GURNEY kicks the week off…
An enjoyable solve this morning. I got stuck for a while foolishly trying to parse POPULISM for 27a, but eventually saw the light. Plenty of nicely concise clues… 4a and 20d were particular favourites.
Thanks GURNEY!
ACROSS
1. Ill-tempered animal crossing river (6)
MOROSE
MOOSE (animal) crossing R (river)
4. As coteries might be represented? (8)
ESOTERIC
(COTERIES)* (*might be represented) &lit (in that “esoteric” is also suggestive of an anagram)
9. Perhaps an address in Madrid (5)
SENOR
10. Performer upset Braille not available (9)
BALLERINA
(BRAILLE)* (*upset) + NA (not available)
11. Maybe helping to make out way of working with acceptable books (7)
MOONLIT
MO (way of working, modus operandi) with ON (acceptable) + LIT (books)
12. Withdrawal of soldiers, pleasant surprise (7)
RETREAT
RE (soldiers) + TREAT (pleasant surprise)
13. Second record – hard work (4)
SLOG
S (second) + LOG (record)
14. Framework of lively debates with Duke involved (8)
BEDSTEAD
(DEBATES)* (*lively) with D (duke) involved
17. Fighter rejected hints following anger (8)
SPITFIRE
(TIPS)< (hints, <rejected) + F (following) + IRE (anger)
19. Rise in peso a revelation (4)
SOAR
[pe]SO A R[evalation] (in)
22. Uproar as sale starts afresh (appointed leader ousted by resistance) (7)
RUCTION
AUCTION (sale), starts afresh, with A[ppointed] (leader) ousted by R (resistance)
24. US guy first of all is describing art houses, old and new (7)
IDAHOAN
I[s] D[escribing] A[rt] H[ouses] O[ld] A[nd] N[ew] (first of all)
25. Far-seeing, in favour of film presentation, say, by hospital department (9)
PROVIDENT
PRO VID (in favour of film presentation, say) by ENT (hospital department)
26. Famous navigator, a flier (5)
DRAKE
27. Politician’s influence, never ending, one noticed in job (8)
POPULIST
(PUL[l] (influence, never ending) + I (one)) noticed in POST (job)
28. Fellow before court, old, right bully (6)
HECTOR
HE (fellow) before CT (court) + O (old) + R (right)
DOWN
1. Note quiet mother’s originally hesitant, confused state (8)
MISHMASH
MI (note) + SH (quiet) + MAS (mother’s) + H[esitant] (originally)
2. Spiteful, managed company on rise as alternative to our group (9)
RANCOROUS
RAN (managed) + CO (company) + (OR)< (as alternative to, <rise) + US (our group)
3. Without doubt churlish, full of energy (6)
SURELY
SURLY (churlish) full of E (energy)
5. Unexpectedly frail – sternest personal discipline the answer (4-9)
SELF-RESTRAINT
(FRAIL STERNEST)* (*unexpectedly)
6. Two articles on time about plays (7)
THEATRE
THE A (two articles) on T (time) + RE (about)
7. Archaic need to have odd items taken out where boats are? (5)
RHINE
[a]R[c]H[a]I[c] N[e]E[d] (to have odd items taken out)
8. Inclined to talk in church? Indeed, about keeping off drink (6)
CHATTY
CH (church) + AY (indeed) about TT (keeping off drink, teetotal)
10. One using head maybe identifies poor player in field (13)
BUTTERFINGERS
BUTTER (one using head, maybe) + FINGERS (identifies)
15. For example roll-on, too darned odd (9)
DEODORANT
16. Greek with term for the ancient city’s magnificence (8)
GRANDEUR
GR (greek) + AND (with) + [th]E (term, an end) + UR (ancient city)
18. Indicate approval of popular Italian, genial (not half) (7)
INITIAL
IN (popular) + IT (Italian) + [gen]IAL (not half)
20. Conclude with expected score, one might infer? (4,2)
WRAP UP
W (with) + RAP UP (par, expected score, one might infer)
21. Lag behind wife and daughter in valley (6)
DAWDLE
(W (wife) and D (daughter)) in DALE (valley)
23. Noisily eat meat Mike cut (5)
CHOMP
CHOP (meat), M (Mike) cut
A scenic green slope to ski on a fine day.
Liked ESOTERIC, SENOR, BUTTERFINGERS and WRAP UP.
Thanks, Gurney and Teacow!
Thanks Gurney and Teacow
In the midst of a very wet week in Queensland (100+ml today and the same expected for next 4-5 days), this was a very entertaining puzzle with the unravelling of some of the word play generated taking as much time again as the filling of the grid. I think that WRAP UP took cod honours when the penny finally dropped with the cleverly disguised reversal of PAR. Like KVa, thought that BUTTERFINGERS and ESOTERIC were also very good,
Wasn’t aware of the POPULIST politicians until looking them up – apart from the wet, we are in the midst of pre-election mode with two of the most unpopular ‘populist style’ party leaders proving daily how close to the bottom of the barrel we have reached. Anyway that was the clue that finished off for me today.
Thanks for the blog, neat and concise clues and I have to agree with the favourites mentioned.
A pleasant start to the week and a satisfying solve. We saw COTERIES as an &lit in that coteries may well consist of people who share a particularly esoteric view or opinion. The parsing of RETREAT puzzled us for a bit till we realised that the definition was simply ‘withdrawal’ and the soldiers were part of the wordplay. MOONLIT puzzled us too till we saw it as the past tense of the verb ‘to moonlight’. Favourite was MISHMASH.
Thanks, Gurney and Teacow.
PS: Gurney’s appearances in the FT are not all that frequent (about every 2-3 months) but aficionados of his puzzles can find his alter ego, Raich, in today’s i.
Many thanks, Teacow, for the excellent blog and many thanks also to all who commented.