This seemed somewhat more challenging than the usual Bobcat fare, with at least a couple of clues that I would describe as unconventional (but still fair) . . .
. . . and with not one but two feline ninas crossing in the middle. CHANTRY was a new word for me, but easily discoverable from the wordplay.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SHEARER |
Drug distributor checks guy removing coat (7)
|
| SHARER (distributor) around (checks) E (drug), e.g., from a sheep | ||
| 5 | ASCETIC |
Austere and vinegary, masking trace of sugar (7)
|
| ACETIC (vinegary) around (masking) first letter of (trace of) S[UGAR] | ||
| 9 | EDIT OUT |
Remove something from wordplay for “diet”? (4,3)
|
| Double/cryptic definition, with the solution exemplifying the wordplay indicated in the clue, “diet” and “edit” being anagrams of each other | ||
| 10 | DILEMMA |
Cover over woman in novel predicament (7)
|
| LID (cover) reversed (over) + EMMA (woman in novel, i.e., by Jane Austen) | ||
| 11 | SPECTACLE |
Performance aspect a clergyman suppresses (9)
|
| Hidden in (suppresses) [A]SPECT A CLE[RGYMAN] | ||
| 12 | SCANT |
Little John captured by opening to Sherwood Forest at last (5)
|
| CAN (john) inside (captured by) {first letter of (opening to) S[HERWOOD] + last letter of (at last) [FORES]T}, with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 13 | NITRE |
Chemical certain to be returned decarbonised and inactive (5)
|
| [C]ERT[A]IN reversed (to be returned) minus C (“de-CARBON-ised”) and minus A (“in-ACTIVE”) | ||
| 15 | LIABILITY |
Troublemaker regularly lacking flair and talent (9)
|
| Alternate letters of (regularly lacking) [F]L[A]I[R] + ABILITY (talent) | ||
| 17 | PERSIMMON |
Somebody peeled Jimmy’s jamming fruit (9)
|
| [J]IMM[Y] minus outside letters (peeled) inside (jamming) PERSON (somebody) | ||
| 19 | LOCUS |
Stripper spending time here? (5)
|
| LOCUS[T] (“stripper,” e.g., of vegetation) minus (spending) T (time) | ||
| 22 | COYPU |
Shy, puny, half-cut, rat-like individual (5)
|
| COY (shy) + PU[NY] minus second half (half-cut) | ||
| 23 | UNSHEATHE |
Withdraw from case of exhausted Ukrainian woman plugged by US police (9)
|
| Outside letters of (exhausted) U[KRAINIA]N + {SHE (woman) around (plugged by) HEAT (US [slang for] police)}, e.g., a knife | ||
| 25 | FULLEST |
Least bright, given fresh start, becomes most rounded (7)
|
| [D]ULLEST (least bright) with a different first letter (given fresh start). If we allow “given fresh start” to undertake double-duty, the clue suggests that the first letter D is specifically to be replaced with F {first letter of (start [of]) F[RESH]}. | ||
| 26 | AVOIDED |
Missed nothing boring enthusiastic editor (7)
|
| O (nothing) inside (boring) AVID (enthusiastic) + ED. (editor) | ||
| 27 | CAYENNE |
Spice Islands cropped unlimited fennel (7)
|
| CAY[S] (islands) minus last letter (cropped) + [F]ENNE[L] minus outside letters (unlimited) | ||
| 28 | SCHOLAR |
Schoenberg contributing more than Larsson to development of pupil (7)
|
| SCHO[ENBERG] + LAR[SSON], with the former contributing four letters and the latter only three (contributing more . . . to development of) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STEPSON |
No special favourites where this child is raised (7)
|
| {NO + S (special) + PETS (favourites)} all inverted (raised), with the whole clue having a semi-&lit sense at play | ||
| 2 | EMINENT |
Prominent fellow denied beginning to bury bomb (7)
|
| [G]ENT (fellow) minus first letter (denied beginning) around (to bury) MINE (bomb) | ||
| 3 | ROOST |
Take covers off iron posts for bed (5)
|
| [I]RO[N] + [P]OST[S] minus outside letters of each (take covers off) | ||
| 4 | RETICULUM |
Stomach ulcer — I must somehow bar sulphur (9)
|
| Anagram of (somehow) ULCER I MU[S]T minus (bar) S (sulphur) | ||
| 5 | ADDLE |
Go off alcohol-charged days? The opposite (5)
|
| D + D (days) inside (-charged) ALE (alcohol), with “the opposite” indicating that the instruction in the wordplay is reversed | ||
| 6 | CELESTIAL |
Stupidly opt to be out of range of total eclipse? It’s sublime (9)
|
| Anagram of (stupidly) {T[OT]AL ECLI[P]SE} minus (to be out of range of) OPT | ||
| 7 | TIMPANI |
Instruments of terror briefly employed by regressive university (7)
|
| MIT (university) inverted (regressive) + PANI[C] (terror) minus last letter (briefly) | ||
| 8 | CHANTRY |
Provision for masses of tea with new judge (7)
|
| CHA (tea) + N (new) + TRY (judge), according to Chambers: “an endowment, or chapel, for the chanting of masses” | ||
| 14 | EPICUREAN |
Model almost ruins peace of Greek philosopher (9)
|
| Anagram of (model) {RUIN[S] minus last letter (almost) + PEACE} | ||
| 16 | AMNESIACS |
We cannot recall resolving main cases (9)
|
| Anagram of (resolving) MAIN CASES | ||
| 17 | PACIFIC |
Piaf churned up inside about contralto in command presentation of La Mer (7)
|
| {PIAF with the internal letters reversed (churned up inside) around (about) C (contralto)} + I/C (in command), “la mer” being French for “the sea,” of which the Pacific Ocean might be an example | ||
| 18 | ROYALTY |
What publisher pays Prince Harry? (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | CITADEL |
Kremlin directed a non-voluntary movement in revolution (7)
|
| {LED (directed) + A + TIC (non-voluntary movement)} all inverted (in revolution) | ||
| 21 | SLENDER |
Feeble creditors taking up the lowest of debts (7)
|
| LENDERS (creditors) moving the last letter of (the lowest of) [DEBT]S from the bottom to the top (taking up) | ||
| 23 | UNTIE |
Loose relative paraded topless (5)
|
| [A]UNTIE (relative) minus first letter (paraded topless) | ||
| 24 | EPOCH |
Period during which Copernicus held back (5)
|
| Hidden in (during) [WHIC]H COPE[RNICUS] inverted (held back) |
I am glad you found it difficult, Cineraria. Several puzzles in a row have been a struggle for me, and I was beginning to think I am losing it
I got it all solved and I eventually got all but one parsed, but a lot of parsing came well after the solution. A few new words did not help things. As you wrote, there were a few unconventional clues which I thought raised the level of interest. I noted no favourites, but reading your blog I thought SPECTACLE was nicely hidden (albeit not much of a story in the clue).
Nice to see two, not one, cat references after all that
Thanks Bobcat and Cineraria
Martyn@1, I share your pain; this puzzle, and quite a few in recent days, have proved to be a bit of a mare, for me.
I even managed to bomb-out, here: I had EVIDENT instead of EMINENT, for 2(d).
And….I looked for the feline formula, and missed both ( LION and PUMA).
A clever crossword, with some unexpected devices.
A couple of the definitions/synonyms were a stretch, for me.
FEEBLE=SLENDER, (21d); TROUBLEMAKER= LIABILITY, (15ac); for example. I can see how they work, in certain contexts, but it’s easier to reverse- justify them, than to find them, from a blank grid.
I liked, in particular, the “peeled jimmy”, in 17(ac), for IMM. Though, on second thoughts…..
28(ac), [SCHO] [LAR], is very inventive……as is, a lot in this puzzle.
I drop my sword in defeat, and I salute Bobcat & Cineraria, thumbs-up.
STEPSON
Intended to be a reverse wordplay?
STEPSON (this child) is raised/reversed to get NO S PETS.
FULLER
I think the setter has not meant ‘fresh start’ to indicate f. Of course,
the setter may drop in later to clarify this.
My faves: UNSHEATHE, EPICUREAN and PACIFIC.
Liked the puzzle and the detailed & neat blog.
Thanks Bobcat and Cineraria.
Thanks for the blog , very clever clues , neat and precise . Perhaps this is the most friendly grid , every entry has more than half the letters checked including every first letter .
Like others, I’ve been struggling in the last couple of days and did so with this one as well. I gave up with a few to go. The missing ones weren’t hard, but my head (and, more importantly, my heart ) just weren’t in it. I began to lose the will to live and think “this is not fun – I could be outside enjoying the sunshine rather than wasting what remains of my life here”
19A I put LACES. A stripper would take a bit longer undoing these than their buttons. Shows how my mind works! However LOCUS is clearly the right answer. I got held up in NE corner with SHEARER LOI. Good puzzle from Bobcat as usual.
For once the Nina(s) helped. I knew to look for a cat in the middle, so when after long struggle I got the M in question, I penciled in the PUMA, which turned out to be all I needed to get unstuck. Didn’t even think to look for the LION.
Missed the Ninas as usual.
Epicurus was the philosopher . EPICUREAN is an adjective .
I found it a challenge but that is my deficiency . As others have said the blog was excellent.
Thanks to both
Moly@5: There is definitely more to life than crosswords, but they are peerless as a diversion for those so inclined, IMHO.
SM@8: To be clear, the definition is adjectival: “of Greek philosopher.”
Cineraria@9. Thanks . Mea culpa.
Moly@5 oh, don’t despair. We are both in the same lifeboat.
Cryptic crosswords are a fine diversion, but not the be all and end all.
These setters, you know, are not as smart as they like to think that they are.
I like your idea of a walk in the sunshine, that’s my plan for tomorrow..
No crosswords!
ian b
Could “Range” be the anagrind in 6d? Since OPT is present in anagram form in TOTAL ECLIPSE, I read it as Anagram of (stupidly) OPT to be out of (range of) {T[OT]AL ECLI[P]SE}
Moly @5 Yup.
Thanks Bobcat. It took some time & a lot of head scratching to complete this but it was worthwhile. Liked PUMA & LION lurking in the grid. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
This was pretty awful, wasn’t it? Managed to solve only a few of the top half so I lost patience and chucked it in the bin. 1ac doesn’t work as a clue, I’d never heard of Reticulum, and I’ve never before seen that meaning for Chantry.