Monday’s puzzle is brought to you by Italicus
This is only my second time blogging an Italicus puzzle and, like the previous one back in June, this one’s a pangram. There’s some really excellent cluing on display here, with a wide range of intricacy from the relatively straightforward (JEST, for instance) to the decidedly devious.
Into this latter category I’d place several that involve a partial reversal, namely AWESTRUCK, DIABOLIC and NOSTRILS. But such is the precision of Italicus’s clues that the solver never feels cheated or hard done by. And along the way there are some terrific surfaces – the ones I especially enjoyed were those for IMPALE, UNCANNY, TALKING-TO and CHEVRON. But I think my COTD is probably OMELETTES. I could have made several of the things in the time it took me to work that one out… Many thanks to Italicus.
Moh’s really quite preposterous cruciverbial hardness scale rating: APATITE
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AWESTRUCK |
Impressed women in the main when reversing vehicle (9)
|
| Insertion of W into a reversal of SEA (in the main when reversing) + TRUCK | ||
| 6 | CRIB |
Religious teaching bishop found on carbon copy (4)
|
| RI (religious instruction) + B after (found on) C (carbon) | ||
| 8 | DIABOLIC |
Infernal odour permeates laid-back island clubs (8)
|
| Insertion (permeates) of BO inside a reversal (back) of LAID + I + C | ||
| 9 | CREASE |
Clothing line? (6)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | IMPALE |
Spike Lee endlessly hounds politician in Iowa (6)
|
| LE (LEe endlessly) after (hounds) MP inside IA (abbreviation for Iowa) | ||
| 11 | NOSTRILS |
King captivated by cuts on revolutionary’s facial features (8)
|
| Insertion of R (king) inside (captivated by) a reversal (revolutionary) of SLITS ON | ||
| 12 | RELENT |
Ease off drug following essentially miserable period of abstinence (6)
|
| E (drug) after R (central letter – essentially – of miseRable) + LENT | ||
| 15 | YEARNING |
Fancy letters initially ignored by Yankee (8)
|
| Y (Yankee in the Nato phonetic alphabet) + [L]EARNING (letters/learning, minus/ignoring its initial letter) | ||
| 16 | OUTFALLS |
Foul salt on the rocks where sewage pipes emerge (8)
|
| Anagram (on the rocks) of FOUL SALT | ||
| 19 | TEMPER |
Discovered articles for every mood (6)
|
| TEM (inner letters – discovered – of iTEMs) + PER (for every) | ||
| 21 | ETHERISE |
Put under pressure, archaeologist ultimately unveiled treasure alongside earl (8)
|
| Last letters (ultimately) of pressurE archaeologisT + cHERISh (treasure unveiled – ie without the outer letters) + E | ||
| 22 | ORNATE |
Door in castle regularly decorated (6)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) of dOoR iN cAsTlE | ||
| 24 | OBLONG |
Old water pipe retains L-shape (6)
|
| O + BONG (water pipe used in smoking hash, for example) around (retains) L | ||
| 25 | TROUSERS |
Model wakes up with runs in legwear (8)
|
| T (model, as in Model T Ford) + insertion of R (runs) in ROUSES (wakes up) | ||
| 26 | JEST |
Son boarding plane makes joke (4)
|
| S inside (boarding) JET | ||
| 27 | OMELETTES |
Allow time on vacation to partake in some exotic meals (9)
|
| Insertion (to partake) of LET + TE (allow + TimE without its inner letters/on vacation) inside an anagram (exotic) of SOME | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AXIOM |
Saying nothing after team splits before noon (5)
|
| Insertion (splits) of XI + O (nothing after team) into AM (before noon) | ||
| 2 | EMBRACE |
Married couple overwhelmed by European welcome (7)
|
| M + BRACE (pair, couple) below (overwhelmed by) E | ||
| 3 | TILDE |
Spanish accent brightened up hollow discourse (5)
|
| Reversal (up) of LIT + DE (hollow DiscoursE) | ||
| 4 | UNCANNY |
Weird, upper-class childminder steals redcoat’s heart (7)
|
| U + insertion of C (middle letter of redCoat) inside NANNY | ||
| 5 | KICK-START |
Provide stimulus to quit celebrity contest’s final (4-5)
|
| KICK (quit, as in kick a habit) + STAR + T (final letter of contesT) | ||
| 6 | CHEVRON |
Switzerland enraged over new heraldic device (7)
|
| CH + anagram (enraged) of OVER + N | ||
| 7 | INSOLENCE |
Part of shoe pinching enclosed nerve (9)
|
| Insertion (pinching) of ENC (enclosed) inside INSOLE | ||
| 13 | EQUITABLE |
English queen put on international food fair (9)
|
| E + QU + I + TABLE | ||
| 14 | TALKING-TO |
Reprimand resulting from crooked tag on kilt (7-2)
|
| Anagram (crooked) of TAG ON KILT | ||
| 17 | FEEL OUT |
Cautiously approach hooligan with prior charge (4,3)
|
| LOUT following (with prior) FEE | ||
| 18 | SCEPTRE |
Staff worked out secret about head of production (7)
|
| Anagram (worked out) of SECRET around P | ||
| 20 | MINDSET |
Is bothered by extremely elitist attitude (7)
|
| MINDS (is bothered by) + outer letters (extremely) of ElitisT | ||
| 22 | OZONE |
Australia working with Spain to produce natural sunscreen (5)
|
| OZ + ON (working) + E (Spain) | ||
| 23 | TERMS |
Spells words (5)
|
| Double definition |
My faves: AWESTRUCK, CREASE, OMELETTES, KICK-START and TALKING-TO.
Thanks Italicus and moh.
I agree with our blogger. It was nice to see the pangram gradually emerge: for once the J was not an early signal of one but a later confirmation. The surfaces are indeed nice and everything felt fair during the solve. Nice job.
AWESTRUCK, CRIB, OUTFALLS, TROUSERS and TILDE my faves today.
Thanks both
My tops are TROUSERS for the charade and the surface, OBLONG for the ‘devious’ L-shape and the bong, and MINDSET for ‘is bothered’. I was beaten by ETHERISE being too keen to extend the def to include ‘pressure’, as intended by the setter. ‘Devious’ again. Fully concur with the blog’s intro. Bravo MOH and Italicus.
A lovely smooth puzzle, with too many good surfaces to list! If pushed, I’d nominate AWESTRUCK, DIABOLIC, RELENT and TROUSERS – and I also enjoyed the devices highlighted by sofamore@3.
Italicus was generous/cautious with CREASE… I think simply “Clothes line.” would work and be more devilish to solve!
Thanks both