The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hello everyone. Is it just me or is there a bit of a dark tone to today’s puzzle?
Regardless, an enjoyable solve which went mostly smoothly until some answers in the left hand side proved a little elusive. I have no idea why it took me so long to see the IBEXES at 12a, but much of my trouble came because I was slow to get 12d (INTOLERABLE). I needed most of the checking letters for SAMIZDAT at 17d, but had to do without the checker from the 18a dogs for which I needed them all. Standout clues for me, as often happens (I like simple perfection!) are not the most intricate ones: I liked 24a (PITIED), 3d (ANSWER) and my favourite, 4d (HAIL). Thanks Lark!
EDIT: there is a theme … see comments below for details.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Pay them with change and compassion (7) |
| EMPATHY — PAY THEM anagrammed (with change) | |
| 5a | Emperor’s vehicle circumnavigating westward ocean (6) |
| CAESAR — CAR (vehicle) going around (circumnavigating) SEA (ocean) written from right to left (westward …) | |
| 10a | Traversing cold Antarctic sea wearing gilet top (8) |
| CROSSING — C (cold) + ROSS (Antarctic sea) + IN (wearing) + the first letter (top) of Gilet | |
| 11a | King retaining old soldier, one of the late queen’s favourites? (5) |
| CORGI — CR (King) holding (retaining) O (old) + GI (soldier) | |
| 12a | Musk’s company drones possibly gathering to pursue current prey in Africa (6) |
| IBEXES — X (Musk’s company), which BEES (drones possibly) is taking in (gathering), following (to pursue) I (current) | |
| 13a | Those at the coalface with two trainees covering for new people on the daily grind (7) |
| MILLERS — MI[n]ERS (those at the coalface) with L L (two trainees) replacing (covering for) N (new) | |
| 15a | Genuine amateur theatre’s somewhat revolutionary (4) |
| TRUE — Part of the reversal of (… somewhat revolutionary) amatEUR Theatre’s | |
| 16a | Immortality for every person in French church (10) |
| PERMANENCE — PER (for every), MAN (person), EN (in, French) and CE (church) | |
| 18a | Tabloid centrally features a review of very therapeutic place for dogs (5,5) |
| LHASA APSOS — The middle letter of (… centrally) tabLoid + HAS (features) + A + reversal (review) of SO (very) and SPA (therapeutic place) | |
| 20a | Good, slow down to prepare for ice (4) |
| GRIT — G (good) + RIT. (ritardando or ritenuto, slow down) | |
| 23a | Mentioning one transgression covered by tabloid (7) |
| RAISING — I (one) SIN (transgression) in (covered by) RAG (tabloid) | |
| 24a | Given 1 or 2 types of mine? (6) |
| PITIED — PIT and IED (2 types of mine). 1 is 1a, EMPATHY | |
| 26a | Vital fluid in flower ultimately halved (5) |
| BLOOD — BLOOm (in flower) with its last letter (ultimately) halved in value in Roman numerals, from M (1000) to D (500) | |
| 27a | No short release on cassette – no sound at all (3,1,4) |
| NOT A PEEP — NO + EP (short release) by (on) TAPE (cassette) | |
| 28a | Brings about new stance (6) |
| ENACTS — An anagram of (new) STANCE | |
| 29a | Express sadness about European Union returning officer’s sadism (7) |
| CRUELTY — CRY (express sadness) around (about) EU European Union backwards (returning) and LT (officer) | |
| Down | |
| 2d | French clown’s dirty broadcast on the radio (7) |
| MARCEAU — MAR (dirty) + CEAU, which here sounds like (… on the radio) SOW (broadcast) | |
| 3d | Politicians were concealing outcome of enquiry (6) |
| ANSWER — PoliticiANS WERe is concealing the answer | |
| 4d | Suffer in the wake of hot weather (4) |
| HAIL — AIL (suffer) following (in the wake of) H (hot) | |
| 6d | Notice posh clubs and racist organisation infiltrating southern city (8) |
| AUCKLAND — AD (notice) with U (posh), C (clubs) and KLAN (racist organisation) going inside (infiltrating) | |
| 7d | Partners to capture freewheeling rogue operator (7) |
| SURGEON — S and N (bridge partners) taking in (to capture) an anagram of (freewheeling) ROGUE | |
| 8d | Had another look at fashionable, reputable clothing (11) |
| REINSPECTED — IN (fashionable) with RESPECTED (reputable) surrounding (clothing) | |
| 9d | Right-wing populist slogan turned angry men against legendary military leader (9) |
| AGAMEMNON — Reversal of (… turned) MAGA (right-wing populist slogan) + an anagram of (angry) MEN + ON (against) | |
| 12d | One Liberal Democrat finally breaking rank (11) |
| INTOLERABLE — An anagram of (… breaking) ONE LIBERAL and democraT finally | |
| 14d | Perhaps Wiccans’ song gets confused with paean (9) |
| NEOPAGANS — SONG is anagrammed (gets confused) together with PAEAN | |
| 17d | American uncle is reportedly meeting daughter engaged in dissident activity (8) |
| SAMIZDAT — SAM (American uncle) + IZ (IS reportedly) +D (daughter) + AT (engaged in) | |
| 19d | Song describing cut-off area in US state (7) |
| ARIZONA — ARIA (song) surrounding (describing) ZONe (area) missing its last letter (cut-off …) | |
| 21d | Intend to wear torn clothing (7) |
| RAIMENT — AIM (intend) going inside (to wear) RENT (torn) | |
| 22d | Society writer’s petition short and straightforward (6) |
| SIMPLE — S (society) + I’M (writer’s) + PLEa (petition) without the end (short) | |
| 25d | Lead beginning of sales pitch (4) |
| STAR — The first letter of (beginning of) Sales + TAR (pitch) | |
I can’t recall when I last tackled a Lark puzzle, if at all, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It took me a while to settle in on the right wavelength but then it all came together nicely and I enjoyed the solve a lot. Nice surfaces throughout.
A couple of bits of parsing took a bit of teasing out – “short release” in 27a and “engaged in” in 17d, and I’ve never heard of SAMIZDAT.
HAIL was my favourite with PITIED coming in a close second.
Many thanks to Lark and to Kitty.
Largely satisfying despite entering three unparsed, PITIED, GRIT and BLOOD which really ought to have come to me eventually were I not needing to get on with my Saturday chores.
I enjoyed LHASA APSOS when I finally twigged. Why aren’t more than one Ibex referred to as Ibeces? Probably a logical answer but the fancy took me while entering it!
Thanks Lark and Litty
A bit of a different solve to Kitty’s. IBEXES & INTOLERABLE took hardly any time at all but I ended up using a word fit to get PITIED which I nominate as my favourite.
Thanks Lark and Kitty, there is theme which will please film buffs.
Coen bros, I think?
I liked ANSWER, SURGEON and PITIED, though, like Hovis, I needed a word search to find the last one. Can’t believe I missed the theme.
This puzzle wasn’t a Lark-in-the-park, for me, but I really enjoyed the challenge and the excellent wordplays/surfaces.
IBEXES at 12(ac) grated a bit, but absolutely valid.
I prefer DOOFS version @2, IBICES. If it’s good enough for INDEX…….
I was cock-sure that 16(ac) must start “PRO”, as in “for”, so that snookered me for a long time.
I didn’t parse BLOOD, 26(ac); thanks, Kitty.
I just went for “Blood (River)”, as the flower. Doh.
I also thought RAIMENT 21(d), was a single item of clothing. Wrong again.
Basically, the setter misled me all over the place, but it’s a cracker cryptic. Best in Show, 13(ac), MILLERS: lovely setting.
Big thumbs up, Lark & Kitty, ( a deadly pairing )
Thanks all, especially Mirrorboy @4 for bringing my attention to the theme. Nicely done. I might add a note to the blog, but not for a while as I’m out and about.
I seem to be coming across more foreign political type words in puzzles of late. Sami-dat being the latest. I didn’t get the z. Also missed the second of the types of mine.
Good spot of the theme Mirrorboy. I hadn’t seen it.
Thanks Lark and Kitty.
[Completely off topic and on the very outside chance that the Indy ed drops in to see what we’re saying – the Saturday Jumbo GK has been messed up for the second week in a row on the website. 572 and 573 when they should be 863 and 864.]
A good challenge. PITIED was last one in but there was never a time when I was confident I would finish, meaning that most of the time it felt a real tussle and accordingly was accompanied by a feeling of suspense as the end drew near, and satisfaction when it finally yielded.
Just what a puzzle is supposed to provide, in fact. I didn’t spot the theme though.
No problems here with the dogs or with PITIED but SAMIZDAT required some homework and the theme went over my head. Top clues for me were the neat way of clueing the old queen’s favourites, the dirty French clown and what we’ve all hoped for when the children finally went to sleep!
Thanks to Lark for the challenge and to Kitty for the review.
Five two-word Coen film titles, I think, out of 30 answers – that’s pretty impressive!
Thanks Lark for a great set of clues with my top picks being CAESAR, PERMANENCE, MARCEAU, INTOLERABLE, HAIL, and RAIMENT. I might have spotted the theme had I looked since I know the featured films. I needed the blog to parse IBEXES and GRIT. I was a bit surprised to see ‘clothing’ used twice for containment though I don’t think there’s a ‘rule’ against it. Thanks Kitty for the blog.
Herb @12 – I make it six!
Ahem – the definition for 13a is ‘people on the daily grind’ not ‘those at the coalface’
We didn’t like SAMIZDAT but we will forgive Lark after a very impressive grid fill. We also make it six two-word film titles.
Blood Simple
Raising Arizona
Miller’s Crossing
Intolerable Cruelty
True Grit
Hail Caesar
Some interesting clues too.
Thanks to Kitty and Lark.
I enjoyed this one. Pitied stumped me, but when I finally got it I saw how clever the clue was.
Oops! Thanks yonoloco @15, now fixed.