Not the easiest of Monday puzzles, but a good challenge for my first 152 blog.
Some enjoyable entries here: 8a nicely concise, 16a and 3d amusing surfaces, 5d and 17d ingenious.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
Across
| 1 | DANDELION | Weed and excreted at first in old pants (9) |
| An anagram (pants) of AND E[xcreted] IN OLD | ||
| 8 | OREGANO | Leaves Oscar fresh orange (7) |
| O[scar] (radio alphabet) + an anagram (fresh) of ORANGE | ||
| 10 | SURNAME | Pinochet, maybe – one fleeing South American country (7) |
| SURINAME (S. Am. country) minus I (one). Not the most obvious example of a surname, but it makes for a neat surface. | ||
| 11 | SHORT FUSE | Quick temper shown by chess player following practice (5,4) |
| Nigel SHORT (chess player) + F (following) + USE (practice) | ||
| 12 | ROLL UP | Come and see this cigarette (4,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | SCRUMMY | Small piece of cooked game is delicious (7) |
| S (small) + C (piece of “cooked”) + RUMMY (card game) | ||
| 16 | BAGATELLE | A table leg is smeared in trifle (9) |
| An anagram (smeared) of A TABLE LEG. Bagatelle or trifle = something trivial. | ||
| 19 | CUSTODIAN | Guard and I desperate to follow tradition, mostly (9) |
| CUSTO[m] (tradition, mostly) + an anagram (desperate) of AND I | ||
| 20 | OUTLOOK | Mentality of how to win a staring contest (7) |
| Definition and cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | LAMENT | Bemoan inadequate books (6) |
| LAME (inadequate) + NT (New Testament) | ||
| 23 | COURTSHIP | Term of endearment? (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 25 | ABDOMEN | A portent of doom wiping out second American corporation? (7) |
| A B[a]D OMEN (wiping out the second A for American). Corporation = belly: classic crossword usage. | ||
| 27 | IN HASTE | Rashly, Spain has terraced houses (2,5) |
| Hidden (housed) in spaIN HAS TErraced | ||
| 28 | PUSSYFOOT | Sit on the fence as the result of an infected heel? (9) |
| Double definition. Now I need to get the image of a pus-filled foot out of my head . . . |
Down
| 1 | DESCRIBE | Tell short man to get bed at bottom of garage… (8) |
| DES (short for Desmond) + CRIB (bed) + [garag]E (bottom letter) | ||
| 2 | NOR | …and not make noise when sleeping naked (3) |
| SNORE (make noise when sleeping) minus the first and last letters (naked) | ||
| 3 | EVACUATE | Leave.eu caveat is tosh (8) |
| Anagram (tosh) of EU CAVEAT. | ||
| 4 | IDES | Possibly 24 hours of May displaying kindness? Only occasionally (4) |
| Alternate letters (only occasionally) of kInDnEsS. Ides is the 15th of May in the Roman calendar. | ||
| 5 | NO-NONSENSE | Repeating three points after a double negative is sensible (2-8) |
| NSE NSE (three points of the compass, repeated) after NO NO (double negative) | ||
| 6 | MENTOR | Train soldiers on hill (6) |
| MEN (soldiers) + TOR (hill) | ||
| 7 | COMELY | Good-looking and fun daughter turns fifty (6) |
| COMEDY (fun), with D (daughter) changed to L (fifty) | ||
| 9 | AQUAMARINE | Blue, by virtue of being suffocated by a serviceman (10) |
| QUA (by virtue of), contained in (suffocated by) A MARINE | ||
| 13 | LIGHT TOUCH | Deftness shown in match, perhaps, by rival (5,5) |
| LIGHT (match) + TOUCH (rival: Chambers “to equal, rival or compare with”) | ||
| 14 | BLACK SHEEP | Rebel bishop is wanting to meet obsequious character (5,5) |
| B (bishop) + LACKS (is wanting) + Uriah HEEP (obsequious character) | ||
| 17 | SOLAR DAY | Very fat and extremely angry? Time for a revolution (5,3) |
| SO (very) + LARD (fat) + A[ngr]Y. Revolution: as in the Earth relative to the Sun. | ||
| 18 | INSTINCT | Gut feeling of Detective Inspector, leaving confused (8) |
| INDISTINCT (confused), omitting (leaving) D[etective] I[nspector] | ||
| 20 | ORCHID | Evil goblin concealed plant (6) |
| ORC (evil goblin) + HID | ||
| 21 | OBTUSE | Insensitive Russian course starts to teach us some expletives (6) |
| OB (Russian river = watercourse) + starting letters of Teach Us Some Expletives | ||
| 24 | PASS | Crap hand? ‘No bid‘ (4) |
| Double definition, though I had to look up the first one: “pass” is a phase of play in craps (dice), or a no-bid in card games
AMENDED: Triple definition: crap (defecate), hand (as in “hand it over”), and no-bid. Impressive for such a short clue! |
||
| 26 | MOO | Low feeling died away (3) |
| MOOD (feeling) with D (died) taken away. Low = cow noise: another classic crossword usage. |
Good stuff, as usual from Eccles with lots of humorous surfaces. 10a was too clever for me and needed a cheat to finish.
Didn’t know the chess player, the Russian river or the craps hand. However, for the latter, “pass” can mean “discharge faeces” (to quote Collins) which then fits the clue better.
Another new 225 blogger. Welcome Quirister and many thanks to Eccles.
As an addendum, I thought this grid was a bit unusual. I notice there is one across clue for every row except the middle one.
I always feel that devices like “short man” in 1d are a bit of a cop out but the likes of Don Manley use them all the time so I guess it’s OK. Very clever as it is, personally I don’t think a national newspaper is the right place for a clue like 1a.
Apart from those minor niggles, I really enjoyed this with great humour, good disguises, succinct cluing and excellent surfaces.
It was quite a struggle to choose a favourite with so many contenders, but I’ll settle for the ingenious 10a.
Many thanks to Eccles and a warm welcome to Quirister for a fine debut blog.
Thanks Hovis – I think you’re right about 24d, so maybe I’m just trying to be too polite.
Actually I now think it’s a triple definition: crap (no comment), hand (as in “hand it over”), and no bid. Impressive for such a short clue!
Very enjoyable, although I got stuck with thinking LOVELY for 7d for ages before seeing the light and failed to parse INSTINCT and PASS, so thanks for the illumination Quirister.
This was welcome on a Monday. Not up with chess players any more apart from black and white. But answer was obvious and thanks for blog. I liked it all actually. Thanks Eccles.
Welcome Quirister. Good stuff all round.
My notes indicate a smile at EVACUATE and laughs at SOLAR DAY and NOR, but there are several others I could mention.
Thanks Eccles and Quirister.
Enjoyed this immensely. From the typically Eccles 20a, to the infuriating 10a and a magnificent definition at 17d as well as a lovely cd at 23a. Something for everyone, surely.
Many thanks Eccles, and many thanks Quirister for a superb blog and pointing out the triple definition, which had me confused.
Excellent stuff from Eccles although it will not surprise him to learn that I baulked at the clues for 1a & 24d. You’re a great setter and have no need to resort to smut to gain an appreciative audience.
Impossible to isolate any individual one as ‘favourite’ so will just say many thanks to Eccles and thanks and welcome to Quirister.
Thanks all for the welcome. I’ve enjoyed getting involved, and it’s great to join such a friendly community.
Hi, Welcome to Quirister, and many thanks for the fine debut blog.
24d was indeed intended as a triple def. Re 1d, it is a bit grim and while I was obviously happy to use it, (and don’t wish to cause offence, so sorry), I would have preferred it not to be the first clue in the puzzle, which I think sets the tone. Unlike Anax, I don’t write the all the clues as I fill the grid, so I came up with it later and chose to stick with it.
I too think short man is a bit of a cop-out, but ‘Mr Lynam’ and the like didn’t really work for me, so I copped out.
Great stuff from Eccles, although 1a didn’t especially enhance the breakfast chucky egg experience tbh, and I greatly preferred the imagery of 16a
Thanks and welcome to Quirister