Worth a look, if you haven’t tried it.
Mostly straightforward but with some teasers in the bottom left which gave me pause. Enjoyed it.
Thanks to Flimsy.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | INDUSTRY | Attempt to follow river: hard work (8) |
| INDUS (‘river’) + TRY (‘attempt’). | ||
| 5 | EVENTS | Electronic broadcasts for matches (6) |
| E (anything ‘Electronic’ these days) + VENTS (‘publishes, utters’ – archaically, says Chambers – but anyway ‘broadcasts’). | ||
| 9 | DEVELOPS | Departs with the first lady to cut special blooms (8) |
| D[eparts) + EVE (‘first lady’) + LOP (to ‘cut’) + S[pecial]. | ||
| 10 | WRITER | Legal document flipping concerning for author (6) |
| WRIT (‘legal document’) + reversal of RE (‘concerning’). | ||
| 12 | ESSAY | Try Mensa, oddly getting rejected, perhaps (5) |
| Alternate letters (‘oddly rejected’) of ‘mEnSa’ + SAY (= ‘perhaps’). | ||
| 13 | REMAINDER | Cue, grasping a rest (9) |
| REM.INDER (‘cue’) ‘grasps’ A. | ||
| 14 | BOASTS | Snakes beginning to terrify small crows (6) |
| BOAS (‘snakes’) + 1st of ‘Terrify’ + S[mall]. | ||
| 16 | T-SHIRTS | Leaving first in Augusta, stars hit off tees (1-6) |
| Anagram (‘off”) – minus 1st of Augusta – of STaRS HIT. ‘Tees’ a bit close but there for golfing surface, I guess. | ||
| 19 | ASSURED | Reads us novel filled with aplomb (7) |
| Anagram (‘novel’) of READS US | ||
| 21 | RADISH | Salad vegetable – excellent, somewhat? (6) |
| RAD (U.S. ‘radical’ = excellent), but only a bit, so ‘-ISH’. | ||
| 23 | DETECTIVE | Sleuth not working, with time for female (9) |
| DEfECTIVE (‘not working’), T[ime] replacing F[emale]. Neat. | ||
| 25 | SAMBA | Hopes ambassador holds dance (5) |
| Inclusion in ‘hopeS AM BAssador’. | ||
| 26 | HONOUR | Celebrate period of time without working (6) |
| HO.UR surrounds ON (‘working’). | ||
| 27 | REVEALED | Showed what comes from calf eating grass? On the contrary (8) |
| VEAL (‘calf’ meat) in RE.ED (‘grass’), and not the other way about. | ||
| 28 | PIECES | Heartlessly makes holes in chunks (6) |
| PIErCES without centre. | ||
| 29 | STRESSED | Sun editor grabbing bit of hair, worried (8) |
| S[un] + ED[itor] includes TRESS (‘bit of hair’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | INDEED | Quite fashionable exploit (6) |
| IN (‘fashionable’) + DEED (an ‘exploit’) | ||
| 2 | DIVISIONS | Democrat is restricting creativity classes (9) |
| D[emocrat] + IS contains VISION (‘creativity’). | ||
| 3 | SILLY | Falls ill yet conceals rash (5) |
| Hidden in ‘falllS ILL Yet’. | ||
| 4 | REPORTS | Announces the Queen picked up drinks (7) |
| RE (ER, ‘queen’, reversed) + PORTS (‘drinks’). | ||
| 6 | VARNISHED | Polished his red van badly (9) |
| Anagram (‘badly’) of HIS RED VAN. | ||
| 7 | NOTED | Famous school rejected daughter (5) |
| ETON (only incidentally famous ‘school’, reversed) + D[aughter]. | ||
| 8 | SURPRISE | Hit for six? Super – sir’s out (8) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of ‘SUPER SIR’. | ||
| 11 | OMIT | Miss sick? Not very (4) |
| vOMIT (in the British rather than American sense of ‘sick’), without V[ery]. | ||
| 15 | STRUCTURE | Building new turrets on the outside of university college (9) |
| Anagram (‘new’) of TURRETS surrounds U[niversity} C[ollege]. | ||
| 17 | RESEMBLES | Looks like less beer drunk with male stuck inside (9) |
| Anagram (‘drunk’) of LESS BEER around M[ale]. | ||
| 18 | HARDSHIP | Need solid vessel (8) |
| HARD (‘solid’) + SHIP. | ||
| 20 | DRIP | Wimp finally shed tear (4) |
| Last of ‘sheD’ + RIP. | ||
| 21 | REELECT | Stagger Evert initially with court return (7) |
| REEL (‘stagger’) + 1st of Evert + C[our]T. Neat again. Obvious once cracked but my last in. | ||
| 22 | LANDED | Was first to harbour and reached the shore (6) |
| LE.D (‘was first’) contains (‘harbours’, as t’were) AND. | ||
| 24 | TENSE | Stressful future, perhaps (5) |
| Nice double def, | ||
| 25 | SCENE | Part of a play recognised on the radio (5) |
| Homophone (‘on the radio’) of ‘seen’ (‘recognised’). | ||
I worked the Monday and Tuesday in the same sitting, and when that happens I hope the puzzles are easier but offer bits of wit, instruction and cleverness. So thanks to Flimsy and Grant (with whom I agreed on 16A). The puzzles often have cricket terms, so I wondered why “hit for six?” = surprise. So I was surprised! when I looked it up and saw the idiom, which seems to usually have an object for “hit.” I thought LANDED and REELECT were well disguised.
Yes, I too agree with ub and GB. Also, it’s the first time I’ve come across RAD meaning excellent — can I be the only one? But thanks, Flimsy for a good Tuesday and GB for your explications.
Yes, I liked this too. Most went in without too much trouble, but some difficult ones like REELECTED and my last in BOASTS made this worth the effort. We’ve certainly had INDUSTRY before, which I took far too long to spot, and RAD has also made an appearance or two in that sense, though personally, I think describing the vegetable in question as ‘excellent, somewhat?’ is being a bit charitable.
Thanks to Flimsy and Grant
Thanks to Flimsy and Grant. Enjoyabe. l’m another who was not sure about rad in RADISH, and I needed all the crossers to get REELECT.
Thanks Flimsy and Grant
An excellent puzzle for those starting the cryptic solving journey, with absolute clarity of the clues and answers. Having said that, needed to come here to see that 22d wasn’t some quirky sort of double definition and pleased to see that it wasn’t.
Some old standards used including 1a which I should have seen much earlier than about half way through. Liked the vegetable clue at 21a.
Finished in the SW corner with PIECES as the last one in.
Generally smooth sailing with the SW corner last to fall. BOASTS and DETECTIVE were favorites. Got some by definitions and crossings – T-SHIRTS, LANDED, OMIT, and PIECES – thanks Grant for explaining. Thanks Flimsy for the fun.
I thought this was very good – Flimsy managed to keep this perfectly accessible with consistently good clues, good surfaces and a good variety – a pleasure to solve
.. and impeccable technique!
What is a “surface,” as in a good surface?
Steady progress with the SW corner being the last area to complete. Rad = excellent was a new one and not entirely convincing. Liked REELECT. thanks
@9 SB: I think it means that the clues read smoothly and would make good sense as sentences or perhaps news headlines even if they were not crossword clues.
Sharon Bear@ 9: The surface is the total clue before you pick it apart to solve. If you have to read it multiple times to make any sense from it, it’s not a great clue. If you read it effortlessly, it has a good surface. If it’s readable and the clue in its entiety (not just the definition part) relates to the answer then I’ll say it has a great surface. The July 3rd crossword by Tramp contains a plethora of good surfaces in my opinion.
Thank you, ub and Tony! Tony, unfortunately, I never got to see that July 3 puzzle. I like to do the paper version, and July 3 was a holiday in the States (as our 4th of July holiday fell on a Saturday this year), and the FT was not delivered. I had to do the New York Times puzzle, which, although challenging, was a poor substitute.
Sharon Bear@ 13 Sorry, I forgot to mention that the July 3rd puzzle by Tramp is in the Guardian which you can still access.
Agree with the general comments above and would single out DRIP as a favourite, being artfully disguised.
Enjoyable puzzle. Can anyone explain purpose of “On the contrary” in 27ac? Not smart enough to understand the explanation but I guess I’ll kick myself.
Phil J @16 REVEALED is the grass (REED) eating the calf (VEAL), the opposite (on the contrary) of how the clue reads.
Penny drops! Thanks Tony
Thank you, Tony!