SLORMGORM kicks off the week…
A good solid puzzle with some lovely surfaces and a couple of things I'd not come across before (port and plane).
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Perturbedly pan press and paparazzi, perhaps (8)
SNAPPERS
(PAN PRESS)* (*perturbedly)
5. Geriatric secretary gets good man to have sex (4,2)
PAST IT
PA (secretary) gets ST (good man) to have IT (sex)
10. Company manifesto initially accepted by workers in suits (7)
BECOMES
(CO (company) + M[anifesto] (initially)) accepted by BEES (workers)
11. Might you say a budgie picked up for less cash? (7)
CHEAPER
"cheeper" = CHEAPER (might you say a budgie, "picked up")
12. Slormgorm is in state after a film like Bambi (9)
ANIMATION
(IM (Slormgorm) is in NATION (state)) after A
13. Duct leakage sailors plugged with end of toe (5)
TEARS
TARS (sailors) plugged with [to]E (end of)
15. Dance beat associated with good disco ultimately (5)
TANGO
TAN (beat) associated with G (good) + [disc]O (ultimately)
16. Main coming with food and last of pepper and salt (8)
SEAFARER
SEA (main) coming with FARE (food) and [peppe]R (last of)
19. Scruffy man rises to have close shave (4,4)
NEAR MISS
20. At front, explosive is bloody thrown over… duck! (5)
EIDER
E[xplosive] I[s] (at front) + (RED)< (bloody, <thrown over)
21. A group covering number one from Slade in benefit (5)
ASSET
(A SET (group)) covering S[lade] (number one from)
23. One seen during awfully nice mass related to Jesus (9)
MESSIANIC
I (one) seen during (NICE MASS)* (*awfully)
25. Scrutinise cricket? There’s pressure in that! (7)
INSPECT
INSECT (cricket?) there's P (pressure) in that
27. Flipping game I had to store close to backgammon and go (7)
URINATE
(RU)< (game, <flipping) + ((I + ATE (had)) to store [backgammo]N (close to))
28. Want to oust Democrat with yen to get coarse (6)
EARTHY
[d]EARTH (want, to out D [Democrat]) with Y (yen)
29. Bishop lends a helping hand to slappers, possibly (8)
BASSISTS
B (bishop) + ASSISTS (lends a helping hand to)
DOWN
1. English coach upset about players in 2nd division in India? (8)
SUBCASTE
(E (English) + BUS (coach))< (<upset) about CAST (players)
2. Those who’ll sell a lot of stuff to a nice user (11)
AUCTIONEERS
(TO A NICE USER)* (*stuff)
3. High Barnet is a dump with poor in an awful state (9)
POMPADOUR
(A DUMP with POOR)* (*in an awful state)
Barnet being rhyming slang for hair
4. Knight retreating by half-obliterated hill’s a wise man (5)
RISHI
(SIR)< (knight, <retreating) by HI[ll] (half obliterated)
6. Fend off vicar lifting dresses in party regularly (5)
AVERT
(REV)< (vicar, <lifting) in [p]A[r]T[y] (regularly)
7. Useful advice: best to make love intimately at first (3)
TIP
TOP (best, to make O (love) I[ntimately] (at first))
8. Anger after far-right racist finally hoists flags (5)
TIRES
(IRE (anger) after [racis]T (far-right)) + [hoist]S (finally)
9. Conservative in strappy footwear causes uproars (8)
SCANDALS
C (Conservative) in SANDALS (strappy footwear)
14. Scottish people primarily are drunk on brandies (11)
ABERDONIANS
A[re] (primarily) + (ON BRANDIES)* (*drunk)
16. Hearty stewed starter and joint served with Bud (8)
SHIPMATE
S[tewed] (starter) and HIP (joint) served with MATE (bud)
17. Couples seen by chaps in first-class conveniences (9)
AMENITIES
TIES (couples) seen by (MEN (chaps) in AI (first class))
18. Biscuits or bananas? (8)
CRACKERS
21. Fleet in weakened state after losing first couple of frigates (5)
AGILE
[fr]AGILE (in weakened state, after losing FR[igates] (first couple of))
22. Genuine effectiveness found in corporate ethics (5)
TEETH
[corpora]TE ETH[ics] (found in)
24. German diver fixed to lose fourth place essentially (5)
STUKA
STU[c]K (fixed, to lose fourth) + [pl]A[ce] (essentially)
26. Port American served up with slice of Roquefort (3)
SUR
(US)< (American, <served up) with R[oquefort] (slice of)
A port in Oman
Loved it, thanks both.
Liked past it, Stuka. Urinate was taking the p.
No moans.
Enjoyable and witty puzzle.
The cleanly shaven man (NEAR MISS) was a neat clue indeed and I liked POMPADOUR.
I thought: I’m stuck on 24D and then happily, I realised that ‘stu[c]k’ (fixed) was what I required. Had to check online to see what it was though.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
Liked NEAR MISS, SUBCASTE and AGILE.
CHEAPER
I think ‘might you say’ is the homophone indicator and
‘picked up’ is a part of the def.
Hadn’t heard of SUR or STUKA. Couldn’t parse TIP and STUKA. No other issues.
It’s interesting sometimes to see people betraying their age when commenting here. Every schoolboy in my youth could do a passable imitation of a Stuka diving (in movement and sound).
Nice puzzle and blog. Thanks both.
I agree with Sourdough@5 about Stukas, although Sur is obscure .
Enjoyed puzzle and blog. Thank you both.
Lovely puzzle with many smooth surfaces, especially NEAR MISS.
I knew it was STUKA but was confused by fourth letter of “place” being C which I duly removed leaving an orphaned A, so thanks Teacow.
And of course every HHGTTG fan knows the quotation from the scene with Deep Thought: “this is getting needlessly MESSIANIC”.
Lots of fun even though I came up short on a few. I enjoyed Pompadour and Amenities, can’t believe I missed out on Stuka though….