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I think this might be a debut (in the Indy at least) for Bluejacket, in which case, welcome to him or her.
I really liked this one – perfect for a daily cryptic and right in the 14dn zone for this solver. Some outstanding surfaces too, which I for one really appreciate – I much prefer them to tell me a little story rather than just be a collection of words leading me to the solution.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Best gold under the sun?
OUTDOOR
A charade of OUTDO and OR.
10 Cold medicine’s screwtop bottles
ICINESS
Hidden in medICINES Screwtop.
11 Proustian novel seemed pretentious
PUT ON AIRS
(PROUSTIAN)* with ‘novel’ as the anagrind. Remembrance of Things Past wouldn’t fit, obviously.
12 Platforms revolutionary charity work
PODIA
A reversal of AID and OP.
13 Reason to record diamonds being cut
LOGIC
A charade of LOG and IC[E].
15 Doctor Who’s storyboard finally has climactic battles
SHOWDOWNS
A charade of (WHOS)*, D for the last letter of ‘storyboard’ and OWNS.
17 Develop rapport with posh young lady
GEL
A dd, if you consider (as we do in crosswordland) GEL to be the beyond RP, non-rhotic pronunciation of GIRL.
18 Sympathetic detective evening the score
PITYING
A charade of PI for Private Investigator and TYING.
20 Deal with uncle trimming papa’s beard
AWN
[P]AWN. Bluejacket is asking you to remove the phonetic alphabet P for Papa from the verb PAWN; and ‘uncle’ is slang for a pawnbroker, dating back at least three centuries.
awn (n) the beard of barley or similar bristly growth or structure from a glume, etc (Chambers)
21 Drunk causes inn problems
NUISANCES
(CAUSES INN)* with ‘drunk’ as the anagrind.
23 He abandons Muslim leaders for another religion’s followers
SIKHS
S[HE]IKHS
25 Music producers reportedly have outstanding string players
OBOES
Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) of OWE BOWS.
27 Bulk of opponent breaks chair while wrestling, making loud noise
CHARIVARI
An insertion of RIVA[L] in (CHAIR)* The insertion indicator is ‘breaks’ and the anagrind is ‘while wrestling’. A word that I did know, but I have no idea why. Crosswords, probably.
29 Barely five hundred and fifty inhabiting North American island
NAKEDLY
An insertion of DL for the Roman numerals for ‘five hundred and fifty’ in NA and KEY. The insertion indicator is ‘inhabiting’.
30 I clear view close to pine trees
EYEWASH
A charade of E for the final letter of ‘pine’, YEW and ASH.
Down
1 Force‘s colonel hosting first of military exercises
COMPEL
An insertion of M for the initial letter of ‘military’ and PE in COL. The insertion indicator is ‘hosting’.
2 Keep this concert programme featuring tenor
STET
An insertion of T in SET. The insertion indicator is ‘featuring’. STET is a proofreader’s mark to ignore a previous correction or alteration, meaning literally ‘let it stand’.
3 Maize agriculture essentially fed Iowa in abundance
CORNUCOPIA
A charade of CORN, U for the central letter of ‘agriculture’, COP for the American Fed officer and IA for the American state.
4 Toy vehicles and craft around smaller map
TRAIN SET
A reversal of ART followed by INSET.
5 Formula 1 racetrack shortened, leading to car crash
FIASCO
A charade of FI and ASCO[T]. The definition is a relatively new coinage, I think. ‘Car crash’ is used figuratively to mean a disaster, often in a business or political context. ‘The manifesto launch was a car crash.’
6 One spineless politician appearing at Women’s Institute
WIMP
A charade of WI and MP. Not to be gathered together in the same room: ask Tony Blair.
7 Bird from Maine, a nocturnal predator shrouded in dark
MEADOWLARK
A charade of ME for ‘Maine’, A and an insertion of OWL in DARK. The insertion indicator is ‘shrouded in’ and Bluejacket gets an immediate Brownie Point from this blogger because it enables the Obligatory Pierre Bird Link. None of the seven species of meadowlark are native to the UK, so I have gone for the South American Red-Breasted Meadowlark, which for all the world looks like a UK blackbird with a coloured-in breast.
8 Killer with chutzpah admitted to a crime
ASSASSIN
An insertion of SASS in A SIN. The insertion indicator is ‘admitted to’.
14 Private security devices cracked by veteran housebreaker
GOLDILOCKS
An insertion of OLD in GI for ‘private’ and LOCKS. Not so much the cutesy blonde heroine, more of a child without a moral compass who got her kicks from breaking and entering, damaging fixtures and fittings and stealing food.
16 Appreciate east Cornwall town’s biscuits
DIGESTIVES
A charade of DIG, E and ST IVES.
17 Stray pouting over new muzzle
GUNPOINT
An insertion of N in (POUTING)* The insertion indicator is ‘over’ and the anagrind is ‘stray’.
19 Extremely chic black suit
IN SPADES
A charade of IN in its ‘fashionable’ sense and SPADES for the card ‘suit’.
22 Prepare to fire half a dozen over the phone, showing bit of backbone
COCCYX
Aural wordplay (‘over the phone’) for COCK SIX. I think I may have been mispronouncing this word all my life.
24 Petty insult
SLIGHT
A dd.
26 Note how some call father Pop
SODA
A charade of SO and DA.
28 Head of Interpol blowing cover identity, unfortunately
ALAS
AL[I]AS
Super debut from Bluejacket. Many thanks to him or her for this one.
Pierre, you’ve stolen my thunder, GOLDILOCKS, in a Goldilocks puzzle, for me.
Lots of variety, not a single clue I didn’t enjoy.
May be, 24(d) SLIGHT, is getting a bit stale?
Particularly liked “black suit” = SPADES, and COCCYX, 22(d), is wonderful.
Thumbs up, BJ & Pierre
Thanks Pierre. I found this quite tricky, maybe because of unfamiliarity with the setter’s style.
You might remember CHARIVARI from the former subtitle of Punch magazine, “The London Charivari”.
AWN LOI for me, and then only by trying a few possible letters between the A and N online before I got the ta-da!
Like Andrew, I found this tricky in places but enjoyed the solve
An excellent crossword, thank you Bluejacket. Thanks also to Pierre for the blog
That was a fun puzzle, and I completely agree with Pierre regarding the story telling quality of the clues. Also some great spots: the anagram of PROUSTIAN and ST IVES in the biscuit, to mention two.
Missed a couple of bits of parsing (Owe/outsanding, and Cop/fed) but that was more laziness than anything else.
If that was the setter’s first offering, bring on some more!
A fine debut
New setter in the Indy but not new to setting, maybe. I really enjoyed the puzzle. Great clue surfaces as already mentioned, a wide range of clue types and nothing esoteric or annoyingly obscure. I liked the hidden entry at 10a and if I had to pick a favourties I’d choose EYEWASH or COCCYX or even the anagram for GUNPOINT or … Very impressive. I had GAL unparsed until I was shown the error of my ways and of course GEL was obvious really. Is Bluejacket a sailor? Thanks to him anyway and to Pierre for the blog.
An excellent debut puzzle. Welcome Bluejacket and thank you for your superb surfaces and clever disguises.
Cannot find fault with a single clue.
Thanks all.
Enjoyed the puzzle. Very good blog.
Thanks Bluejacket and Pierre.
Top faves: PUT ON AIRS, AWN, EYEWASH, ASSASSIN, IN SPADES and COCCYX.
IN SPADES:
An academic question: Is the def an exact match for the solution?
Don’t put on any airs when you’re down on Ruemark Avenoo …
Well yes Goldilocks was uninvited, but did she break in … ?
Fun puzzle, thx B and P.
ginf @ 10 That would be Rue Morgue… 😉
I made heavy weather of this but I’m not sure why! I too thought it a super puzzle with lovely surfaces and no quibbles apart from the one KVa@9 raises (but it’s such a nice idea). There were some cleverly disguised definitions, and a brilliant hidden with ICINESS… I couldn’t spot it for the life of me, and even now I find it very hard to see for some reason.
There were a few unknowns: uncle=pawnbroker and awn=cereal beard (which mean [P]AWN was a shrug but the only thing that fitted), CHARIVARI and MEADOWLARK whose impeccable wordplay made them gettable with checkers, and muzzle=GUNPOINT.
SHOW for “Doctor Who’s” feels like it must be a chestnut but it was new for me and I loved it, along with the housebreaker, fed=cop, and plenty of others.
Thanks both!
I, too, liked ST.IVES in the biscuits, the Proustian novel and the great blog (and link).
Thanks both.
Thank you to everyone for such welcoming impressions and feedback, and thanks especially to Pierre for the lovely run-down. I have been setting on an amateurish basis for a while so it’s good to confirm I’ve developed at least some chops!
A fine debut, indeed, but, having encountered this setter elsewhere, I am not at all surprised. He may be ‘technically’ an amateur to date but that in no way reflects in the puzzles which are always highly accomplished and imaginative. As today’s crossword shows. Plenty of big ticks; highlights include OUT ON AIRS, LOGIC, SHOWDOWNS, NAKEDLY, EYEWASH, FIASCO, GOLDILOCKS, DIGESTIVES, GUNPOINT and IN SPADES.
Thanks Bluejacket and Pierre
Wow that was tough, when there are so many clues that seem impenetrable but slowly yield themselves, that’s the sign of a great puzzle.
Thanks Bluejacket, really enjoyed this. DIGESTIVES my favourite but loads of other gems. Why was ICINESS so hard to spot? It’s right there. Possibly as others I was looking for a 5 letter medicine -I-E- with bottles as the definition, but no joy.
I was going to quibble about the ubiquitous use of EYEWASH, but actually this is the first time I’ve seen it used as it’s meant to be rather than as nonsense/humbug so perfectly fine,
Also familiar with Bluejacket’s work elsewhere and thrilled to see him debuting here! Faces included FIASCO, SHEIKHS, DIGESTIVES, ICINESS (not as long as some of his other hiddens!), COMPEL, GOLDILOCKS, MEADOWLARK, EYEWASH, SHOWDOWNS. Didn’t know CHARIVARI but was able to fill correctly via wordplay, and GEL was last in as I couldn’t work out the wordplay (and so was deciding between GEL and GAL). Hoping to see more soon!
That seemed pretty tough to me – after a first sweep, I didn’t have very much to go on and was starting to fear that the puzzle would be a slog or DNF. But it all turned out quite nicely in the end, with every clue perfectly solvable and some lovely surfaces along the way. Well done Bluejacket, and thanks both.
This is a great debut, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As Pierre says, some lovely surfaces. Favourites: PUT ON AIRS, AWN, EYEWASH and DIGESTIVES. More please!
Thanks both.
Thanks both. Impossible to look past DIGESTIVES and GOLDILOCKS as worthy of mention; personally, I liked the house-breaker angle in the latter. I am only unsure how ‘blowing’ instructs us to remove I(nterpol) from alias to for. ALAS – it feels more like it is being blown (wasted).
Thanks for that, Simon S @11, if ur still around; yes I waa guessing …
Welcome Bluejacket – what an excellent debut! LOI was ICINESS, a really clever hidden. Loved the Proustian novel too, among many others.
Thanks Pierre; OBOES was the standout for me. And kudos to Bluejacket on a smashing debut. (In view of 10, I’m wondering if you hail from Columbus OH)
Thanks Bluejacket for a great debut. I recognised the setter’s name from elsewhere but this was my first attempt at a Bluejacket crossword. I found it to be ‘medium’ difficulty & revealed GUNPOINT; I also failed to parse AWN. All else eventually came to light with my top picks being OUTDOOR, ICINESS, LOGIC, SIKHS, GOLDILOCKS, and COCCYX. Thanks Pierre for the blog.
Merci, Pierre.
Welcome, Bluejacket, and I agree with the consensus- an excellent debut!
It’s too late in the day so ……… What DaveJ@25 said.
Congratulations again, Bluejacket! Wonderful crossword, as always!