I needed to put on my deerstalker for this offering from Sleuth.
I am not entirely sure that I picked up on all of the subtleties of some of the clues, so as always, I welcome your comments.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | POWER BLOCK |
Pit to accommodate fantastic bowler in major group (5,5)
|
| POCK (pit) around (to accommodate) anagram of (fantastic) BOWLER | ||
| 7 | PICK |
Choice film for an audience (4)
|
| Homophone for (for an audience) “pic” (film), short for “picture” | ||
| 9 | SAGA |
Slang, say, on a regular basis in extended story (4)
|
| Alternate letters of (on a regular basis) S[L]A[N]G [S]A[Y] | ||
| 10 | GET A LOAD OF |
Pay attention to a floodgate when broken (3,1,4,2)
|
| Anagram of (broken) A FLOODGATE | ||
| 11 | KINDLY |
Benign family in appropriate fashion overlooking first sign of unfriendliness (6)
|
| KIN (family) + D[U]LY (in appropriate fashion) minus “u” (“overlooking” first sign [i.e., letter] of unfriendliness) | ||
| 12 | ELEVATED |
High tax dividing European city endlessly (8)
|
| VAT (tax) inside (dividing) E (European) + LEED[S] (city “endlessly”) | ||
| 13 | NAGASAKI |
Horse taken by a British writer in Asian city (8)
|
| NAG (horse) + A + SAKI (British writer, aka H.H. Munro) | ||
| 15 | OMAN |
Part of boom anticipated in ME country (4)
|
| Hidden inside (part of) [BO]OM AN[TICIPATED] | ||
| 17 | HAIL |
Husband is given trouble in wintry weather (4)
|
| H (husband) + AIL (trouble). Every time I have seen hail, it has fallen during strong thunderstorms, usually hot summer weather. | ||
| 19 | HAUNTING |
Poignant article probing countryside pursuit (8)
|
| A (article) inside (probing) HUNTING (countryside pursuit) | ||
| 22 | CONTRACT |
Catch normal basis for employment? (8)
|
| Double definition (accent on alternate syllables) | ||
| 23 | GLOOMY |
Dark place to go in dilapidated gym (6)
|
| LOO (place to “go”) inside (in) anagram of (dilapidated) GYM | ||
| 25 | POLES APART |
Eastern Europeans given a role to be very different (5,5)
|
| POLES (Eastern Europeans) + A + PART (role) | ||
| 26 | SIDE |
Set of players expressed dejection, we’re told (4)
|
| Homophone for (we’re told) “sighed” (expressed dejection) | ||
| 27 | CYST |
Growth clearly suspect at the margins (4)
|
| Outer letters of (“at the margins”) C[LEARL]Y + S[USPEC]T | ||
| 28 | TAKE NOTICE |
Observe one with a ticket in a mess (4,6)
|
| Anagram of (in a mess) ONE + A TICKET | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OCARINA |
Music maker and fashion designer wasting day in boat essentially (7)
|
| CAR[D]IN (fashion designer, i.e., Pierre Cardin) minus “d” (wasting day) inside (in) [B]OA[T] (boat “essentially”) | ||
| 3 | ELAND |
Dash with director to see African animal (5)
|
| ELAN (dash) + D (director) | ||
| 4 | BOGEYMAN |
Moneybags with no end of dollars represented dreaded character (8)
|
| Anagram of (represented) MONEYBAG[S] minus “s” (“with no end of dollars“) | ||
| 5 | ON THE RIGHT TRACK |
How one might describe Conservative with record likely to succeed? (2,3,5,5)
|
| ON THE RIGHT (Conservative) + TRACK (record), also, something of a cryptic definition and/or possible slogan for Mr. Sunak | ||
| 6 | KILTED |
Youngster carrying odd bits of litter in Highland dress? (6)
|
| KID (youngster) around (carrying) odd letters of (odd bits of) L[I]T[T]E[R] | ||
| 7 | PLAY ABOUT |
Gamble on a boxing match and behave irresponsibly (4,5)
|
| PLAY (gamble) + A + BOUT (boxing match) | ||
| 8 | CHOLERA |
Pass time around hotel making complaint (7)
|
| COL (pass) + ERA (time) around H (hotel) | ||
| 14 | ALLOTMENT |
A large French department satisfied about new place for cultivation (9)
|
| A + L (large) + LOT (French department) + MET (satisfied) around (about) N (new) | ||
| 16 | TUNGSTEN |
Element in enthusiastic type that’s upset doddery gents (8)
|
| NUT (enthusiastic type) reversed (upset) + anagram of (doddery) GENTS | ||
| 18 | APOLOGY |
Traveller in China in a good year has to make grovelling statement? (7)
|
| POLO (traveller in China, i.e., Marco Polo) inside (in) A + G (good) + Y (year) | ||
| 20 | NOMADIC |
US actor flips in charge of a wandering lot? (7)
|
| DAMON (US actor, i.e., Matt Damon) reversed (flips) + I.C. (in charge) | ||
| 21 | SAVANT |
Soprano in Paris before knowledgeable figure (6)
|
| S (soprano) + AVANT (before “in Paris,” i.e., in French) | ||
| 24 | ONSET |
Source notes criminal describing where shooting takes place? (5)
|
| Anagram of (criminal) NOTES, plus cryptic definition, where shooting [of a film] takes place, i.e., “on set” |
The southwest quarter of Nutmeg’s in the Guardian was proving a bit unco-operative, so I took a break with this one and found it very enjoyable. My favourite was GLOOMY. We’re much more likely, here anyway, to get hail in summer than winter, but I’d have to be very silly and petty to mention that here, so I won’t. (And I only just noticed Cineraria has mentioned the same!)
And GreginSyd, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve heard of Matt Damon.
Now, back to Nutmeg …
Thanks for the blog and I agree with all your analysis. I found the clues very concise and precise, a good set.
Who is Matt Damon ?
Roz, that was a tongue-in-cheek question, wasn’t it?
Nothing remarkable about today’s offering so I shall say nothing apart from thanks to Cineraria.
This was fun, if not too taxing.
Re hail: I think you could describe hail as ‘wintry’ (i.e. cold and wet) even if it falls in summer.
Thanks Sleuth and Cineraria.
Thanks Sleuth for an enjoyable crossword. I especially liked POLES APART, CYST, and OCARINA. I failed with CONTRACT, completely missing the clever DD. If Roz doesn’t know Matt Damon I would recommend Good Will Hunting (she may actually understand the advanced mathematics in the film) as well as the gripping Bourne trilogy. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
All in good fun these comments. I guess it feels wintry after a summer hailstorm.
(and Roz@2 you are a scream!)
Yes I was joking @2 , Tony I have seen Good Will Hunting, I remember the maths as fairly basic Graph Theory and the film calls it Fourier theory which is totally wrong but very hard to show this sort of thing on a film.
Agree with Greg@7, we usually get hail in winter here but if it comes in summer it can make the ground all white so it is “wintry” weather.