Good morning Indy solvers. A relatively pleasurable stroll today courtesy of Rodriguez.
Nothing too troubling in this grid , and those clues that did take more wrestling were usually because of some lovely wordplay or lateral diversions. I’d single out both 11a and 9d in that regard for gold stars.
What have I learnt today? Ensile (a silage store), “gull” as a verb, and that large wine bottles are all named after Bible characters.
Thanks Rodriguez.
Definitions are underlined.
ACROSS
7 Wrap we hasten to cook (8)
ENSWATHE
Anag. “to cook” of WE HASTEN
8 Ways to package doughnut affecting quality (6)
PATHOS
Ways [PATHS] to package [around] doughnut [O]
11 Current time to retire for Macron or possible White House resident? (5)
INUIT
Current [I] time to retire for Macron [NUIT – French for “night”].
“White House” a cryptic reference to an igloo
12 Wanting run, Victor Borge’s heading past camper (9)
WINNEBAGO
Wanting run, Victor [WINNER] Borge’s heading [first letter = B] past [AGO]
13 Either a lark or a gull in springtime? (5,4)
APRIL FOOL
Cryptic double meaning. Have to confess I’d not heard of “gull” as a verb to mean deceiving before
14 Team given one of Pep’s tips – be brave! (3,2)
MAN UP
Team [MAN U – Manchester United] given one of Pep’s tips [P]
15 Act half-heartedly boxing fighter, old one like Achilles? (7)
DEMIGOD
Act half-heartedly [DEED] boxing [around] fighter [MIG]
18 Group defending Alaba’s header, with cheers from Barcelona maybe (7)
CATALAN
Group [CLAN] defending [around] Alaba’s header [A], with cheers [TA]
19 AA member, say, I installed in cooler room (5)
ATTIC
AA member, say, [TT – tee totaller] I [I] installed in cooler [AC – air conditioning]
20 Man in the street knocked back drink with melting ice, drinking litres behind bar (3,6)
JOE PUBLIC
Drink [JO – coffee] with melting ice [anag ICE], drinking [around] litres [L] behind bar [PUB]
23 What lovers do in luxury car is tops (4-5)
ROLL NECKS
What lovers do [NECK] in luxury car [ROLLS]
25 Ethan’s coat put on back-to-front? (3,2)
END ON
Ethan’s coat [ETHAN] put on [DON]
26 A song I composed? Miss this for musical entertainment (6)
SAIGON
Anag of A SONG I [“composed”]
27 Hero-worshipper behind Obama, initially, or Bush (8)
OLEANDER
Hero-worshipper [LEANDER] behind Obama, initially [O]
DOWN
1 Island nation adopting incredibly wise candidate for high office (5,3,6)
LEWIS AND HARRIS
Nation [LAND] adopting [around] incredibly wise [anag WISE] candidate for high office [HARRIS = Kamala Harris]
2 Provider, wasting energy once, recycles paper the wrong way (6)
ISSUER
Wasting energy once, recycles [REUSES] paper [I] the wrong way [back to front]
3 Like a lazy, indolent slacker, say, given no slack over branch of philosophy (10)
TAUTOLOGIC
Given no slack [TAUT] over [O] branch of philosophy [LOGIC]
4 Hack probing new line-up of hot rock group (3,3)
THE WHO
Hack [HEW] probing [inside] new line-up of hot [anag HOT]
5 Hail Roman supporting Republican Party (4)
RAVE
Hail Roman [AVE] supporting Republican [R]
6 Flying metal planes flying around without personnel (8)
SHRAPNEL
Planes flying around [anag PLANES] without [around] personnel [HR]
9 Discern extremely rare jackets using a single pin in retail area (8,6)
SHOPPING CENTRE
Discern [SCENT] extremely rare [RARE] jackets [around] using a single pin [HOPPING]
10 Spanish in Libya’s capital swan around outside together (2,4)
EN BLOC
Spanish in [EN] Libya’s capital [L] swan around [COB backwards] outside
14 One remarkably aged wine in this (10)
METHUSELAH
Double meaning: the bible character who lived to 969 [citation needed!] and the name of a six litre champagne bottle.
16 Means to be heard, entertaining earl with improbable irony, perhaps (8)
METALLIC
Means to be heard [MIC], entertaining earl [E] with improbable [TALL]
The old ones are always the best: “irony, like coppery and bronzy”
17 Make low dive after emptying plane, banking roughly (6)
DEJECT
Dive after emptying [DIVE] plane [JET], banking [around] roughly [C]
21 East African runner maintaining small store on a farm (6)
ENSILE
East African runner [NILE] maintaining [around] small [S]
22 Would-be fancy car filled by Bobby (2-2-2)
LA DI DA
Car [LADA] filled by Bobby [DI]
24 Oscar slicing bean for a fresh starter (4)
NOOB
Oscar [O] slicing [inside] bean [NOB]
Enjoyed this puzzle especially INUIT, ROLL NECKS and METALLIC (old ones and good ones). The ‘Island’ was also a good clue and ‘using a single pin’ very devious. Thanks LC and Rodriguez.
Had to cheat a bit to finish this. No excuses. Just couldn’t get on the setter’s wavelength. There’s a minor error in blog for 15a. ‘Old’ is not part of definition but supplies the ‘O’ in DEMIGOD.
20A. I think JO is clued as O(range) J(uice) reversed (knocked back).
Lovely puzzle.
Favourite clues INUIT, WINNEBAGO, OLEANDER, for the super surface (although, as ever, all good), LEWIS AND HARRIS, for the topicality, TAUTOLOGIC and SHOPPING AREA, for ‘using a single pin’.
I agree with Graham’s parsing for 20ac. (It’s only in the last couple of weeks that I learned ‘Joe’ for coffee – but it has an ‘e’.)
Many thanks to Rodriguez and Leedsclimber.
You guys beat me to it. I too parsed 20ac as George did. Nice puzzle, tricky in parts. Thanks James and Blogger
I liked the combination of HARRIS and INUIT.
I agree about OJ.
What Eileen said, including the thanks to setter and blogger
Silky smooth as always from this setter. I didn’t parse TAUTOLOGIC or SHOPPING CENTRE – to my shame. My bad rather than anything to do with the cluing. LEWIS AND HARRIS is sneaky with ‘island nation’: I was thinking TURKS AND CAICOS but had no idea how I was going to get there from the WP.
Far too many good clues for me to pick favourites today, even though that always feels like a cop-out. Splendid stuff.
Thanks Rodriguez and Leedsclimber
A very nice puzzle which was relatively friendly for this setter.
I failed to parse SHOPPING CENTRE, but now that it has been explained in the blog, I will elevate it to the status of my favourite.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to LC.
A minor comment about the preamble (“What have I learnt today?”). ENSILE is a verb, so the definition is not “(a) store on a farm”, but “(to) store on a farm” (in pits or silos).
13a “APRIL FOOL!” can be an interjection, noun, or verb. “gull” = “dupe” can be noun or verb. Did we need it as a verb here? I parsed both as nouns.