BOBCAT kicks off the week…
A hugely enjoyable puzzle with some tricky parsing, a fair few chuckles along the way, and, from this setter, a somewhat expected feline Nina.
Thanks BOBCAT!
ACROSS
1. What gives the impression Susan’s legs must be tanned? (10)
SUNGLASSES
(SUSANS LEGS)* (*must be tanned) &lit cryptic
7. Thousands beseiging University College? Rubbish (4)
MUCK
M K (thousands) besieging (U (university) + C (college))
9. Border guards exposed (4)
EDGE
[h]EDGE[s] (guards, exposed)
10. Rationalise Byzantine orangeries (10)
REORGANISE
(ORANGERIES)* (*Byzantine, meaning intricate, tortuous)
11. So little to eat? I’m astonished (6)
CRUMBS
12. Stun Asterix’s sex change surgeon? (8)
TRANSFIX
Double (cryptic) definition
13. Hide spy’s family (8)
MOLESKIN
MOLES (spy’s) + KIN (family)
15. Drugstore straddling main road (4)
INRO
[ma]IN RO[ad] (straddling)
17. Remove skins from huge olid fruit (4)
UGLI
[h]UG[e] [o]LI[d] (remove skins from)
19. Luvvie initially choked by Canal+ award for over-indulgence (8)
GLUTTONY
L[uvvie] (initially) choked by GUT (canal) + TONY (award)
22. Entirely uniform container of mineral-rich soil (8)
ALLUVIAL
ALL (entirely) + U (uniform) + VIAL (container)
23. The ultimate in transport? It carries a stiff charge (6)
HEARSE
Double cryptic definition
25. Yankee confused Terry with ease in the past (10)
YESTERYEAR
Y (yankee) + (TERRY with EASE)* (*confused)
26. Return morning papers to Abigail? (4)
MAID
(AM)< (morning, <return) + ID (papers)
27. Joint leaders of expensive enterprise needing key backing (4)
KNEE
(E[xpensive] E[nterprise] N[eeding] K[ey] (leaders of))< (backing)
28. Director extremely wise, according to auditors, to limit striker’s power base (3,7)
DRY BATTERY
D[irecto]R (extremely) + (“wise” = YY (wise, “according to auditors”) to limit BATTER (striker))
DOWN
2. Suffer little Albert’s position in goal? (7)
UNDERGO
UNDER GO (the position of AL (little Albert) in GOAL)
3. Little indication genetically modified grassland is spreading (5)
GLEAM
GM (genetically modified), LEA (grassland) is spreading
4. Business park cooks doling out fancy buns for evening’s entertainment (5-3)
APRES-SKI
(BUSINESS PARK)* (*cooks) with (BUNS)* (*fancy) removed
5. He’s going to rally desperate junkies meeting here (8,7)
SHOOTING GALLERY
(HES GOING TO RALLY)* (*desperate)
6. Regression of 50% of language is notable (6)
SIGNAL
(LANG[uage] (50% of) IS)< (<regression of)
7. Drink carried by two-thirds of clergymen — something short (9)
MINISKIRT
KIR (drink) carried by MINIST[ers] (clergymen, two-thirds of)
8. Sack of money? That’s right (7)
CASHIER
CASH (money) + IE (that’s) + R (right)
14. Better to avoid extremes… keeping quiet when one’s out of order? (9)
ETIQUETTE
[b]ETTE[r] (to avoid extremes) keeping QUIET (when I (one) is out of order)
16. What’s common to Obama and Biden leaves Bush in high spirits (8)
EUPHORIA
EUPHOR[b]IA (bush, B (what’s common to Obama and Biden) leaves))
18. Boat house overwhelmed by four pints of liquid nitrogen (7)
GALLEON
LEO (house, astrology) overwhelmed by (GAL[lon] (four pints of liquid, half a gallon) + N (nitrogen))
20. More unpleasant new wine about to be served up (7)
NASTIER
N (new) + ASTI (wine) + (RE)< (about, <to be served up)
21. Bound to involve ‘arry’s woman in rows (6)
TIERED
TIED (bound) to involve ‘ER (‘arry’s woman)
24. Allow lunatic to defer start of meaningful relations (5)
ADMIT
MAD (lunatic, to defer M[eaningful] (start of)) + IT (relations)
I took 14d as an &lit. I take it, in 18d, you mean GAL is half of GALLON (8 pints). Tricky in places. Glad I remembered EUPHORBIA.
Thanks Hovis@1, have clarified 18d in the blog.
I did not know INRO and have never seen an INRO drugstore.
Enjoyed this so thanks to Bocat and Teacow.
SM@2 – I looked INRO up and it’s the same sort of thing as an etui, something carried by the chatelaine / lady of the house to carry drugs.
Enjoyable puzzle with, as always with Bobcat, the odd challenge.
Thank you to Teacow and Bobcat.
My faves: SUNGLASSES, GLUTTONY, UNDERGO, ETIQUETTE and GALLEON.
Thanks Bobcat and Teacow.
LOi 16d EUPHOR[b]IA – Liked it. 🙂
Thanks Shanne@4. I thought it was a Japanese case. I suppose it could be used for drugs.
I have a vague memory of INRO from Antiques Roadshow. Clever misdirection or foolish solver behaviour had me trying to make something out of “in lion” or “in cat” for UNDERGO from the Stanley Holloway monologue. KVa has picked my favourites.
I did not really understand TRANSFIX. (Easy enough to guess from “stun,” though.) Is the second “cryptic” definition some sort of pun or joke, such as: “such a character in the comic might be named this, based upon the structure of Asterix’s name”? That seems very loosey-goosey to me, unless there is some more definitive parsing that I am just not getting. Otherwise, the usual good fun from Bobcat.
Cineraria@9 The names of many Asterix characters in the English translation are puns – Obelix, Dogmatix etc. There is an interesting (albeit tangential) connection here with the development of cryptic crosswords, as the very gifted translator, Anthea Bell, was the sister of Adrian Bell, the first compiler of the Times crossword – he continued to contribute puzzles there for many years.
Rudolf@10: Thanks. I also see that there is a long write-up about this in the Wikipedia article. Objection withdrawn.
Thanks Bobcat for the fun. Most of this made sense to me but I did reveal CRUMBS & ADMIT. My favourites were MOLESKIN, ALLUVIAL, KNEE, GLEAM, CASHIER, and my COTD, ETIQUETTE. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
Not too difficult and most enjoyable; spotting the expected nina helped. We didn’t know INRO (or might have forgotten it from a previous crossword somewhere) but it was easily enough worked out and confirmed online as an object not a trading establishment.
Thanks, Bobcat and Teacow.
Wonderful puzzle by Bobcat. He is rapidly becoming my favorite setter. My favorites were Hearse and Undergo. Thanks to Bobcat and Teacow.
I thought this was wonderful although Transfix took me ages.
Quite fun. I put lamb skin for Moleskin for Jackson lamb!