BOBCAT kicks off the week…
A pleasantly challenging solve with a couple of feline guests.
Thanks BOBCAT!
ACROSS
1. Fashion house turned back on woman dressing softly rounded figure (8)
SPHEROID
(DIOR)< (fashion house, <turned back) on (SHE (woman) dressing P (softly))
5. Dingy quiet place for monks lacking energy (6)
SHABBY
SH (quiet) + ABB[e]Y (place for monks, lacking E (energy))
8. Short docked dog (3)
CUR
9. Starting afresh — compensation for divorce? (10)
SEPARATION
REPARATION (compensation, starting afresh (i.e. replacing the leading R with an S))
10. Discharge space flight without leader (8)
EMISSION
EM (space) + [m]ISSION (flight, without leader)
11. Una’s cycling around South American capital (6)
NASSAU
NASU (UNAS cycling) around SA (South American)
12. Giving this story an urban setting would make sense (4)
SAGA
SAGA[city] (sense) so, adding CITY (giving an urban setting) to this story (SAGA) makes sense
14. Entitlement of Trump’s to deliver justice? (10)
BIRTHRIGHT
BIRTH RIGHT (deliver justice)
17. Cook desperately short of seconds time and again (10)
REPEATEDLY
(DE[s]PERATELY (short of seconds))* (*cook)
20. Exchange seat vacated by learned cleric (4)
SALE
SA[dd]LE (seat, vacated by DD (learned cleric))
23. Fascinating woman liberates priest in sacred text (6)
MANTRA
MANTRA[p] (fascinating woman, liberates P (priest))
24. Suspicious absence of papers dogs soldier (8)
PARANOID
NO ID (lack of papers) dogs PARA (soldier)
25. Swimming in and out in deluge (10)
INUNDATION
(IN AND OUT IN)* (*swimming)
26. Member displaying European dedication (3)
TOE
TO E (displaying E (European) dedication)
27. Taunt the French with a form of hell (6)
HECKLE
LE (the, French) with HECK (a form of hell)
28. Conscious of millions not holding opinion? The opposite (8)
SENTIENT
SENTI[m]ENT (opinion, not holding M (millions), the opposite of millions not holding opinion)
DOWN
1. Doctor Seuss created odd characters, originally encountering resistance. Who will replace him? (9)
SUCCESSOR
(SEUSS C[reated] O[dd] C[haracters] (originally))* (*doctor) encounters R (resistance)
2. Fish served by mother catering in half portions (7)
HERRING
[mot]HER [cate]RING (in half portions)
3. Stand up to retired sibling bores (6)
RESIST
RET (retired), SIS (sibling) bores
4. Speak off the cuff , taking line from Primo Levi’s novel (9)
IMPROVISE
(PRIMO [l]EVIS (taking L (line) from))* (*novel)
5. Firm to stop water leaking? (7)
STAUNCH
6. MAs and PhDs, two in Rome, exploited position on board (9)
AMIDSHIPS
(MAS and PHDS, II (two in Rome))* (*exploited)
7. High point in the Cairngorms, riverless ground below (7)
BENEATH
BEN (highpoint in the Cairngorms) + EA[r]TH (ground, R (river) less)
13. Where setter goes in a Rugby gathering to be stunned (9)
AWESTRUCK
WEST (where setter goes, where the sun sets) in (A + RUCK (rugby gathering))
15. Short story about musical enthrals king. That’s saying a lot (9)
TALKATIVE
(TAL[e] (story, short) + (EVITA)< (musical, <about)) enthrals K (king)
16. Most funky object irritates crowds over time (9)
TRENDIEST
(END (object), TRIES (irritates) crowds) over T (time)
18. Survey area enclosed by defunct colliery (7)
EXAMINE
A (area) enclosed by (EX MINE (defunct colliery))
19. I denied involvement in play with entertaining adult nonsense (7)
TWADDLE
TW[i]DDLE (play with) entertaining A (adult)
21. One of a dozen supper guests put up beer bottles (7)
APOSTLE
POST (put up), ALE (beer) bottles
22. Attractive piece, often game, a bit stuck-up? (6)
MAGNET
([of]TEN GAM[e] (a bit))< (<stuck up)
A few tricky clues, I thought, as one would expect from this setter. I didn’t manage to parse SALE but got the rest.
I didn’t parse SALE either!
Spotted the two felines though -indeed, I guessed something was cracking off there early on so they did help. Some lovely surfaces today of which INUNDATION was one. IMPROVISE and AMIDSHIPS had some creative wordplay too.
Very diverting overall so thanks to Bobcat and nice work, Teacow!
Solving this required some thought. I am still not a big fan of clues such as for SEPARATION, in which the solver has to infer some replacement letter that is otherwise unclued, except from general context.
Either I’m getting worse or the puzzles are getting harder. Took a while to get there, by hook or by crook. Liked apostle, but a lot of filling in and hoping it would become clear, at least from the blog.
I finally spotted a Nina (Puma) and was so excited that I stopped looking and missed lion. Grrrr!!!
Well the Divine Doc isn’t as frequent as the Rev — or even the Right Rev (who competes with “luxury car”) — but s/he does occasionally show up, so sa[dd]le was fine. Otoh, “crowds” meaning “surrounds”, while perfectly clear, escaped me, so trendiest was a shrug. Actually I think I was too busy going “Hmm, does trendy really = funky?” to do the parse. All good healthy exercise, thanks Bob LiPu and Teacow.