Apologies to all — I did not have a chance to blog until quite late today.
No-one familiar with this setter will be surprised at the number of cryptic definitions. However, most of them did not strike me as particularly clever today. In a good cd clue, IMHO, there needs to be a significant distance between the apparent meaning and the intended meaning of the clue. I thought that was not present in some cases today.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PICKLE cd |
| 4 | BRIGANDS AND in BRIGS (ships) |
| 9 | OPIATE *(PIE TO + A) |
| 10 | EMINENCE dd |
| 12 | REGULARS cd |
| 13 | AMOEBA A MO[ment] (second) E (English) BA (degree) |
| 15 | MAIL LIAM (Irishman) reversed |
| 16 | SECOND RATE *(DOESN’T CARE) |
| 19 | COMPETITOR *(PRICE MOTTO) |
| 20 | OVER [c]OVER (fielder) |
| 23 | HECKLE cd |
| 25 | SCOT FREE S (second) COT (bed) FREE (delivered) |
| 27 | RUNNER-UP cd? Isn’t this just a straight definition of “competitor one has beaten”? |
| 28 | BODICE BO[a]DICE[a] |
| 29 | SEDITION S (point) EDITION (publication) |
| 30 | LLOYDS cd, referring to shipping insurance. It is also true that Lloyds is mainly known for insurance |
| Down | |
| 1 | PROGRAM PRO (for) GRAM (weight) |
| 2 | CLINGFILM CLING (hold) FILM (picture) |
| 3 | LATELY *(YET ALL) |
| 5 | ROMP OR reversed + MP (politician) |
| 6 | GANYMEDE *(DENY GAME) |
| 7 | NONCE N (name) ONCE (formerly) |
| 8 | SEEPAGE SEE PAGE |
| 11 | ARMENIA MEN (males) in ARIA (song) |
| 14 | MOROCCO dd |
| 17 | ADVERSITY AD (notice) + SIT (model) in VERY (deeply) |
| 18 | HELL-BENT dd |
| 19 | COHORTS *(SHORT) in CO (small company) |
| 21 | REEFERS cd |
| 22 | STROLL ST[reet] (short way) ROLL (turn) |
| 24 | CANED *(DANCE) |
| 26 | LUDO L (liberal) U (approved) DO (party) |
Thanks, Agentzero, for the unexpected (that is, for you) blog.
I was rather surprised by the fact that you aren’t familiar with Dante/Rufus
(i.e. Roger Squires).
For Guardian solvers (who, on Monday, were confronted by Brendan (magnificent) instead of Rufus, this could have been a delayed gentle start of the week.
And gentle it was, but – as you said – those cryptic definitions …
Like for example LLOYDS, mwah.
In 15ac I had LIAM.
Again, one of these clues that works both ways, isn’t it?
However, the real reason to send in a comment today is 19ac.
SECOND RATE: what a first-rate anagram & surface!!
That’s a classic.
Hi Sil
I am familiar with Dante, better known as Rufus … not sure how you inferred otherwise from the blog?
I agree about DOESN’T CARE = SECOND RATE, a great anagram find.
I was away until today, so I haven’t solved the Brendan yet … looking forward to it on the train home today.
Sorry, Agentzero, I didn’t read the first line in your preamble well enough (about Dante).
Enjoy Brendan!