Several helpful anagrams and hiddens to get us started on this one, and the rest went in pretty smoothly. Thanks to Anto.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | FORAGES | Hunts persistently? (7) FOR AGES |
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| 5 | WATCH IT | Be careful with cat that’s gone wild (5,2) (WITH CAT)* |
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| 9 | A AND E | Treatment centre hosted by Pamela Anderson (1,3,1) Hidden in pamelA ANDErson |
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| 10 | RETICENCE | Crete: nice, surprisingly – that’s not saying much (9) (CRETE NICE)* |
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| 11 | BLOOMSBURY | Literary set gets flowers put in the ground (10) BLOOMS (flowers) + BURY – a reference to the Bloomsbury Group |
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| 12 | BOLT | Wolf down sandwich with duck filling (4) O (zero, a duck) in BLT (a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich) |
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| 14 | STRATOSPHERE | Engineer restores path; it’s very high above us (12) (RESTORES PATH)* |
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| 18 | MARCEL PROUST | Time-poor French author misinterpreted as nostalgic? (6,6) Proust is known for his series of novels À la recherche du temps perdu, literally “in search of lost time”, so “time poor”, but sometimes translated as “Remembrance of Things Past”, so “nostalgic” |
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| 21 | NAVE | Where religious crowd congregate to see villain beheaded (4) A headless KNAVE |
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| 22 | BALDERDASH | It’s more obvious having race later is nonsense (10) BALDER (more obvious) + DASH (race) |
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| 25 | BOOMERANG | Carnage regularly follows elderly American – and it returns repeatedly (9) BOOMER (person born in the “baby boom” between 1946 and 1964) + alternate letters of cArNaG. I don’t think boomer is just a US term, and some might question the “elderly” part for the younger end of the cohort |
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| 26 | PINTO | Keep in touch, having stabled horse (5) Hidden in keeP IN TOuch |
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| 27 | ESSENCE | Pure quality of German city church (7) ESSEN (German city) + CE (Church of England) |
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| 28 | STEPHEN | Name of female acquired on re-marriage? (7) Such a female might be a STEP-HEN; |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | FLABBY | Inject vitamins into skin that’s loose (6) B B (vitamins) in FLAY (to skin) |
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| 2 | RANDOM | Published party minute – that’s irregular (6) RAN (published, e.g. as a newspaper story) + DO (party) + M |
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| 3 | GREY MATTER | Dull count showing some capacity for thinking (4,6) GREY + MATTER (to count) |
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| 4 | SCRUB | Stand-in accepts credit for clean-up (5) CR in SUB[stitute] |
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| 5 | WATER POLO | Game played mostly by those out of their depth (5,4) Cryptic definition |
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| 6 | TACO | Starts to trudge around coffee outlet providing food (4) First letters of Trudge Around Coffee Outlet |
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| 7 | HANGOVER | Afghan governor hides suffering in the morning? (8) Hidden in afgHAN GOVERnor |
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| 8 | TWENTIES | Scores left during games (8) WENT (left) in TIES (games) |
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| 13 | APOSTROPHE | Bananas perhaps too often what’s misplaced by grocers? (10) (PERHAPS TOO)*, the definition referring to the Grocers’ (or more often Greengrocers’) Apostrophe |
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| 15 | ALPHA MALE | Top guy provides upset pal with meat and drink (5,4) |
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| 16 | AMENABLE | Final word, effective and quite open (8) AMEN (final word of a prayer) + ABLE (effective) |
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| 17 | PREVIOUS | Vicar delving into religious sins of the past (8) REV (vicar) in PIOUS |
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| 19 | LAUNCH | Open fire! (6) Double definition, though the two are closely related |
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| 20 | SHOO-IN | Violent gangster endlessly engages in evil? It’s almost guaranteed (4-2) HOO[d] in SIN |
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| 23 | DEGAS | Dead, for example, like this old artist (5) D[ead] + E.G. + AS (like) |
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| 24 | SEWN | Stitched up in every direction (4) The word SEWN contains the four cardinal points of the compass |
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Yes, I have to admit this was almost a SHOO-IN, apart from the fact that with an A and an P in place for the drink that I thought was needed for the definition of 15d, I had pencilled in Apple for the first part. Which held me up at the end, with last two in LAUNCH and STEPHEN, one that I couldn’t parse. But some very pleasing, smooth clues along the way…
I seem to remember the last offering from Anto was difficult, but this flowed in without a problem.
Thanks Andrew and Anto
We have plenty of boomers in Australia too. I’m one. I learnt about Proust and Bloomsbury. I liked STEPHEN.
LOI was LAUNCH, which wasn’t very satisfying. Otherwise all fairly straightforward, more like a Vulcan Monday.
I found this easy apart from the SE corner. I didn’t like STEPHEN and the very weak LAUNCH. These two were the loi.
Otherwise good fun. Liked FORAGES, FLABBY, GREY MATTER with its Jeeves reference, and ALPHA MALE.
Thanks Anto and Andrew.
Andrew – ALPHA MALE is (PAL)* + HAM + ALE
I think 15 should be anagram of PAL then HAM (= meat) and ALE.
Nice straightforward puzzle with some clever clues e.g. APOSTROPHE,
LAUNCH was last, though very simple in the end.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I failed to solve 26a having written SHOE-IN for 20d. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it written down before and in my head it’s always been spelt my way.
Never having written it, always assumed the phrase was shoe-in, so that held things up for a while.
I like the two neat hidden words in PINTO & HANGOVER.
Relatively gentle offering but enjoyable nonetheless.
Many thanks, both.
SEWN was in a similar clue and position to the other day. It turns out RETICENCE and eccentric aren’t quite anagrams. STEPHEN was LOI, Proust was clearly the answer but needed a Google check. Good quick puzzle.
Thanks Anto and Andrew
Favourites: MARCEL PROUST, ALPHA MALE, FORAGES, 8d TWENTIES (loi).
New for me: the term greengrocers’ apostrophes; also the fact that I am part of the baby BOOMER generation – I thought they are/were older than me!
I enjoyed this but can’t see why PIOUS is ‘sins of the past’.
Step-hen – said no-one, ever!
I assume previous means past crimes as well as of the past. As in “he’s got previous for armed robbery “.
CG@23 “sins of the past” is PREVIOUS – a slang term for criminal convictions and also more generally used to refer to someone having a track record of something.
I thought this was a blast with some clues feeling almost Rufus-like e.g. FORAGES & PINTO
I think the word boomer originated in the USA?
Cheers A&
Chris Ferrary@13
STEPHEN
STEP-HEN is whimsical. Hence the ?
Crispy@6 and SZJoe@7 – yes, that is how I parsed 15. There is no T in the solution. Small error by our terrific blogger.
This was enjoyable and luckily not too difficult; my last one in was BOLT. I didn’t know about the “lost in translation” re: PROUST, him being outside my sphere of interest. Regarding STEPHEN, I think “re” is essential as at least one of the parties would have been previously married to give rise to “STEP-“.
In defense of LAUNCH, I think the wordplay is genuine as one could say e.g. “launch an investigation” vs. “launch a missile”. Not great I guess but quite ok. Not sure where “sins” in PREVIOUS fit in. Agree with SZJoe@15 re: ALPHA MALE.
Overall, I liked the witty clueing as well as the conciseness of the blog. Thanks Anto and Andrew!
Martin@ 10. I too missed the faulty anagram ECCENTRIC/RETICENCE. Bad booboo. Need test solvers. You could offer your services?
Surely PREVIOUS is simply defined by PAST, and religious sins give you the pious part.
I liked BOLT and FORAGES, but STEPHEN was a STEP to far!!
It seems I’ve accidentally typed a “spoiler” @10. Oh well, as with the other day’s situation, it wouldn’t be one for anyone who’s completed today’s puzzle.
Martin@21 Naughty, naughty, but was a write-in as a result!!!
STEP -HEN has to be that one of the couple re-married. Doesn’t matter which one. The question mark does it for me.
I liked it. A visual pun, equally as valid as an aural one.
Agree wiith Bodycheetah @15. PREVIOUS is a criminal record. Sins of the past.
Top fvaes: A AND E, MARCEL PROUST, STEPHEN, APOSTROPHE and PREVIOUS.
Thanks Anto and Andrew.
Agree with others on ‘sins of the past’. “He has previous” is a common (?) phrase. I also agree with Layman on LAUNCH. I think these are very different meanings.
22a Balder ? Bolder, surely.