I enjoyed this–nothing too strenuous or obscure, but some delightful innovations and economical cluing from Leonidas.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BUSKER |
One making dough with a different American performer (6)
|
| B[A]KER (one making dough) substituting US for A (with a different American) | ||
| 4 | STAMPEDE |
Mark at front of garden briefly in charge (8)
|
| STAMP (mark) + EDE[N] (garden) minus last letter (briefly) | ||
| 9 | UNMET |
Two peacekeepers not satisfied (5)
|
| UN + MET (two peacekeepers), referring to the United Nations and the Metropolitan Police | ||
| 10 | PRUSSIANS |
Old nationals from Spain and USSR mingled (9)
|
| Anagram of (mingled) {SPAIN + USSR} | ||
| 11 | GOODMAN |
Saint John of Hollywood? (7)
|
| GOOD MAN (saint), referring to the actor | ||
| 12 | DIALECT |
Face court following last bit of choice language (7)
|
| DIAL (face) + last letter of (last bit of) [CHOIC]E + CT (court) | ||
| 13 | OVER |
Naked flames above (4)
|
| [L]OVER[S] (flames) minus outside letters (“naked”) | ||
| 14 | NITROGEN |
Bonkers ringtone is number 7 in table (8)
|
| Anagram of (bonkers) RINGTONE, referring to the periodic table of elements | ||
| 17 | TAILGATE |
Very closely follow German after trouble in gallery (8)
|
| {AIL (trouble) + G (German)} inside (in) TATE (gallery) | ||
| 19 | POOH |
Bear caught fleeing dog (4)
|
| POO[C]H (dog) minus (fleeing) C (caught) | ||
| 22 | BISMUTH |
Filth clogging periodically bright metal (7)
|
| SMUT (filth) inside (clogging) alternate letters of (periodically) B[R]I[G]H[T] | ||
| 24 | UPSILON |
Homer’s character winning against rampant lions (7)
|
| UP (winning) + anagram of (rampant) LIONS, referring to a letter in the Greek alphabet | ||
| 25 | IN THE DARK |
Clueless daughter stops aboard rescue vessel? (2,3,4)
|
| D (daughter) inside (stops) IN THE ARK (aboard rescue vessel) | ||
| 26 | REGAL |
Noble feast almost finished (5)
|
| REGAL[E] (feast) minus last letter (almost finished). Chambers lists this usage as “archaic.” | ||
| 27 | TORTOISE |
Exotic root introduced to new site for animal (8)
|
| Anagram of (exotic) ROOT inside (introduced to) anagram of (new) SITE | ||
| 28 | MYRTLE |
Plant tree back across yard, right? (6)
|
| ELM (tree) reversed (back) around (across) {Y (yard) + RT (right)} | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BLUDGEON |
Adult working around edges of dancing club (8)
|
| {BLUE (adult) + ON (working)} around outer letters of (edges of) D[ANCIN]G | ||
| 2 | SOMNOLENT |
Dozy Norman regularly obstructing English strait (9)
|
| Alternate letters of (regularly) [N]O[R]M[A]N inside (obstructing) [THE] SOLENT (English strait) | ||
| 3 | ENTOMB |
Sample of linen Tom bought in Bury (6)
|
| Hidden in (sample of) [LIN]EN TOM B[OUGHT], with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 5 | THUNDERSTRUCK |
Amazed husband further down street inside vehicle (13)
|
| {H (husband) + UNDER (further down) + ST (street)} inside TRUCK (vehicle) | ||
| 6 | MUSTANG |
Horse flies (I think) northwards (7)
|
| GNATS (flies) + UM ([I think]) all inverted (northwards) | ||
| 7 | EVADE |
Bill an insider for First Lady’s escape (5)
|
| AD (bill) inside (an insider for) EVE ([the] first lady) | ||
| 8 | ERSATZ |
Pretend taser shot character at the end of series (6)
|
| Anagram of (shot) TASER + Z (character at the end of series, i.e., the last letter in the alphabet) | ||
| 10 | PINKING SHEARS |
Attach cards, then try small cutters (7,6)
|
| PIN (attach) + KINGS (cards) + HEAR (try) + S (small) | ||
| 15 | NEON LIGHT |
One possibly over alley essentially in darkness? (4,5)
|
| &lit and anagram of (possibly) ONE + middle letter of (essentially) [AL]L[EY] inside (in) NIGHT (darkness) | ||
| 16 | CHENILLE |
Material layer poorly installed in church (8)
|
| {HEN (layer) + ILL (poorly)} inside (installed in) CE (church) | ||
| 18 | IN UTERO |
Some drugstore tunics from the south undelivered (2,5)
|
| Hidden in (some) [DRUGST]ORE TUNI[CS] inverted (from the south) | ||
| 20 | OBOIST |
Musician Oscar is featured in program (6)
|
| O (Oscar) + {IS inside (featured in) BOT (program)} | ||
| 21 | OSPREY |
Bird bone at head of quarry (6)
|
| OS (bone) + PREY (quarry) | ||
| 23 | SITAR |
Instrument place artist set up (5)
|
| SIT (place) + RA (artist) inverted (set up) |
This was a clever and extremely enjoyable puzzle that elicited plenty of smiles. I didn’t know John Goodman nor the Solent, but they were quite solvable from the wordplay.
Thanks Leonidas, and Cineraria, for getting the blog out almost before the puzzle appeared!
Thanks Leonidas for the entertainment. I found this on the very gentle end of the Leonidas spectrum but it was no less impressive than his more challenging fare. My top picks were PRUSSIANS, POOH, UPSILON, BLUDGEON, and IN UTERO. I find it odd that BUSKER has now appeared three times, I believe, in crosswords recently. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
Liked BUSKER (with a different American!) and NEON LIGHT a lot.
Thanks Leonidas and Cineraria!
I’m in agreement with Geoff’s – and Tony’s – first sentence.
My picks were MYRTLE, POOH, MUSTANG, SOMNOLENT and NITROGEN.
Cheers to Leonidas and Cineraria.
Thanks for the blog, very good set of neat and concise clues. BUSKER a nice idea and IN UTERO a clever definition , NEON LIGHT a true &Lit.
A good set of neat and concise clues indeed. I had a bit of trouble seeing some of the subtraction clues, if that is a term, such as take c away from pooch for POOH. Otherwise, there were plenty of smiles here too. I name BUSKER as my favourite, for its clever device
Thanks Leonidas and Cineraria
Cracker of a puzzle; we have been well served today across G, I and F(T). Lots of imaginative creations, succinct and accurate cluing and plenty of smiles. I’m with others in liking the substitution in BUSKER, the deletion in POOCH, the cunning reversal in MUSTANG and the assembly for BLUDGEON. I also rather liked PINKING SHEARS, THUNDERSTRUCK, SOMNOLENT, TORTOISE and TAILGATE – but spent too long trying to think of American words for toilet for John of Hollywood! COTD is the splendid NEON LIGHT: beautifully done.
Thanks Leonidas and Cineraria
Late to this today – an extended trip out for morning coffee! – and I have to go out very soon to a meeting and so I’m going to chicken out and unashamedly, on this occasion, tag on to PostMark’s comment @7. (See him @6 on the Indy thread.)
I’ll have to trust him re the Pasquale for the moment, though: today, real life has really interfered with crosswords!
As Cineraria says, nothing too strenuous or obscure, although we took ages to see ‘ringtone’ as an angram of NITROGEN (and one of us a chemist at that – but we did get BISMUTH straight off). Most enjoyable.
Thanks, Leonidas and Cineraria.
Most enjoyable and agree with the comments and favourites above. A mention too for Ersatz where I was looking for ages for a word ending in S – the last of Series.
Never heard of John Goodman so didn’t much like that clue.
Also I don’t know Regale as Feast
Moly @10: I wondered whether to post a link to the Wikipedia entry but it struck me you may well have looked it up already. John Goodman is both a pretty big guy as well as a pretty big name in Hollywood: I first encountered him as Roseanne Barr’s husband in the eponymous TV series of the late 80’s and 90’s. I believe the show was rated quite highly in the US rankings and it was distributed internationally. That said, there are quite a few other John’s associated with Holloywood which is why it evaded me until I had sufficient crossers.
I didn’t help myself by putting in ASSERT for ERSATZ (anagram of taser and s) and went down the same route as PostMark for GOODMAN. I echo the praise for BUSKER and NEON LIGHT.
BUSKER was cute, and coincidentally formed part of Vigo’s Bluey theme in yesterday’s Indy.
Thanks L&C
Great job by Leonidas. John Goodman doesn’t always play good men( The Big Lebowski for example), but he is a fine actor and if anyone is unfamiliar with him they should try to catch a few of his old movies.