Another superb Friday treat, this time from Alberich, thanks to whom for presenting a challenge that was equal parts fun as it was clever.
FF: 10 DD: 9
| Across | ||
| 1 | WHATSOEVER | Maybe bowler’s in distress, with over not starting at all (10) |
| [ HAT’S (bowler’s) in WOE (distress) ] oVER (not starting) | ||
| 6 | HAKE | Wave misses small swimmer (4) |
| sHAKE (wave, without S – small) | ||
| 10 | CAMEO | Short literary piece is a gem (5) |
| double def | ||
| 11 | REVERENCE | Respect, veneration principally for fellow? (9) |
| semi &lit, double def; first time i am seeing a cue like this, brilliant ! REfERENCE (respect) with V (Veneration, first letter) replacing F (fellow) | ||
| 12 | IDOMENEO | One female embracing chaps with love for Mozart opera (8) |
| I (one) [ DOE (female) containg MEN (chaps) ] O (love) | ||
| 13 | CUSHY | Soft copper has a fling (5) |
| CU (copper) SHY (fling) | ||
| 15 | GALLOWS | Government permits on which one could get hung up? (7) |
| G (government) ALLOWS (permits) | ||
| 17 | STOMACH | Bear is shot, sadly, to get hold of coat (7) |
| SHOT* containing MAC (coat) | ||
| 19 | REORDER | Charlie ignored part-time judge’s request again (7) |
| REcORDER (part-time judge, without C – charlie) | ||
| 21 | PUSHKIN | Writer wants to encourage relations (7) |
| PUSH (encourage) KIN (relations) | ||
| 22 | SHAWL | Quiet one bores Afghan? (5) |
| SH (quiet) AWL (~one bores) | ||
| 24 | FLATTERY | Sugar in coffee? Cook assumes that (8) |
| FRY (cook) containing LATTE (coffee) – nice surface | ||
| 27 | IMPERFECT | Nursing cold, lost temper if tense (9) |
| C (cold) in [TEMPER IF]* | ||
| 28 | BUGGY | Faulty goods included in purchase (5) |
| GG (good= G, goods = GG) in BUY (purchase) | ||
| 29 | EVEN | Still calm (just) with scores level (4) |
| quad def | ||
| 30 | CHARLESTON | She does spill the beans about Society dance (10) |
| CHAR (she does) [ LET ON (spill the beans) around S (society) ] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WICK | Half of sheep will arrive at Scottish town (4) |
| herdWICK (sheep, half of) | ||
| 2 | ARMADILLO | Host cut short fuss about sick animal (9) |
| ARMy (host, cut short) [ ADO (fuss) around ILL (sick) ] | ||
| 3 | STORM | Criminal record, but no fine, after road rage (5) |
| ST (road) fORM (criminal record, without F – fine) | ||
| 4 | ERRANDS | Go wrong with special assignments (7) |
| ERR (go wrong) AND (with) S (special) | ||
| 5 | ENVIOUS | Green vines up the wall embodying Oxford University? (7) |
| VINES* containing [ O (oxford) U (university) ] | ||
| 7 | AGNES | Silver coin flipped for her (5) |
| AG (silver) [NES (coin = SEN, reversed) ] | ||
| 8 | EVERYTHING | Extremely lean cuts for one and all (10) |
| [VERY (extremely) THIN (lean)] in EG (~for one) | ||
| 9 | PRECIOUS | Cherished religious gathering on 4th of March (8) |
| PIOUS (religious) containing [RE (on) C (4th letter of marCh)] | ||
| 14 | AGGRESSIVE | Rock gig’s as ever in-your-face (10) |
| GIG’S AS EVER* | ||
| 16 | OLD GLORY | Look up lines supporting new gold standard in America (3,5) |
| [ OL ( look = LO, reversed) RY (lines)] containing GOLD* | ||
| 18 | ARKWRIGHT | An inventor such as Noah? (9) |
| cryptic clue; noah built the ark (the word ‘wright’ means builder). the clue refers to richard arkwright, who built the spinning frame. | ||
| 20 | REFRESH | Update whistleblower before she runs off (7) |
| REF (whistleblower) [ SHE R* (runs) ] | ||
| 21 | PLATTER | First of phones needing modern charger (7) |
| P (first of Phones) LATTER (modern) – didnt know this meaning of the word charger. | ||
| 23 | AMPLE | Liberal politician gets stuck into beer (5) |
| MP (politician) in ALE (beer) | ||
| 25 | TABLE | Put forward bill legislature voided (5) |
| TAB (bill) LE (LegistalturE, voided) | ||
| 26 | CYAN | Not all fancy a neutral colour (4) |
| hidden in “..fanCY A Neutral…” | ||
*anagram
I enjoyed this as a steady solve, with a few ‘aha!’moments.
To add to TL’s reference in 18d, Richard Arkwright is best-known for inventing the ‘water frame’, a type of spinning frame powered by water, which was a key invention in the early industrial revolution.
Thanks, Turbolegs, for a great blog of a great puzzle – a real treat.
Some lovely constructions here – I particularly liked CHARLESTON, PRECIOUS and EVERYTHING – and surfaces, especially IDOMENEO, REORDER and AMPLE.
Many thanks, Alberich – most enjoyable.
Thanks Turbolegs and Alberich for a great puzzle.
I echo Eileen’s comment. I came here seeing Alberich’s name after miserably failing on today’s Guardian. What a welcome relief. Precise cluing, aha moments and lots of great surfaces.
Thanks Alberich, Turbolegs
liked WHATSOEVER, HAKE, STOMACH, STORM, everything …
I got hung up on ANNA being the coin at 7d – sen is new
I am left puzzled by REVERENCE, however. I’d say respect is an OK definition for either reference or reverence. So while it’s clear where you need to get to, you might have started there in the first place, in which case the wordplay has no effect. If you do start with reference for respect, then it must be fully &lit. I suppose that works.
Thanks Alberich and Turbolegs
Started this one over lunch and only made mild progress – took the train ride home and a couple of shorter sittings to get it completely out. Found that there were a couple of terms that I was unfamiliar with – ‘do’ to mean cleaning a house, and ‘charger’ as a large flat dish. Having spent quite a bit of time in Malaysia, SEN was well known, even though it wouldn’t buy you much.
There was a lot of subtle nuances with the word play and the definitions which made me have to think and often think again. The parsing of WHATSOEVER, REVERENCE (which I didn’t fully get till coming here), CHARLESTON (not helped with my ignorance with the ‘do’ term) and PRECIOUS all caused me problems.
Finished with HAKE which took some time to get. Was a pretty challenging end to a good week of puzzles!
I’m pleased that this puzzle was so well received because I’m not ashamed to say that it was at the upper limit of my pay scale. Solving it from word play alone provided immense satisfaction. Thanks to setter, blogger and the FT.
I really enjoyed this. Challenging and educational at the same time. I did not finish it – but the handful I could not solve were due to my ignorance. Thanks for this great puzzle!