Italicus is a setter I haven’t seen before, but there were some excellent clues here. I had a few queries on one or two of them.
| Across | ||
| 1 | NOSEGAY | What Spooner’s horse does to bunch of flowers (7) |
| Spoonerism of goes neigh – definitely my clue of the day, if not the year. | ||
| 5 | SEDATE | Dignified bearing with romantic partner (6) |
| SE (=South East, a bearing) + date | ||
| 9 | ORBITAL | Going round in circles, taking part in test (7) |
| Bit in oral | ||
| 10 | CLAMOUR | Uproar about Dorothy, perhaps (7) |
| C + Lamour, as in Dorothy of that name, old Hollywood actress. | ||
| 11 | AGE | Reflecting, for example, on a period of history (3) |
| EG> on a | ||
| 12 | FASHIONABLE | Popular tale about Australian girl draws one in (11) |
| Seems to be fable around Shona around I, but I’m not clear why Shona is Australian. | ||
| 13 | INTER | Lay to rest trendy theory, regularly expounded (5) |
| In + odd letters of theory | ||
| 14 | DAINTIEST | Incomparably refined Scandinavian, say, set it in motion (9) |
| Hom of Dane + (set it)* | ||
| 16 | STATESIDE | Proclaim one’s allegiance to America (9) |
| DD, state side = proclaim allegiance | ||
| 18 | ANVIL | One takes a pounding in German village (5) |
| Hidden in in germAN VILlage | ||
| 21 | DESERT TRIBE | E.g. Bedouin bride dancing round street wantonly (6,5) |
| Bride* around street* | ||
| 24 | SUN | Loud-mouthed lad gets a shiner (3) |
| Seems to be a hom of son, but I’m not quite sure why it would be loud-mouthed rather than just mouthed. | ||
| 25 | CALYPSO | Nymph plays hard to get in company (7) |
| Plays* in co(mpany) | ||
| 26 | BEGUILE | Worker accepts most of blame for trick (7) |
| Bee around guil[t] | ||
| 28 | DEPEND | Rely on half of pool dropping a point (6) |
| Deep end dropping E(ast) (a point of the compass) | ||
| 29 | EPSTEIN | Musical impresario records One in Ten (7) |
| EPs + I in ten | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | NEO NAZI | Political extremist emerges from a zone in turmoil (3-4) |
| (A zone in)* | ||
| 2 | SUBVERT | Undermine replacement surgeon fixing radius (7) |
| Sub(stitute) + vet(=vetinary surgeon) around r(adius) | ||
| 3 | GUT | Yank gets upset stomach (3) |
| Tug< | ||
| 4 | YELPS | Secret agent, turned and broken by the Spanish, squeals (5) |
| Spy< around (broken by) el | ||
| 5 | SACRIFICE | Abandon cars precariously, if stuck on rocks (9) |
| Cars* + if + ice(rocks and ice are both terms for diamonds) | ||
| 6 | DRAIN | Pipe‘s diameter above showers (5) |
| D(iameter) + rain | ||
| 7 | TROUBLE | Joint currency problem (7) |
| I assume it’s T + rouble, as in a T joint pipe used in plumbing. | ||
| 8 | ARDENT | Burning paintings in study? Quite the opposite! (6) |
| Den in art | ||
| 12 | FORGE | Where you might find 18 is fake (5) |
| DD (anvils would be used in forges) | ||
| 14 | DRIFTWOOD | Stuff gathered on shore surprisingly did for two (9) |
| (Did for two)* | ||
| 15 | THANE | Write article about another feudal lord (5) |
| The around an(other), I suppose, although it’s not an abbreviation I’ve seen much. | ||
| 16 | SEDUCE | Declared purpose sounds corrupt (6) |
| Hom of “said use” | ||
| 17 | ABSOLVE | Exonerate a bishop taking crack (7) |
| A b(ishop) + solve (as in crack a case) | ||
| 19 | VESTIGE | Some Scouse git’s evidently up for a scrap (7) |
| Hidden, rev in scouSE GITS EVidently | ||
| 20 | LANTERN | Soldier enthralled by the French Navy’s old-fashioned signalling device (7) |
| Ant in Le + R(oyal) N(avy) | ||
| 22 | RUPEE | Regret about class or money (5) |
| Rue around PE (Physical Education) | ||
| 23 | IMBUE | Setter’s born with hollow urge to impregnate (5) |
| I’m + b(orn) + u[rg]e | ||
| 27 | GAS | Intake of breath: 75% nitrogen, say (3) |
| Gas[p] (three quarters of the letters) | ||
*anagram
I think the 12a wordplay is: FABLE (tale) about A (Australian) + SHONA (girl) draws one in (=containing I).
Pleasant solve and a bit harder than I remember Italicus’ debut about 6 weeks ago as having been. Don’t know that I’m too keen on the homophone in 16d though, which I couldn’t therefore parse. Do people really say SEDuce? Maybe my mangled vowels, but the first E for me is like a shortened SEE. (Sorry, I’m sure there’s a much better way of describing that).
I enjoyed the Spoonerism, the surface for 19d and my favourite, the original 10a, with a ‘Dorothy’ who didn’t wear red slippers and come from Kansas.
Thanks to Italicus and NealH
Wordplodder @1. Your explanation for 12a gives FASHIONAABLE, so doesn’t work. I wondered if Australian could be abbreviated to AS with HON as the girl.
15d is simply THE around AN (another article) rather than short for ‘another’.
Not keen on clues like 3d. The answer could be TUG without the crossers. Admittedly, this needs ‘gets’ as a link word so is the worse of the two possibilities.
Thanks to Italicus and Neal.
You’re quite right Hovis @2 and I don’t have any better explanation I’m afraid. Sorry about that. The old A-agnosia again – my excuse anyway.
Add me to the list of people (small but perfectly formed) of people who don’t know why Shona is Australian. The homophone in 16 doesn’t work for me either
Thank you to Italicus and NealH
A nice workout from Italicus with a good mix of clues. We liked the ANVIL/FORGE pairing and VESTIGE.
The homophone in 16dn just about works for us – all depends on where you come from, we suppose.
In 24ac we think it’s loudmouthed to give a better surface – you can imagine a loudmouthed lad getting a black eye (shiner) from someone he’s upset.
As for Shona being Australian, googling turned up this reference – but it does seem a bit obscure to us poms.
Thanks, Italicus and NealH.
I think there is another possible answer for 1 ac: BOUQUET (COO BAY). I also paused at 16 dn.
Agree with NealH, excellent Spoonerism that got me off to a sniggering start. Straightforward puzzle, but not too much so to impair enjoyment.
Although living in Australia, I don’t get the Shona reference either.
Thanks to Italicus and Neal H.
Shona sounds like Sheila, do Australians have a lot of women beginning with SH? (Don’t call me Shirley)
I entered TUG for 3d. Soon corrected.
Many thanks italicus, most enjoyable – my favourite today was VESTIGE
And thanks nealh
Excellent stuff, Italicus, although I was another who struggled to make Shona specifically Australian.
New to me was the nymph in 25a – I was only aware of the dance aspect of the word, hadn’t given any thought to its origins.
Loved 1a of course but I think you might have already made it familiar to those of us who frequent another site!
So many good clues here and I’d agree with Dutch that VESTIGE wins today’s bouquet.
Well done indeed – I’d predict that you can go far.
Things I forgot to say – most importantly, many thank s to NealH for the blog.
I thought the anagram indicator in 25a was interesting – is it one that’s appeared previously?
Can’t see what the problem is with the homophone in 16d – SED (sounds like ‘said’) plus UCE (sounds like ‘use’ as in ‘I have a use for that’). Looks OK to me.
Jane@10. I also meant to comment on the anagram indicator in 25a. Doesn’t work for me but that’s not uncommon. Maybe Italicus will comment on the justification (and on 12a)?
It might be f(A Sh(I)on)able if Shon is a girl. Tenuous, though. More likely that the girl is meant to be Shona and it’s as Hovis@2 says and everyone got mixed up with their As. Or perhaps Italicus will enlighten us.
First of all my thanks to NealH for his review, and to all of you for your comments. Apologies for the confusion with SHONA. When I compiled the puzzle, I was convinced (for some reason) that Shona was a typical Australian name. It actually came up in editing and I thought we had agreed to change it, but somehow it made it through. ‘Hard to get’ may have been a little cheeky as an anagram indicator, but I guess I was seduced (or should I say said-used) by the surface reading, so I let it stand. Was glad to see the Spoonerism was appreciated, and relieved that 19d got some positive reactions – I was a little worried there would be angry comments from offended Liverpudlians! Many thanks once again.