One of THOSE mornings…
…I started this puzzle before breakfast, was left with two unsolved clues when I left for work, and then got caught up in a load of stuff when I got here. Just remembered I hadn’t written the blog, so apologies for its lateness.
On the plus side, I found out where I had gone wrong with one of the unsolved blighters, having written in MAGE instead of SAGE, making SILENCE ungettable.
I have put in VIRTUE for the other unsolved clue, but am having trouble parsing it. I suspect I will have a facepalm moment when someone comes to my aid.
Apart from the troubles mentiones, this was a challenging but fair puzzle, which I started quickly especially after getting in the two related long phrases, but was held up by the issues mentioned above.
thank, Neo, and apologies again for the lateness of the blog.
| Across | ||
| 9 | SATELLITE | Smaller companion dined with two Liberals in place (9) |
| ATE (“dined”) “with” LL (“two Liberals”) “in” SITE (“place”), so S(ATE-LL)ITE | ||
| 10 | RHINO | Money one might charge incautious tourist? (5) |
| Double definition
Rhino is a British slang word for cash, and a rhino(ceros) may charge a tourist on safari. |
||
| 11 | BEASTIE | Worker touring wine town finds small animal (7) |
| BEE (“ant”) “touring” ASTI (“wine town”) | ||
| 12 | See 2 | |
| 13 | LEG | On stage (3) |
| Double definition – in cricket, the leg side of the wicket is also called the “on side”. | ||
| 14 | ENDORSEMENT | Support from Eden with monster taking new form (11) |
| *(eden monster) | ||
| 17 | FATWA | Female in conflict ignoring right judgment (5) |
| F(emale) + AT WA(r) (“in conflict”, wthout R(ight)) | ||
| 18 | PRO | Sportsman earning roubles invested with Italian banker (3) |
| R(oubles) “invested” in PO (a river in Italy, therefore “Italian banker”) | ||
| 19 | REMUS | Brother killed rook and flightless birds (5) |
| R(ooks) + EMUS (“flightless bird”)
In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus founded Rome, but Remus was murdered by his brother. |
||
| 21 | OPINIONATED | Pig-headed little man seen after work in Hebridean island (11) |
| TED (short for Edward, so “little man”) “after” OP (“work”) IN IONA (“Hebridean island”) | ||
| 23 | RAT | Blair Atholl plays host to traitor (3) |
| Hidden in “BlaiR ATholl” | ||
| 25 | DILEMMA | What might be ideal as housing for male couple causes problem (7) |
| *(ideal) “housing” MM (a couple of males) | ||
| 27 | SILENCE | Article from Rabelais put in after secrecy (7) |
| LE (French for “the”, so “article from Rabelais”) “put in” SINCE (“after”) | ||
| 28 | INNER | Wife abandoning film director becomes intimate (5) |
| (Michael) (W)INNER Michael Winner was an English director, most famous for the Death Wish franchise, and for being s food critic and star of TV ads. | ||
| 29 | LA GUARDIA | City defender’s last to leave the airport (2,7) |
| L.A. (“city”) + GUARDIA(n) (“defender”, with last letter “left”)
La Guardia is one of the three major airports serving New York City. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ISABEL | Girl is left outside Lincoln for example (6) |
| IS L(eft) “outside” ABE (Lincoln) | ||
| 2, 12, 4 | STRAIGHT DOWN THE LINE | How one should bat, wild shot threatening to be unleashed? (8,4,3,4) |
| *(wild shot threatening) | ||
| 3 | GLITTERATI | Celebs get trial arranged to cover the crucial point (10) |
| *(get trial) “to cover” IT (“the crucial point”) | ||
| 4 | See 2 | |
| 5 | TENDERFOOT | Sentimental Labour leader once an employee of mine (10) |
| TENDER (“sentimental”) + (Michael) FOOT
I didn’t know this, but according to online sources, a tenderfoot was a newcomer to mining and ranching in America. |
||
| 6 | CROW | Boast superiority in constant quarrel (4) |
| C(onstant) + ROW (“quarrel”) | ||
| 7 | VIRTUE | Moral quality bachelor renounced in sex with frenzied brute (6) |
| Can’t parse this one – I can see RTUE being an anagram of BRUTE with the B of “bachelor” renounced, but the VI has me beat. | ||
| 8, 24, 22 | HONEST AS THE DAY IS LONG | Totally truthful, they’d go for rewrite with Thessalonians (6,2,3,3,2,4) |
| *(they’d go thessalonians) | ||
| 15 | DEPENDABLE | Sure to corral fish with line dipped in river (10) |
| PEN (“to corral”) DAB (“fish”) “with” L(ine) “dipped in” DEE (“river”), so DE(PEN-DAB-L)E | ||
| 16 | EURODOLLAR | Currency held to assist trade, or our deal restructured to save pound (10) |
| *(as our deal) “to save” L (“pound”) | ||
| 17 | FLOODLIT | Well-illuminated student’s taken in sustenance and literature (8) |
| L(earner) (“student”) “in” FOOD (“sustenance”) + LIT(erature) | ||
| 20 | MARINADE | Ms Le Pen drenches a Democrat in spicy sauce (8) |
| MARINE (Le Pen) “drenches” A D(emocrat)
Marine Le Pen was recently defeated in the French elections. |
||
| 22 | See 8 | |
| 24 | See 8 | |
| 26 | MARY | His mum’s Conservative leader embracing Republican (4) |
| MAY (“Conservative leader”) “embracing” R(epublican)
I assume that the HIS MUM in the clue refers to Mary, Mother of God, but as an atheist, I can’t be sure. |
||
| 27 | SAGE | Wise man first to show the advancing years (4) |
| S(how) + AGE (“to show the advancing years”) | ||
*anagram
Nice puzzle from Neo on a non-Tuesday.
VI = sex, as in Roman numerals – an old crossword trick.
Very enjoyable, thank you Neo and Loonapick.
I particularly smiled at the ‘small animal’ in 11a
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Interesting puzzle and a bit harder than normal from this setter. I had trouble with the same two as the blog and were my last two in – but finally saw the Latin ‘sex’ = VI and saw through that Rabelais merely represented a Frenchman. On checking the answer, see that I made an error with MARY – had gone with MARC – MA (mother) – R – C(onservative leader) with ‘his’ as the loose definition as a boy.
Didn’t know BEASTIE or Michael WINNER and had to check on what Ms Le Pen’s first name was – not taking that close an interest in the recent French election.
I thought 26d might be MARC – R in MA (Mum) + C[onservative], referring to Margaret Thatcher’s son, so, with her famous admiration for Ronald Reagan, a sort of &lit, but he spells his name Mark.
(b)rute – batchelor renounced, sex = VI? Or is that too weird?
For VIRTUE, sorry
Sex is Latin for six, if I recall, hence the VI.
5D I think the ‘once’ has to apply to Foot, not the miner, to avoid any confusion about Labour leaders!
Three very good puzzles today, Neo, Serpent and Pasquale.
Nice challenge, though TENDERFOOT and RHINO had me stumped and I learnt something new about sex in crosswords. Thanks for clues and solution here.
Did this a day late when I saw it was Enigmatist in The Guardian. In stark contrast to EinG, this was very entertaining and fairly clued throughout.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick.