A fine puzzle by Steerpike this morning.
And a pangram to boot. Most of the solutions were in place within a couple of passes of the clues, but the SE corner held out a little until I saw MINCEMEAT.
Thanks, Steerpike.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SIMIAN |
Primate of Nigeria’s first objective is revolutionary (6)
|
|
<=(N(igeria) ['s first] + AIM ("objective") + IS, revolutionary) |
||
| 4 | WITHDREW |
Accompanied by physician, Earl and wife retired (8)
|
|
WITH ("accompanied by") + Dr. (doctor, so "physician") + E (Earl) + W (wife) |
||
| 10 | DISMANTLE |
Pick apart detective’s cover (9)
|
|
DI's (detective (inspector)'s) + MANTLE ("cover") |
||
| 11 | MULES |
Discovered charm ultimately softens stubborn types (5)
|
|
[discovered] (a)MULE(t) + [ultimately] (soften)S |
||
| 12 | KOHL |
Declaration of old king’s long-serving chancellor (4)
|
|
Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [declaration of] (Old King) COLE The "chancellor" in the clue is Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany between 1982 and 1998. |
||
| 13 | TABERNACLE |
Berate clan about bread and wine store (10)
|
|
*(berate clan) [anag:about] |
||
| 15 | CAPSIZE |
Overturn measure relating to head coverings (7)
|
|
CAP SIZE ("measure relating to head coverings") |
||
| 16 | GUTTER |
Threaten to go out, say, after golf (6)
|
|
UTTER ("say") after G (golf, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) |
||
| 19 | UNSUNG |
A French star essentially struggled to produce instrumental? (6)
|
|
UN ("a" in "French") + SUN ("star") + [essentially] (stru)G(gled) |
||
| 21 | BLEMISH |
Spot bishop from Flanders forsaking female (7)
|
|
B (bishop, in chess notation) + (f)LEMISH ("from Flanders" forsaking F (female)) |
||
| 23 | GRAND DUCHY |
Drug Andy distributed outside church in Luxembourg, say (5,5)
|
|
*(drug andy) [anag:distributed] outside Ch. (church) |
||
| 25 | IDEA |
Concept middleman oddly ignored (4)
|
|
(m)I(d)D(l)E(m)A(n) [oddly ignored] |
||
| 27 | OPALS |
Stones hit about pursuing love (5)
|
|
<=SLAP ("hit", about) pursuing O (love, in tennis) |
||
| 28 | MINCEMEAT |
Caught in pit, Steerpike mostly lived on dried fruits? (9)
|
|
C (caught, in cricket) in MINE ("pit") + ME ("Steerpike") + [mostly] AT(e) ("lived on") |
||
| 29 | EXECRATE |
Detest value placed on administrator (8)
|
|
RATE ("value") placed on EXEC ("administrator") |
||
| 30 | POISED |
Sat around island in state of readiness (6)
|
|
POSED ("sat") around I (island) |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SIDEKICK |
Horseman stripped knight captured by perverse henchman (8)
|
|
(r)IDE(r) ("hoseman", stripped) + K (knight) captured by SICK ("perverse") |
||
| 2 | MISSHAPEN |
Crooked young lady starts to harangue acclaimed writer (9)
|
|
MISS ("young lady") + [starts to] H(arangue) A(cclaimed) + PEN ("writer") |
||
| 3 | AJAR |
Open uprising in Canberra jail (4)
|
|
Hidden backwards in [uprising in] "caberRA JAil" |
||
| 5 | ICEBERG |
Extremely idiotic diver lying about shipping hazard (7)
|
|
[extremely] I(dioti)C + <=GREBE ("diver", lying about) |
||
| 6 | HUMANITIES |
Unconventional uni has time for the arts (10)
|
|
*(uni has time) [anag:unconventional] |
||
| 7 | RELIC |
Priest taken in by Catholic artefact (5)
|
|
ELI (Old Testament "priest") taken in by RC ((Roman) Catholic) |
||
| 8 | WESSEX |
Hardy country women regularly feast on it (6)
|
|
W (women) + [regularly] (f)E(a)S(t) on SEX ("it") |
||
| 9 | STRAFE |
Part of coast RAF effectively hit with heavy fire (6)
|
|
Hidden in [part of] "coaST RAF Effectively" |
||
| 14 | LIQUIDISER |
Kitchen appliance cheapskate initially rejected is under fifty-one pounds (10)
|
|
(m)ISER ("cheapskate", initially rejected] is under LI (51 in Roman numerals) + QUID ("pounds") |
||
| 17 | EVILDOERS |
Free love sired sinners (9)
|
|
*(love sired) [anag:free] |
||
| 18 | THWARTED |
Prevented growth obstructing the judge’s heart (8)
|
|
WART ("growth") obstructing THE + (ju)D(ge) ['s heart] |
||
| 20 | GOURMET |
Epicurean rogue drunkenly embracing male model (7)
|
|
*(rogue) [anag:drunkenly] embracing M (male) + (Model) T (an early motor car) |
||
| 21 | BEHIND |
Supporting bum in arrears (6)
|
|
Triple definition |
||
| 22 | IGNORE |
Pay no heed to Italian gentleman disowning son (6)
|
|
(s)IGNORE ("Italian gentleman" disowning S (son)) |
||
| 24 | ABATE |
Seaman thanks upstanding European moderate (5)
|
|
AB (able-bodied "seaman") + <=TA ("thanks", upstanding] + E (European) |
||
| 26 | VETO |
Reject physio’s conclusion supporting surgeon (4)
|
|
(Physi)O ['s conclusion] supporting VET (veterinary "surgeon") |
Very enjoyable with proper clues to proper answers.
Spotted the pangram after the event, so no help in solving.
Is TRULY a Nina or just a fluke?
Liked tabernacle, idea, Wessex, thwarted, ignore.
Thanks both.
Rattled this one off.
I think I’ve mentioned this before but I always think it strange that we say QUID in the plural (e.g. it cost a couple of quid) but we also talk of being ‘quids in’. There are other similar strange bits of our language. If somebody is 6 feet and one inch tall, we usually say they are 6 foot 1.
A lovely puzzle from Steerpike which was neatly clued throughout.
Favourites included LIQUIDISER, DISMANTLE and BLEMISH.
Thanks to Steerpike and Loonapick.
Nice puzzle. I needed the blog for the charm, which was vaguely annoying. Didn’t spot the anagram, but I rarely do. It didn’t spoil the pleasure.
Thanks STEERPIKE n loonapick
Really enjoyed this, which is a sort of euphemism for “I could do it!” But seriously, I think it was very pleasingly clued, and some of the solves required a decent level of general knowledge and a good dose of ingenuity. I was very proud of seeing MINCEMEAT. A year ago I’d never have got that . . . Thanks to both.