Vigo is occupying the Thursday slot this week, using a grid that accommodates as many as eight 4-letter entries.
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle on the Indy scale. In the end, I was left with a couple of missing words in the NE quadrant, but they too eventually slotted into place.
I would appreciate confirmation of my parsings at 1A and 10D. My favourite clues today were 4 and 21, both for smoothness of surface; and 22, for overall construction. 29 was a new word for me, but it could be confidently teased out from the wordplay.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TRIBAL | Section of roast rib alarmed family
Hidden (“section of”) in “roasT RIB ALarm”; here “family” has to be read as an attributive adjective, as in family traditions or tribal traditions |
| 04 | SURVIVOR | One living through mutated virus getting very yellow
*(VIRUS) + V (=very) + OR (=yellow, in heraldry) |
| 09 | SAMOA | Island in South Africa with giant old bird
SA (=South Africa) + MOA (=giant old bird) |
| 10 | SNIGGERED | Laughed unpleasantly as drinks knocked back by German editor
SNIG (GINS=drinks; “knocked back” indicates reversal) + GER (=German) + ED. (=editor) |
| 11 | A-ONE | First class single left out
A<l>ONE (=single); “left (=L) out” means letter “l” is dropped |
| 12 | GOOF | Turn over following mistake
GO (=go, as in It’s my turn/go) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard) + F (=following); a goof is a blunder, mistake |
| 13 | BUFFS | Polishes // fans
Double definition: to buff is to polish a surface AND a computer buff is a computer fan or expert |
| 15 | OUTPOLL | Get more votes than unpopular European, we hear
OUT (=unpopular) + homophone (“we hear”) of Pole (=European) |
| 16 | RARE | Bloody // exceptional
Double definition: a rare steak is a bloody steak AND a rare occurrence is an exceptional one |
| 19 | FIRE | Sack of iron containing iridium
IR (=iridium, i.e. chemical formula) in FE (=iron, i.e. chemical formula) |
| 20 | AWESOME | Adult introducing bridge partners gets a little formidable
A (=adult) + W E (=bridge partners, i.e. West and East) + SOME (=a little) |
| 23 | ELEMI | Fragrant resin carried back by regime leaders
Reversed (“back”) and hidden (“carried by”) in “regIME LEaders” |
| 24 | BLIP | Temporary setback as male dropped from aircraft
BLI<m>P (=aircraft, i.e. a non-rigid dirigible used for e.g. advertising); “male (=M) dropped” means letter “m” is not used |
| 25 | IDOL | God of wildfowl oddly missing
<w>I<l>D<f>O<w>L; “oddly missing” means that odd letters in the word are dropped; an idol is an image of a god, an object of worship |
| 27 | ADVANTAGE | Vegan data possibly showing benefit
*(VEGAN DATA); “possibly” is anagram indicator |
| 28 | UNITE | Wed posh idiot with energy
U (=posh, i.e. upper-class) + NIT (=idiot) + E (=energy) |
| 29 | DEEP-DYED | Exploit involving record day with unknown going through
[EP (=record, i.e. extended-play) + D (=day) + Y (=unknown, in algebra)] in DEED (=exploit); deep-dyed means through-and-through, dyed-in-the-wool complete, as a deep-dyed Tory or a deep-dyed villain |
| 30 | EYELID | Look at top batter?
EYE (=(to) look at, view) + LID (=top, cap, on e.g. jar); cf. to bat an eyelid |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TESTATOR | One willing in trial on a hill
TEST (=trial, ordeal) + A + TOR (=hill); a testator is “willing”, i.e. leaves a will upon death |
| 02 | IMMUNITY | Protection from one small measure with agreement
I (=one) + MM (=small measure, i.e. millimetre) + UNITY (=agreement) |
| 03 | AWAY | A path out
A + WAY (=path) |
| 05 | UNINFORMATIVE | Unusually furtive Minoan, giving little away
*(FURTIVE MINOAN); “unusually” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | VEGEBURGER | Church official consuming, for example, revolting but endless dish
[G.E. (E.G.=for example; “revolting” indicates vertical reversal) + BU<t> (“endless” means last letter is dropped)] in VERGER (=church official) |
| 07 | VERIFY | Confirm fuel returned after five and before end of day
V (=five, in Roman numerals) + ERIF (FIRE=fuel, intensify, e.g. a debate; “returned” indicates reversal) + <da>Y (“end of” means last letter only) |
| 08 | RADISH | Vegetable and bread regularly found on plate
<b>R<e>A<d> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + DISH (=plate) |
| 10 | SHOULDER BLADE | Bone cut by knife
SHOULDER (=cut, of meat, as in a shoulder of mutton) + BLADE (=knife) |
| 14 | POSITIONED | Put forward one single department to be located
POSIT (=put forward, postulate) + I (=one) + ONE (=single, e.g. one run in cricket) + D (=department) |
| 17 | GOODWILL | Proficient testament to benevolence
GOOD (=proficient, able) + WILL (=testament) |
| 18 | WELL-READ | You and I left guide around start of route being acknowledgeable
WE (=you and I) + L (=left) + [R<oute> (“start of” means first letter only is used) in LEAD (=guide, direct)] |
| 21 | REWARD | Sketch artist perhaps lifting prize
DRAWER (=sketch artist perhaps); “lifting” indicates vertical reversal |
| 22 | OEUVRE | Endlessly devoured strange work
*(<d>EVOURE<d>); “endlessly” means first and last letters are dropped from anagram, indicated by “strange” |
| 26 | JURY | Cut perhaps not popular with panel
<in>JURY (=cut perhaps); “not popular (=in)” means letters “in” are dropped |
Seems very quiet out there? I agree with your parsing of 1A and 10D. Thank you to both setter and blogger
I’m also happy with your parsing of 1A and 10D. It took me far too long to see 26D, my LOI, and 29A. Thanks Vigo and RatkojaRiku.
This was light and great fun as we have come to expect from this setter with SNIGGERED, GOOF, RARE, EYELID & JURY my top picks.
I don’t think 29a quite works, as “thorough” seems to me to be a better synonym than “through” for DEEP-DYED.
Many thanks to Vigo and to RR.
A nice puzzle but I was beaten by DEEP DYED. If the setter had wanted to be more generous to us solvers, a slightly kinder definition for that one would have been the place to start. Not a criticism; I just never got close to that one. Some delightful surfaces in here making clues like VERIFY, UNINFORMATIVE, BLIP and OUTPOLL particularly enjoyable.
Thanks Vigo and RR
Thanks Vigo and RR!
Good puzzle and a good blog!
Top faves: EYELID, SHOULDER BLADE and JURY.
DEEP-DYED
I took ‘going through’ as the definition.
‘going through’ in the sense of ‘thoroughgoing’ (DEEP-DYED) fits in fine as the def, I think.
I agree with KVa about DEEP-DYED. Was this slightly trickier than we have come to expect from Vigo?
Lovely puzzle but I would say that Samoa is not an island. It’s a country/nation made up of two main islands and several small ones. The def could be ‘islands’ which might help with misdirection and better fit the clue. This would apply to quite a few Pacific nations. Tonga and Fiji are other examples.
I thought this was going to be finished in record time for me until I got held up with JURY which I thought was a great clue. Agree about the surfaces being delightful. Thanks RR and Vigo.
Lovely to see Vigo back again and I thought this was at the tougher end of her spectrum. So many clues that I enjoyed – particularly notable were SNIGGERED, GOOF, OUTPOLL, BLIP and JURY.
Many thanks to Vigo and to RR for the review.
Gentle but pleasant.
Thanks Vigo, that was enjoyable. I particularly liked SHOULDER BLADE, RARE, BLIP, and AWAY. I failed in the SE with JURY and EYELID. Thanks RR for the blog.
Some clever short clues which seems a rarity. Couple of NHO but getable.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
Loi – DEEP-DYED – held me up for a while – usually the sign of a good clue – the definition “going through” looking like a second inserion indicator.
[RR, you’ve forgotten to italicise it]. I took it (as you did) as dyed-in-the-wool, (as opposed to skin-deep). Literally:
Where the wool is dyed unknitted, allowing the colour to thoroughly permeate, go through, before being knitted into, say, !rish Aran jumpers.
I liked it. A lot. Thanks V&RR