You can depend on Basilisk for a great puzzle.
An enjoyable start to the day with plenty of creative clueing and nothing too predictable.
Many thanks to Basilisk.
RA[n] (managed, almost) + CO[u]NTER (her workspace, after moving U (university)
‘Her’ referring back to ‘teller’
OUT (al fresco) + DO (social event)
(DOES (deer) eating OF A (from a))< (<round)
ME (author) interrupts SOONE[r] (rather, abruptly)
13. Runner is about to cover kilometres (3)
IS< (about) to cover K (kilometres)
(CAN’T THEN)* (*supply) entertaining MEN (staff)
For ‘supply’ think ‘in a supple way’
[w]HINGE (complaint, W (wife) abandoning)
[r]ACE (career; R (right) to abandon)
MET (satisfied) + ER (old queen)
I.E. (that is) imprisoning (INEPT MEN + C[ry] (beginning to))* (*uncontrollably)
AD (part of publicity campaign) involving I (newspaper, Independent)
[Austra]LIA IS ON[erous] (in)
“BOREDER” (more fed up, “according to report”)
OF LAG (prisoner’s)
‘Lag’ is British informal for someone who spends time in and out of prison
(SOCIAL + A[ttitudes] (initially))* (*affected) + US (America)
IS + IS (two lives) dependent on C[orone]R (case)
Double definition
Although rare, ‘occasion’ can be used as a verb
UN (peacekeepers) + “FOR SCENE” (wanting to have location, “broadcast”)
D (daughter) + NEE (woman born, first)
‘Née’ in French is a feminine adjective, signified by the extra e – hence ‘woman born’ (as opposed to the masculine ‘né’)
(CAN CURATES)* (*upset)
LOA[f] (brains, after sex change, i.e. F (female) changes to M (male))
([sentenc]E (ending of) + IS TOO)* (*complicated)
FOR (in favour of) + (TREES)* (*new) – semi &lit
CATTINESS (spiteful character) welcoming H (husband)
(PRETENCE + M[any] A[ctors] (leads to))* (*getting drunk)
“AIR” (“sound of” tune) + LOO (can) + M[ean] (start to)
(ROOD (cross) + PART (character in play))< (<cocked up)
HALL (lobby) controlled by PI (sanctimonious)
DRESS (prepare); U (university) dons
SIN (wrongdoing) stopped by G (good)
Double definition
Nina in top and bottom rows?
Ah, yes. If we use the grid forms to make up two letters, we have ‘COUNCIL OF MINISTERS’ running along the top and bottom rows. Thanks Cineraria.
Liked RACONTEUR, OFLAG, LOAM, FORESTER and HEIRLOOM.
Thanks Basilisk and Oriel.
Yes, as Cineraria @1 has pointed out, there’s a Nina in the top and bottom rows. I wondered if Basilisk is trying to tell us that the highest decision-making body in many countries (equivalent to the Cabinet Wikipedia tells me) is blind!
Enjoyable, but a bit of an effort to complete, with several unparsed, including my last in SEAFOOD. I liked the surface for LOAM and the slightly 29a 22d.
Thanks to Oriel and Basilisk
I finished with the exception of 22D which I always though ended with “ses”. I have had a few in my lifetime but never bothered to find out the proper plural.
Thanks everyone.
Congrats to Basilisk on his Times crossword editor job. Hope he still has time to set crosswords here and in the independent.
There was a time when I rather dreaded a Basilisk but I now relish the challenge. The puzzle was outstanding.
This was the first time I had encountered the plural form used in 22d. Just as well.
The blog was excellent as well so thanks to Basilisk and Oriel
Many thanks to Oriel, as always, for the predictably excellent blog.
I’m afraid this will be the last Basilisk puzzle for the forseeable future. As Hovis says, I am taking on the role of Times crossword editor, from 2 December, which prevents me from setting for other outlets – probably the only downside of the job.
Many thanks to everyone who has commented on the puzzle today and on previous ones.
Thanks also to you, Basilisk, for the wonderful puzzles over the years, and for always coming by Fifteensquared to comment. Congratulations, and all the best with the new role at The Times!
Quite a mixture for me today of ones I got straightaway and others that took a lot of puzzling over. And four I just didn’t get.
Liked LOAM and CRISIS – both very neat – and RACONTEUR, UNFORESEEN
Thanks Basilisk and Oriel
(PS enjoyed your Jack puzzle in the G on Saturday)
Oriel@9 has said exactly what I was going to say, including the thanks and best wishes
Yes, just what Oriel said @9.
And also SM@ 7.
You’ll be missed here, Basilisk, but all the best in your new role.
Congratulations and best wishes to Basilisk, going out with the usual high class of puzzle. I will certainly miss these contributions.
A typically very accomplished puzzle from Basilisk – he’ll be missed in other guises, but maybe we’ll see more of him in anonymised form at the Times.
I found OFLAG particularly satisfying. Not a word I think I’ve come across, although I know both gulag/stalag. Once I’d stopped looking for the inner letters of a word meaning ‘detention’, the penny dropped.
Thanks Oriel, and thanks & best wishes to Basilisk.
I agree with the positive comments about today’s puzzle. I too enjoyed it for the variety and somehow I found myself on the setter’s wavelength, so the going was relatively easy for me. My favourites were OCCASION, CHATTINESS, PHALLI, LIAISON, and TEMPERANCE. I think OTIOSE is a great word (the clue was not bad either).
I did not see parsing of TRAPDOOR and frowned at “supply” as an anagram indicator in ENTERTAINMENT. Thanks Oriel for explaining both.
I also send my congratulations and best wishes to Basilisk.
Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle, Basilisk, and thanks for a great blog Oriel
Thanks a million Basilisk (and Serpent and Jack) for this and all of your wonderful crosswords. No one does a Nina quite like you do. I will certainly miss you. Good luck in your new position — I’m sure you’ll do fine. Cheers!
Wonderful puzzle Basilik. And many congratulations for your deserved new role at the Times.
Thanks Oriel (mainly for today) and much more to Basilisk (for all his puzzles that I have solved).
14ac: Collins 2023 p 1988 has supply² or supplely adv in a supple manner. Chambers 2016 and ODE 2010 have supplely as the main form, but the shorter word seems to roll off the tongue more easily.
Great puzzle with plenty to keep our brains ticking over, and we liked the ingenious nina. We particularly liked CRUSTACEAN, IMPENITENCE and, once we worked out the parsing, SEAFOOD. We’ll miss Basilisk and Serpent puzzles (might there be one more Serpent in the pipeline?) but wish Basilisk all the best in his new job with thanks for many hours of enjoyment. And thanks to Oriel for the blog.
Puzzle was great but Claudia’s comment was priceless.
Jay @20 Agreed. Had to read it twice to make sure I understood it. 😂
We’ll also miss Basilisk and his alter egos. Thanks for many brilliant puzzles
Thanks to oriel for the blog!