Great fun from Goliath.
Witty, unpredictable and the perfect level of challenging. Many thanks to Goliath for the fun. And wishing everyone a happy New Year.
ACROSS
1. Radical socialist leader in tears (8)
SWEEPING
S[ocialist] (leader) + WEEPING (in tears)
5. Unconventional exit (3,3)
WAY OUT
9. Stuff seen in a horse’s bowel and elbow? (8)
ANAGRAMS
RAM (stuff) seen in A NAG’S (a horse’s)
10. Feature of some bacon meat about right (6)
STREAK
STEAK (meat) about R (right)
12. Misappropriated wrap (5)
STOLE
13. E? It’s a revelation! (3-6)
EYE-OPENER
Cryptic definition
E[ye] (opener)
14. Trouble for canines and heartless bears (6)
CARIES
CAR[r]IES (bears, heartless)
16. Sir sent back German dish (7)
RISOTTO
SIR< (<sent back) + OTTO (German)
19. What was in the beginning red hot flowing around water source (3,4)
THE WORD
(RED HOT)* (*flowing) around W[ater] (source)
Biblical
21. Passion in higher education for all (6)
UNISEX
UNI SEX (passion in higher education)
23. Skill shown when confined in lift (9)
CARPENTRY
PENT (confined) in CARRY (lift)
25. Are you saying pen is past its best? (5)
RUSTY
R U (are you, “saying”) + STY (pen)
26. An Arab boat with bells on (3,3)
AND HOW
27. Push one’s luck and request computers (3,3,2)
ASK FOR IT
ASK FOR (request) + IT (computers, Information Technology)
28. Fancy some popcorn? A teacake? (6)
ORNATE
[popc]ORN A TE[acake] (some)
29. Obscure secretion not quite in order (8)
ESOTERIC
SECRETIO[n]* (not quite, *in order)
DOWN
1. Thin and extra small included (6)
SPARSE
SPARE (extra); S (small) included
2. Raise flag, speak and disappear (9)
EVAPORATE
PAVE< (flag, <raise) + ORATE (speak)
3. Pegg is clean (5)
PURGE
Cryptic definition
P+EGG = P+URGE
4. Book of anaesthetics (7)
NUMBERS
6. Against drinking beer on street, for starters (9)
ANTIPASTI
ANTI (against) drinking (IPA (beer) on ST (street))
7. A once troublesome Indian, perhaps (5)
OCEAN
8. Establish a trek winding westwards as well (4,4)
TAKE ROOT
(A TREK)* (*winding) + TOO< (as well, <westwards)
11. Ultimately, pub clientele there for this (4)
BEER
[pu]B [clientel]E [ther]E [fo]R (ultimately) – semi &lit
15. Made smooth like De Niro? (6,3)
IRONED OUT
Cryptic definition: reverse anagram: (IRONED)* (*out)
17. Variable rate safer, says financier (9)
TREASURER
RATE* (*variable) + SURER (safer)
18. Toccata’s unusual musical notation (8)
STACCATO
20. Go out for fruit (4)
DATE
21. July’s session covers epic hero (7)
ULYSSES
[J]ULY’S SES[sion] (covers)
22. Magical writer’s short wand (6)
MYSTIC
MY (writer’s) + STIC[k] (wand, short)
24. Fluid and/or gas (5)
RADON
25. Second installation of fine art not an abomination (5)
REFIT
(FI[n]E [a]RT)* ( not AN, *abomination)
Couldn’t parse PURGE. I’d forgotten that Goliath does this sort of thing. Nor could I parse ANTIPASTI as I’m not into exotic foreign beers. Didn’t think much of the clue for UNISEX. The clue for TAKE ROOT would have worked better as an across clue, I thought. ANAGRAMS took me a while.
Lots of good clues made for an enjoyable crossword. Shame about 8d though. I assume this was originally written as an across clue and wasn’t picked up in editing. So easy to change ‘westwards’ to ‘northwards’ or just ‘up’.
Oh dear! I went off on completely the wrong track with 25a. Once I’d seen the middle two words together I was stuck! 😂
Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable but I agree with Geoff and Hovis that TAKE ROOT needed a minor edit . I was looking for the trademark fission clue and Pegg actually gave it away a bit .
Wellington@3 , you have the basis of a fusion clue there .
Roz@4: “Greek god whose pen is mightier than his sword (7)”?
Good fun and I suspect 8d was just an editing error where the clue was written in isolation from the grid and then later used without noticing the orientation. A small selection of “unusual” clues (reverse anagram, “eye-opener”, “anagrams”) without them becoming annoying. These are often clues I look at and think I’ll never get but with a crosser or two all becomes clear, which is kind fo why its in a crossword not a standalone puzzle.
Thank you Goliath and Oriel.
Very good JOFT@5 , must be Priapus .
An enjoyable solve, apart from not being able to parse 3dn and the booboo in 8dn.
Thanks, Goliath and Oriel – and a Happy New Year to all!
I’m pretty sure that’s not the first time the orientation has been wrong in that way, didn’t bother me to much… I could have looked at 3d for much longer if the R from 9a hadn’t arrived… which 2 were my LOIs, altho I’d obviously spotted ELBOW n BOWEL quite early on, but not put 2+2 together until right at the end…
I enjoyed the puzzle.
Thanks Goliath n Oriel, and Happy New Year to all
Thanks Goliath for an enjoyable crossword. My top picks were ANAGRAMS, CARIES, ANTIPASTI, BEER, & REFIT. I couldn’t parse PURGE. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
[GDU @1: An IPA is not an ‘exotic’ beer, it’s a very common style. And neither is it ‘foreign’ to Australia; I could provide a link to the breweries that make it but I’m guessing you’re not interested 😄]
Most of my points have been made. I ticked DATE, TREASURER, ANTIPASTI, EVAPORATE and NUMBERS
I am another who did not parse PURGE. I am in two minds about this – slightly annoyed at myself for missing a signature move by Goliath, and frustrated that he uses this technique without anything instructing me to separate the word, especially when the word is Pegg and does not naturally divide.
Thanks Goliath for an enjoyable puzzle, and Oriel for the blog. Happy New Year to all
This was fun, as usual I came up short on a few but there was enough good stuff for me to enjoy this.
Thanks to Goliath and Oriel.
Where I felt a bit let down by PURGE (which I didn’t get) is that “pegg” is not a word, only a name, so I was assuming some reference to a person of that name and I don’t know of any. That led me to assume there was some kind of “celebrity” Pegg who everybody else has heard of except me, and that put me off attempting the clue at all as I assumed I wouldn’t have the knowledge to get it. If “pegg” had been an ordinary English word I would have considered it a fair cop.
I’ve been critical of Goliath recently, but I enjoyed this one, so well done. Much more accessible and understandable than a few he has produced.
Alas I missed Unisex, putting in the inexplicable United…… (well being united (congress) has something to do with passion…🤣). I should’ve tried harder on that one.
Purge I had….. but unparsed.
Happy New Year
Roz@6: spot on
TAKE ROOT (as a down clue)
I think, for some it is quite OK, as the clue itself is in normal (horizontal) text.
How the answer is finally written into the grid might be seen, I think. as a separate matter.
I know opinions and conventions may vary on this.
Tony @ 9, you guessed correctly. I’m more of a wine person.