Salty has his third run out today
Dunno about you but I found bits of this difficult
ACROSS
1. Rejecting extremists, Boris plugs new unknown faction (8)
MINORITY
Without the extremes (b)ORI(s) inside MINT – new & Y – a maths unknown
5. Publisher presses writer to show feelings (4,2)
OPEN UP
PEN – a writer inside O.U.P. – a publisher
9. United no longer tried to fool ref when picking up yellow card at the start (8)
DIVORCED
OR – yellow & C(ard) all inside DIVED – tried to con the ref
10. Verbal dig between partners (6)
SPOKEN
POKE – to dig – in the bridge partners S & N
12. Want naked setter’s heavenly body? (5)
ANGEL
A naked (w)AN(t) & GEL – a setter. Maybe a reference to the Indy’s setter Angel who I’ve never met so can’t comment on her
13. Who won’t need subtitles in remake of Pale Rider? (3-6)
LIP-READER
14. Loads rifles, taking time (6)
STACKS
T(ime) inside SACKS – rifles
16. Pub much obliged for an order (7)
TAPROOM
TA – thanks, much obliged & PRO – for & Order of Merit
19. Economises with shellfish, reducing temperature? (7)
SCRIMPS
SHRIMPS with H(ot) replaced by C(old)
21. Being somewhat somnolent it yawned (6)
ENTITY
Hidden in somnolENT IT Yawned
23. Reason to sing about beer? I must be drunk (9)
RATIONALE
RAT ON – to sing, inform on & ALE – beer with I inserted
25. Foster finally made Byzantine castle in Spain (5)
DREAM
A Byzantine [(foste)R MADE]*
26. Cockney’s hurt by stone in nasty place (6)
ARMPIT
Drop the H in (h)ARM & PIT – stone
27. Best and last to be roughed up, like third pig’s house? (8)
STABLEST
No huffing or puffing about this – a roughed up [BEST LAST]*
28. Carry On Nurse is on late (6)
EXTEND
EX – late, former & TEND to nurse
29. Drink from bedtime bottle full of rum (3,5)
HOT TODDY
ODD – rum inside HOTTY – hot water bottle say
DOWN
1. Choked on artist’s scarf from India (6)
MADRAS
I wasn’t aware of this being a scarf but you live and learn. MAD – iffy to my mind for choked & R.A.’S the crossword staple for artist
2. Driver’s sidekick directed van to Riga (9)
NAVIGATOR
A directed [VAN TO RIGA]*
3. Country sport – two codes, including amateur (5)
RURAL
RU – rugby union & RL – rugby league with A(mateur) inserted
4. Foremost of recommendations in report is support for growth (7)
TRELLIS
Start of R(ecommedations) in TELL – report & IS from the clue
6. Guardiola supported by leading agent from the south – which seasons? (6,3)
PEPPER POT
PEP the manager Guardiola & TOP REP reversed
7. Head of Nasa died after instrument exposed to radiation (5)
NUKED
N(asa) & UKE – instrument & D(ied)
8. Survey men wearing particular type of hat (8)
PANORAMA
OR – soldiers, men in PANAMA hat
11. What gets some petty, antagonistic types going? (4)
SPAT
15. Row of books, one with green jacket (9)
COMMOTION
OT – books & i – one all jacketed by COMMON – a green
17. Getting better outcome following their treat (2,3,4)
ON THE MEND
ON THEM – their treat, they’re paying & END – outcome
18. Drug addict celebrity reveals identity online (8)
USERNAME
USER – addict & NAME – celebrity
20. Deliver large skewers for butcher (4)
SLAY
L(arge) inside SAY – deliver
21. Dance music has old German prince shaking his tail (7)
ELECTRO
ELECTORs were german princes with the end shook up
22. Filthy dog evacuated stinky kennels (6)
SMUTTY
MUTT – dog in a vacated S(tink)Y
24. Politician enters Vietnamese holiday draw (5)
TEMPT
MP inside TET – Vietnamese holiday celebrating the start of spring
25. Case of Drambuie for all that come out (5)
DEBUT
The case of D(rambui)E& BUT – for all that
I suspect scarf = food, flashling. To scarf is noted in Chambers as a US term for devouring food and, I guess, could extend to include the food itself, rather like nosh. I may be wrong.
From Chambers;
choked adjective (informal)
1. Angry
2. Disappointed
3. Upset
Good to see salty back with a nicely tricky solve.
Ta both.
Liked TAPROOM, SCRIMPS, SPAT (one of the best primary letters clues) and DEBUT (‘for all that’). Over all a lovely puzzle from Salty.
RATIONALE
to sing=RAT, about=ON
Or to sing about=RAT ON?
PM@1
MADRAS
There is a fabric as well as a headscarf by this name.
Couldn’t locate ‘scarf=food’ (only a cursory search made, I admit).
Although I thought scarf could refer to food, like PostMark, I see that Madras is a headscarf so agree with the blog. I didn’t actually get this because I entered RIGEL for 12a and couldn’t think of a word ?RI? for “want”. Made it harder than it was, as it were.
Having missed Salty’s 25dn, I’ve been looking forward to this and I wasn’t disappointed. I agree with flashling that bits of it were difficult but I have no complaints about that.
I’ve managed to whittle down my dozen or more ticks to 1ac MINORITY, 9ac DIVORCED, 10ac SPOKEN (all for construction and surface), 13ac LIP-READ (clever anagram and surface), 27ac STABLEST, for the story, 29ac HOT TODDY, for the memory of my late Scottish husband nightly during the winter warding off / treating / recovering from a cold by said means, 11dn SPAT and 25dn DEBUT (I’m with KVa re both).
Many thanks to both Salty and flashling.
Also liked ‘for all that’ in DEBUT and ‘common’ for green which is new to me and ‘or’ for yellow which I forgot. Thanks flashing and Salty.
Nice to see Salty back, and this was plenty of fun. DEBUT, PEPPER POT, and COMMOTION were my favourites.
Thanks flashling and Salty.
Liked jacket and esp kennels as inclusion indicators. Agree with all above about DEBUT, and the image of the old German prince shaking his tail feather to electro will see me happily through the rest of the morning. Thanks to Salty and flashling
Enjoyed this but can someone enlighten me as to why ARMPIT=nasty place and Dream=castle in Spain?
redddevil@10
ARMPIT is a slang word for ‘a nasty/undesirable place’.
‘castle(s) in Spain’ is an idiom carrying the same meaning as ‘castles in the air’.
I’m another half-parsed RIGEL and that made 1D pretty hard. Found MEDORA online but of course couldn’t parse MEDO. The rest I enjoyed very much. Thanks both!
KVa@11 thanks for that.
Not sure how either of them came to mean that really and The Chambers app is equally unconvinced!
reddevil @10 and 13
For what it’s worth, Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable has
‘Castle in the air or in Spain: a visionary project or daydream. Fairy tales have such castles, which vanish as fast as they are built, like that built for Aladdin by the genie of the lamp. The French equivalent is regularly château en Espagne, ‘castle in Spain’, a country that borders France and that was long the nearest Moorish country to Christendom.’
Collins has ‘an extremely unpleasant place’ for ‘armpit’ – and there’s also ‘the pits’ – ‘the worst possible place, person or thing’, which, presumably, has the same origin?
Many thanks flashling for the blog and to everyone who has commented.
Great crossword. No real snags. Didn’t know castles in Spain but got it from word play. Not keen on choked -> mad – saw it but a synonym jump too far for me. All very minor quibbles and no distraction from very enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
Ps This clue intrigues me: 25. Foster finally made Byzantine castle in Spain (5)
Why use Foster? Any other word ending in R works – and many make a more pleasing (to me) surface with more distraction; Emporer, Conqueror…
Is there something more I am missing?
MN @ 17 Norman Foster is a celebrated architect, so could have designed a castle, whether Byzantine or not.
Simon @18. Sir Norman F being architect escaped me – that makes much more sense of the choice now. Thnx