A lovely SLORMGORM to begin the week..
I thoroughly enjoyed this morning's puzzle. A wonderful mix of clues with great surfaces, an appearance of the cat who's natural habitat is the crossword in 23d, and the rather brilliant 22a.
Thankyou SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Announcement in departures? (8)
OBITUARY
6. Two gents, both ignoring last set of steps (3-3)
CHA-CHA
CHA[p] CHA[p] (two gents, both ignoring last)
9. Strong men brought over small statue (6)
ROBUST
(OR)< (men, <brought over) + BUST (small statue)
10. Male turnkey’s nickname for a barber? (8)
LOCKSMAN
Double (cryptic) definition
11. Small child’s slide (4)
SKID
12. An editor in pants is unrestrained (10)
INORDINATE
14. Members only venue for swingers? (4,4)
GOLF CLUB
16. Grass on duke pinching dame’s rear (4)
REED
(RE (on) + D (duke)) pinching [dam]E (rear)
18. In a good way, I can be nice to look at (4)
FAIR
19. Linesmen known for footwork bit amiss, sadly (8)
IAMBISTS
21. Doc right to transport fish in rickety vehicle? (10)
BONESHAKER
(BONES (doc) + R (right) ) to transport HAKE (fish)
22. See Mark boil sort of light jam (4)
SPOT
24. Old boy about to tuck into wine and curry (8)
VINDALOO
(O (old) + LAD (boy))< (<about) to tuck into VINO (wine)
26. Place where one at the wheel could be better? (6)
CASINO
27. In-house Seat workers? (6)
USHERS
28. Aussie leader splitting tight strides is a calamity (8)
DISASTER
A[ussie] (leader) splitting (STRIDES)* (*tight)
DOWN
2. Small waterway by British castle (5)
BROOK
B (British) + ROOK (castle)
3. Outstanding accomplishment to cure red of hiccups! (4,2,5)
TOUR DE FORCE
(TO CURE RED OF)* (*hiccups)
4. Homes in which one finds social workers? (3-5)
ANT-HILLS
5. Path to success? Work cordially, be fantastic! (6,5,4)
YELLOW BRICK ROAD
(WORK CORDIALLY BE)* (*fantastic)
6. Spies will catch villain with bug (6)
CICADA
CIA (spies) will catch CAD (villain)
8. Sign of life stirring at the bar, drug involved? (9)
HEARTBEAT
(AT THE BAR)* (*stirring), E (drug) involved
13. People who are huge fans of The Mirror? (11)
NARCISSISTS
15. Awful riot arose in small prayer rooms (9)
ORATORIES
17. Yours truly pushed up suspenders and clasps (8)
EMBRACES
(ME)< (yours truly, <pushed up) + BRACES (suspenders)
20. Makes cold calls without a welcoming greeting (6)
CHILLS
C[a]LLS (without A) welcoming HI (greeting)
23. Spring back to avoid black cat (5)
OUNCE
[b]OUNCE (spring back, to avoid B (black))
25. River of many fathoms appears bottomless (3)
DEE
DEE[p] (of many fathoms, appears bottomless)
Good fun, plenty of smiles. My favourite was the quintuple definition for SPOT; I don’t think I’ve seen one before. 27a was my only groan. Was the capital for Seat meant to make us think of the car? (I only just noticed it now.) Why is Doc Bones?
A delight – great clues and some super surfaces. A plethora of cryptic definitions – all good.
Particular favourites: IAMBISTS, USHERS, TOUR DE FORCE, HEARTBEAT and POUNCE.
Geoff, Bones is a nickname for a doctor, from ‘sawbones’.
Many thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.
This was witty and fun, not too hard once I finally got a toehold. The quintuple definition earned a “!” notation–extraordinary. Seven cryptic definitions–also notable.
Could 22a possibly be a sextuple definition?
Sort of = spot
Light = spot
Chambers Thesaurus has “Sort of” as meaning, inter alia “a bit, a little”. eg. I’m I’m a spot of bother with my wife” = “ I’m in a sort of bother with my wife”
I can’t otherwise really see the need to have “sort of” in the clue. Lamp is sufficient definition of Spot, And the clue would work perfectly well as “See Mark boil light jam “
Thanks for the blog, great set of clues, lovely anagram for YELLOW BRICK ROAD,
CHILLS is very neat and precise.
Really enjoyed this one. Iambists and bone shaker were beyond me though I had all the crosses, thank you
22a is but x5 for me. A spot (theatrical shorthand) is a sort of light.
Many thanks to TC for the usual great blog and to all who solved and commented.
Regards the QD @22a, ‘sort of light’ was just a more precise (for me) way of defining it. However, you might be interested the first draft of the clue was the ND …
See Mark boil light jam, turn and place bite for dog?
… but I chickened out as I wasn’t 100% that the link word ‘for’ worked in the context of a multi-def clue and the surface was straining a little. Looking back on it now, I wonder if I shoulda been more adventurous and left it as was.
Anyhoo, hope to see you all next time around, but until then it be cheers and chin chin from me. 🙂