Nice to see Armonie this morning with a well constructed puzzle with some great surfaces.
Mostly straightforward with a couple of trickier ones. ABASEMENT is a regular in cryptics. Admittedly the parsing of SHADDOCK took me a little while as I was stuck on HADDOCK being the fish at first. Can “set off” mean “display”? I decided it could (think fireworks perhaps). Clues worth mentioning include TESTAMENT, COMMON COLD, REHEARSE, CITRONELLA, CACHET. Thanks Armonie!
Across
1 Initiate display (3,3)
SET OFF
Double definition
4 Lover is decorated soldier (5,3)
FANCY MAN
FANCY (decorated) + MAN (soldier)
10 Fool’s hurt? Six-footer is the attacker (9)
ASSAILANT
ASS (fool) + AIL (hurt) + ANT (six-footer)
11 Painter gets back late in the morning (5)
MANET
(TEN A.M. (late in the morning))< (<gets back)
12 Yank, appearing in many a newspaper (4)
DRAG
D (many) + RAG (newspaper)
13 An uproar during applause for old Roman sportsman (10)
CHARIOTEER
A RIOT (an uproar) during CHEER (applause)
15 Scientist put note in crate (7)
CHEMIST
MI (note) in CHEST (crate)
16 Is cola doctored for a party (6)
SOCIAL
(IS COLA)* (*doctored)
19 Look round very fast (6)
STARVE
STARE (look) round V (very)
21 Sack attendant admitting wrong (7)
PILLAGE
PAGE (attendant) admitting ILL (wrong)
23 Is this damn development random? (3-3-4)
HIT-AND-MISS
(IS THIS DAMN)* (*development)
25 Mean to consume English fruit (4)
PEAR
PAR (mean) to consume E (English)
27 The ultimate caveman lacks gravity (5)
FINAL
FIN[g]AL (caveman, lacks G (gravity))
From Scottish lore
28 Lionesses becoming silent (9)
NOISELESS
(LIONESSES)* (*becoming)
29 Try out soldier’s last conveyance (8)
REHEARSE
RE (soldier) + HEARSE (last conveyance)
30 Speaks of panic with son (6)
STATES
STATE (panic) with S (son)
Down
1 We have fruit and fish by the harbour (8)
SHADDOCK
SHAD (fish) by the DOCK (harbour)
2 Examine the last word on tenor’s last wishes (9)
TESTAMENT
TEST (examine) AMEN (the last word) on T (tenor’s)
3 Light show (4)
FAIR
Double definition
5 Are social workers surrounding star? (7)
ANTARES
ARE surrounded by ANTS (social workers)
6 Ordinary bitter makes one feel unwell (6,4)
COMMON COLD
COMMON (ordinary) + COLD (bitter)
7 Names astonishing clerical building (5)
MANSE
(NAMES)* (*astonishing)
8 Insect has head removed on river? That’s life (6)
NATURE
[g]NAT (insect, has head removed) on URE (river)
9 Prestige suffering in court (6)
CACHET
ACHE (suffering) in CT (court)
14 Insect repellent sprayed into cellar (10)
CITRONELLA
(INTO CELLAR)* (*sprayed)
17 Mortification in a cellar (9)
ABASEMENT
A BASEMENT (a cellar)
18 National currency is creating emotional disorder (8)
NEUROSIS
N (national) + EUROS (currency) + IS
20 The Queen has abundant supplies of furs (7)
ERMINES
ER (the queen) has MINES (abundant supplies)
21 Wine stored in port and aged (4,2)
PAST IT
ASTI (wine) stored in PT (port)
22 Beetle to rub against flower (6)
CHAFER
CHAFE (to rub against) + R (flower, river)
24 Fish smell loses its initial character (5)
TENCH
[s]TENCH (smell, loses its initial character)
26 Knight in venture that’s dishonest (4)
BENT
N (knight) in BET (venture)
I think SET OFF works fine e.g., ‘That dress will set off that brooch nicely’.
NOISELESS was a great anagram which I hadn’t seen before (tho’ I bet others have).
Nice puzzle altogether. Thanks to both.
Thanks Armonie for an enjoyable crossword. CHAFER was new to me as well as SHADDOCK. I parsed the latter correctly but could not get the former. Liked the misdirection in STARVE. In Drag, how does “D” mean many? Does it come from the Roman numeral for 500? Thanks Teacow.
Hi Tony Santucci @3. Yes, that’s exactly it – D for 500 in Roman numerals. I’ve seen in quite a few times used this way in cryptics.
Would never have parsed FINAL in a million years though I got it. COD ERMINES.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
A typically neat puzzle from this Monday specialist – they might not be all that hard, but one continues to enjoy doing them just for the finesse of them.
I knew of FINGAL’S CAVE, but didn’t know of the mythical hunter after which it was named. Hadn’t seen the FANCY MAN term though Thought that the clue for COMMON COLD was very good.
Finished in the SW corner with that FINAL and CHAFER as the last couple in.