The weeks are going by so quickly – we have another Phi to solve.
There were a few tricky ones here. BONY didn’t leap out as a synonym for SPARE but we thought it must be EBONY. Even with some of the crossing letters DOG-LEG took a while to sort out – no idea why.
We couldn’t spot any theme -maybe Phi just wanted to include the delightful word DISCOMBOBULATE in the grid!
Thanks Phi.
SPECIEs (a sort of thing) missing last letter or ‘runs short’
SAT (positioned) ‘returned’ MAN (Queen say, as on a chess board)
MORAL (upright) CAST (performers) in BALLEt (dance) missing last letter or ‘curtailed’
OGLE (bad look) inside or ‘suppressed by’ DG (Director General – head of BBC)
PERE (French for ‘father’ – parent) E (English) around or ‘gathering’ DIG (sharp comment)
V (very) SO (well) around or ‘accommodating’ IR (Irish) and a reversal (‘backing’) of OUT
FR (French) APPEal (attraction) ‘not having’ ‘ale‘ without the last letter (‘a lot of’)
SIRI (computer assistant) in OS (operating system)
An anagram (‘circulating’) of STORIEs missing the last letter or ‘endless’ in EC (European Community)
An anagram (‘confused’) of SO and CLUE followed by or ‘leading to’ AU (gold)
An anagram (‘changes’) to USERNamE without ‘am’ (in the morning)
B (bass) inside or ‘interrupting’ DISCO MOB (large number of dancers) before U (text speak for you) LATE (near the end)
LAYER (course) after or ‘taken by’ P (piano)
DEN (study) I (one) A L (pupil)
SOLID (sensible) with PLATONIC (not having sex) on top – in a down clue
AM (live) inside or ‘hosted by’ CE (church) LOT (group)
An anagram (‘punished’) of ROGUE IS around EG (9d)
Double definition – Musk is reputedly the richest person in the world
HR (personnel) ‘intervening regularly’ (in other words separately) in SAD (unhappy)
ANTI (not supporting) GUAm (pacific island) missing last letter or ‘most of’
An anagram (‘what might be’) of A TRIPLE X IMAGE
LOWER (meaner) B (first letter or ‘bit’ of Brooklyn) inside or ‘cased by’ FED (agent in the USA)
ROUSE (provoke) L (line) around S (southern)
A reversal (‘kept up’) of NOPE (refusal) around (‘accepting’) L IS
E (last or ‘final’ letter of tie) BONY (spare)
I liked the disco mob and the DG dealing with an Ogle. I had to solve EGREGIOUS to get the penny to drop for 9d.
Very tricky. Like Petert@1, “e.g.” was a key solution, but eluded for me for too long. Roussel ditto, never heard of him
SPECIE, 1(ac): I’m not sure I agree with the definition. As a retired accountant, my understanding was “in specie” was the transfer of an asset as a substitute for money. In a company liquidation, for example, the shareholders might receive its physical assets (stock, plant etc.), in specie, rather than money.
Once again, a solid puzzle but no fireworks.
Thanks, Phi, and BJ
Chambers:
specie
noun
Coined money
in specie
1. In coin
2. In kind