The first two MyCrossword featured puzzles seem to have gone down pretty well here, so I’m happy to continue the sequence. The puzzle is at https://mycrossword.co.uk/featured/3.
Our setter has included several quirky definitions that raised a smile when I finally saw what was intended: favourites among these are 6a, 12a, 8d and 19d. I didn’t know the definition at 21d and I don’t think I’ve seen the word at 23a before, but both were guessable. An enjoyable puzzle: thanks Longyfan, and welcome to Fifteensquared.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PETIT FOUR |
Tame animal with fur on it gobbles up old biscuit (5,4)
|
| PET (tame animal), then FUR after IT, containing (gobbling up) O (abbreviation for old).
A French small fancy biscuit or miniature cake. |
||
| 6 | KEBAB |
Food spiked with honey sent back by king (5)
|
| BABE (honey = address to a beloved), reversed (sent back), after K (abbreviation for king).
Food cooked on a skewer (spike). |
||
| 9 | MISANTHROPE |
Hater’s smartphone smashed outside institute (11)
|
| Anagram (smashed) of SMARTPHONE, containing I (abbreviation for institute). | ||
| 10 | NUN |
From the pulpit, not a soul in prayer (3)
|
| Sound-alike (from the pulpit = spoken out loud) of NONE (not a soul = nobody).
Someone who prays. |
||
| 11 | ITEMISE |
Early signs of icy tempest enshrouding masts, inshore ships eerily list (7)
|
| First letters (early signs) of I[cy] T[empest] E[nshrouding] M[asts] I[nshore] S[hips] E[erily]. | ||
| 12 | CAPTCHA |
Chap cut down after captain’s body-check? (7)
|
| CHA[p] (cut down = all but the last letter) after CAPT (abbreviation for captain).
One of those annoying “prove you’re not a robot” tests on website forms: a check that you’re a real human (a body). |
||
| 13 | ORANG-UTAN |
My relative Oscar phoned and texted you time and again on vacation (5-4)
|
| O (Oscar in the radio alphabet) + RANG (phoned) + U (“you” in text messages = “texted you”) + T (abbreviation for time) + A[gai]N (on vacation = after emptying out the inner letters).
A great ape, biologically related to humans. |
||
| 16 | DELI |
Hunk from seaside likes being food vendor (4)
|
| Hidden answer (a hunk from . . .) in [seasi]DE LI[kes].
Short for delicatessen = specialist food shop. |
||
| 18 | SLAP |
Make-up kiss finally brought round partner (4)
|
| Last letter (finally) of [kis]S, then PAL (partner) reversed (brought round).
Slang for make-up, especially the type used for stage performance. |
||
| 20 | SELF-WORTH |
Pride in rebuilding Welsh fort (4-5)
|
| Anagram (rebuilding) of WELSH FORT. | ||
| 23 | ENWOUND |
Nurse injury that’s wrapped up (7)
|
| EN (abbreviation for Enrolled Nurse) + WOUND (injury).
Enwound = with something like a bandage winding around it. |
||
| 24 | CALYPSO |
Number from West Indies also welcomed by California greeting (7)
|
| PS (abbreviation for postscript = something added as an afterthought = also), contained in (welcomed by) CAL (abbreviation for California) + YO (an informal greeting).
Number = song; calypso = a style of song from the West Indies. |
||
| 26 | OWN |
When date doesn’t show, finish drinking in private (3)
|
| [d]OWN (as a verb = to drink all the remaining contents of a glass = to finish a drink), without D (abbreviation for date). | ||
| 27 | ADOLESCENTS |
American state benefit ultimately pays pennies for young people (11)
|
| A (abbreviation for American) + DOLE (a state benefit such as unemployment benefit) + last letter (ultimately) of [pay]S + CENTS (sometimes known as “pennies” in the US). | ||
| 28 | THEME |
The setter’s recurring idea (5)
|
| THE (from clue text) + ME (the setter of this puzzle). | ||
| 29 | EVENTUATE |
Emerge from flat in Milan you demolished (9)
|
| EVEN (flat = smooth and undisturbed) + TU (familiar form of “you” in Italian, so “in Milan you”) + ATE (demolished = ate up quickly). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PUMP IRON |
Smell briefly surrounds judge with bottom out in lift (4,4)
|
| PON[g] (slang for smell) without the last letter (briefly), around UMPIR[e] (judge) with the last letter (bottom, in a down clue) taken out.
Pump iron = to lift weights for exercise. |
||
| 2 | TASTE |
Strangeness pervading art gallery makes sense (5)
|
| S (abbreviation used by particle physicists for strangeness = a property of particles, especially quarks) inserted into TATE (a group of art galleries in the UK). | ||
| 3 | TINTING |
Can-can dancing in the end turning blue? (7)
|
| TIN TIN (can = metal container, twice) + end letter of [dancin]G.
Definition by example: tint, as a verb = to change the colour of something. |
||
| 4 | OCHRE |
Yellow marker used for arrows outlining recipe (5)
|
| OCHE (a marker line in the game of darts, known colloquially as “arrows”) around R (abbreviation for Latin recipe, take, in old-fashioned prescriptions).
A light brown-yellow colour, or the earth pigment it is derived from. |
||
| 5 | ROOT CANAL |
Funny cartoon with a line that may be of interest to a dentist (4,5)
|
| Anagram (funny) of CARTOON, then A (from clue text) + L (abbreviation for line).
Inner part of a tooth containing nerves and blood vessels. |
||
| 6 | KNEE-PAD |
After lifting exercises, sporting massage: precaution against injury (4-3)
|
| PE (abbreviation for physical exercises) reversed (after lifting = upwards in a down clue), contained in (sporting = wearing) KNEAD (massage). | ||
| 7 | BINOCULAR |
Play with a club (iron) using two balls? (9)
|
| Anagram (play with . . .) of A CLUB IRON.
Using both eyes at once = using two eyeballs. |
||
| 8 | BONSAI |
Lisbon’s airport boasts little foliage (6)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . boasts = features) in [lis]BONS AI[rport].
Japanese miniature trees. |
||
| 14 | ALLOWANCE |
Ration book cancelled, what’s left to eat running out (9)
|
| [b]ALANCE (what’s left after subtraction of an initial amount) without the B (abbreviation for book), containing (to eat . . .) LOW (running out, as in a low fuel warning). | ||
| 15 | TEST-DROVE |
Established duke, having broken valuable items, went on trial (4-5)
|
| EST (abbreviation for established, in specifying the date when an organisation was founded) + D (abbreviation for duke), inserted into (having broken) TROVE (a collection of valuable items).
Test-drive, as a verb = to take a vehicle on a journey to try it out = to go as a trial. |
||
| 17 | WHOOPSIE |
Weak husband loves pie, scoffing seconds, creating mess (8)
|
| W (abbreviation for weak, in particle physics) + H (abbreviation for husband) + O O (two 0 = zero = love in tennis scoring) + PIE, containing (scoffing) S (abbreviation for seconds).
Euphemistic name for “dog mess”, especially when it occurs indoors. |
||
| 19 | PLUMAGE |
Excellent Time cover seen on flier (7)
|
| PLUM (slang for excellent, as in “a plum job” = a very desirable employment) + AGE (time).
The covering of feathers on a bird (a creature that flies). |
||
| 21 | WILDCAT |
Financially unsound leader in Washington D.C. captures forty-nine states in the centre (7)
|
| Leading letter of W[ashington] + D C, containing (capturing) IL (Roman numerals that could represent “one less than fifty”, though I think the number 49 is more usually written XLIX), then the centre letters of [st]AT[es].
A wildcat scheme or project = a risky one without a sound financial basis. I wasn’t familiar with this usage but Collins and Chambers recognise it. |
||
| 22 | REVOLT |
Following balls-up, left Tesla in disgust (6)
|
| L (abbreviation for left) + T (abbreviation for tesla = scientific unit of magnetic flux density), following OVER (a sequence of balls bowled in cricket) reversed (up, in a down clue).
Revolt, as a verb = disgust = to cause someone to feel disgusted. |
||
| 24 | CREPE |
Name in church paper? (5)
|
| REP (slang shortening of reputation = name = widespread recognition) in CE (abbreviation for Church of England).
Definition by example: paper with a crinkled texture, used in crafts. |
||
| 25 | PANDA |
Chinese vegetarian couple engaged in spat (5)
|
| Two (a couple of) letters from [s]PA[t] = P AND A.
Giant panda = a Chinese bear that eats a vegetarian diet of bamboo. |
Have left my thankyous to Longyfan over on mycrossword but just to add my thanks here too for the blog which was wonderfully clear and helped iron out a few queries on the parsing – in particular with 14d!
I found this pretty tricky and was pleased to finish it unaided. Lots of fun though, with many very clever constructions and amusing surfaces. DELI, OWN and REVOLT are on my podium. The hilarious PUMP IRON would have been up there but isn’t that an intransitive verb defined by a transitive verb? Thanks to Longyfan, and to Quirister for a splendid blog.
Coot @2: I think I’ve heard “to lift” used as a short form of “to lift weights”. But it’s not my speciality; I only lift weights as a means of getting something heavy from A to B.
Quirister @3: thanks, yes me too – mostly supermarket shopping from the car into the house!
Enjoyed that. A little tricky in the south half not helped by not realising the WILDCAT clue wasn’t fully displaying at the top.
Enjoyed PUMP IRON, TINTING, BONDAI and SLAP amongst others.
Thanks Longyfan and Quirister
Tricky but enjoyable. KNEE PAD, NUN, and PUMP IRON were my favourites. I failed to parse ALLOWANCE. Thanks, both.
Very nice! Top half went in a lot easier than the bottom half though. Some lovely clues including WHOOPSIE, BINOCULAR, TINTING, OCHRE and KEBAB. Thanks both
Smart fun with some sharp definitions – “food spiked”, “my relative”, etc. I especially liked SLAP, OWN, ADOLESCENTS and TINTING. Best thanks to Longyfan and Quirister.
Bit late to get around to this. Quite tough in places but no harm in being made to think a bit. As our blogger says, some quite creative definitions. Plenty to like.
Thanks both
Thanks all for solving and commenting. Thanks especially to Quirister for the blog!
I found this to be a very nice balance of tricky and creative – and I happen to love “The setter’s recurring idea (5)” and how “engaged” is used in 25d. Thanks Longyfan and Quirister for the puzzle and detailed blog.