The puzzle can be found here.
Hello again! Once every 20 weeks, My Saturday and Sunday Indy blogs fall on the same weekend. 20 weeks ago we had a Hypnos IoS puzzle which I found gentle and very enjoyable, and so is the case again today. I particularly enjoyed OVER-THE-TOP and PEACH MELBA, as well as a couple of simpler but deft constructions, STANDING and HOP. Thanks, Hypnos.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
Across
1a At regular intervals, cook treat, edible pods (4)
OKRA
Alternate letters of (at regular intervals) cOoK tReAt
3a Obvious hope is misplaced about leader of Tories? It’s excessive (4-3-3)
OVER-THE-TOP
OVERT (obvious), then HOPE is anagrammed (is misplaced) around (about) the first letter of (leader of) Tories
10a Figure leading exercise mostly in part of plant (7)
TENDRIL
TEN (figure) preceding (leading) DRILl (exercise) without it last letter (mostly)
11a Give authority to newly created peer, woman ignoring a Nationalist (7)
EMPOWER
An anagram of (newly created) PEER WOM[an] without (ignoring) A (from the clue) and N (nationalist)
12a Husband has to manage in retreat for a long time (5)
EPOCH
H (husband) goes next to (has) COPE (to manage) reversed (in retreat)
13a Refined painter, say, in middle of beano is French? (8)
EUROPEAN
U (upper class, refined) and ROPE (painter, say) in the central letters of (in middle of) bEANo
16a Obstruct growth in deregulated housing (6)
HINDER
GrowtH IN DERegulated containing (housing) the answer
17a Damage a skimpy garment cut in gruelling event (8)
MARATHON
MAR (damage) + A + THONg (skimpy garment) without the last letter (cut)
19a Musical contributor, one in Strictly broadcast without single tango (8)
LYRICIST
I (one) in an anagram of (… broadcast) S[t]RICTLY without one occurrence of (single) T (tango)
21a Hospital within reach in poor quarter (6)
GHETTO
H (hospital) inside (within) GET TO (reach)
24a Substitute with good reputation (8)
STANDING
STAND IN (substitute) with G (good)
25a People objectively in cycle showing moral character (5)
ETHOS
THOSE (people objectively) with the letters cycled round (in cycle)
27a A research site followed by a scholar in US state (7)
ALABAMA
A (from the clue) + LAB (research site) followed by A (again from the clue) + MA (scholar)
29a English doctor on film gets ban (7)
EMBARGO
E (English) + MB (doctor) next to (on) ARGO (film)
30a Reprove young child wearing a skate loosely close to rink (4,2,4)
TAKE TO TASK
TOT (young child) inside (wearing) an anagram of (… loosely) A SKATE, plus the last letter of (close to) rinK
31a Diplomat disowning old jealousy (4)
ENVY
ENV[o]Y (diplomat) with the omission of (disowning) O (old)
Down
1d How one might describe flag on course to audience generally (2,3,5)
ON THE WHOLE
A flag on a golf course might be described as ON THE HOLE, which sounds like (to audience) the answer
2d Disparage summary (7)
RUNDOWN
RUN DOWN (disparage)
4d Outburst? It’s usually observed in front of a court (6)
VOLLEY
Two definitions
5d Beer yard brewed – it’s full of yeast (8)
RYEBREAD
An anagram of (… brewed) BEER YARD
6d Short journey in spring (3)
HOP
Another double definition
7d What post is replaced with no end of fuss as feature by canal? (7)
TOWPATH
WHAT PO[s]T is anagrammed (is replaced) without the last letter of (with no end of) fusS
8d Nice, perhaps, tip in prospect? (4)
PORT
The tip, or end letter, in ProspecT could be P OR T
9d Triumphal building, notion originally dismissed by right-winger, senior minister (10)
ARCHDEACON
ARCH (triumphal building) + [i]DEA (notion) with the first letter removed (originally dismissed) next to (by) CON (right-winger)
14d Cheap meal prepared to include starter of broth and dessert (5,5)
PEACH MELBA
CHEAP MEAL anagrammed (prepared) with the insertion of (to include) the first letter of (starter of) Broth
15d Food’s entry is mismanaged, there’s no more to say (3,2,5)
END OF STORY
FOOD’S ENTRY is anagrammed (is mismanaged)
18d Candidate with a small point about ME country (8)
ASPIRANT
A (from the clue) + S (small), then PT (point) around (about) IRAN (ME country)
20d Pitch up with cards for set of photographers (7)
RATPACK
TAR (pitch) in reverse (up, in a down answer) with PACK (cards)
22d Eastern woman’s entering light shade in capital (7)
TEHERAN
E (eastern) + HER (woman’s) going inside (entering) TAN (light shade)
23d Strong material hoisted above second exit (6)
EGRESS
SERGE (strong material) reversed (hoisted, in a down answer) before (above) S (second). This way to the egress …
26d Social division announced for group of players (4)
CAST
Sounds like (… announced) CASTE (social division)
28d Skill shown in spectacular theatre (3)
ART
We end with a hidden answer, shown in spectaculAR Theatre
We don’t see nearly enough of Hypnos these days but it’s always a pleasure when he does appear.
Doubtless it’s an ‘age’ thing but RATPACK to me is Frank Sinatra and his pals – not a bunch of photographers!
Top marks here went to 24a plus 14d.
Many thanks to Hypnos for the puzzle and to our hard-working Kitty for the review. Don’t spend the extra wages all at once!!!
Not too hard, but enough to keep the solver honest. The right half went in quickly, the left half more slowly for some reason. I didn’t understand ARGO for ‘film’ so thanks for the link, and I took a while to work out which S or T to exclude for LYRICIST. I bunged in PORT without parsing it properly. We’ve had that trick before so I should have seen it. I’m with Jane @1 on RATPACK, even if I can’t name them all.
My pick was the not so easy EUROPEAN.
Thanks to Kitty and Hypnos
I agree with Jane @1 that we don’t see enough of Hypnos/Shamus these days. This was a timely reminder about how enjoyable his puzzles are.
I particularly liked 3a & 24a, but I’m not too sure about 1d – surely the flag is in the hole not on it?
Lovely puzzle and great review. Thanks to Hypnos and Kitty.
Thanks Hypnos and Kitty – you are working hard this week! All went in smoothly until I was left with the crossing 13A and 4D, neither of which I could see for some reason, and I had to resort to a word search. RATPACK is likewise to me Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and co, whereas the set of photographers are paparazzi or ‘paps’.
RD @3 – yes, I had ‘umm’ alongside 1d and forgot to mention it!
RD@3 Perhaps the flag on the ninth hole is fluttering in the breeze?
All straightforward enough apart from 8dn. We thought of ‘Nice’ as the French location but failed to make the connection to PORT so were left looking for a synonym of ‘nice’ and could only think of ‘pure’ (which we couldn’t parse) or ‘pert’ (which would have parsed if ‘per’ was an abbreviation for ‘perhaps’), not that either is really a synonym of ‘nice’.
We liked the 10-letter peripheral entries but our favourites were EPOCH and ETHOS.
Thanks, Hypnos and Kitty.