SLORMGORM kicks off the week…
A good, solid, and enjoyable puzzle, with some lovely surfaces.
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Redesign of niche car will be more risky (8)
CHANCIER
(NICHE CAR)* (*redesign of)
5. Difficult at university to be skint (4,2)
HARD UP
HARD (difficult) + UP (at university)
10. Large person making dough is a trainee (7)
LEARNER
L (large) + EARNER (person making dough)
11. Contract and a game in which there is one? (7)
ABRIDGE
A + BRIDGE (a game in which there is one (contract))
12. Corrupt heavyweight probed by minister for sport (9)
BADMINTON
(BAD (corrupt) + TON (heavyweight)) probed by MIN (minister)
13. Walk better having lost a little weight (5)
AMBLE
[g]AMBLE[r] (better, having lost GR (a little weight, gram or grain))
15. Reason leading soprano will become tenor in the future? (5)
TENSE
SENSE (reason, S[oprano] (leading) will become T (tenor))
16. When elite sailor finds hazardous material (8)
ASBESTOS
AS (when) + BEST (elite) + OS (sailor)
19. What fan might do at premiere? Be in a daze! (3,5)
SEE STARS
Double (cryptic) definition
20. Some drab, undulating wilderness in South Africa (5)
BUNDU
[dra]B UNDU[lating] (some)
21. Music producer essentially raised backing pitch (5)
SITAR
([ra]IS[ed] (essentially))< (<backing) + TAR (pitch)
23. Damned gin gone off ? That’s extremely annoying! (9)
MADDENING
(DAMNED GIN)* (*gone off)
25. Old and anxious, but not very demanding (7)
ONEROUS
O (old) and NER[v]OUS (anxious, but not V (very))
27. Person taking pawn with a knight is evil (7)
UNCLEAN
UNCLE (person taking pawn) with A + N (knight)
28. Revolutionary lawyer getting sack is a shame (3,3)
TOO BAD
(DA (lawyer) getting BOOT (sack))< (<revolutionary)
29. Venomous type sadly isn’t gay, queen admitted (8)
STINGRAY
(ISNT GAY)* (*sadly), R (queen) admitted
DOWN
1. Celeb at parties hides one avoiding relations (8)
CELIBATE
(CELEB AT)* (*parties) hides I (one)
2. A group at work blokes and model neglect (11)
ABANDONMENT
A + BAND (group) at ON (work) + MEN (blokes) and T (model)
3. Tory party and Truss regularly ignored judges (9)
CONSIDERS
CON (Tory) + SIDE (party) + [t]R[u]S[s] (regularly ignored)
4. Having missed header, feel bad for winger (5)
EGRET
[r]EGRET (feel bad for, having missed header)
6. Section found in gondola or taller vessel (5)
AORTA
[gondo]A OR TA[ller] (section found in)
7. Old man is uninspiring when lacking energy (3)
DAD
D[e]AD (uninspiring, when lacking E (energy))
8. Report of armistice you heard on the radio (5)
PIECE
"peace" = PIECE (armistice, "you heard on the radio")
9. Is it possible outlaw returned one’s dope? (8)
CANNABIS
CAN (is it possible) + (BAN)< (outlaw, <returned) + IS (one's)
14. It’s a job Nigerien with OBE messed up (11)
BIOENGINEER
(NIGERIEN with OBE)* (*messed up)
16. A liberal member first to be scaremongering (8)
ALARMIST
A + L (liberal) + ARM (member) + IST (first)
17. Cloth merchant in case bound to get banged up (9)
SUBDEACON
(CASE BOUND)* (*to get banged up)
18. Buy drug around about noon in old French region (8)
BURGUNDY
(BUY DRUG)* (*around) about N (noon)
21. Film sequel primarily shown with Scream (5)
SHOOT
S[equel] (primarily) shown with HOOT (scream)
22. Wind up eating flipping joint with ordinary wine (5)
RIOJA
(AIR)< (wind, <up) eating (J (joint) with O (ordinary))< (<flipping)
24. Spot in which you and bishop will see Suspicion (5)
DOUBT
DOT (spot) in which (U (you) and B (bishop))
26. I like nothing (3)
EGO
ABRIDGE
Though we have come across the A+BRIDGE WP before, the play on ‘contract’ was good.
EGO
Simple and elegant.
ABANDONMENT
A minor point: ‘at work’=ON
TENSE
I thought…
Soprano=S, the leading/the first S in SENSE is replaced with T.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
Liked the cloth merchant, and the misspelled (or are there three esses?) Nigerien was cute. Gentlish stroll, ta S and T.
KVa @1, yes I guess so, but you have to reach for it, as in, eg,
It’s the day shift that’s currently on.
…………………………………………….. at work.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
14dn: When solving, I thought this was wrong, but the usual dictionaries all have Nigerien as relating to the country Niger, as distinct from Nigerian, which relates to Nigeria.
I have a vague recollection of Araucaria nominating “I say nothing”, a clue to EGO by a young Enigmatist (this was quite a long time ago), as one of his all-time favourites.
Agree with KVa#1 about TENSE. Chambers has S as an abbreviation of soprano.
Thanks to S&T.
PB @4: …because the colonialists spoke French in Niger and English in Nigeria, natch. (Is a woman from Niger a Nigerienne?)
There was a lot of solving first, and parsing later
Liked DOUBT, AORTA, and SEE STARS
Failed to parse AMBLE
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
mrpenney@6: No feminine endings in the English dictionaries, but Larousse 1996 p 692 has
nigérian, ane adj. et n. Du Nigeria.
nigérien, enne adj. et n. Du Niger.
Gentle but very enjoyable & with excellent surfaces. Have often used BUNDU to describe where my golf ball finishes without really knowing what it was but I do now.
Thanks both
We had to check that Nigerien was correct, but otherwise no problems and we can’t really add anything to Teacow’s verdict.
Thanks, Slormgorm and Teacow.
Oh right, forgot about Kneezhair, no spelling error then …
Uncle is new to me, came here for the parsing and was still mystified! Tense I also struggled with
Uncle is slang for pawn broker, apparently.
My SOED app often lets me down, but it did contain that one