Our always-reliable Friday setter is here again.
Phi has set himself up for today’s puzzle with six 15-letter entries, all of which were good. I laughed at the surface images of 8a (a bearded French painter in a ballet skirt?) and 20a. There are a couple of slightly obscure references, but I’ve definitely seen “ort” before, probably in a crossword – and if you’re looking for a four-letter scientist, Niels Bohr is usually a good bet. Thanks Phi as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | TOULOUSE-LAUTREC |
French painter indicated by easel, colour and tutu, possibly (8-7)
|
| Anagram (possibly) of EASEL + COLOUR + TUTU.
19th-century French painter. |
||
| 9 | OSLO |
Good women avoiding industrial action in European city (4)
|
| [g]O-SLO[w] (deliberately delaying work as a form of protest = industrial action), without G (abbreviation for good) and W (abbreviation for women).
Capital of Norway. |
||
| 10 | SALTCELLAR |
Wit and wine – a feature of the table? (10)
|
| SALT (wit, metaphorically, as something that makes conversation more interesting) + CELLAR (perhaps a wine store).
Something you might find on a dinner table. |
||
| 11 | BRETHREN |
Monks initially ready to tuck into a lot of tea subsequently (8)
|
| First letter (initially) of R[eady], inserted into BRE[w] (slang for a drink of tea) without the last letter (a lot of . . .) + THEN (subsequently). | ||
| 12 | ASSISI |
A lot of aid heading for Italy or place there … (6)
|
| ASSIS[t] (aid, as a verb = to help) without the last letter (a lot of . . .) + first letter (heading) of I[taly].
Town in central Italy. |
||
| 13 | SEE NAPLES AND DIE |
… with another apparently discouraging tourists? (3,6,3,3)
|
| Cryptic definition, with the ellipsis pointing back to the previous clue so we’re looking for another place in Italy. The phrase means “once you’ve seen Naples there is nothing else you could want from life”, but it could be misinterpreted as a threat to visitors. | ||
| 16 | ARABLE |
Productive moral tale, but lacking power (6)
|
| [p]ARABLE (a moral tale) without the P (abbreviation for power).
As in arable land = used for growing crops = productive. |
||
| 18 | THEORIST |
Thinker is probing the bit left over (8)
|
| IS inserted into THE (from clue) + ORT (a scrap of food left after a meal = bit left over). I can’t remember where I’ve seen “ort” before but it seems vaguely familiar. | ||
| 20 | UNDERSTOOD |
Roger droned to us, unfortunately (10)
|
| Anagram (unfortunately) of DRONED TO US.
Roger (in radio signalling) = understood = an acknowledgement that you have accepted what has just been said to you. |
||
| 21 | BOHR |
Scientist suspending oxygen and hydrogen in bromine (4)
|
| A collection of chemical symbols: O (oxygen) = H (hydrogen), inserted into BR (Br = bromine).
Danish theoretical physicist Niels Bohr. |
||
| 22 | DEPARTMENT STORE |
Leave advisor to cross street in front of English shop (10,5)
|
| DEPART (leave = go away) + MENTOR (advisor), around (to cross) ST (abbreviation for street), then E (abbreviation for English). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BOW STREET RUNNER |
Old policeman’s inclination to take attractive person hugging gnarled tree, right? (3,6,6)
|
| BOW (an inclination of the head or upper body as a sign of respect) + STUNNER (slang for a stunningly attractive person), around (hugging) an anagram (gnarled) of TREE + R (abbreviation for right). We could almost do without “gnarled” because the letters of TREE appear in sequence, but then we’d need an indicator that the R is inserted separately rather than next to TREE.
Bow Street Runners = an early police force in London, set up in the 18th century by Bow Street Magistrates’ Court. |
||
| 2 | ALCOTT |
American writer a good deal tense about chapter (6)
|
| A LOT (a good deal) + T (abbreviation for tense), around C (abbreviation for chapter).
Louisa May Alcott, 19th-century US author of Little Women and its sequels. |
||
| 3 | OUTSTRIP |
Better periods after skipping British tour (8)
|
| [b]OUTS (as in “bouts of illness” = periods) without the B (abbreviation for British), then TRIP (tour = journey).
Better, as a verb = do better than = outstrip. |
||
| 4 | WELL-INTENTIONED |
Good friends to dine – ten, possibly? Planning for the best (4-11)
|
| WELL IN (to be well in with someone = to be good friends with them), then an anagram (possibly) of TO DINE TEN. | ||
| 5 | FASCIA |
American science probing nothing – it’s just a front (6)
|
| A (abbreviation for American) + SCI (abbreviation for science), inserted into FA (slang for nothing: the derivation is disputed but is probably not polite). | ||
| 6 | STYLISED |
Pen German song about Society in elaborate fashion? (8)
|
| STY (as in pigsty = pen = animal enclosure) + LIED (German word for song, used generically in classical music to mean a song for solo singer and piano), around S (abbreviation for society). | ||
| 7 | BECAUSE IT’S THERE |
Mountaineer’s statement wildly cheers beauties seen around heart of mountains (7,3,5)
|
| Anagram (wildly) of CHEERS BEAUTIES around the middle letter (heart) of [moun]T[ains].
Mountaineer George Mallory’s alleged response to a reporter who asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. |
||
| 14 | NOBLEMAN |
Aristo with unusual male name? (8)
|
| NOB (aristo = slang for aristocrat) + anagram (unusual) of MALE + N (abbreviation for name).
Clue-as-definition: you could argue that the definition is just “aristo”, but the “male name” is also relevant because we’re looking for a nobleMAN. |
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| 15 | ANECDOTE |
Story and a remark about European recording (8)
|
| A NOTE (a remark), around E (abbreviation for European) + CD (abbreviation for compact disc = sound recording). | ||
| 17 | ERSATZ |
Expression of hesitation over second town guide, dropping old fake (6)
|
| ER (a sound expressing hesitation) before (over, in a down clue) S (abbreviation for second), then A T[o] Z (brand name for a series of town street atlases, especially the original London edition) without the O (abbreviation for old).
German-derived word for fake, in the sense of a cheap low-quality substitute for the real thing. |
||
| 19 | REBATE |
Discount Republican replacing Democrat in discussion (6)
|
| [d]EBATE (discussion), with R (abbreviation for Republican) replacing D (abbreviation for Democrat).
As in “tax rebate”: a partial refund of money paid. |