A typical ALBERICH offering. Very clean cluing to put it succinctly.
FF: 9 DD: 9
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ADJUSTMENT |
A day before stag night, finally finds accommodation (10)
|
| A D ( Day ) [ JUST MEN ( stag 0 ] T ( nighT, finally ) | ||
| 7 | PORT |
Opening wine, left harbour (4)
|
| quadruple def; my foi | ||
| 9 | OFFA |
Refuse to part with pound for old ruler (4)
|
| OFFAl ( refuse, without L – pound ) | ||
| 10 | LORNA DOONE |
Look, almost no-one read novel – this one? (5,5)
|
| LO ( look ) [ NO-ONe ( almost ) READ ]* | ||
| 11 | ACCENT |
Could be grave misfortune I had avoided (6)
|
| ACCidENT ( misfortune, without ID { i had } ) | ||
| 12 | HATFIELD |
Town in Herts or maybe Balmoral area (8)
|
| HAT ( balmoral ) FIELD ( area ) | ||
| 13 | FORSOOTH |
Small ducks found in river? Indeed (8)
|
| [ S ( small ) OO ( ducks ) ] in FORTH ( river ) | ||
| 15 | SODA |
Turf accountant’s first to get drink (4)
|
| SOD ( turf ) A ( Accountant, first letter ) | ||
| 17 | ARGO |
Old ship’s gone around river (4)
|
| AGO ( gone ) around R ( river ) | ||
| 19 | TRANSACT |
Rock star can’t perform (8)
|
| [ STAR CANT ]* – nice crisp surface | ||
| 22 | BLOCKADE |
Jam sandwiches ordered? The opposite, being cut off (8)
|
| LOCK ( jam ) in BADE ( ordered ) | ||
| 23 | BARTOK |
Composer’s comment showing approval of Simpson? (6)
|
| cryptic def ; BART OK ( approval of simpson ) | ||
| 25 | EXALTATION |
Dressed in latex at end of disco for larks (10)
|
| [ IN LATEX AT ]* around O ( end of discO ) – a flock of larks is called an exaltation, new meaning of the word for me | ||
| 26 | VIEW |
Contend with opinion (4)
|
| VIE ( contend ) W ( with ) | ||
| 27 | EDGY |
Somewhat inebriated gymnast is irritable (4)
|
| hidden in “..inebriatED GYmnast..” | ||
| 28 | MAGISTRATE |
Wise folk given case of suspect to judge? Just one of them (10)
|
| MAGI ( wise folk ) ST ( case of SuspecT, end characters ) RATE ( judge ) – should the definition include ‘ judge?, just..’? | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | DE FACTO |
Excellent performance on Love Actually (2,5)
|
| DEF ( excellent ) ACT ( performance ) O ( love ) | ||
| 3 | USAGE |
Generation following American custom (5)
|
| US ( american ) AGE ( generation ) | ||
| 4 | TELETHON |
Oddly, they spilt the beans about hospital fund-raiser (8)
|
| TE ( ThEy, odd letters ) [ LET ON ( spilt the beans ) around H ( Hospital ) ] | ||
| 5 | EARTHSHATTERING |
Of great consequence, this could get at her? (15)
|
| cryptic def; reverse clue for AT HER ( anagram of EARTH ) | ||
| 6 | TOASTS |
Drinks to nurse achieving success, for starters? (6)
|
| TOTS ( drinks ) containing AS ( starting letters of “..Achieving Success..”) – could be an &lit | ||
| 7 | PSORIASIS |
Skin complaint, sir, is treated with soap (9)
|
| [ SIR IS SOAP ]* | ||
| 8 | RANKLED |
Irritated, was first to go after row (7)
|
| LED ( first to go ) after RANK ( row ) | ||
| 14 | STOICALLY |
One splits high cost with friend without complaining (9)
|
| { I ( one ) in [ COST ]* } ALLY ( friend ) | ||
| 16 | SAWBONES |
Was upset by jokes about British surgeon (8)
|
| [ SAW ( WAS, reversed ) ONES ( jokes ) ] around B ( British ) | ||
| 18 | RELAXED |
Not bothered by boring leader rambling (7)
|
| X ( by ) in [ LEADER ]* | ||
| 20 | CLOSEST |
Most tight finishes will get tense (7)
|
| CLOSES ( finishes ) T ( tense ) | ||
| 21 | SALAAM |
Old lady sadly returned greeting (6)
|
| MA ( old lady ) ALAS ( sadly ), all reversed | ||
| 24 | RIVER |
Spree perhaps in topless club (5)
|
| dRIVER ( club , without starting letter ) |
Another lovely puzzle from Alberich.
I smiled at the surface of 10ac: when I was about 7, my great aunt gave me LORNA DOONE as a birthday present. Avid reader that I was, I really tried to get into it but it was way beyond me at that age – and I never did read it.
4dn is a nicely topical clue, today being Comic Relief.
I intended to prune my list of favourites but it was impossible, so here goes: ADJUSTMENT, PORT, LORNA DOONE, BLOCKADE, BARTOK, MAGISTRATE, TELETHON, EARTHSHATTERING, TOASTS, RELAXED and – top of the list – EXALTATION.
(I had the definition of 6dn as ‘drinks to’ and parsed RANKLED as LED (was first) to go after RANK (row) but these are minor differences.)
Many thanks, as ever, to Alberich and to Turbolegs.
FWIW, I parsed 6d and 8d the same way that Eileen@1 did.
I loved the quadruple definition of 7a, my FOI, also. And an exaltation of larks was new to me too.
We were obviously on Alberich’s wavelength today as we got most of this on our first pass, PORT being our FOI. But there were a few where it took a while for the penny to drop, including ADJUSTMENT, our LOI. Fortunately we remembered the Spree as a RIVER from a Rodriguez puzzle in the Indy last month, and EXALTATION is on our list (along with murder and parliament) of collective nouns for birds.
Favourites were HATFIELD, FORSOOTH, DE FACTO and STOICALLY.
Thanks, Alberich and Turbolegs.
Thanks. Alberich and Turbolegs. Like many of you, PORT was my FOI – and ma foi, what a marvelous quadruple definition! Needed Wikipedia to get meaning of OFFA, and HATFIELD was a new place name to me. ADJUSTMENT, LORNA DOONE and EARTHSHATTERING were all clever.
Yup, huge tick for the quadruple. Great puzzle, thanks to both.
And to Eileen @1: I’ve recently re-read Lorna D & enjoyed every line. Go on, I guarantee you’ll love it.
Very enjoyable solve – many thanks to Alberich and Turbolegs.
Am sure I am being thick, but why does ones = jokes (16D).
Good weekend to all you cruciverbalists around the globe.
Thanks, Grant @5 – I might yet, at my advanced age, give it a go!
Lemski @6 – “Have you heard the one about …?”
A marvellous way to spend some afternoon in the sun time. Thanks Alberich.
Lemski@6 – my eChambers gives “one” as joke and cites “did you hear the one about” as the reason. It was a new one on me too.
Thanks for the explanations Turbolegs – I agree the clues are very clean.
Oops, Eileen we crossed as I had something else to do in the middle.
No problem, Mystogre – these things, happen (I know 😉 )
Late solve .. but very much worth it.. took a while to start but became more n more enjoyable.. came to extraordinary 7ac right at the end and laughed out loud.. still smiling.. was always fascinated that Lorna was invented by RD Blackmore… the power of good literature..
Thanks ALBERICH n Turbolegs
Thanks Alberich and Turbolegs
Took a couple of sessions to get this one out – took a pause with about 6 to go. Picked it up about an hour later and immediately finished those ones off.
Always have trouble spelling PSORIASIS and hadn’t come across the river SPREE before. Was pleased to have remembered HATFIELD as a town in England, although would not have known what county that it was in. Missed the EXALTATION as a group of larks and had made tenuous links between ‘for a lark’ and ‘exaltation’ – it was a super clue when its properly explained.
Finished in the NW corner with DE FACTO, ADJUSTMENT and FORSOOTH the last few in.
Another excellent puzzle from Alberich as always which i started last night and have just finished before looking at today’s Philistine. I parsed as Eileen as well, had the same favourites, and needed her (and Mystogre’s) help to understand ONES=jokes – one to remember, although I’ll most likely forget. Many thanks to Alberich and Turbolegs.