A gentle offering from Aardvark
This was one of those puzzles where I started slowly, but once I had a couple of solutions in, the rest slotted in pretty well.
I only have one query (see 16ac), and no real quibbles.
Thanks, Aardvark.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CANCAN | Repeatedly nick steps (6) |
| CAN (nick) “repeated” | ||
| 4 | ON A PLATE | Old pile passed on and acquired easily (2,1,5) |
| O(ld) + NAP (pile) + LATE (passed on) | ||
| 9 | APOLLO | Vehicle in space requiring one-off permit around Italian river (6) |
| ALLO(w)(permit with “one off”) “around” PO (Italian river) | ||
| 10 | STITCH UP | Con small person to get in drink (6,2) |
| TITCH (small person) “to get in” SUP (“drink”) | ||
| 12 | CHIPMUNK | Shaving, brother heard rodent (8) |
| CHIP (shaving, as in a wood shaving) + homophone of MONK (brother) | ||
| 13 | LEAN-TO | Musician’s slowly procuring a building alongside house? (4-2) |
| LENTO (slow in music) “procuring” A | ||
| 15 | RUHR | Some commuter hurried around industrial region (4) |
| Hidden backwards in “commuteR HURried”
The Ruhr is an area in Germany with a population of 8-9 million, which was built on heavy industry. |
||
| 16 | HOVERCRAFT | East Sussex resident maybe caught aquatic transport – and another type (10) |
| HOVER (resident of Hove, maybe?) + C(aught) + RAFT Not sure about Hover? Is someone from Hove called a Hover, or is the setter looking for the “resident” bit to be R? | ||
| 19 | SACRAMENTO | Perhaps wedding ring found somewhere in California (10) |
| SACRAMENT (perhaps wedding) + O (ring)
Sacramento is the capital of California. |
||
| 20 | ABLE | Competent learner sitting in Lincoln (4) |
| L(earner) “sitting in” ABE (Lincoln) | ||
| 23 | AERATE | Pump up a cycle – flat tyre, at rear (6) |
| A ERA (a cycle) + (fla)T (tyr)E | ||
| 25 | OF COURSE | Surely deviating from the correct route, one fellow’s lost (2,6) |
| OF(f) COURSE | ||
| 27 | LABRADOR | Hound extremist during work in US (8) |
| RAD (extremist) “during” LABOR (American spelling of “labour”) | ||
| 28 | SPLICE | Tie problem for the head after schoolkids protest in principle (6) |
| LICE (problem for the head) after S(choolkids) P(rotest) | ||
| 29 | WASTE BIN | Wild beast occupies land? Refuse to go here (5,3) |
| *(beast) in WIN (land, as in “land a contract”, eg) | ||
| 30 | ARDENT | Creative work to maintain animal home’s impassioned (6) |
| ART (creative work) “to maintain” DEN (animal’s home) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHAUCER | Old poet’s writing, say, after seeing two churches lined with gold (7) |
| R (one of the misleading three R’s – reading, writing and ‘rithmetic) “after” CH and CE (two churches) “lined with” AU (gold), so CH(AU)CE-R | ||
| 2 | NEOLITHIC | Period at sea once, with books welcome on board (9) |
| *(once) with LIT (books, as in “chick-lit”) + HI (welcome) “on board), so NEO(LIT-HI)C | ||
| 3 | APLOMB | After father picked up, see doctor’s self-confidence (6) |
| <=PA, + LO (see) + MB (Bachelor Medicine, so “doctor”) | ||
| 5 | NETT | Final Tyneside races (4) |
| N.E. (North East, so Tyneside, at least to English people, Tyneside is South East of where I live :)) + TT (races) | ||
| 6 | PATIENCE | In The Crown, it’s nice playing game on one’s own (8) |
| *(nice) in PATE (crown) | ||
| 7 | ASHEN | Very pale, like woman at pre- nuptial event (5) |
| AS HEN, as in “at a hen party” | ||
| 8 | EXPLOIT | Take advantage of policeman when losing daughter in “way out” (7) |
| PLO(d) (policeman without D for daughter) in EXIT (way out) | ||
| 11 | SNOOKER | Rising reserve wins corner in game (7) |
| <=Res. “wins” NOOK (corner) | ||
| 14 | BEAT OFF | Drive back and act like an aristocrat (4,3) |
| BE A TOFF | ||
| 17 | AUBERGINE | Vegetable outstanding soldier keeps in pannier regularly (9) |
| UBER G.I. (outstanding soldier) “in” (p)A(n)N(i)E(r) | ||
| 18 | CARTHAGE | Vehicle with A-reg vacated in the ancient city (8) |
| CAR (vehicle) + (A(re)G in THE) | ||
| 19 | SWALLOW | Bird rolls about in mud perhaps, tail first (7) |
| WALLOWS with the S (the last letter, so the “tail” put first) | ||
| 21 | EVEREST | The day before holiday peak (7) |
| EVE (the day before) + REST (holiday) | ||
| 22 | COPPER | Bobby, I’m surprised, embraces social science course (6) |
| COR (I’m surprised) “embraces” PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) | ||
| 24 | REBUS | Puzzle found on public transport (5) |
| RE (on) + BUS | ||
| 26 | YOGI | Anyone raging repeatedly inside needs this spiritualist? (4) |
| The insides of “anYOne raGIng” | ||
*anagram
Apart from enjoying the puzzle I thought this was like a list of phrases used in crosswords.Like UBER, PLOD,PATE,LIT etc etc.Could be used in a crossword tutorial.
Re 16 (HOVERCRAFT): no idea whether a Hove-dweller is a “Hover” but I bought it straight away & in it went. I think the ‘maybe’ takes care of it.
I found NEOLITHIC to be by far the hardest and therefore most enjoyable clue: a terse def, & LIT & HI both oblique as well, all in a sneaky anagram. Good sport.
Thanks to Hob & Loony.
Thanks Aardvark and loonapick
Did this in a cafe on publication day … and then lost the bloody thing on the way back home – eventually did it again on the weekend (and enjoyed it nearly as much again) !!
I went for the HOVER option at 16 without really checking to see if that was the correct vernacular for a resident there or not.
Finished up the second time in the SE with SPLICE and COPPER the last two in – not sure what was last in the cafe edition.