That rare thing, a perfectly formed crossword from Armonie today.
A smooth solve with not a foot put wrong and a couple of nice moments. I’m still not quite sure what makes a crossword straightforward as opposed to boring, but I enjoyed this in a quiet way. My only complaint is that there’s nothing to complain about.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ACCUSTOMED | Familiar cat sheltered by defendant (10) |
| TOM (cat) in ACCUSED. | ||
| 7 | SUMO | Total love for sport (4) |
| SUM (‘total’) + 0 (‘zero, ‘love’). | ||
| 9 | NOAH | Drama about a biblical character (4) |
| NOH (Japanese ‘drama’) surounds ‘A’. | ||
| 10 | AND SO FORTH | Hot-rod fan’s broken, etc (3,2,5) |
| Anagram of HOT ROD FANS. | ||
| 11 | STORED | Son gets rent daughter put aside (6) |
| S (‘son’) + TORE (‘rent’) + D for ‘daughter’. | ||
| 12 | LISTLESS | Bill’s not so much indifferent (8) |
| LIST (‘bill’) + LESS (‘not so much’). | ||
| 13 | WELL TO DO | Flush, gush and fuss (4-2-2) |
| WELL (‘gush’) + TO DO (‘fuss’). Stylish little clue. | ||
| 15 | GLEN | Student with information about valley (4) |
| L (learner, ‘student’) in GEN (‘information’). | ||
| 17 | STUN | Overcome by today’s leader in newspaper (4) |
| T (first letter of ‘today’) in SUN (‘newspaper’). | ||
| 19 | TRUSTING | Naive 27 cut short by cheat (8) |
| TRU (27 across, ‘TRUe’, shortened) + STING (‘cheat’) | ||
| 22 | OIL SHALE | Petroleum producer offers inducements well (3,5) |
| OILS (‘offers inducements’) + HALE (‘well’). | ||
| 23 | LEVITY | Putting Italian in charge is silliness (6) |
| IT (‘Italian’) in LEVY (‘charge’). | ||
| 25 | SPOILSPORT | Killjoy prizes wine (10) |
| SPOILS (‘prizes’) + PORT (‘wine’). | ||
| 26 | GEAR | Clothes found in storage area (4) |
| Inclusion in ‘storaGE ARea’. | ||
| 27 | TRUE | Time to regret being faithful (4) |
| T (‘time’) + RUE (‘to ‘regret’). | ||
| 28 | ENDANGERED | Over without annoyance being threatened (10) |
| ENDED (‘over’) outside or ‘without’ ANGER (‘annoyance’.) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | CHORTLE | Her colt needs breaking. That’s a laugh! (7) |
| Anagram of HER COLT. | ||
| 3 | USHER | Guide woman in old city (5) |
| SHE (woman) in UR, the biblical Chaldean city and hardy crossword perennial. | ||
| 4 | TRAPDOOR | A cross section climbed to means of escape (8) |
| ROOD (‘a cross’) + PART (‘section’) all reversed or ‘climbed’ in this down clue. | ||
| 5 | MIDDLE OF THE ROAD | Conventional place for a refuge (6-2-3-4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 6 | DROWSY | Half asleep, young blade gets up (6) |
| Y (‘young’) + SWORD (‘blade’), all reversed (‘up’). Neat. | ||
| 7 | SPOTLIGHT | Draw attention to blemish that’s indistinct (9) |
| SPOT (‘blemish’) + LIGHT (‘indistinct’, as in a light marking). Pleasing surface. | ||
| 8 | MATISSE | Painter is in steam explosion (7) |
| IS in anagram of STEAM. | ||
| 14 | LANDSLIDE | Penny lost balance in a way that’s overwhelming (9) |
| D (old ‘penny’) + SLID (‘lost balance’) in LANE (‘a way’). | ||
| 16 | BULLETIN | Missile covered in report (8) |
| BULLET (‘missile’) + IN. | ||
| 18 | TRIPPER | Performer taking top off for holidaymaker (7) |
| STRIPPER with her top (‘S’) removed. Ooh, matron. | ||
| 20 | NUTCASE | Madman gives teachers box of wine (7) |
| NUT (National Union of ‘Teachers’) + CASE (‘box of wine’). | ||
| 21 | HASSLE | Badger lashes out (6) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of LASHES. | ||
| 24 | VAGUE | Start of virulent fever is uncertain (5) |
| V (first letter of ‘Virulent’) + AGUE (‘fever’). | ||
*anagram
Nothing too devious or obscure here, but pleasant enough as the answers steadily went in. There were a few more challenging ones though including TRAPDOOR, LANDSLIDE and WELL-TO-DO.
A good pre-lunch aperitif.
Thanks to Armonie and Grant – I liked your Hattie Jacques / Kenneth Williams reminder.
Thanks Armonie and Grant
Away up the country with no internet for a couple of days, so it was pleasing to find the immediate bank up start with a pretty gentle puzzle !
When he’s on song, there is no better exponent of the elementary level cryptic crossword than this fellow. A mix of clever surfaces with crisp clear cryptic directions and definitions.