As always with Phi everything (apart from one very slight doubt at 9dn) is utterly sound and pleasant to solve: he has the ability to make a clue apparently intractable, and then when you solve it you say ‘how obvious’ and think it’s really easy. Which it isn’t: as so often said, this is the sign of a good setter.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Actually there don’t seem to be all that many anagrams. Perhaps that’s what made it on the hard side.
I suspected some sort of Nina involving spirits when two early answers to fall were GRAPPA and SCHNAPPS. But this didn’t seem to continue.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FACIAL | American engaged in most of superficial beauty treatment (6) |
| faci(A)l{e} | ||
| 4 | SCHNAPPS | Photos with extra power capturing church spirit (8) |
| s(ch.)napPs | ||
| 10 | EXPEDIENT | Mostly get rid of collision evidence involving one clever trick (9) |
| expe{l} d(1)ent | ||
| 11 | GHOUL | Unwanted spectator to pull back, circling house (5) |
| (lug)rev. round ho. | ||
| 12 | GOURMET | A lot of fruit satisfied epicure (7) |
| gour{d} met | ||
| 13 | EXTREME | Drastic times, with alien soldiers around (7) |
| E(x)T REME — x = times, ET is the alien, REME = Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers | ||
| 14 | OCEAN | Wide expanse of corn extending across Nebraska, primarily (5) |
| first letters of ‘of corn extending across Nebraska’ | ||
| 15 | EMISSARY | Soon to overlook Liberal, about to overlook messenger (8) |
| e(miss)ar{l}y | ||
| 18 | COALMINE | Company disinvesting from economical working pit (8) |
| (e{co}nomical)* | ||
| 20 | LARGO | Contribution from spectacular gong in slow movement (5) |
| Hidden in spectacuLAR GOng | ||
| 23 | RELEASE | Prosperity after most of bank issue (7) |
| rel{y} ease — ease = prosperity didn’t occur to me, although it clearly started REL… | ||
| 25 | HUMIDOR | American wit holding papers for storage of smoke? (7) |
| hum(ID)or — the American spelling of humour — smoke? = cigar | ||
| 26 | PIQUE | Anger? Irrational figure quite losing it (5) |
| pi qu{it}e | ||
| 27 | ONE AND ALL | Absolutely excluding Catholic, and not for everybody (3,3,3) |
| on{C}e and {for} all — nice clue: one thinks of ‘not for everybody’ as being the definition | ||
| 28 | ANYTHING | US city inadequate in silver (no specific item) (8) |
| A(NY thin)g | ||
| 29 | FAWKES | Phoneys besetting weak revolutionary? (6) |
| fa(w)kes | ||
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FEEL-GOOD | Source of liquid gunge in meal is providing pleasure (4-4) |
| fee(l{iquid} goo)d | ||
| 2 | CAPSULE | Tablet outranks commandment, but not at first (7) |
| caps {r}ule | ||
| 3 | ABDOMINAL | Corrupted domain in untidy lab dealing with stomach issues (9) |
| (domain)* in (lab)* | ||
| 5 | CATHERINE WHEEL | Saint’s symbol heretical when misused around end of service (9,5) |
| (heretical when)* round {servic}e | ||
| 6 | NIGHT | Chessman not initially black? (5) |
| {k}night | ||
| 7 | PIONEER | Support providing accommodation for a settler? (7) |
| pi(one)er — a = one, something I often miss, being a regular Times solver: in that crossword a never equals one | ||
| 8 | SULLEN | Go to court about lines on new cross (6) |
| su(l l)e n | ||
| 9 | LET THE SIDE DOWN | Fail to make it easy to take baby from cot? (3,3,4,4) |
| If you fail you let the side down (perhaps, which some would argue should have been inserted somewhere in the clue) and if you let the side of a cot down, you make it easy to take the baby from the cot | ||
| 16 | SALAMANCA | Sadly upset over fellow around Spanish city (9) |
| (alas)rev. man ca | ||
| 17 | NO-FRILLS | Number of streams is not extravagant (2-6) |
| N. of rills | ||
| 19 | OBLOQUY | Like a peer heading off to cover old Queen in disgrace (7) |
| {n}obl(o qu.)y | ||
| 21 | REDBACK | The German picked up second Australian spider (7) |
| (der)rev. back | ||
| 22 | GRAPPA | Good old man receiving censure for spirit, … (6) |
| g (rap) pa | ||
| 24 | ALEPH | … first character in pub being after beer (5) |
| ale PH | ||
Humidor is a gem
Thanks Phi and John. I began to wonder if there was an alcoholic theme with schnapps and grappa appearing at two corners, but sadly not!
Tatrasman @2-it takes one to know one but i seem to remember a Redback beer from somewhere in Australia.
I wondered about an early Nov. 5th themed puzzle with FAWKES, CATHERINE WHEEL and perhaps NIGHT but couldn’t take it any further.
You’re right about there having been a Redback beer, copmus @3, but I don’t know if it’s still available.
OBLOQUY is a good word. “Smithers, you’re an obloquy!” Maybe not.
Thanks to Phi for the usual Friday enjoyment and to John.
As we said of Hoskins’ puzzle yesterday, a fairly quick solve but with some headscratching along the way.
We weren’t quite sure about GHOULS being unwanted spectators until we thought of those who gather round any scene of death or destruction often being described as such. Nor were we sure about SULLEN meaning cross; we always thought of it as dull or dismal, but we see Chambers has ‘gloomily angry and silent’ as the first meaning for it.
On the other hand we thought HUMIDOR and OBLOQUY were great.
Thanks, Phi and John.