I thought many of the clues in this puzzle were particularly neatly constructed – elegant but not flashy. Thank you Alberich.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SPORTSWEAR | Left with son, breaking promise to find tracksuit? (10) |
| PORT (left) with S (son) inside (breaking) SWEAR (promise) – the question mark indicates the definition is an example of sportswear e.g. “tracksuit perhaps?” | ||
| 7 | IRIS | Detailed national flag (4) |
| IRISh (national, of Ireland) missing last letter (de-tailed) – a flower | ||
| 9 | INTO | Interested in joint ownership? Not entirely (4) |
| found inside (not entirely) joINT Ownership | ||
| 10 | INTIMIDATE | In private I finally milked cow (10) |
| I milkeD (last letter, finally) inside INTIMATE (private) – the clue is to be read “in … you will find… “ | ||
| 11 | CANARD | False rumour about duke spread around (6) |
| CA (circa, about) then D RAN (spread) reversed (around) | ||
| 12 | NESTLING | A young bird, linnet’s flying gets good (8) |
| anagram (flying) of LINNET’S with G (good) | ||
| 13 | CLUELESS | Set fewer crosswords? That’s stupid (8) |
| so write fewer clues… | ||
| 15 | NOSE | With one absent, sound hooter (4) |
| NOiSE (sound) missing (with…absent) I (one) | ||
| 17 | SCUT | Workers’ organisation’s turned tail (4) |
| TUC’S (workers’ organisation’s) reversed (turned) | ||
| 19 | EMINENCE | Height of barrier missing foot around pit (8) |
| fENCE (barrier) missing F (foot) contains (around) MINE (pit) | ||
| 22 | CLANGOUR | Dog carries along mobile making ringing sound (8) |
| CUR (dog) contains (carries) anagram (mobile) of ALONG | ||
| 23 | CRETAN | Oddly caring about Greek character – this one? (6) |
| CaRiNg (every other letter, oddly) contains (about) ETA (Greek character) – the definition is “another Greek character” | ||
| 25 | PALINDROME | For example if I had a hi-fi, I’d plan more dances (10) |
| anagram (dances) of I’D PLAN MORE – “if I had a hi-fi” is a palindrome. Very nice! | ||
| 26 | GALA | Delay set back a celebration (4) |
| LAG (delay) reversed (set back) then A | ||
| 27 | HERE | We’re told to try to get present (4) |
| sounds like (we are told) “hear” (to try in court) | ||
| 28 | ON THE FRITZ | Husband often is screwed by hotel – that’s out of order (2,3,5) |
| anagram (screwed) of H (husband) OFTEN then RITZ (hotel) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | PINBALL | Lead everybody outside during game (7) |
| PB (lead) ALL (everybody) contains (outside) IN (during) | ||
| 3 | RIOJA | Jana’s half-cut after port wine (5) |
| JAna (half cut) following RIO (Rio De Janeiro, a port) | ||
| 4 | SKIN-DEEP | Superficial and benign cuts bleed (4-4) |
| KIND (benign) inside (cuts) SEEP (bleed) | ||
| 5 | EAT ONES HEART OUT | English solicitor accepting pay cut is to suffer with longing (3,4,5,3) |
| E (English) TOUT (solicitor) contains ATONE (pay) SHEAR (cut) – a very natural combination of surface and wordplay | ||
| 6 | REMISS | Fail again, presumably, being negligent (6) |
| RE-MISS (fail again, presumably) | ||
| 7 | INDOLENCE | Daughter eclipses son in rudeness and laziness (9) |
| INsOLENCE (rudeness) with D (daughter) replacing (eclipsing) S (son) | ||
| 8 | INTENDS | Elected cardinal by extremely dubious means (7) |
| IN (elected) TEN (a number, a cardinal) with DubiouS (outer letters, extremely) | ||
| 14 | EXTENSIVE | Sporting event is to support former comprehensive (9) |
| anagram (sporting) of EVENT IS follows (supports, holds up in a down clue) EX (former) | ||
| 16 | DISCRETE | Individual is tactful on the phone (8) |
| sounds like (on the phone) “discreet” (tactful) | ||
| 18 | COLLAGE | Neck beer, having run off to make artwork (7) |
| COL (neck) LAGEr (beer) missing (having…off) R (run) | ||
| 20 | CHAPLET | Leaves poor service after quietly producing wreath (7) |
| CHA (leaves, tea) then LET (a poor service in tennis) following P (quietly) | ||
| 21 | HOODOO | Gangster rings? That’s bad luck (6) |
| HOOD (gangster) then O O (rings) | ||
| 24 | ELGAR | Article in Spanish newspaper about composer (5) |
| EL (the, article in Spanish) then RAG (newspaper) reversed (about) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
I thouhgt this to be a very fine puzzle and a great pleasure to solve. Many thanks, Alberich.
Thanks to Alberich and PeeDee. I agree – great fun. Last in were CANARD (I was not clear about ran = spread) and PINBALL (ditto for in = during), and initially I missed the S in SCUT. PALINDROME was a treat.
Two things here. The ‘person’ @3 is a spammer. A very, very obvious spammer. Deletion?
Secondly, can I just echo the praise for PALINDROME. Wonderful.
Thanks Alberich and PeeDee
Didn’t seem to have the same oomph as normal from this setter, but having said that , I found it an enjoyable one to solve all the same. A couple of standout clues – the Greek character(s) clue at 22a and PALINDROME at 25a.
Hadn’t heard of the term ON THE FRITZ before and thought that it was also quite good when it finally fell.
Finished in the SW corner with CLANGOUR, COLLAGE (struggled with COL for ‘neck’ initially) and EXTENSIVE (took a while to see the tricky anagram part) as the last few in.
Thanks for this – I am a novice. I dont understand 10A: “the clue is to be read “in … you will find… “…., what is the ‘cow’ relating
Thanks for any guidance
Hello Si, ‘cow’ is the definition, to cow someone is to intimidate them. The comment at the end was mean to explain how “in private I finally milked” means “I finally milked” goes inside “private”. I hope this helps!
Got it! I was being udder-ly slow! Thanks PeeDee and thanks for this blog in general 🙂
“On the Fritz”? Seriously? What a load of rubbish.
So is it now acceptable to clue any number at all as just ‘cardinal’? Oh FFS!
@8 FifteenSquared Site Policy paragraph 2: Any criticism of a puzzle or clue must be valid, constructive and presented in a polite manner. The reason for any dissatisfaction should be clearly indicated.