A really intriguing challenge from Alberich that had me in a bind on more than one occasion.. thanks Alberich !!
FF: 9 DD : 10
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUSTER | Hector hasn’t left address for American guy (6) |
| BlUSTER (hector, without L – left) | ||
| 4 | UP STICKS | Move to London maybe and stay with son (2,6) |
| UP ( to london maybe) STICK (stay) S (son) | ||
| 10 | CHARGER | Attack by River Plate (7) |
| CHARGE (attack) R (river) | ||
| 11 | SMITTEN | At first she’s clear I’m back in love (7) |
| S (She’s, first letter) [ reverse of NETT (clear) I’M ] | ||
| 12 | LEER | Heartless ogler could give one? (4) |
| &lit; LEchER (ogler, heartless) | ||
| 13 | INCOHERENT | Elected to learn about present tense, being inarticulate (10) |
| IN (elected) [ CON (learn) around HERE (present) ] T (tense) | ||
| 15 | STAPLE | Priest is entertained by old chief (6) |
| P (priest) in STALE (old) | ||
| 16 | WARRANT | Justify diatribe promoting hostilities? (7) |
| WAR (hostilities) RANT (diatribe) | ||
| 20 | AEROSOL | Loos are defaced, using this? (7) |
| LOOS ARE* | ||
| 21 | PEYOTE | Intoxicant from small island between Portugal and Spain (6) |
| EYOT (small island) in [P (portugal) E (espana, spain)] | ||
| 24 | DIE WALKURE | Stroll by river after long opera (3,7) |
| DIE (long) WALK (stroll) URE (river) | ||
| 26 | DOZE | Drop off speaker’s notes (4) |
| sounds like plural of DO (note) | ||
| 28 | ENGORGE | Overindulge in English Cheddar perhaps around noon (7) |
| [ E (english) GORGE (cheddar, a gorge in somerset) ] around N (noon) | ||
| 29 | MALAISE | Supply a smile, hiding one’s discomfort (7) |
| A SMILE* around A (one) | ||
| 30 | THE ASHES | England’s opener in mess in most of Test cricket series (3,5) |
| [E (England’s opener) in HASH (mess) ] in TESt (most of) | ||
| 31 | JAMMED | Otto’s sure motorway by sea is blocked (6) |
| JA (German for yes, otto’s sure) M (motorway) MED (sea) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BACKLASH | Want party to change leaders? That’ll create repercussion (8) |
| LACK (want) BASH (party) with the first letters exchanged – spooner wasnt in the house | ||
| 2 | SHAREWARE | Harridan pens one article about free programs (9) |
| [SHREW (harridan) around A (one)] A (article) RE (about) | ||
| 3 | EDGE | Landed gentry possess an advantage (4) |
| hidden in “landED GEntry…” | ||
| 5 | PASTORAL | Concerned with care of pupils in history test (8) |
| PAST (history) ORAL (test) | ||
| 6 | TOILETRIES | Goes after material for cosmetics? (10) |
| TRIES (goes) after TOILE (material) | ||
| 7 | CUTIE | Penny leaves game dish (5) |
| CUpTIE (game, without P for penny) | ||
| 8 | SANITY | Reason for one touring Turkey (6) |
| SAY (for one) around NIT (turkey) | ||
| 9 | BRAND | British currency required for stamp (5) |
| B (british) RAND (currency) | ||
| 14 | ALLOSAURUS | Prehistoric creature university found in Urals also caused confusion (10) |
| U (university) in URALS ALSO* | ||
| 17 | NEOLOGISM | Register stops forged monies becoming coinage (9) |
| LOG (register) in MONIES* | ||
| 18 | LOOK HERE | Worksheet regularly used in learning produces angry response (4,4) |
| wOrKsHeEt (regularly) in LORE (learning) | ||
| 19 | REVEREND | Clergyman lost nerve when overdrawn, apparently (8) |
| NERVE* in RED (alluding to being overdrawn) | ||
| 22 | ADVENT | Commercial release for run-up to Christmas (6) |
| AD (commercial) VENT (release) | ||
| 23 | PRIMP | Pander to house manager finally and smarten up (5) |
| R (manageR, finally) in PIMP (pander) | ||
| 25 | EAGRE | Bore is enthusiastic on the air (5) |
| sounds like EAGER (enthusiastic) – didnt know this one | ||
| 27 | OLGA | Russian woman found in river, headless (4) |
| vOLGA (river, without first letter). I believe hELGA works the same way as well. | ||
*anagram
Tough workout but fun nevertheless. Liked AEROSOL anagram. Had to google to get die walkure, the 3 letter river at the end being the problem. This then led to PRIMP my LOI. Did anybody else put POUND for 9d, that slowed me down a little. Thanks to all.
Thanks, Turbolegs.
What a cracker of a puzzle! – I loved it from beginning to end.
So many excellent clues but I have to give a special mention to CUTIE, which made me laugh out loud when the penny dropped.
I hadn’t heard of PEYOTE but I’ve seen EYOT enough times [in crosswords] and the wordplay was very clear.
I’m looking forward to WALKs by the URE in three weeks’ time!
Many thanks to Alberich for a hugely enjoyable challenge.
9d. I went for CROWN. Didn’t help me at all.
Tough and excellent. I also liked CUTIE, the absence of Spooner, PASTORAL and failed at the last with STAPLE.
Thanks Alberich, Turbolegs
An enjoyable challenge which caused me a fair bit of head scratching! Misspelt the Wagnerian opera at first (even though I knew the river) so that held me up for a while. Too many nice clues to list individually.
Thank you Alberich & Turbolegs.
A shame that POUND fits for 9d.Didnt reckon much on LEER either- but I liked his Klingsor the other day.
Hovis@1 – I was stuck on POUND for the longest time ever as it seemed like such an obvious fit. With great reluctance, I had to reconsider that solve when the crossers didnt fit.
Regards,
TL
Thanks Alberich and Turbolegs
Didn’t get a chance to do this one until today … and also found it tough. Ended up with an error with my DAMMED at 31a and didn’t properly parse SANITY … having the one (I) and T Y (touring TurkeY) and forgot to go back with my search for SAN to somehow equal ‘for’.
Was happy to see that it was LEchER instead of LEerER that I had worked out at 12a. Didn’t know PEYOTE, the German name for ‘The Valkeries’ and the educational meaning of PASTORAL.
I liked the avoidance of Spooner with 1d and, in fact, most of the other tricks that were used throughout.