A breezy challenge from MUDD
FF: 8 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPECTRUM |
Muscle in play, full range (8)
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PEC ( muscle ) in STRUM ( play ) |
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| 6 | NOTICE |
See where there’s an absence of rocks? (6)
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cryptic def; read as NOT ICE ( absence of rocks ) |
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| 9 | FLAUNT |
Number of the French in lacklustre parade (6)
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UN ( number , french , one ) in FLAT ( lacklustre ) |
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| 10 | CASANOVA |
South Africa certainly not toured by wine lover from Italy (8)
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[ SA ( South Africa ) NO ( certainly not ) ] in CAVA ( wine ) |
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| 11 | DICTIONARY |
Reference to dairy in cream, primarily whipped (10)
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[ TO DAIRY IN C ( Cream, first letter ) ]* |
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| 12 | DUCK |
Watch out for meat! (4)
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cryptic def |
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| 13 | MANTRA |
Repeated phrases with skill recalled by geezer (6)
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MAN ( geezer ) reverse of ART ( skill ) |
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| 15 | EXPLODES |
Tramp embraced by old partners goes off (8)
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PLOD ( tramp ) in EXES ( old partners ) |
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| 18 | MENSWEAR |
Ma has resewn faulty trousers, say (8)
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[ MA RESEWN ]* |
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| 20 | SONNET |
Fourteen lines: four fewer and numbers reversed (6)
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reverse of TEN ( four less than fourteen ) NOS ( numbers ) |
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| 21 | PROP |
Rugby player has run in try (4)
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R ( run ) in POP ( try ) |
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| 23 | FIFTY-FIFTY |
L-L-luck of the draw? (5-5)
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FIFTY ( L ) FIFTY ( L ) , roman numerals |
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| 25 | WELL WELL |
My my, two deep holes! (4,4)
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cryptic def |
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| 26 | ONE-WAY |
Nothing original, certainly, describing some streets (3-3)
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cryptic def; read as O NEW ( 0 new, nothing original ) AY ( certainly ) |
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| 27 | BEAT IT |
Impersonate a bird and go jump in the lake (4,2)
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cryptic def ; read as BE A TIT ( impersonate a bird ) |
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| 28 | DATELINE |
Details accompanying story, tale I end unexpectedly (8)
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[ TALE I END ]* |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | PALPITATE |
Friend, mine, took pound (9)
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PAL ( friend ) PIT ( mine ) ATE ( took ) |
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| 3 | COUN T |
Noble record (5)
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double def |
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| 4 | RATIONALE |
Reason a relation relocated (9)
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[ A RELATION ]* |
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| 5 | MACRAME |
Knotty art, yours truly entertaining a crowd (7)
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[ A CRAM ( crowd ) ] in ME ( yours truly ) |
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| 6 | NASTY |
A little man as tyrant, odious (5)
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hidden in "..maN AS TYrant.." |
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| 7 | TONED DOWN |
Time clue about daughter moderated (5,4)
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T ( time ) [ ONE DOWN ( clue, perhaps? ) about D ( daughter ) ] |
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| 8 | CIVIC |
City similarly viewed from north and south? (5)
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cryptic def, referring to a palindrome |
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| 14 | TEST PILOT |
Early riser, one in bed after game of cricket (4,5)
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TEST ( game of cricket ) [ I ( one ) in PLOT ( bed ) ] ; i liked this take on 'early riser' |
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| 16 | PUSSYFOOT |
Cat has paw in hedge (9)
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PUSSY ( cat ) FOOT ( paw ) |
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| 17 | EYESTRAIN |
Serenity affected fielding a viewer’s complaint (9)
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[ SERENITY ]* containing A |
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| 19 | RUFFLED |
Agitated bird shown the way (7)
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RUFF ( bird ) LED ( shown the way ) |
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| 22 | REEVE |
Old magistrate looking at first lady (5)
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RE ( looking at ) EVE ( first lady ) |
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| 23 | FLEET |
Quick craft (5)
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double def |
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| 24 | IDEAL |
Optimal reports looked at fish? (5)
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cryptic def; IDE- fish |
Fun and games!
BEAT IT made me laugh. I also enjoyed the creative FIFTY-FIFTY, the succinct PALPITATE and WELL WELL.
It was breezy, as you say Turbolegs though I needed your help parsing ONE WAY. Thanks to you and to Mudd for the cheery interlude.
LOi 24d IDEAL = “EYED EEL” – a different fish – liked it 😉
Woke up in the wee small hours and completed this after the Guardian Paul and found this one much breezier – but took a while to see IDEAL and ONE WAY.
Thank you to Mudd and Turbolegs
Thanks for the blog, a pretty friendly grid especially for the Downs. Good neat and concise clues. I agree with Frankie @2 for IDEAL.
We have RUFF LED REEVE , should be the other way round.
Typically entertaining crossword from Mudd.
My only issue is with 24d. With an Irish accent it is hard to make IDEAL a homophone for EYED EEL! But that goes for many homophones; they are accent dependent.
[diagacht@5 “!rish accent” …
… would that be a fada?]
Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs
Fun crossword – a breeze as described. All well clued and accessible.
Loved Fifty-fifty
FrankieG@7: is ceann maith é sin
Done in half an hour, but very enjoyable. I didn’t know a ruff is a bird, and I’m not a fan of took/ate.
Finished very quickly, liked it very much…thought fifty-fifty and well-well were the precursors of a theme, but of course I was mistaken…
Concise clues which made me think a little, but not for very long.
Liked “Beat it” especially.
Thank you to Mudd and Turbolegs.
Struggled with 26 across until I found enough letters to guess FIFTY FIFTY – and then I worked out why and it became my favourite clue! All in all a fine effort from Mudd
We enjoyed this although we thought at first 15ac was a faulty clue, having parsed ‘old partners’ as old=ex and partners=ES, i.e. East and South who would be opponents not partners. So thanks for the correct explanation. And we thought 7dn slightly odd in that there isn’t a 1dn in this crossword.
But nothing really to complain about. We liked DICTIONARY and PUSSYFOOT among others.
Thanks, Mudd and Turbolegs.
Thanks Mudd, that was fun with my top picks being NOTICE, FLAUNT, CASANOVA, BEAT IT, and NASTY. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.