A stout challenge from JULIUS this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 9
I needed help from the internet to get past a couple of clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PETTIFOGGERY |
Foreign Office probes favourite chum of Pooh — the ultimate in silly, fussy quibbling (12)
|
| [ FO ( Foreign Office ) in PET ( favourite ) TIGGER ( chum of pooh ) ] Y ( sillY, last letter ) | ||
| 10 | SAD SACK |
Sorry to fire inept person in the US (3,4)
|
| SAD ( sorry ) SACK ( fire ) | ||
| 11 | IMPASTO |
Heavy–handed coverage of art history is boring in my opinion (7)
|
| PAST ( history ) in IMO ( In My Opinion ) | ||
| 12 | RIOJA |
Major firm from the east made completely free wine (5)
|
| reverse of “mAJOr fIRm..” ( made completely free, without end characters ) | ||
| 13 | WELSHMAN |
Bloke from Rhyl killed retired assassin? Leave it out! (8)
|
| [ reverse of SLEW ( killed ) ] HitMAN ( assassin, without IT ) | ||
| 15 | THE VATICAN |
See part of Rome? (3,7)
|
| cryptic def? its not a part of rome but is contained in the geographic landmass | ||
| 16 | SKIN |
Peel knicks off (not Calvin Klein) (4)
|
| [ KNIckS ( without CK – Calvin Klein ) ]* | ||
| 18 | EGAD |
Red Guards regularly let out mild oath (4)
|
| alternate letters of “rEd GuArDs..” | ||
| 20 | REFERENDUM |
Judge expressing hesitation twice about final vote (10)
|
| REF ( judge ) [ ER UM ( hesitation, twice ) about END ( final ) ] | ||
| 22 | OLIVE OYL |
Serve, volley: 1-0. That’ll get girl animated! (5,3)
|
| [ VOLLEY I (1) O (0) ]* ; popeye’s so | ||
| 24 | CAPON |
Notorious gangster shot English fowl (5)
|
| CAPONe ( notorious gangster, without E – english ) | ||
| 26 | PLATEAU |
Dad guzzling large cuppa at university High Table (7)
|
| [ PA ( dad ) containing L ( large ) ] TEA ( cuppa ) U ( university ) | ||
| 27 | COLOSSI |
Company deficit initially indicated as ‘huge figures’ (7)
|
| CO ( company ) LOSS ( deficit ) I ( Indicated, first letter ) | ||
| 28 | ASTI SPUMANTE |
French aperitif Penny sent back — sounds like you meant rough Italian wine (4,8)
|
| [ pASTIS ( french aperitif, with P – penny moving to the end ) ] U ( sounds like you ) [ MEANT ]* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | END ZONE |
Jets might touch down in this area (3,4)
|
| cryptic def; new york jets | ||
| 3 | TEARAWAY |
Young rebel artist finally resembling Van Gogh? (8)
|
| T ( artisT, last letter ) EAR AWAY ( resembling van gogh ) | ||
| 4 | FAKE |
Alaska invested in iron forge (4)
|
| AK ( alaska ) in FE ( iron ) | ||
| 5 | GRIPE WATER |
Suffering, I get pre-war remedy for colic (5,5)
|
| [ I GET PRE-WAR ]* | ||
| 6 | EXPOS |
Former model spurns European trade fairs (5)
|
| EX ( former ) POSe ( model, without E – european ) | ||
| 7 | YASHMAK |
A bit of grey ash making a veil (7)
|
| hidden in “..greY ASH MAKing..” | ||
| 8 | ESPRIT DE CORPS |
Directors uneasy with Pep’s team’s vibe (6,2,5)
|
| [ DIRECTORS PEP’S ]* | ||
| 9 | MOANING MINNIE |
Driver filmed holding up M1 gonna become furious, she’s always whinging! (7,6)
|
| MINNIE ( driver, filmed i.e. the actress ) after [ MI ( M1 ) GONNA ]* | ||
| 14 | MISERY GUTS |
Tight-wad bad guy Eliot who’s never happy (6,4)
|
| MISER ( tight-was ) [ GUY ]* TS ( eliot ) | ||
| 17 | MEA CULPA |
Some chap Luca employed turned up, admitting guilt (3,5)
|
| hidden, reversed in “..chAP LUCA EMployed..” | ||
| 19 | ALI BABA |
Legendary Arab who’s booked the greatest airline twice? (3,4)
|
| ALI ( the greatest ) BA BA ( airline, twice ) ; i took ‘who’s booked’ to indicate answer is from a story book | ||
| 21 | DEPOSIT |
Lodge uplifting opinion piece on Saint Independent featured (7)
|
| reverse of OP-ED ( opinion piece ) [ I ( independent ) in ST ( saint ) ] | ||
| 23 | EVENT |
Still time for competition (5)
|
| EVEN ( still ) T ( time ) | ||
| 25 | ECRU |
City game that’s greyish to look at? (4)
|
| EC ( city ) RU ( game ) |
Not sure how this happened, but this seems to be a repeat from July 19
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2024/07/19/finacial-times-17792-by-julius/