A breezy Friday challenge from Jason . Thanks to the setter for a nice workout.
Also, apologies for the lateness. Friday 13th gremlins by the looks of it.
FF: 9 DD: 6
I was held up by the NE corner for the longest before it fell in place quite quickly.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | IMPOSE |
Levy that is about politicians accepting nothing (6)
|
| [ IE ( that is ) around { MPS ( politicians ) containing O ( nothing ) } ] | ||
| 4 | EJECTION |
Veto leader going in exile (8)
|
| rEJECTION ( veto, without starting letter ) | ||
| 9 | FIRED |
Flinstone, say, taking one in got the boot (5)
|
| I ( one ) in FRED ( flintstone, say ) | ||
| 10 | FESTIVALS |
Parties in fine estate, comebacks need no small revision (9)
|
| F ( fine ) EST ( estate ) revIVALS ( comebacks, without REV – small revision ) | ||
| 11 | SPARTAN |
Simple bridge concealing technique (7)
|
| SPAN ( bridge ) containing ART ( technique ) | ||
| 12 | TOPICAL |
Local and excessively hot pepper finally removed (7)
|
| TrOPICAL ( excessively hot, without R – peppeR, last letter ) | ||
| 13 | OPEN |
Old dock is available (4)
|
| O ( old ) PEN ( dock ) | ||
| 14 | INTEREST |
Fashionable setter changing to stir up curiosity (8)
|
| IN ( fashionable ) [ SETTER ]* | ||
| 17 | TERRIFIC |
New artificer rejecting lead is very good (8)
|
| [ aRTIFICER ( without first letter ) ]* | ||
| 19 | ARIA |
Solo septuagenarian stops (4)
|
| hidden in “..septuagenARIAn..” | ||
| 22 | INSTALL |
Set up one new bench (7)
|
| I ( one ) N ( new ) STALL ( bench ) | ||
| 24 | KILLING |
Extremely funny one will get into monarch (7)
|
| I’LL ( one will ) in KING ( monarch ) | ||
| 25 | STATEMENT |
Formal account from blokes in Whitehall ahead of time (9)
|
| STATEMEN ( blokes from whitehall ) T ( time ) | ||
| 26 | GRASS |
Nark is gross fool (5)
|
| GR ( gross ) ASS ( fool ) | ||
| 27 | EXPOSURE |
Public showing certain openness to danger (8)
|
| EXPO ( public showing ) SURE ( certain ) | ||
| 28 | ANNEXE |
Girl ringing former mate’s extension (6)
|
| ANN ( girl ) EXE ( sounds like EX, former mate ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | INFUSION |
Tea, perhaps, by way of blend of east and west? (8)
|
| IN FUSION ( by way of blend of east and west ) | ||
| 2 | PERMANENT |
Remaining forever cheeky about chaps holding article (9)
|
| [ PERT ( cheeky ) containing { MEN ( chaps ) around AN ( article ) } ] | ||
| 3 | SEDATE |
Miliband, say, filling glut in a slow but boring way (6)
|
| ED ( miliband, say ) in SATE ( glut ) | ||
| 5 | JUST THE TICKET |
Precisely what you need to travel without luggage? (4,3,6)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 6 | CHIPPIE |
Takeaway is cold joint that’s baked in pastry (7)
|
| C ( cold ) HIP ( joint ) PIE ( pastry ) | ||
| 7 | ISAAC |
Newton, say, is a genius for the most part (5)
|
| IS A ACe ( genius, mostly ) | ||
| 8 | NESTLE |
Curl up with a source of chocolate (6)
|
| double def ( if you consider the company name as a def else its fine to regard this as a cryptic clue ) | ||
| 10 | FINANCIAL YEAR |
Busting any African lie, this has a reckoning for you (9,4)
|
| [ ANY AFRICAN LIE ]* | ||
| 15 | TERMINATE |
Met aren’t in action about one wind up (9)
|
| [ MET ARENT ]* around I ( one ) | ||
| 16 | LARGESSE |
What starts Sunday? Literally a generosity of manner (8)
|
| LARGE S ( what Sunday starts with ) SE ( literally? like in ‘per se’ perhaps ) | ||
| 18 | READERS |
Dons are reds, being motivated (7)
|
| [ ARE REDS ]* | ||
| 20 | TISSUE |
Paper’s beginning from this controversy (6)
|
| T ( This, first letter ) ISSUE ( controversy ) | ||
| 21 | FLAGON |
Tart getting life inside jug (6)
|
| LAG ( life ) in FON ( tart ) | ||
| 23 | SHARP |
Stylish son on bluesy instrument (5)
|
| S ( son ) HARP ( bluesy instrument ) |
I think FLAGON is GO inside FLAN.
A most enjoyable puzzle.
I parsed 21d as ON( getting life) in FLAN( tart) but could not fit in the G? What is a FON?
What a great clue 5d. One of the best.
Thanks for the blog Turbolegs and Jason for the fun.
Thanks Jason and Turbolegs
28ac: I took this as ANNE containing EX, with “ringing” as the containment indicator.
16dn: I took “Literally” as intended to be a soundalike for LARGE S, but am very ready to be convinced by an alternative here.
21dn: I had GO in FLAN as Petert@1.
There were quite a few elegant surfaces, but there were also a lot of nonsensical ones which reduced my enjoyment. I did not fully parse FESTIVALS and I also did not understand how “literally ” is needed in LARGESSE. PB@3 has presented a theory, but I still think the word is superfluous. I do not see how a harp is bluesy in 23.
I liked the surface of FLAGON, JUST THE TICKET,, INSTALL, and TOPICAL.
Thanks Jason and turbolegs
We weren’t sure at first about EJECTION meaning exile but comparing the two in Chambers we think that’s fair enough. We couldn’t parse FESTIVALS although it was clear enough once we saw it. As for FLAGON, we parsed it as Petert and PB – from the definitions in Chambers we can’t see any way LAG and FON can mean ‘life’ and ‘tart’, and FON is indicated as obsolete anyway.
Thanks, Jason and Turbolegs.
Martyn @ 4 It’s harp as in mouth harp, ie harmonica, which is often associated with blues music.
Like others, I’m struggling to understand some of this. “Literally” for a homophone? “Harp” as bluesy instrument? I’ve never seen the ‘word’ “statemen” before. Chambers only has “statesmen”. Is this an error? Let’s face it, nobody picked up the typo in 9a before printing so, all in all, a poor effort I felt.
Just seen your comment @6 Simon. Never called that a harp before but it does make sense.
25ac: I think STATEMEN (as part of the answer) is meant to be a two word phrase “state men” meaning men who work for the state, i.e. civil servants, Collins 2023 p 2266 has “Whitehall 2 the British Government or its central administration”.
23dn further to Simon@6: Collins 2023 p 896 has “harp 3 an informal name (esp in pop music) for harmonica“.
We read STATE MEN as two words also.
I too was baffled by the harp.
In 3 down “slow but boring way” is adverbial, whereas SEDATE is an adjective. Am I being too pedantic?
I can see how “literally” can direct us to the letter that starts Sunday, but that leaves us without a homophone indicator.