. (First time for me anyway).
11d is an anagram of RUN AMORAL MEN.
Hate ‘frequently’ used to reference alternate letters (9a).
Very enjoyable indeed.
The dessert was unknown to me so it was a matter of playing around with the fodder but otherwise all good.
My picks are GULP, DIDGERIDOO, RAPACITY and BUST A GUT.
Many thanks to Gila and flashling
GreginSyd @. I’ve seen the indicator a few times now, it’s a refreshing change from some of the more stock ones particularly the dreaded “on the radio”
A lot of fun to start the week. Fortunately for me, 13a is one of Mrs RD’s specialities – and very tasty it is too.
With lots of ticks, GULP, DIDGERIDOO and CAUSTIC were my top picks.
Many thanks to Gila and to flashling.
Super fun puzzle, thanks Gila and flashling.
If you’ve never had cherry clafoutis, you’re missing a real treat.
Think MELD should have had an American (or Vulcan) indicator.
15: Why the inclusion of yoga? Not necessary and – illegitimately in my view – misleads by getting one to try to use the letters or in some other way use the word.
Does a corporate consultant have a hand in it? 🙂
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/yoga-retreat – a “Collocation” – they often cause controversy here.
I was fine with the yummy clafoutis but hadn’t heard of MMORPGs – don’t imagine I’ve missed much………..
Tops for me were GULP & CAUSTIC with a smile for DIDGERIDOO.
Thanks to Gila and to flashling for the review.
Thanks both. As has been said, a gentler challenge fit for a Monday, though CLAFOUTIS was an unknown and I felt it would taste nicer with the ‘u’ and the ‘i’ exchanged. MIEN held me up as ‘mean’ for ‘shabby’ was not a synonym that came to mind, and I wasn’t sure on the pronunciation of the answer. For wordplay RAPACITY was a favourite – reference the blog stating probably Manchester City, for those of us of a sky blue persuasion, it is demonstration in itself of the club’s (recent) success that at least some are referring to the club simply as City – some unspoken of neighbours have enjoyed a similar honour for about sixty-five years
Fairly gentle as befits Monday, but we couldn’t parse CONSULT satisfactorily. MMORPG was new to us, not that we needed to know the meaning, but confirmed in Chambers. We had vaguely heard of CLAFOUTIS but needed to refer to Chambers to check the spelling. Favourite was ROMAN NUMERAL.
We’re mildly surprised the homophone police haven’t swooped on CAUSTIC!
Thanks, Gila and flashling.
Are homophones in the ear of the beholder?
Been working in chemistry labs since the 1980s and it’s always been cos-tick, maybe I should leave the lab occasionally and talk to normal people, I’ve lived with the vapours that long fresh air smells funny.
That’s an interesting observation, FD@15. I worked in the chemical industry for nearly 50 years and only now for the first time realise that I pronounce CAUSTIC differently depending on the context, e,.g: “COS-TICK soda” and “a CORS-TICK remark”.
All quite gentle and enjoyable despite the clueing of a Scot being someone I haven’t heard of!