A solid challenge from JASON which necessitated googling for confirming a couple of parses.
FF: 9 DD: 9
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | LOVAGE |
Fancy grabbing a good bit of salad? (6)
|
| LOVE ( fancy ) containing [ A G ( good ) ] | ||
| 9 | EDUCATOR |
Teacher’s impolite about grasping censor (8)
|
| reverse of RUDE ( impolite ) containing CATO ( censor, roman ) ; i learnt about cato from the internet today | ||
| 10 | CANS |
Family’s ditched large headphones (4)
|
| ClANS ( family’s , without L – large ) | ||
| 11 | RESPONDENT |
Who answers nod with present? Sort that out (10)
|
| [ NOD PRESENT ]* | ||
| 12 | IDEA |
Current and pretty much pricey plan (4)
|
| I ( current ) DEAr ( pricey, pretty much ) | ||
| 13 | DISH WASHER |
Attractive sort was that woman’s one at the sink (4,6)
|
| DISH ( attractive sort ) WAS HER ( that woman’s ) | ||
| 17 | TREK |
Journey starts from those rogue elephants west of Kenya (4)
|
| TRE ( starting letters of “..Those Rogue Elephants..” ) K ( Kenya, first letter denoted by west of ) | ||
| 18 | CORGI |
OMG! Soldier’s a recent regal favourite (5)
|
| COR ( omg ) GI ( solider ) | ||
| 19 | AMBO |
Flamborough retains a preacher’s pulpit (4)
|
| hidden in “..flAMBOrough..” | ||
| 21 | OSTENSIBLE |
Seeming to be old and judicious about time (10)
|
| O ( old ) [ SENSIBLE ( judicious ) around T ( time ) ] | ||
| 23 | CHAP |
In Scotland strike fellow’s cheek (4)
|
| triple def | ||
| 24 | CORNUCOPIA |
Posh on cereal — catch one with a source of bountiful supply (10)
|
| CORN ( cereal ) U ( posh ) COP ( catch ) I ( one ) A | ||
| 28 | TREF |
Fret about being not kosher (4)
|
| reverse of FRET | ||
| 29 | FEMINIST |
Skirt for American in banquet? I push her cause (8)
|
| MINI ( skirt for american ) in FEST ( banquet ) | ||
| 30 | CLOVER |
Flower caught by Juliet, for example (6)
|
| C ( caught ) LOVER ( juliet , for example ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COLANDER |
Article stuck in comparatively spiritless cook’s gadget (8)
|
| AN ( article ) in COLDER ( comparatively spiritless ) | ||
| 2 | RAMSHACKLE |
Unsteady sheep hobble (10)
|
| RAM ( sheep ) SHACKLE ( hobble ) | ||
| 3 | REPRODUCES |
Pirates research nabbing rude cop in some new way (10)
|
| RES ( research ) containing [ RUDE COP ]* | ||
| 4 | KEGS |
King, say, beginning to supply barrels (4)
|
| K ( king ) EG ( say ) S ( Supply, starting letter ) | ||
| 5 | SUMO |
Wrestling with problem zip (4)
|
| SUM ( problem ) O ( zip ) | ||
| 6 | PAID |
Stumped up quietly with donation (4)
|
| P ( quietly ) AID ( donation ) | ||
| 7 | BOUNCE |
Head admitting uniform shows resilience (6)
|
| BONCE ( head ) containing U ( uniform ) | ||
| 14 | SHRUB |
Citrussy drink’s quiet drawback (5)
|
| SH ( quiet ) RUB ( drawback ) | ||
| 15 | WHITE SAUCE |
Dressing with success? Start of endless flippancy (5,5)
|
| W ( with ) HIT ( success ) E ( Endless, first letter ) SAUCE ( flippancy ) | ||
| 16 | STAYCATION |
At any cost I arranged a local break (10)
|
| [ AT ANY COST I ]* | ||
| 20 | BRACELET |
Mark of secondary career allowed for band (8)
|
| B ( mark of secondary ) RACE ( career ) LET ( allowed ) | ||
| 22 | SHOVEL |
Small scruffy dump is a scoop (6)
|
| S ( small ) HOVEL ( scruffy dump ) | ||
| 25 | NAIL |
Cause the downfall of politician finally over trouble (4)
|
| N ( politiciaN, finally ) AIL ( trouble ) | ||
| 26 | CRIB |
Copy card game (4)
|
| double def | ||
| 27 | PETS |
Pampers slowly move down? No, up (4)
|
| reverse of STEP ( slowly move down ) |
Another winning puzzle from Jason which was just the right level of challenge.
Favourites today were SUMO, SHOVEL, RAMSHACKLE and OSTENSIBLE though there were many more I enjoyed for their wit and invention.
Thanks to Jason and Turbolegs.
Plenty that was beyond me. Never heard of LOVAGE, TREF, Cato, bonce/head or the citrussy drink. An ambo to us Antipodeans is an ambulance driver, not a pulpit. I’m only familiar with one of the three definitions of CHAP. I didn’t like res for research.
After starting fairly quickly, I became certain of a DNF here, with multiple single blank entries towards the end. LOVAGE was pencilled in from somewhere deep in the recesses, then I spotted RUB and decided there must be such a drink.
That left me with T_E_. I couldn’t at all decide whether I needed an anagram of fret (in which case it had to be the nho & hardly-Yiddish-looking TREF) or a reversal of a word for (a?) fret that just wouldn’t come to me. After several minutes of staring, I eventually shrugged and stuck in TREF as the only thing I could justify. A pleasant surprise. I wonder why you don’t hear ‘tref’ more – ‘kosher’ is common enough, as are both ‘halal’ and ‘haram’ from Islam.
A definite sting in the tail, but I liked a lot of this, like STAYCATION, RAMSHACKLE, OSTENSIBLE, and CORGI.
Thanks both.
Thanks Jason and Turbolegs.
PETS (I read it as)
slowly move=STEP
down? No, up—->reversal
Hardly any difference, I know.
Liked BRACELET and CORGI.
I had similar challenges with TREF to Amoeba so had to check that one in the dictionary. The word that defeated me was CHAP: the Scottish definition is NHO and threw me totally. That bit felt both unnecessary and slightly unfair but was the only disappointment in an otherwise typically enjoyable Jason. SUMO, STAYCATION and BRACELET my podium.
Thanks Jason and Turbolegs
Thanks Jason and Turbolegs
28ac: I did know TREF: it is definitely an anagram not a reversal. Of course, “about” can indicate either.
29ac: I took this as MINI replacing the A in FEAST.
14dn: I knew RUB from the “To be or not to be” speech in Hamlet: “Ay, there’s the rub”.
Pelham Barton @6. Of course you are correct on 29ac. I was wondering what ‘American’ was doing in the clue, given that mini skirts aren’t exclusive to the US. D’oh indeed.
Thanks Jason and Turbolegs
It felt as if I spent as long on bounce and lovage as the rest of the crossword.
Good taxing puzzle . There were a few things that perplexed eg – a flipping of definition and anagram fodder in the clue for Staycation would have perfected an already great clue.
Really enjoyed
I had similar favourites to Roz@1.
The only things that were difficult for me were obscure words. There were far too many and far too much googling was required to finish. It is a pity, as, I think I would have enjoyed it otherwise.
Thanks Jason and turbolegs
Martyn @ 9
You often refer to ‘obscure’ words. ‘Obscure’ words are just ones you didn’t know, and the crossword gives you an opportunity to learn something new. Relish that opportunity, and the generosity of the setter for giving it.
Simon@10. Thanks for the advice, but that is exactly how I feel – I enjoy learning new words. But this puzzle had far too many for my liking, which ruined the enjoyment. Appearing on a weekday, when I have limited time, did not help. I may have felt differently had this been in the weekend slot.
We got it all right except for 8ac where all we could think of was ‘Borage’ (which can be added to salads) but of course couldn’t parse it. We did know TREF having encountered it in its alternative form, ‘Trefa’ in a recent i reprint of an Indy from 2020. The Scots meaning of CHAP we also knew, remembering ‘just chappit eight upon the Tron’. i.e. just struck 8 o’clock, from a Walter Scott novel read many years ago.
An enjoyable solve, thanks, Jason and Turbolegs.
My tea-tray moment was 23a CHAP. I didn’t get the triple definition because I couldn’t see chap as Scottish for hit. And then, after seeing the answer, I remembered that in curling (the one sport I excelled at in my youth) the Scottish term for a hit and roll is “chap and lie”. How could I have missed that?
A couple of others were solved from the wordplay and confirmed by the dictionary. I doubt that I’ll be using AMBO or TREF in conversation soon, but they are both good words to know.
Favourites for their clever constructions and smooth surfaces were 17 and 21 TREK and OSTENSIBLE.
Thanks Jason and Turbolegs for the reliably fine puzzle and blog.
Loved the puzzle—great job, Jason! My favorite was FEMINIST. Solid blog as always for Turbolegs.
Matthew@8: It may be too late to get a response now, but I cannot make your idea of flipping of definition and anagram fodder work in the clue for STAYCATION. Can you (or anyone else) please give an explicit amended version of the clue?
PB@15, me too – I can’t figure out how to place the “I” in the fodder so that the surface makes sense.