It feels like ages since I have written up a post, so this puzzle from Slormgorm was a pleasant reentry, . . .
. . . the lower half a bit more challenging for me than the upper half. Cearà was NHO for me, but the rest seemed pretty accessible.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | OVERCAST |
Done with group of players being gloomy (8)
|
| OVER (done) + CAST (group of players) | ||
| 5 | PRIEST |
Clergyman sticks your nose in this primarily (6)
|
| PRIES (sticks your nose in) + first letter of (primarily) T[HIS] | ||
| 10 | ESTONIA |
State short schoolboy tours close to Alps (7)
|
| ETONIA[N] (schoolboy) minus last letter (short) around (tours) last letter of (close to) [ALP]S | ||
| 11 | OBSERVE |
Old black suit or watch (7)
|
| O (old) + B (black) + SERVE (suit) | ||
| 12 | AUTHENTIC |
Real gold jerk stores in that case (9)
|
| {AU (gold) + TIC (jerk)} around (stores) THEN (in that case) | ||
| 13 | ANDES |
A range of men like tennis’ Murray, I hear (5)
|
| Homophone of (I hear) ANDYS (men like tennis’ Murray) | ||
| 15 | AMASS |
Get a load of a masculine idiot (5)
|
| A + M (masculine) + ASS (idiot) | ||
| 16 | DEADLINE |
A reason Slormgorm might submit to his boss? (8)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 19 | LEWDNESS |
Rude behaviour in lake by Sweden’s fantastic (8)
|
| L (lake) + anagram of (fantastic) SWEDEN’S | ||
| 20 | CEARÀ |
Brazilian state some pronounce a rathole (5)
|
| Hidden in (some) [PRONOUN]CE A RA[THOLE] | ||
| 21 | SITAR |
Singers about to welcome one music producer (5)
|
| RATS (“singers”) reversed (about) around (to welcome) I (one) | ||
| 23 | DEBUTANTE |
Woman coming out of train unabetted (9)
|
| Anagram of (train) UNABETTED | ||
| 25 | UGANDAN |
Union beginning to gel with a north African (7)
|
| U (union) + first letter of (beginning to) G[EL] + AND (with) + N (north) | ||
| 27 | SCOURGE |
Type who destroys second bottle, but not fifth (7)
|
| S (second) + COUR[A]GE (bottle) minus fifth letter (but not fifth) | ||
| 28 | FLYING |
Female producing pork pies is very quick (6)
|
| F (female) + LYING (producing pork pies) | ||
| 29 | MISSPENT |
Teacher and writer head to tavern to get wasted (8)
|
| MISS (teacher) + PEN (writer) + first letter of (head to) T[AVERN] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OPERA HAT |
Stovepipe that collapses in a heap affected with rot (5,3)
|
| Anagram of (affected) {A HEAP + ROT} | ||
| 2 | ESTATE AGENT |
English bloke holding position as well as a job (6,5)
|
| {E (English) + GENT (bloke)} around (holding) {STATE (position) + A} | ||
| 3 | CONDENSED |
Tory thick Democrat cut down to size (9)
|
| CON (Tory) + DENSE (thick) + D (Democrat) | ||
| 4 | START |
Get cracking pastry dish south of Swiss capital (5)
|
| First letter of (capital [of]) S[WISS] + TART (pastry dish) | ||
| 6 | RASTA |
One dreaded a Russian leader making a comeback (5)
|
| {A + TSAR (Russian leader)} all reversed (making a comeback), referring to dreadlocks | ||
| 7 | ERR |
Shaven-headed German geezer come a cropper … (3)
|
| [H]ERR (German geezer) minus first letter (shaven-headed) | ||
| 8 | TIERS |
… picked up visible signs of upset in rows (5)
|
| Homophone of (picked up) TEARS (visible signs of upset) | ||
| 9 | TOP-CLASS |
Primo coke and grass served up by young lady (3-5)
|
| {C (coke, i.e., cocaine) + POT (grass)} inverted (served up) + LASS (young lady) | ||
| 14 | DENTAL NURSE |
One caring for canines slender aunt unleashed (6,5)
|
| Anagram of (unleashed) {SLENDER AUNT}, referring to teeth | ||
| 16 | DREADING |
Not at all looking forward to daughter’s recital (8)
|
| D (daughter) + READING (recital) | ||
| 17 | LOCATIONS |
Places a colonist resettled (9)
|
| Anagram of (resettled) {A COLONIST} | ||
| 18 | BASEMENT |
Remove first sign of degradation in cellar (8)
|
| [A]BASEMENT (degradation) minus first letter (remove first sign of) | ||
| 21 | STUFF |
No end of excessively dull things (5)
|
| STUFF[Y] (excessively dull) minus last letter (no end of) | ||
| 22 | RADON |
Song and dance in service is a gas (5)
|
| ADO (song and dance) inside (in) RN (service) | ||
| 24 | BASSI |
Members of club assisting singers (5)
|
| Hidden in (members of) [CLU]B ASSI[STING] | ||
| 26 | ANY |
Whatever is a city? (3)
|
| A + NY (city?) |
I made steady (well, quick) progress and enjoyed it for the approachability and variety of devices. Oh, and CEARA aside, for no obscurities Favourites were the nice surfaces of PRIEST, LOCATIONS and OPERA HAT, with a good piece of diversion in CEARA.
As approachable as it was, I had to stare at a few clues for a while before the parsing became apparent. I never parsed RADON or ERR, so thanks to Cineraria for showing me the way. I did not think much of DEADLINE – it is not particularly cryptic and it seems the setter thinks no-one outside the paper industry has deadlines.
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
Very approachable indeed and nothing to complain about other than a slight feeling that ‘sticks your nose in’ feels odd in PRIEST and that the imperative anagrind in DEBUTANTE doesn’t sit too comfortably after ‘of’ as a linker. As has been said, a nice variety of devices throughout the puzzle. Smiles for SCOURGE, FLYING, DREADING and LOCATIONS.
I’m not sure Slormgorm is suggesting others don’t have DEADLINEs; just that he does?
Thanks both
Quite a lot of misleading surfaces (that’s not a complaint) so more than a few aha moments.
Never heard of RATS or BASSI meaning singers – thanks to anyone who explains.
Liked: FLYING, RADON, AUTHENTIC, MISSPENT
Thanks both.
Good fun — CEARA was my lexicon expander today.
Thanks, Slormgorm & Cineraria.
Fiona:
Bass: A bass singer (often in the Italian form basso /bäsˈsō/ (pl basˈsos or basˈsi /-si/))
To rat: To act as an informer so rats = informers or singers
Having entered DATELINE for 16a, I FTF as “ top-c_t_ _” wasn’t getting me anywhere and thus failed to get “lewdness”. Thanks S & C.
Thanks for the blog , usual good set of enjoyable clues. CEARA and BASSI new things to learn and very fair hidden clues.
Bob Geldof was a singing rat.