Italicus to start the week with a good Monday puzzle
Not too hard for me – can’t see anything theme or Nina wise – did wonder if it was going to be a pangram but no J or Z. Thanks Italicus.
ACROSS
1. Defending North, defeated warlord seizes tribesman’s principal weapon (4-3,7)
SAWN-OFF SHOTGUN
N(orth) inside SAW OFF – defeated & T(ribesman) inside SHOGUN for warlord
10. Harry died chasing barbarian around capital of Oman (5)
HOUND
O(man) inside HUN for barbarian & D(ied)
11. Hawk we regularly spotted in canopy is stirring (9)
AWAKENING
Alternate letters of hAwK wE inside AWNING for canopy
12. Starts to beat everyone in organised match play (7)
MACBETH
The first letters of Beat Everyone inside an organised MATCH*
13. Intense setter following former model about (7)
EXTREME
EX – former & T model T car & RE- about & ME – the setter
14. Improvise detailed explanation of whereabouts to protect daughter (2-3)
ADLIB
De-tail ALIB(i) with D(aughter) inserted
16. Nasty sailor given lease on exposed coastal area (9)
ABHORRENT
AB – sailor & an exposed (s)HOR(e) & RENT – lease
19. Steward thanks king partaking in race (9)
CARETAKER
TA – thanks & K(ing) all inside CAREER – race
20. Lecherous fellow twirling bit of military tash (5)
SATYR
Hidden reversed inside militaRY TASh
22. Places of solace drunk found on lake (7)
LOCALES
25. Gondoliers, say, discovered a source of luxury food (7)
OATMEAL
A discovered (b)OATME(n) – gondoliers say & A & source of L(uxury)
27. Plot where French essentially exploit independent oil producer (9)
PATCHOULI
PATCH – plot of land & OU – where in French & the middle of – the essential bit of (exp)L(oit) & I(ndependent)
28. Evaluates drug injected into rodents (5)
RATES
E – drug inside RATS – rodents say
29. Earl in very bad mood about empty diary? No way! (4,2,4,4)
OVER MY DEAD BODY
E(arl) inside [VERY BAD MOOD]* about & an empty D(iar)Y
DOWN
2. Kindly Vulcan, upset about uniform, stripped bare (9)
AVUNCULAR
U(niform) in an upset VULCAN* & a stripped (b)AR(e)
3. Artist’s subject clutching tip of grazed elbow (5)
NUDGE
A NUDE could be the artist’s subject with the tip of G(razed) inserted
4. Briefly expose rear in movie scene (9)
FLASHBACK
FLASH – briefly expose & BACK – rear
5. Intimidating look from leading actor when given direction (5)
STARE
6. Approaches Open University concerning conclusion of thesis (9)
OVERTURES
OVERT – open & U(niversity) & RE – concerning & end of (thesi)S. [Note fixed thanks Nidoking @7]
7. Physician grasping lesson on European complaint (5)
GRIPE
R.I. – Religious Instruction inside GP doctor & E(uropean)
8. Ignore Nationalist and choose to welcome German (7)
NEGLECT
N(ationalist) & G(erman) inside ELECT
9. Drink outside hotel before graduate dance (6)
RHUMBA
H(otel) inside RUM & BA for graduate
15. Wager on Henry supporting the French in border settlement (9)
BETHLEHEM
BET – wage & H(enry) & LE – the in French & HEM – border
17. Nothing stops chairman playing instrument (9)
HARMONICA
O – nothing inside CHAIRMAN* being played
18. Implored minister to echo penetrating conclusion (9)
ENTREATED
TREAT – minister to & E(cho) inside END for conclusion
19. Enchanting female plays sports in Colorado (7)
CALYPSO
A sported PLAYS* inside CO(lorado)
21. Sauce stored in barrel is Hollandaise (6)
RELISH
Hidden inside – stored in barREL IS Hollandaise
23. Football match abandoned by Penny’s sweetheart (5)
CUTIE
P(enny) removed from CU(p) TIE
24. Small pound for animal (5)
SQUID
26. Beat tops of tables hearing result of by-election (5)
THROB
Initial letter of T(ables) H(earing) R(esult) O(f) B(y-election)
I enjoyed this a lot with 9d my only slight hold-up. I have never seen it spelt like that before despite having been a ballroom and Latin dancer for many years until Mrs RD’s knees gave up on her.
With excellent clueing and smooth surfaces throughout, I have far too many ticks on my page to pick a favourite.
Many thanks to Italicus and to flashling.
RD @1. Funnily enough, I first met this spelling just over a week ago in Monk’s crossword which, I guess, you didn’t attempt. AVUNCULAR also appeared somewhere recently.
here were a few clues I struggled parsing (never heard of a CUP TIE, for instance), but the definitions carried me over the edge.
I didn’t get the wordplay on PATCHOULI and was looking for the rest of the words to indicate that it was an anagram of PLOT plus something else. Can’t believe I didn’t think that PATCH is a synonym for plot!
Thanks, Italicus and flashling!
I moved smoothly clockwise until reaching the SW corner then came to an abrupt halt and only got going again by finding PATCHOULI with a wordfinder. Thanks Italicus and Flashling.
As mentioned by Hovis @2, I thought I was having a FLASHBACK when I saw AVUNCULAR which appeared in Julius’ FT puzzle last Friday, again using our usual Monday Guardian setter’s moniker as anagram fodder for most of the answer. Nothing else rang a bell though and I had to struggle with a few, including the just remembered PATCHOULI and parsing SAWN-OFF SHOTGUN and CUTIE.
Thanks to Italicus for an enjoyable start to the week and to flashling
Really good fun from our setter with some clever wordplay to savour. Think my favourite was the short and sweet SQUID – really made me laugh.
Thanks to Italicus and to flashling who’s obviously been landed with extra duty.
I think you may be missing RE “concerning” in 6D.
@Nidoking yep you seem to be right.
That took a while but all fell into place eventually and with a lot of enjoyment along the way. I liked PATCHOULI and MACBETH for the way the word play and definition occurred to me simultaneously.
Thanks, both.
A fairly gentle introduction to the week. We remembered RHUMBA (with an H) and AVUNCULAR from recent appearances elsewhere – and PATCHOULI from longer ago. OATMEAL and CALYPSO were our favourites.
Thanks, Italicus and flashling.
I thought this excellent from start to finish, admiring the setter’s art as I filled in the grid.
My ticks go to MACBETH and AD-LIB for their original (to me) variations of clueing these two plus the smile inducing CUTIE but could have mentioned several more.
Great stuff.
Thanks Italicus and flashling
Think this may be my first stab at one of this setter’s puzzles & it certainly won’t be the last. Very nicely clued throughout & with a pleasing absence of any obscurities. Came across this spelling of RHUMBA quite recently so that was thankfully fresh in the mind. Too many good ‘uns to mention any in particular
Thanks Italicus & flashling
Similar experience to Huntsman here – I don’t remember encountering Italicus before but I enjoyed this. A good Monday puzzle indeed – some easy-ish ones, but quite a few where I got the solution from the definition and crossing letters, although I was able to back-parse everything satisfactorily. I thought HARMONICA particularly neat, and CUTIE is smashing.
Thanks, Italicus, and thanks for the blog, flashling.
Many thanks to flashling for the blog and to everyone else for the kind comments. I’ll take the opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. Looking forward to setting more puzzles for you in 2023.
Late in but definitely enjoyed this one.
PATCHOULI came to me somehow, and Rhumba was one of my first in! Didn’t have very much trouble with any of the clues really.
Tha is to Flashling and Italicus.
Another late solver but I wanted to thank Italicus for a well-crafted crossword with HOUND, MACBETH, and AD-LIB being favourites. I couldn’t parse CUTIE. Thanks flashling for the blog.