Commendable work as usual from Slormgorm. Half of this was entirely straightforward . . .
. . . but the second half found me reaching for my thinking cap.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | POTABLES |
Drinks apostle chucked over bishop (8)
|
| Anagram of (chucked) APOSTLE around (over) B (bishop) | ||
| 5 | KNIGHT |
Start to knit dark jumper (6)
|
| First letter of (start to) K[NIT] + NIGHT (dark), referring to chess | ||
| 10 | TRUSTEE |
Street drug taken by loyal board member (7)
|
| {ST (street) + E (drug)} inside (taken by) TRUE (loyal) | ||
| 11 | REVISIT |
Vicar one’s relations call on again (7)
|
| REV. (vicar) + I’S (“one’s”) + IT ([sexual] relations) | ||
| 12 | ETHIOPIAN |
African in Haiti open to change (9)
|
| Anagram of (to change) HAITI OPEN | ||
| 13 | RURAL |
Short and long rivers in the countryside (5)
|
| R (“short” river) + URAL (“long” river) | ||
| 15 | TASKS |
Inquire in empty supermarket about jobs (5)
|
| ASK (inquire) inside (in) outside letters of (empty) S[UPERMARKE]T reversed (about) | ||
| 16 | CONTACTS |
Tory laws broken by tense associates (8)
|
| CON (Tory) + ACTS (laws) around (broken by) T (tense) | ||
| 19 | CODPIECE |
Old container of meat and two veg? (8)
|
| Cryptic definition, referring to slang for the male genitals | ||
| 20 | MILAN |
Chap snarfing one slice of lamb in Italian place (5)
|
| MAN (chap) around (snarfing) {I (one) + first letter of (slice of) L[AMB]} | ||
| 21 | MANIC |
Bloody busy bloke I see on blower (5)
|
| MAN (bloke) + I + C [homophone of (on blower) SEE] | ||
| 23 | THEORISER |
I suppose he runs riot with rioters (9)
|
| Anagram of (runs riot) {HE + RIOTERS} | ||
| 25 | AUCTION |
Union must stop legal proceeding in Sale (7)
|
| U (union) inside (must stop) ACTION (legal proceeding), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 27 | DAB HAND |
Lawyer at bar snorting heroin and whizz (3,4)
|
| DA (lawyer) + BAND (bar) around (snorting) H (heroin) | ||
| 28 | STABLE |
Bit of brouhaha in old Hackney house? (6)
|
| First letter of (bit of) B[ROUHAHA] inside (in) STALE (old), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 29 | INNER EAR |
Fly won’t open next to private part of body (5,3)
|
| INNER (private) + [T]EAR (fly, in the sense of “move quickly”) minus first letter T (“won’t open”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PATIENTS |
Forbearance needed in hearing for cases (8)
|
| Homophone of (in hearing) PATIENCE (forbearance) | ||
| 2 | TOUCHES DOWN |
Stud who once freshly-cultivated lands (7,4)
|
| Anagram of (freshly-cultivated) STUD WHO ONCE | ||
| 3 | BOTTOMS UP |
New pub’s motto? (7,2)
|
| &lit and anagram of (new) PUB’S MOTTO | ||
| 4 | ELEMI |
Resin priest inhales close to comatose male (5)
|
| ELI (priest) around (inhales) {last letter of (close to) [COMATOS]E + M (male)} | ||
| 6 | NEVER |
On no account head to Norwich at any time (5)
|
| First letter of (head to) N[ORWICH] + EVER (at any time) | ||
| 7 | GAS |
Gran’s regularly denied flatulence (3)
|
| Every other letter of (regularly denied) G[R]A[N]’S | ||
| 8 | TOTAL |
Amount to nothing in race with a liberal (5)
|
| O (nothing, i.e., zero) inside (in) TT (race) + A + L (liberal) | ||
| 9 | ORDNANCE |
Munitions men with knight found amongst set of steps (8)
|
| OR (men) + {N (knight) inside (found amongst) DANCE (set of steps)} | ||
| 14 | RATTLESNAKE |
Needing resolution, enter talks with a venomous type (11)
|
| Anagram of (needing resolution) {ENTER + TALKS + A} | ||
| 16 | CHEATING |
Clubs worrying about Hearts playing away from home (8)
|
| C (clubs) + EATING (worrying) around (about) H (hearts), referring to adultery | ||
| 17 | ADMIRABLE |
Praiseworthy officer saves British ensign at front (9)
|
| ADMIRAL (officer) around (saves) B (British) + first letter of (at front) E[NSIGN] | ||
| 18 | INTRUDER |
Gatecrasher’s more uncivil chasing popular model (8)
|
| IN (popular) + T (model) + RUDER (more uncivil) | ||
| 21 | MOANS |
Day in which a soprano makes complaints (5)
|
| MON. (day, i.e., Monday) around (in which) A + S (soprano) | ||
| 22 | CHILL |
Relax in church? Slormgorm will! (5)
|
| CH (church) + I’LL (Slormgorm will) | ||
| 24 | END ON |
Contrary Tyneside fellow with back towards you (3,2)
|
| NE (Tyneside, i.e., north-east) reversed (contrary) + DON (fellow) | ||
| 26 | CHA |
Leaders in City Hall all drink (3)
|
| First letters of (leaders in) C[ITY] H[ALL] A[LL] |
Excellent puzzle and blog. Although I had forgotten the term” meat and two veg” 19ac wax easy enough to guess and raised a smile.
Many thanks to both
Fun! Thanks Stormgorm. 28A and 24D nicely chewy. Least fave 4D 🥱 Out and out fave 3D, so felicitous! 🙂 Thanks to Cinearia. Have a good day, all.
CODPIECE and BOTTOMS UP: Excellent.
Thanks both!
A good puzzle. Am not familiar with the slang, so didn’t get “Codpiece”. Didn’t get “Stable” either, was thinking of the borough and not the horse…
Thanks to Slormgorm and Cineraria.
Decent puzzle.. but hadn’t associated the Borough and cab with an actual horse, doh! I know I’ve seen the resiny thing before but couldn’t recall it exactly.. a.d.
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineria
I agree with Cineraria – half was straightforward half was more challenging.
BOTTOMS UP and POTABLES were my favourites. Quite a few question marks, but it all seems straightforward now
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
Thanks for the blog, good set of clues and very enjoyable.