Another enjoyable Sunday puzzle, thank you Poins.
| Across | ||
| 1 | REFINERY | Concerning to find showy adornments in place practising purification (8) |
| RE (regarding, concerning) with (to find) FINERY (showy adornments) | ||
| 5 | TAKE TO | Become fond of something overheard on the film set (4,2) |
| sounds like “take two” (something overheard on film set) | ||
| 10 | DERRING-DO | Making a mistake to associate with Democratic party’s boldness (7-2) |
| ERRING (making a mistake) follows (to associate with) D (democratic) then DO (party) | ||
| 11 | PERIL | Danger of liberal Irish record being overturned (5) |
| L (liberal) IR (Irish) EP (Extended Play record) all reversed (being overturned) | ||
| 12 | THUS | 50% of them getting to America in this way (4) |
| THem (50% of) then US (America) | ||
| 13 | LIKE A SHOT | US president in US city taking crack willingly (4,1,4) |
| IKE (Eisenhower, US president) in LA (US city) then SHOT (crack) | ||
| 15 | RETROGRADE | Relating to attempt to reverse rule to stop commerce declining (10) |
| RE (relating to) then GO (attempt) reversed R (rule) inside (to stop, like a cork) TRADE (commerce) | ||
| 17 | CHAR | Finish off spell as cleaner (4) |
| CHARm (spell) missing last letter (finish off) | ||
| 19 | NAME | Article about Poins’s reputation (4) |
| AN (indefinite article) reversed (about) ME (Poins) | ||
| 20 | COUPS DETAT | What governments fear from malicious gossip carelessly spouted within (5,5) |
| CAT (malicious gossip) contains (with…within) anagram (carelessly) of SPOUTED | ||
| 22 | URBAN AREA | Resistance to prohibition in posh part of New York for instance (5,4) |
| R (resistance with BAN (prohibition) inside U (posh) AREA (part) | ||
| 24 | OMEN | Prophetic significance of fictional captain’s return (4) |
| NEMO (fictional captain) reversed (return) | ||
| 26 | CAIRO | City in Colorado welcoming publicity (5) |
| CO (Colorado) contains (entertaining) AIR (publicity) | ||
| 27 | COMPANION | Severely criticise Number 10 taken in by Communist handbook (9) |
| PAN (severely criticise) containing (with…taken in) N (number) IO (looks like 10) following (by) COM (communist) | ||
| 28 | DOGGED | Determined to get scrambled egg in terribly odd surroundings (6) |
| anagram (scrambled) of EGG in anagram (terribly) of ODD | ||
| 29 | IN LEAGUE | Cooperating as Liverpool and Everton are (2,6) |
| double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RUDE | Insulting for a girl? Not half (4) |
| gertRUDE (a girl, not half) | ||
| 2 | FOR THE TIME BEING | Somehow befitting hero to protect me temporarily (3,3,4,5) |
| anagram (somehow) of BEFITTING HERO contains (to protect) ME | ||
| 3 | NAINSOOK | Fabric not available in marketplace I hear (8) |
| NA (not available) IN SOOK sounds like (I hear) “souk” (market place) | ||
| 4 | REGAL | Drink up as befitting a king (5) |
| LAGER (drink) reversed (up) | ||
| 6 | APPEAL | Seem to change sides with request for aid (6) |
| APPEAr (seem) swapping R and L (changing sides) | ||
| 7 | EARTH-SHATTERING | Extremely shocking for tenor hearing threats bandied about (5-10) |
| anagram (bandied about) of T (tenor) and HEARING THREATS | ||
| 8 | OBLITERATE | Nothing scholarly about book’s cover (10) |
| O (nothing) LITERATE (scholarly) contains B (book) | ||
| 9 | WORKED UP | Operate before fellow gets over excited (6,2) |
| WORK (operate) then ED (Edward, a fellow) UP (over) | ||
| 14 | PRONOUNCED | Noticeable in reminder to collect cat after noon (10) |
| PROD (reminder) contains (to collect) OUNCE (a cat) following N (noon) | ||
| 16 | ROOF RACK | One assisting in transporting stone boxes from Argentina (4,4) |
| ROCK (stone) contains (boxes) OF (from) RA (Argentina) | ||
| 18 | ADVOCATE | Plead for a date to have ballot about staying in (8) |
| A D (date) with (to have) VOTE (ballot) containing (…staying in) CA (circa, about) | ||
| 21 | IN LOVE | What Elizabeth and Darcy were in novel I reviewed (2,4) |
| anagram (reviewed) of NOVEL I | ||
| 23 | ATMAN | Comic strip hero at first ignored the divine within the self (5) |
| bATMAN (comic strip hero) missing first letter (at first ignored) | ||
| 25 | ONCE | When the Head needs no introduction (4) |
| bONCE (head) missing first letter (needs no introduction) | ||
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’d never even vaguely heard of ATMAN which was my unconfident last in, not helped by a less than encyclopaedic knowledge of ‘Comic strip hero(s)’ and being unsure if the AREA part of 22a was correct. For 1d, your ‘Gertrude’ was my ‘Prudence’.
A few senses of words such as OBLITERATE for ‘cover’ and COMPANION for ‘handbook’ held me up, but I was chuffed to be able to enter NAINSOOK without too much trouble, both for the answer and “souk” for ‘market place’, two of the few words I’ve first come across in crosswords that I’ve been able to remember.
Sorry, a very minor point, but I think there’s a missing N in your parsing of COMPANION – PAN (Severely criticise) with NIO (Number 10) inside (taken in) next to (by) COM (Communist).
Thanks to Poins and PeeDee
Thank you for the correction. Fixed now.
A pleasant solve, though with some head-scratching, from our Irregular Humorist (see Henry IV part 1). NAINSOOK was dredged up from the darkest recesses of memory but ATMAN was new to us, though easily got from the clue and confirmed in Chambers. We thought 1dn might have generated adverse comment from some who dislike ‘girl’, ‘man’, etc being used to clue names, but it’s fine by us. We liked RETROGRADE and ROOF RACK, although they took some teasing out.
Thanks, Poins and PeeDee.
I’m amazed to find so few responses to such an excellent puzzle, so although very late as usual feel obliged to boost the attendance. Thanks Poins and PeeDee, sorry your efforts are so underappreciated. Where does the usual crowd go on Sundays?
Tatrasman – in my experience the well crafted puzzles attract fewer comments. The best way for a setter to get a lot of comments here is to have a few errors in their clues.