Thanks Vulcan for today's puzzle – my favourites were 10ac, 18ac, 28ac, and 2dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PURSUIT |
Almost perfect clothes for leisure activity (7)
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almost all letters from PUR-[e]="perfect" + SUIT="clothes" |
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| 5 | PLASTIC |
Still retaining ultimate method of payment (7)
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definition: plastic as in a credit card PIC=a picture, a still photo="Still", around/retaining LAST="ultimate" |
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| 9 | BIDET |
Old president finally gets changed, going to basin (5)
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Joe BIDE-[n] the former US president, with the final letter changing |
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| 10 | WHITE LIES |
Perhaps tactful remarks describing snow that has settled (5,4)
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snow is WHITE, and it LIES on the ground once settled |
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| 11 | LAY HANDS ON |
Bless attack (3,5,2)
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double definition: to give a blessing (in Christianity) through touch; or to harm through touch |
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| 12 | ULNA |
Paul Nash guarding part of his arm (4)
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definition: a bone in the forearm hidden in (guarded by): [Pa]-UL NA-[sh] |
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| 14 | GOBBLEDEGOOK |
Jargon from mouth was spouting: I approve (12)
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GOB="mouth" + BLED="was spouting" blood + EGO="I" + OK="approve" |
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| 18 | AERONAUTICAL |
Concerned with flying a Lear, caution must be exercised (12)
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anagram (exercised) of: (a Lear caution)* |
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| 21 | COPY |
Text for printer is not original (4)
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double definition: text to be set in type for printing; or a copy of an original |
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| 22 | STALINGRAD |
Daring last desperate stand here for Soviets (10)
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definition refers to the battle of Stalingrad in World War II – the definition is possibly the whole clue, or possibly "stand here for Soviets" i.e. a place where Soviets made a stand anagram/"desperate" of (Daring last)* |
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| 25 | DORMITORY |
Such a sleepy town? (9)
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not sure whether to call this a cryptic definition as a whole, or whether to separate it into parts: a dormitory is a name for a town where people live, but will typically go to work or to leisure elsewhere i.e. the town is "sleepy" in the sense that not much activity goes on there …and "sleepy" also hints towards the meanings of dormitory as a place to sleep |
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| 26 | E-TYPE |
Sports car of energy and character (1-4)
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definition refers to the Jaguar E-Type sports car [wiki] E (energy) + TYPE=nature, characteristics="character" |
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| 27 | GWYNETH |
Why gent fancied Welsh girl (7)
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anagram/fanciful version of/"fancied" of (Why gent)* |
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| 28 | RESERVE |
Substitute that offers protection for game (7)
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double definition: a reserve player or substitute e.g. in a sports team; or a reserve as in a habitat for game animals |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PEBBLE |
One on the beach said not to be alone (6)
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reference to idiomatic sayings like 'you're not the only pebble on the beach' to suggest that someone is not the only person of a type |
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| 2 | RED EYE |
Faulty effect of snapping night flight (3,3)
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double definition: 'red eye' can be an unwanted effect when taking photos/snaps of people; and a red-eye flight is one that departs at night and lands the next morning |
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| 3 | ULTRASOUND |
Diagnostic aid extremely reliable (10)
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ULTRA="extremely" + SOUND="reliable" |
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| 4 | TOWED |
Dragged – why to the church? (5)
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one might be dragged to the church to get married i.e. TO WED |
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| 5 | PRIMO LEVI |
Prudish Olive re-read author, a Holocaust survivor (5,4)
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definition: the author Primo Levi [wiki] PRIM="Prudish" + anagram/"re-read" of (Olive)* |
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| 6 | AMEN |
The last word in service (4)
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cryptic definition: the last word in [a religious] service the surface can mislead by suggesting instead 'a definitive example of good service' |
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| 7 | TRILLION |
Adding together twelve 0s and a 1 makes a huge number (8)
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a 1 with twelve 0s added, written as 1,000,000,000,000=a trillion |
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| 8 | COSSACKS |
Big bags carrying lettuce for tsar’s cavalry (8)
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SACKS="Big bags", underneath/carrying COS=a variety of "lettuce" |
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| 13 | REMAINDERS |
Jogs round area and sells leftovers (10)
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definition: to remainder can mean to sell excess inventory of e.g. books to remind is to jog the memory, so REMINDERS="Jogs", around A (area) |
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| 15 | BLUETOOTH |
Method of communication depressed canine (9)
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BLUE="depressed" + TOOTH e.g. a canine tooth |
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| 16 | WATCHDOG |
One clamped on wrist perhaps to keep close behind guard (8)
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WATCH=a wristwatch, something clamped/worn on the wrist; plus DOG=to follow, to pursue="to keep close behind" |
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| 17 | PROPERTY |
Distinctive feature of a piece of land one has (8)
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double definition |
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| 19 | PRAYER |
Petition Lord’s, for example (6)
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for example, the Lord's Prayer in Christianity |
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| 20 | ADHERE |
Stick notice in this place (6)
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AD=advertisement="notice" + HERE="in this place" |
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| 23 | LAYER |
Sportsman removing top in bed (5)
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[p]-LAYER="Sportsman", removing the top letter |
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| 24 | FILE |
Dossier of wasted life (4)
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anagram/"wasted" of (life)* |
Thanks Vulcan and manehi
I’ve never heard the expression in 1d, so that parsing was baffling to me.
Quite a tough Vulcan I thought with some great surfaces. My favourites were GOBBLEDEGOOK, AERONAUTICAL and STALINGRAD. I didn’t know that meaning of DORMITORY and having just read the excellent The Prosecutor by James Fairweather, PRIMO LEVI was a write in.
Ta Vulcan & manehi.
I liked the double and cryptic definitions. I had a slow start but in the end, all good.
Thanks both.
A curious mixture of the almost uncryptic – E-TYPE, AMEN, FILE, etc., and the downright tricky – PEBBLE (nho) PRIMO LEVI.
PURSUIT for leisure activity seemed a bit loose.
Enjoyable start to the week, however.
I’m not a big fan of cryptic definition only, idiom-based clues (hello 1d). They’re completely fair of course, but either you’ve heard the idiom, as I hadn’t, or there’s just no way in. Had I known the saying, I’m sure I’d feel like it was completely fair and gettable.
I felt like I was missing something with TRILLION, but I guess not? And I have encountered gobbledigook and gobbledygook before, but never gobbledegook, so no chance for REMAINDERS.
I failed to get ULTRASOUND, but a very fun clue!
Thanks Vulcan and manehi.
Started very slowly, then it went well until WATCHDOG and DORMITORY held me up in the end – needed quite a while to get my head around those (didn’t know this meaning of the latter, either). A very enjoyable wordplay, as always with Vulcan. Favourites STALINGRAD, WHITE LIES, ULTRASOUND, GOBBLEDEGOOK (haven’t seen this spelling but it’s the only one that fits the clue). Thanks a lot Vulcan and manehi!
That was fun. 16D was my LOI, I have no idea why, it was a very fair clue.
Fantastic to see the great Primo Levi in a crossword, I’m unpacking at the moment after a house move and I put his Periodic Table on the shelves earlier today, that will be my afternoon reading.
Thanks Vulcan and manehi.
This was an enjoyable unfolding and it’s always great when I don’t have to “look anything up” (except for Chambers’ spelling of 14a GOBBLEDEGOOK). I liked 13d REMAINDERS. Needed help to parse 5a PLASTIC and 4d TOWED which I got from definitions only and now seem so obvious.
I think watchdog has more layers – a watchdog might be clamped to one’s wrist (serving its purpose) and the to keep close (dog) follows the guard (watch)!
Beaten by PURSUIT but everything else went in OK after a slowish start. I found TRILLION and PRAYER but didn’t understand the cryptic parsing of them. Seems I was looking for something a lot cleverer. Nice Monday-ish crossword.
As William@4 notes, several of these clues seem barely cryptic, but they are balanced by some much more elaborately crafted ones. The STALINGRAD and GWYNETH clues neatly combine a smooth surface with the anagrind, anagrist and definition; the double defs are just tricky enough to be satisfying (PRAYER, LAY HANDS ON, RED EYE); and DORMITORY is, I think, a sharp (definitely not sleepy!) cryptic def.
A very enjoyable start to the week’s crosswording. Thanks Vulcan and manehi.
I was also unsure about the spelling of GOBBLEDEGOOK, so looked it up in Chambers. Both a middle ‘e’ and ‘y’ are acceptable versions, so that didn’t help. Eventually I worked out the right one from the remainder of the wordplay.
I found this harder than usual for Vulcan. The PEBBLE expression was unknown to me, and REM(A)INDERS meaning ‘jogs’ only works if ‘jog’ is a noun in the sense of the clue. I suppose it might be but it’s a stretch.
Enjoyable. I couldn’t work out the parsing of PEBBLE, having never heard the phrase. (We don’t have many pebble beaches, so don’t often talk about them!) I couldn’t work out where sells came from in 13d, as I’d not known REMAINDERS as a verb. Never heard of PRIMO LEVI.
My immediate thought with 16d with none of the grid yet filled in was to put Handcuff in there, but of course that was in no way a cryptic fit. (Have probably been watching too many crime dramas on the TV recently). Thought STALINGRAD an excellent clue. Also liked LAY HANDS ON. Many thanks Vulcan and Manehi today…
Calabar Bean@5 & Layman@6. I originally thought the GOBBLEDIGOOK spelling must be the answer as it parses beautifully: “I approve” = ” I go OK” but as my (severely battered) Chambers only gives the versions with Y and E I had to think again (J’avais perdu mon latin…).
Ah, fond recollections of my Auntie S-, now long gone, consoling me after a break-up: “Well, there’s plenty more pebbles on the beach, you know”. So, for me, PEBBLE was a barely-cryptic-definition write-in.
REMAINDERS was my LOI, and I couldn’t quite fit the “sells” into the parsing, so thanks to manehi for a reminder about remaindering; I should have remembered Clive James:
“The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am pleased.
In vast quantities it has been remaindered.
Like a van-load of counterfeit that has been seized
And sits in piles in a police warehouse,
My enemy’s much-praised effort sits in piles
In the kind of bookshop where remaindering occurs…”
Thanks V&m.
poc @13: I felt the same re jog. For me, the noun would be “a memory jogger“
All smooth enough. I also didn’t know about the pebbles and had the same “I go OK” thought as Blaise @16.
LAY HANDS ON didn’t occur to me for a while, and makes me shudder, yuck.
Thanks all.
I didn’t start very well in the NW corner, overthinking that clothes was a containment indicator. I couldn’t properly parse a few, like DORMITORY, PEBBLE and REMAINDERS. I liked the snow in WHITE LIES, the good anagram for AERONAUTICAL, and the dragged to the church for TOWED.
Thanks Vulcan and manehi.