An enjoyable puzzle. One of those where the parsing looks obvious in retrospect, but not so before finding the solutions. How it should be – thank you Redshnak.
| Across | ||
| 1 | JOBBER | Fellow Republican steals books for dealer in exchange (6) |
| JOE (fellow) R (republican) contains (steals) B B (book, twice) | ||
| 5 | WALK OVER | Thrash with a fan round front of kisser (4,4) |
| W (with) A LOVER (fan) contains (round) Kisser (first letter, front of) | ||
| 9 | DEWLAP | It depends on stock we’d returned with drink (6) |
| WE’D reversed (returns) with LAP (drink) – an area of skin that hangs down (depends) from cattle (stock) | ||
| 10 | SMOOTHIE | Harry Smith loves European drink (8) |
| anagram (harry) of SMITH and O O (love, zero tennis score) then E (European) | ||
| 11 | CALAMARI | Swimmers trapped in Ocala marina (8) |
| found (trapped) inside oCALA MARIna – does Ocala have a marina? | ||
| 12 | EARFUL | Lecture from retired Scottish university lecturer (6) |
| FRAE (from, Scottish) reversed (retired) then U (university) and L (lecturer) | ||
| 13 | ECHO | Nymph appearing just beyond delta (4) |
| ECHO is the letter E in the phonetic alphabet, just beyond delta | ||
| 15 | GROSCHEN | Greek chose counterfeit note and coin in Vienna (8) |
| GR (Greek) then anagram (counterfeit) of CHOSE and N (note) | ||
| 18 | LONG JUMP | Dragged out Jack with superior redcap for event (4,4) |
| LONG (dragged out) J (jack) with U (superior, upper class) MP (event) | ||
| 19 | TANK | Golden koi primarily kept here? (4) |
| TAN (golden) Koi (first letter, primarily) | ||
| 21 | SKETCH | South Korean leaders chase rough (6) |
| South Korean (leaders, first letters) then ETCH (chase) | ||
| 23 | INTERMIX | Mingle in session 9 (8) |
| IN TERM (session) IX (9) | ||
| 25 | TIRAMISU | Sweet French husband returns wearing shabby suit (8) |
| MARI (husband, in French) reversed (returns) inside (wearing) anagram (shabby) of SUIT | ||
| 26 | RWANDA | Golfing body controlling wife’s place in Africa (6) |
| R AND A (Royal and Ancient, golfing body) contains (controlling) W (wife) | ||
| 27 | WELL-READ | Learned about appearing in prosperous commercial (4-4) |
| RE (regarding, about) inside (appearing in) WELL (prosperous) AD (advertisement, commercial) | ||
| 28 | DE-LUXE | Rich couple in Paris house liberal earl (2,4) |
| DEUX (couple, 2 in French, in Paris) contains (house) L (liberal) then E (earl) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OMEGA | Take part in some games, last in a series (5) |
| found inside (taking part in) sOME GAmEs – the last letter in the Greek alphabet | ||
| 3 | BILLABONG | Illegal delivery over in major Victorian backwater (9) |
| NO BALL (illegal delivery) reversed (over) inside BIG (major) – an Australian word, in Victoria | ||
| 4 | REPLAY | Repeat overture to Patience during broadcast (6) |
| Patience (overture to, first letter) inside RELAY (broadcast) | ||
| 5 | WASHING-UP LIQUID | Cleaner whips a gun out, initially lifting £1 (7-2,6) |
| anagram (out) of WHIPS A GUN and Lifting (first letter, initially) then I L (1 pound,£1) | ||
| 6 | LOOKER-ON | Witness stunner performing (6-2) |
| LOOKER (stunner) and ON (performing) | ||
| 7 | OUTER | More remote troops steal truck (5) |
| OR (other ranks, troops) contains (steal) UTE (utility vehicle, truck) | ||
| 8 | EPICUREAN | Ultimately love timeless portrait: “An Old Voluptuary” (9) |
| lovE (ultimately, last letter) with PICtURE (portrait) missing T (time) then AN | ||
| 14 | CLOCKWISE | Notice women’s institute’s energy as their hands move? (9) |
| CLOCK (notice) WI (Women’s Institute) with E (energy) – the hands on their watches perhaps | ||
| 16 | CATERWAUL | Sound of two queens with an unsated lust primarily (9) |
| CAT (a female, queen perhaps) ER (Elizabeth Regina, another queen) then first letters (primarily) of With An Unsated Lust | ||
| 17 | BUSHFIRE | Could it be put out by 3? (8) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 20 | STARED | Took a long look and began to forget time (6) |
| STARtED (began) missing T (time) | ||
| 22 | TRAWL | Officer brought up to eat uncooked fish (5) |
| LT (lieutenant, officer) reversed (brought up) contains (to eat) RAW (uncooked) – I managed to restrain myself from writing in an unparsed SUSHI here! | ||
| 24 | INDEX | It may consist of cards in packs for auditor (5) |
| IN then DEX sounds like (for auditor) “decks” (packs) | ||
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.
Always like a Redshank but after BUSHFIRE and BILLABONG it was all too easy to enter COBBER for 1a.I mean only one letter I couldnt explain.And no check button!
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee
Thanks, PeeDee.
My first thought for 1ac, too!
Excellent puzzle, with lovely cluing. I especially enjoyed the amusing EARFUL and also the surfaces of TIRAMISU and GROSCHEN, which, along with RWANDA, was very satisfying to work out from the wordplay. I had ticks for EPICUREAN and WELL-READ, too.
[I looked up Ocala – and it apparently has at least ten. 😉 ]
Many thanks to Redshank.
Good stuff.
Didn’t know JOBBER, but with ‘fellow’ as ?OE, the answer was clear.
A few typos in blog. In 18a, MP is ‘redcap’, as in Military Police, not ‘event’ and in 5d, £1 is IQUID.
Thanks to Redshank and PeeDee.
Hi Eileen, I looked up that list too, but looking at the map none of the ten are in Ocala.
Hi Peedee [I’ve been out on a walk] – I just googled ‘Ocala Marina’ and that came up: I didn’t even look at the map! 🙁
What an appalling pile of obscure references which no reasonable person could be expected to know. Shame on you, Redshank!
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee
Entertaining crossword that stretched the solve a little bit longer than my FT average time. Worked through in two halves, getting the left hand side and then the harder right hand side, finishing with the tricky EARFUL and EPICUREAN.
Interestingly with the Ocala marina, Marion County is an inland part of Florida so even if it had a ‘marina’, it would more than likely not have any squid swimming in it and as for ‘calamari’ swimming – wouldn’t that be like saying ‘look at that weiner schnitzel running around on the Texan cattle ranch’ ! Similarly with putting out a BUSHFIRE by using a BILLABONG – they would mostly be dry in the summer when the fires were burning, It is a riverbed that is left when a river changes course and would typically only have water from rainfall.
CATERWAUL was a much better surface-based clue – very witty and a clever construction.
Grumpy @ 6
As I posted re your comment on another puzzle recently, please could you substantiate your assertion.
“Obscure’ is just shorthand for “I didn’t know it”: none of the solutions were anywhere near the limits of my vocabulary, and while they might have been difficult to construct, as ever with Redshank in his various guises, the clueing was very fair. To be delayed by having followed a setter’s misdirection is a tribute to the setter’s ability and a reflection on the solver’s, not vice versa.
Hi Simon, borderline trolls like Grumpy are best ignored. Attention is what they want.