This puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hello folks, me again (sorry!). I was slow to get going today, but I often am, and I’m in need of sleep (I often am). But then it all slipped in like one of the ice lollies I have made to see me through the next few days. In similar vein, I liked the cold drink in 1a. I smiled at the image created by 16a’s hot sailor, the idea that the slave trader might have first trained as a priest (9d) and “letting money” in 17d. Thanks Shabbo!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Actor Caine can’t mix cold drink (9,5) |
| ANTARCTIC OCEAN — ACTOR CAINE CAN’T anagram (mix) | |
| 10a | Neighbourhood pub’s such light food? (5) |
| LOCAL — LO–CAL (such light food?) | |
| 11a | European shopping centre first to get proficient with plastic (9) |
| MALLEABLE — E (European) with MALL (shopping centre) first, plus ABLE (proficient) | |
| 12a | Republican nation unexpectedly crashed (3,4) |
| RAN INTO — R (Republican) + an anagram of (… unexpectedly) NATION | |
| 13a | Severe blow being kettled in extremist rally (7) |
| MISTRAL — The answer is held in (being kettled in) extreMIST RALly | |
| 14a | Top soldier receiving award for wit (5) |
| COMIC — CIC (Commander-in-Chief: top soldier) taking in (receiving) OM (Order of Merit: award) | |
| 16a | Hot sailor in pink waders (9) |
| FLAMINGOS — FLAMING (hot) + OS (Ordinary Seaman: sailor) | |
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|
| 19a | Try out striker for important game (4,5) |
| TEST MATCH — TEST (try out) + MATCH (striker) | |
| 20a | Horizontal invention (5) |
| LYING — Double definition | |
| 22a | Capital announced return of border for Indian region (7) |
| KASHMIR — CASH (capital), homophone (announced) + reversal of (return of) RIM (border) | |
| 25a | Designed poster covering international response (7) |
| RIPOSTE — An anagram of (designed) POSTER around (covering) I (international) | |
| 27a | Leaves home to go after green fruit grower (5,4) |
| APPLE TREE — TREE (leaves home, home of leaves) to go after APPLE (green colour) | |
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|
| 28a | Bedding displayed in Row 14? (5) |
| LINEN — LINE N (Row 14? – If Line A is Row 1, etc) | |
| 29a | Soldiers army band perhaps provides entertainment (8,6) |
| MILITARY TATTOO — MILITARY (soldiers) + TATTOO (army band perhaps). I’m not quite sure about the wordplay here. A soldier’s “army band” could whimsically be a military inking on the arm, but in the absence of an apostrophe I’ve gone with the first interpretation | |
| Down | |
| 2d | Steal celebrities’ pseudonyms (9) |
| NICKNAMES — NICK (steal) + NAMES (celebrities) | |
| 3d | Tired of phoning endlessly (3,2) |
| ALL IN — Without outer letters (… endlessly), cALLINg (phoning) | |
| 4d | Abandon computers? You must be joking! (4,3,2) |
| COME OFF IT — With “it” read as “IT”, to COME OFF IT could mean to abandon computers | |
| 5d | Faith held up in dismal situation (5) |
| ISLAM — The answer is contained backwards/upwards in (held up in) disMAL SItuation | |
| 6d | Surplus bowling ball (9) |
| OVERSPILL — OVERS (bowling) + PILL (ball) | |
| 7d | Ash planted in 15 (5) |
| EMBER — The answer is inside (planted in) 15d, camEMBERt | |
| 8d | Unnecessary short pointers (7) |
| NEEDLES — NEEDLESs (unnecessary) without the last letter (short) | |
| 9d | Cecil Rhodes initially trained to be a priest (6) |
| CLERIC — An anagram of (… trained) CECIL with Rhodes initially | |
| 15d | Politician has whip round for cheese (9) |
| CAMEMBERT — MEMBER (politician) has CAT (whip) round it | |
| 17d | Hate letting money become offensive (9) |
| ABHORRENT — ABHOR (hate) + RENT (letting money) | |
| 18d | Songs laid out in musical direction (9) |
| GLISSANDO — SONGS LAID anagrammed (out) | |
| 19d | Target possible way to get to Edinburgh? (4,3) |
| TAKE AIM — A possible way to get to Edinburgh? TAKE A1 M | |
| 21d | Places for putting vegetables (6) |
| GREENS — Double definition | |
| 23d | Awful lapse is a bit of a bloomer (5) |
| SEPAL — An anagram of (awful) LAPSE | |
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|
| 24d | More bloody time up in Kings (5) |
| RARER — ERA (time) reversed (up) in R R (kings) | |
| 26d | One enters scheme to become navigator (5) |
| PILOT — I (one) goes into (enters) PLOT (scheme) | |
This was very enjoyable – light and fun, as we have come to expect from this setter. I had a lot of ticks with the wonderful FLAMINGO my favourite.
I found both 27a & 29a unconvincing as they seem a little weak with lack of contrast between the various elements of each clue.
Many thanks to Shabbo for the entertainment and to Kitty for the review.
I took the wordplay of 29 as a two-part definition: MILITARY = soldiers, though “soldiers” needs an apostrophe for the surface to make sense, plus TATTOO = “army band perhaps” as you say, but with no need for it to be specifically a military decoration.
Andrew @2, that was how I took 29a too. I added the alternative because like RD@1 I wasn’t fully convinced, so was wondering if there was a better interpretation.
Thanks Kitty and Shabbo
I hoped to find clearer explanations to 27 and 29 across . Seems everyone is as perplexed.
I read army as a terrible word meaning of the arm – a band being a tattoo all the way round the arm (or leg).
I did enjoy the crossword – and the two weakish clues didn’t distract or make filling in the grid at all troublesome
Always enjoy this setter’s style and this was no exception. Top three for me were FLAMINGOS, ABHORRENT & GREENS.
Many thanks to Shabbo for the fun and to Miss Kitty for the review – loved your illustration for 16a!
Thanks both. Nothing too taxing to suit the day and the weather. I didn’t equate ball with pill in OVERSPILL but I believe it’s an antiquated expression used in certain sports, though I don’t know which. ABHORRENT works nicely for wordplay for me, but only actually takes us from hate to hateful.
29a, I had military for soldiers, TA for army, and nothing for TToo, possibly an anagram of Toto (who blessed the rains down in Africa).
Thanks Shabbo. I found this easy but generally enjoyable with COMIC, FLAMINGOS, ABHORRENT (liked ‘letting money’), and GREENS (liked ‘putting’) being my top picks. Thanks Kitty (no need to apologize) for the blog.
I went with the whimsical band on the arm for the tattoo. Enjoyable puzzle and a great blog as usual.
I clearly wasn’t clear that my interpretation of “army” was the same for both the two part charade I opted for and the definition plus cryptic definition I was wondering about.
Reminds me of the classic crossword definition of an octopus as an army type. 🙂
Thank you to those who took the time to comment and many thanks to Kitty for an excellent blog.