Dogberry gets the Thursday FT gig this morning.
I started this one thinking it would be a quick solve as the short answers in the NW and SE corners slotted in quickly, but the longer answers held me up for a while, and I had to use online resources to get 4ac, which was a new word for me.
Thanks, Dogberry.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EMIGRE | Arab ruler receiving good vibe, ultimately, from expat (6) |
| EMIR (“Arab ruler”) “receiving” G(ood) + (vib)E, so EMI(G)R-E | ||
| 4 | TRIBADIC | Detailed deceit involving one naughty lesbian? (8) |
| TRIC(k) (“deceit”, detailed) “involving” 1 BAD (“one naughty”) | ||
| 9 | LONDON | Capital – that of Latvia – on river (6) |
| L(atvia) ON DON (“on river”) | ||
| 10 | ENTANGLE | Embroil 10, perhaps, with fish (8) |
| *(ten) + ANGLE (“fish”) | ||
| 12 | PAVE | Provide surface for quiet avenue (4) |
| P (piano, so “quiet”) + Ave. | ||
| 13 | BROOMSTICK | Badger adopting peculiarly moist means of aviation? (10) |
| BROCK (“badger”) “adopting” *(moist)
Witches tradionally use broomsticks as a means of aviation. |
||
| 15 | INTIMIDATION | Bullying elicits hint about papers (12) |
| INTIMATION (“hint”) “about” ID (“papers”) | ||
| 18 | SUDORIFEROUS | Realigning our four sides, inducing perspiration (12) |
| *(our four sides) | ||
| 21 | UNEXAMPLED | Kiss buxom, dissolute nude outside – that’s a first! (10) |
| X (“kiss”) + AMPLE (“buxom”) with *(nude) “outside”, so UNE(X-AMPLE)D | ||
| 22 | FAIR | Just the place for fun (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | OPTIONAL | Gem carrying weight carrying current, if you will (8) |
| OPAL (“gem”) “carrying” TON (“weight”) “carrying” I (the symbol for electrical “current”), so OP(T(I)ON)AL | ||
| 25 | AT EASE | Relaxed with a flirt (2,4) |
| A TEASE (“flirt”) | ||
| 26 | FEDAYEEN | Journalist’s assent to enter bog with commandos (8) |
| ED (editor, so “journalist”) + AYE (“assent”) “to enter” FEN (“bog”), so F(ED-AYE)EN
Fedayeen are Arab guerilla fighters. |
||
| 27 | CASKET | Investigator, on reflection, about to make enquiries into coffin (6) |
| <=TEC (“investigator”) “about” ASK (“make enquiries”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ELLIPSIS | Priest’s devouring kissers . . . (8) |
| ELI’S (“prienst’s”) “devouring” LIPS (“kissers”) | ||
| 2 | INNOVATE | Ring the changes – make pub egg-shaped (8) |
| INN (“pub”) + OVATE (“egg-shaped”) | ||
| 3 | RIOT | Withdrawal of tea from racing vehicle results in disorder (4) |
| (cha)RIOT (“racing vehicle” with cha (“tea”) removed) | ||
| 5 | RANK OUTSIDER | Smelly foreigner, not a good bet (4,8) |
| RANK (“smelly”) + OUTSIDER (“foreigner”) | ||
| 6 | BRAM STOKER | Writer, pothead, pursuing second-rate sheep (4,6) |
| TOKER (“pothead”), “pursuing” B (“second rate”) + RAMS (“sheep”) | ||
| 7 | DOGGIE | Magistrate impounding soldier’s child’s pet (6) |
| DOGE (“magistrate”) “impounding” G.I. (American “soldier”) | ||
| 8 | CREAKY | Shout about JP losing head and showing signs of age (6) |
| CRY (“sjout”) “about” (b)EAK (“JP” = Justice of the Peace”) | ||
| 11 | PRIDE OF PLACE | Distinction of lions’ home, conversely? (5,2,5) |
| The converse of PLACE OF PRIDE (“lions’ home”) | ||
| 14 | AMBULATORY | Itinerant loving to swallow lot of nonsense (10) |
| AMATORY (“loving”) “to swallow” BUL(l) (“nonsense”) | ||
| 16 | TOMAHAWK | Cruise, perhaps, a belligerent sort of weapon (8) |
| TOM (“Cruise, perhaps”) + A HAWK (“belligerent sort”) | ||
| 17 | ESURIENT | 14 retinues getting hungry (8) |
| *(retinues) | ||
| 19 | PUT OFF | Advertisement going about to dissuade (3,3) |
| PUFF (“advetisement”) “going about” TO | ||
| 20 | HEPTAD | Principal holding gym class in the Plough, say? (6) |
| HEAD (“principal”) “holding” P.T. (physical training, so “gym class”)
A heptad is a group of seven, and the Plough is a constellation with seven very bright stars, so is an example of a heptad. |
||
| 23 | STOA | Is a Trojan regularly producing columns? (4) |
| Regular letters from “iS a TrOjAn” | ||
*anagram
Thanks loonapick
Regarding 6dn, I couldn’t find confirmation of pothead=stoker in any of the usual references so I parsed it as B (second-rate) RAMS (sheep) TOKER (pothead)
There’s a typo in your answer for 26a – YES should be AYE. Solved it fairly quickly. Fortunately most of the obscure words were known to me, mostly from crosswords but tribade crops up occasionally on Countdown so TRIBADIC was straightforward for me. I missed FEDAYEEN. I read ‘assent’ as ‘ascent’ which didn’t help, must go to Specsavers. I liked HEPTAD when the penny dropped. Also didn’t bother checking what JP stood for but answer was clear.
Thanks, both – I’ll edit.
I really liked this with about three new words for me. I loved TRIBADIC which I got from the clue then googled for the juicy details!
Thanks Dogberry and loonapick
Seems a long time since the last puzzle by this setter and it was a beauty. Had the same experience of filling in the NW and SE corners quite quickly and then having to dig deeper to start making the rest of it work.
Had realised the TOKER part of 6d, but was stuck with a wayward S until reading gaufrid@1. A number of new words, including SUDORIFEROUS, UNEXAMPLED and my last one in TRIBADIC. Had seen FEDAYEEN before from all of the strife that goes on in the Middle East.
Lots of interesting constructions along with the unusual words kept the enjoyment up until the end.