My first Leonidas.
I have never come across Leonidas before, so didn't know what to expect. After a slow start, I soon got onto his wavelength and really enjoyed the solve. The setter has used a good range of devices, there's nothing terribly obscure and the surfaces are clean and read well.
Thanks Leonidas.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SILVERBACK | Medal attached to second troop leader (10) |
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SILVER (medal, for second place) attached to BACK ("second") Setter is referring to a silverback gorilla, who is the senior member of a troop of gorillas. |
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| 7 | CUBE | Solid recollection of Nebuchadnezzar bottles (4) |
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Hidden backwards [recollection of, bottles] in "nEBUChadnezzar") |
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| 9 | See 26 | |
| 10 | CARTOONIST | Tacos rot in mouldy drawer (10) |
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*(tacos rot in) [anag:mouldy] |
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| 11 | FESS UP | Unburden regularly after small drink (4,2) |
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[regularly] (a)F(t)E(r) + S (amall) + SUP ("drink") |
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| 12 | OUTSTRIP | Leave behind away kit (8) |
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OUT ("away") + STRIP ("kit") |
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| 13, 15 | ASTEROID BELT | Amateur band bags drug for rock group (8,4) |
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A (amateur) + BELT ("band") bags STEROID ("drug") |
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| 17 | SKIP | Sailor having left tuna and duck (4) |
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SKIP(jack) ("tuna" with JACK ("sailor") having left) |
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| 19 | TANGELOS | Only fly back fruit (8) |
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<= (SOLE ("only") + GNAT ("fly")) [back] |
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| 22 | TOODLE-OO | I’m going to dole out eggs (6-2) |
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*(to dole) [anag:out] + O O ("eggs") |
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| 23 | HANDEL | Pass the Spanish guy who scored (6) |
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HAND ("pass") + EL ("the" in "Spanish") |
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| 25 | CHEESINESS | Earth she’s since cultivated for corn (10) |
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*(e shes since) [anag:cultivated] where E = earth |
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| 26, 9 | WIDE OPEN | Vulnerable dentist’s address exchanged (4,4) |
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A "dentist's address" could be OPEN WIDE, which the setter is asking us to "exchange" or swap (around) |
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| 27 | SWAT | Strike that wasp periodically returning (4) |
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<= T(h)A(t)W(a)S(p) [periodically, returning] |
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| 28 | OYSTER BEDS | Bede’s story about places rich in pearls? (6,4) |
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*(bedes story) [anag:about] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | IMPRESS | Wow, my job is reporting for the FT? (7) |
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I'M PRESS (i.e. I work for a newspaper) |
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| 3, 21 | VENUS DE MILO | Dome unveils restored marble (5,2,4) |
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*(dome unveils) [anag:restored] |
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| 4 | RECEPTOR | Sense organ on mushroom atop hill (8) |
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RE ("on") + CEP ("mushroom") atop TOR ("hill") |
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| 5 | AIR CONDITIONERS | State stops those transmitting chilling things (3,12) |
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CONDITION ("state") stops AIRERS ("those transmitting") |
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| 6 | KNOTTY | Difficult speed ends in foot injury (6) |
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KNOT ("speed") + [ends in] (foo)T (injur)Y |
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| 7 | CONSTABLE | Copper, carbon and oxygen extremely unreactive (9) |
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C (carbon) + O(xyge)N [extremely] + STABLE ("unreactive") |
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| 8 | BESTIAL | Win against Ali raging like an animal (7) |
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BEST ("win against") + *(ali) [anag;raging] |
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| 14 | EXPEDIENT | Spotted object in old exercise books that’s appropriate (9) |
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DIE ("spotted thing") in EX ("old") PE (physical "exercise") + NT (New Testament, so "books") |
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| 16 | UNCHASTE | Indecent broadcast not followed? (8) |
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Homophone [broadcast] of UNCHASED ("not followed") |
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| 18 | KNOW HOW | Nerd from the south who developed expertise (4-3) |
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<=WONK ("nerd", from the south) + *(who) [anag:developed] |
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| 20 | OVERDID | Exaggerated bits of Rigoletto Verdi ditched (7) |
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Hidden in [bits of] "rigolettO VERDI Did" |
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| 21 | See 3 | |
| 24 | NAWAB | Newsflash: atheist was originally a born Muslim (5) |
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[originally] N(ewsflash) A(theist) W(as) + A + B (born) |
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I gather this is Leonidas’s second outing and he (?) is proving himself to be one of the best. Very much enjoyed this. ASTEROID BELT & TOODLE OO took some thinking so I’ll nominate these as favourites. SILVERBACK was another tricky one. Don’t think I’ve seen WONK before. Thanks to Leonidas and loonapick.
I remember seeing Leonidas before and liked the handle as it’s also the name of chocolate company I like! This is the first I’ve tried though.
Once I cottoned on, I really liked 1a, SILVERBACK and learned a ‘troop of gorillas’. TANGELOS, CONSTABLE and TOODLE-OO all good fun. Mindful of ‘pyramid’ blogged today by Pete (16,640) as ‘solid’, I was wise to CUBE.
Most enjoyable.
Thanks Leonidas and Loonapick for making sense of those which eluded me in the parsing.
Thanks both. An excellent crossword. The NW corner held me up for some time.
Exactly a month on from the first one, and another super puzzle. I like the name because I have a statue of his Greek namesake on a shelf at the side of my bed, which I brought back from my very first visit to Greece in 1972.
Last one in was TANGELOS, parsed afterwards, and my favourite. Looking forward to no. 3 already.
Many thanks to both for an enjoyable afternoon excursion. My only concern is 24d where the word play instruction (originally) appears in the middle of the words to be used. That makes the construction a bit awkward and I wonder if it was the last clue produced, just to fill the grid. The rest? Very good.
Nice crossword. Handel took longer than it should and I missed toodle oo, even though I had all the letters! Thanks to all.
A nice steady solve, with no real problems.
Mystogre@5: We don’t have any concerns about 24dn. We see ‘originally’ as referring only to the three words preceding it, then you have to add the A from the clue followed by B which is a standard abbreviation for ‘born’, e.g. in genealogies.
Thanks, Lepnidas and loonapick.
This was satisfying. Clues like RECEPTOR, KNOTTY, and KNOW-HOW among others will have me looking forward to more from this setter. Thanks to both.
Thanks Leonidas and loonapick
Enjoyed the debut puzzle by this setter and this one continued on in the same vein. Particularly like the well-disguised definitions that are used – ‘troop leader’, ‘rock group’ ‘I’m going’ ‘dentist’s address’, ‘wow’ (as a verb) and chilling things’.
SILVERBACK and ASTERORID BELT were my favourites.
Finished in the NW corner with that gorilla and KNOTTY as the last couple in.