The reliable ARMONIE launches us into the week…
This all went smoothly until 26d and 28a, which seemed to take an eternity to solve (largely because we were assuming ROOTS for 26d)!
Anyway, a very enjoyable solve. Our only gripe was that both spellings of 3d are valid, and 9a is required to decide which. Otherwise, a lot of great clues. Probably 8d was our favourite.
Thanks ARMONIE!
Across
1 Dog chasing snake in sporting event (4,4)
BOAT RACE
TRACE (dog) chasing BOA (snake)
5 Old Briton conceals love for cat (6)
OCELOT
O (old) + (CELT (Briton) conceals O (love))
9 Muslim unhappy in gym, fencing (8)
PALISADE
(ALI (Muslim) + SAD (unhappy)) in PE (gym)
10 To some extent Patti LaBelle conquered Europe (6)
ATTILA
[p]ATTI LA[belle] (to some extent)
12 Thrill-seeker has lawyer embarrassed by depravity (9)
DAREDEVIL
DA (lawyer) + RED (embarrassed) by EVIL (depravity)
13 Gallery entertains society showing refinement (5)
TASTE
TATE (gallery) contains S (society)
14 Litigant’s made to agonise, but not very loudly (4)
SUER
SU[ff]ER (agonise, but not FF (very loudly))
16 Incisive quip by toff (7)
PUNGENT
PUN (quip) by GENT (toff)
19 Victorian mate holds a sovereign (or pound) (7)
CLOBBER
COBBER (Victorian mate, Australian, from Victoria) holds L (a sovereign, pound)
21 Bob gets the bird (4)
DUCK
Double definition
24 Daughter in badly arranged tour of Royal house (5)
TUDOR
D (daughter) in (TOUR)* (*badly arranged)
25 Abandon and betray soldier (6,3)
DESERT RAT
DESERT (abandon) and RAT (betray)
27 Singer allowed to keep a pub (6)
LINNET
LET (allowed) to keep INN (a pub)
28 Disparage defender’s incisiveness (8)
BACKBITE
BACK (defender) + BITE (incisiveness)
29 Pressure is beginning to smash lock (6)
STRESS
S[mash] (beginning to) + TRESS (lock)
30 Half-heartedly remedy the smell in the street (8)
CRESCENT
C[u]RE (remedy, half-heartedly) + SCENT (smell)
Down
1 Offers to accept positive energy like those such as humans (6)
BIPEDS
BIDS (offers) to accept (P (positive) + E (energy))
2 Charm everyone on the river (6)
ALLURE
ALL (everyone) on the URE (river)
3 Reportedly put up and knocked down (5)
RASED
“raised” (put up, “reportedly”)
4 Body of man found in vehicle (7)
CADAVER
DAVE (man) found in CAR (vehicle)
6 Insensible jazz fan needs a pick-me-up (9)
CATATONIC
CAT (jazz fan) needs A TONIC (a pick-me-up)
7 Siren let off in Ireland (8)
LEINSTER
(SIREN LET)* (*off)
8 Go without a piece of underwear in burlesque (8)
TRAVESTY
TRY (go) without A VEST (a piece of underwear)
11 Spanner in the works? B— cheek! (4)
BLIP
B + LIP (cheek)
15 Relieves the badly sunburned (9)
UNBURDENS
(SUNBURNED)* (*badly)
17 Fuel containers found in sinks (8)
SCUTTLES
Double definition
18 Recluse entertains fellow capitalist? (8)
LONDONER
LONER (recluse) entertains DON (fellow)
20 Regret about Danish leader being unpleasant (4)
RUDE
RUE (regret) about D[anish] (leader)
21 Misery for some French couple (7)
DESPAIR
DES (some, French) + PAIR (couple)
22 Turn up in a posh car one owns (6)
ARRIVE
A + RR (posh car, Rolls Royce) + IVE (one owns)
23 The way a good man catches a plane, say (6)
STREET
ST (a good man, Saint) catches a TREE (plane, say)
26 Searches for degenerates (5)
RAKES
Double definition
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
Quite a quick work out here with no holdups at all. Liked the Victorian COBBER at 19.
Finished in the NE corner with TRAVESTY, PUNGENT and BLIP.
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. Quick solve but enjoyable (as usual from this setter). I was slow to spot DUCK and parsed CRESCENT but did not necessarily equate it with “street.”
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
I thought ALI = Muslim was more than a little untoward, and was also disappointed by the appearance of STREET as solution to 23 and clue component in the intersecting 30, as well as the dual appearance of ‘incisive(ness)’.
Enjoyed this and many thanks!
Clue 11d is printed as *Spanner in the works? B— cheek! (4)”. I ask why is the dash used there? If so, what does it convey? Or is there a carelessness in printing?
I believe it should have been put down as B___ During the times when it was thought swear words should not be printed in books, there was the practice of using the first letter of the word and a blank, thus B___
Was that the setter’s intention?
In present methods of typing, printing and publication, writers and editorial staff don’t keep nice distinctions, I think.
Does anyone agree with me? Or am I completely off track?
Thanks Armonie & Teacow.
Rishi @ 5
In my printout of the pdf the B is followed by three dashes: B—. Some newspapers still use dashes or asterisks as you described, even for the mildest expletives, but print the first letter so that their readers can easily guess the rude word. I assume that Armonie is tongue-in-cheek (!) suggesting that they would so treat LIP.
But I see that the separate dashes are printed as one long one by this website.