Nothing too tricky here, though there were a few bits of intricate wordplay in some of the clues. Some nice anagrams (9a, 24a, 3d, to pick a few) afforded a way in, and I especially enjoyed 11a and the clever 27a. Thanks to Filbert for a pleasant Sunday solve.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PASSPORT |
Dad’s fun paperback to take on holiday? (8)
|
| PA’S + SPORT, withh a somewhat cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | GOCART |
Racer showing expertise after gear twisted (2-4)
|
| ART (expertise) after reversal of COG (gear twisted) | ||
| 9 | NEAPOLITAN |
Italian translated Plato, and Annie (10)
|
| Anag (translated) of PLATO + ANNIE | ||
| 10 | RIDE |
The Woman in White, wanting book for trip (4)
|
| bRIDE (The Woman in White, nothing to do with the Wilkie Collins novel) without B (wanting book) | ||
| 11 | CONDEMNATION |
Moral objection against people crossing sea being sent back (12)
|
| CON (against) + NATION (people) around (crossing) reversal of MED (sea being sent back) | ||
| 14 | GARLIC |
First item on list Craig developed a stinker? (6)
|
| Anag (developed) of L CRAIG | ||
| 15 | COME BACK |
Return Spooner’s worthless crap (8)
|
| Spoonerism of “bum cack” (worthless crap) | ||
| 17 | MEASURED |
Careful, certainly, spiking sweet drink with alcohol (8)
|
| Insertion (spiking) of SURE (certainly) into MEAD (sweet drink with alcohol) | ||
| 19 | RANDOM |
Irregular headed up military department after revolution (6)
|
| RAN (headed up) + reversal (after revolution) of MOD | ||
| 20 | PUT ONE OVER ON |
Cheat adjusted the scoreboard at change of ends? (3,3,4,2)
|
| Cryptic def – in cricket bowlers change ends at the end of each over, which is reflected on the scoreboard | ||
| 23 | STYX |
Greek river becomes blocked, by the sound of it (4)
|
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of “sticks” | ||
| 24 | INDULGENCE |
Dotty lending cue as favour (10)
|
| Anag (dotty) of LENDING CUE | ||
| 26 | CHANGE |
Novelty exhibit in church (6)
|
| HANG (exhibit) in CE | ||
| 27 | ELDORADO |
The Spanish explorer ultimately disappointed over this quest? (8)
|
| Charade of EL (the Spanish) + DORA (Dora the Explorer – US children’s TV series) + D (ultimately disappointeD) + O (over), with the whole clue forming a fuller definition | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ABED |
Retired president shot Democrat (4)
|
| Charade of ABE (president shot) + D | ||
| 3 | SOPHOCLES |
Pool and chess diverted playwright (9)
|
| Anag (diverted) of POOL + CHESS | ||
| 4 | OIL |
Stop rubbing metal sheet with top scratched (3)
|
| fOIL (metal sheet, without its first letter) | ||
| 5 | TOTEMIC |
Bear and rodents mostly venerated by Native Americans (7)
|
| Charade of TOTE (carry, bear) + MICe (rodents mostly) | ||
| 6 | GENDARMERIE |
Police station, motorway and lake at the bottom of unusual garden (11)
|
| Anag (unusual) of GARDEN + M + ERIE | ||
| 7 | CARDI |
Open top Ferrari? I would, given a raise (5)
|
| Charade of CAR (Ferrari?) +DI (reversal of I’d, I would) | ||
| 8 | RIDING CROP |
Switch identity wearing jewellery with short hairstyle (6,4)
|
| Insertion (wearing) of ID in RING (jewellery) + CROP (short hairstyle) | ||
| 12 | DOCTRINAIRE |
Dire actor in cast fixated with theory (11)
|
| Anag (cast) of DIRE ACTOR IN | ||
| 13 | SALES PITCH |
Patter of light rain in Manchester town? Check (5,5)
|
| SPIT (light rain) in SALE CH (Manchester town, check) | ||
| 16 | BANDOLEER |
Ammunition belt from outlaw desperado emptied with sly look (9)
|
| Charade of BAN (outlaw) + DO (DesperadO emptied) + LEER (sly look). I’m more used to the spelling “bandolier” | ||
| 18 | DO OR DIE |
Desperate religious festival with cross upside-down (2-2-3)
|
| Reversal (upside-down, in a down clue) of EID (religious festival) + ROOD (cross) | ||
| 21 | TAXON |
Tariff applied to biological category (5)
|
| TAX (tariff) + ON (applied to) | ||
| 22 | ACID |
Drug charity stocks a bit of cannabis (4)
|
| AID (charity) containing (stocks) C | ||
| 25 | LED |
Shown key turns (3)
|
| Reversal (turns) of DELete key |
Welcome miserableoldhack.
Congratulations on your first blog. First of many I hope. I haven’t done the puzzle (yet) so I won’t comment on the content.
My faves: GO-CART, P O O ON, ELDORADO, ABED and SALES PITCH.
Nice puzzle and neat blog.
Thanks Filbert and miserableoldhack (Congrats on your first blog and wish you hundreds and hundreds more).
Thanks and well done to MOH condemnation was a lovely clue thanks filbert
Thanks all! Very glad to be here 🙂
Thanks both. For perhaps the third time in recent weeks, a blogger has led with words such as ‘nothing too tricky’ where I had experienced something close to the opposite, however my dementia-ridden mother-in-law has this afternoon introduced BANDOLEER, DOCTRINAIRE and SOPHOCLES into the conversation; in fairness, she believes they all play for Manchester City.
A tad tricksier than usual, for Filbert, I found.
Then again, in 2(d), I thought that “shot”, was superfluous, until coming to the blog, so what do I know!
Lovely stuff, Fil & Moh
Thanks for the parsing of SALES PITCH, my last one in. I could probably have worked it out if I’d’ve gone trawling through a map of Greater Manchester, but this was my fourth xwd today and I was tired.
It just occurred to me that there is a notable current baseball pitcher named Chris Sale. If you were writing a cryptic for an American audience that could be expected to have better-than-average sports knowledge, there’s a slam-dunk clue for SALES PITCH in there somewhere.
I’m more used to TOTEMIC in its less-literal meaning, but the literal one works well with the surface of the clue. Loved the definition for OIL, and the surface for RIDING CROP was a nice allusion to trans/nonbinary identity disguising the definition neatly.
And it’s nice that today is EID.
Well done miserableoldhack. And many more….