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)
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<=(N(igeria) ['s first] + AIM ("objective") + IS, revolutionary) |
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| 4 | WITHDREW |
Accompanied by physician, Earl and wife retired (8)
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WITH ("accompanied by") + Dr. (doctor, so "physician") + E (Earl) + W (wife) |
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| 10 | DISMANTLE |
Pick apart detective’s cover (9)
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DI's (detective (inspector)'s) + MANTLE ("cover") |
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| 11 | MULES |
Discovered charm ultimately softens stubborn types (5)
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[discovered] (a)MULE(t) + [ultimately] (soften)S |
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| 12 | KOHL |
Declaration of old king’s long-serving chancellor (4)
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Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [declaration of] (Old King) COLE The "chancellor" in the clue is Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany between 1982 and 1998. |
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| 13 | TABERNACLE |
Berate clan about bread and wine store (10)
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*(berate clan) [anag:about] |
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| 15 | CAPSIZE |
Overturn measure relating to head coverings (7)
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CAP SIZE ("measure relating to head coverings") |
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| 16 | GUTTER |
Threaten to go out, say, after golf (6)
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UTTER ("say") after G (golf, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) |
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| 19 | UNSUNG |
A French star essentially struggled to produce instrumental? (6)
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UN ("a" in "French") + SUN ("star") + [essentially] (stru)G(gled) |
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| 21 | BLEMISH |
Spot bishop from Flanders forsaking female (7)
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B (bishop, in chess notation) + (f)LEMISH ("from Flanders" forsaking F (female)) |
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| 23 | GRAND DUCHY |
Drug Andy distributed outside church in Luxembourg, say (5,5)
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*(drug andy) [anag:distributed] outside Ch. (church) |
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| 25 | IDEA |
Concept middleman oddly ignored (4)
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(m)I(d)D(l)E(m)A(n) [oddly ignored] |
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| 27 | OPALS |
Stones hit about pursuing love (5)
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<=SLAP ("hit", about) pursuing O (love, in tennis) |
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| 28 | MINCEMEAT |
Caught in pit, Steerpike mostly lived on dried fruits? (9)
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C (caught, in cricket) in MINE ("pit") + ME ("Steerpike") + [mostly] AT(e) ("lived on") |
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| 29 | EXECRATE |
Detest value placed on administrator (8)
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RATE ("value") placed on EXEC ("administrator") |
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| 30 | POISED |
Sat around island in state of readiness (6)
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POSED ("sat") around I (island) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SIDEKICK |
Horseman stripped knight captured by perverse henchman (8)
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(r)IDE(r) ("hoseman", stripped) + K (knight) captured by SICK ("perverse") |
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| 2 | MISSHAPEN |
Crooked young lady starts to harangue acclaimed writer (9)
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MISS ("young lady") + [starts to] H(arangue) A(cclaimed) + PEN ("writer") |
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| 3 | AJAR |
Open uprising in Canberra jail (4)
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Hidden backwards in [uprising in] "caberRA JAil" |
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| 5 | ICEBERG |
Extremely idiotic diver lying about shipping hazard (7)
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[extremely] I(dioti)C + <=GREBE ("diver", lying about) |
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| 6 | HUMANITIES |
Unconventional uni has time for the arts (10)
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*(uni has time) [anag:unconventional] |
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| 7 | RELIC |
Priest taken in by Catholic artefact (5)
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ELI (Old Testament "priest") taken in by RC ((Roman) Catholic) |
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| 8 | WESSEX |
Hardy country women regularly feast on it (6)
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W (women) + [regularly] (f)E(a)S(t) on SEX ("it") |
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| 9 | STRAFE |
Part of coast RAF effectively hit with heavy fire (6)
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Hidden in [part of] "coaST RAF Effectively" |
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| 14 | LIQUIDISER |
Kitchen appliance cheapskate initially rejected is under fifty-one pounds (10)
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(m)ISER ("cheapskate", initially rejected] is under LI (51 in Roman numerals) + QUID ("pounds") |
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| 17 | EVILDOERS |
Free love sired sinners (9)
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*(love sired) [anag:free] |
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| 18 | THWARTED |
Prevented growth obstructing the judge’s heart (8)
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WART ("growth") obstructing THE + (ju)D(ge) ['s heart] |
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| 20 | GOURMET |
Epicurean rogue drunkenly embracing male model (7)
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*(rogue) [anag:drunkenly] embracing M (male) + (Model) T (an early motor car) |
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| 21 | BEHIND |
Supporting bum in arrears (6)
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Triple definition |
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| 22 | IGNORE |
Pay no heed to Italian gentleman disowning son (6)
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(s)IGNORE ("Italian gentleman" disowning S (son)) |
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| 24 | ABATE |
Seaman thanks upstanding European moderate (5)
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AB (able-bodied "seaman") + <=TA ("thanks", upstanding] + E (European) |
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| 26 | VETO |
Reject physio’s conclusion supporting surgeon (4)
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(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.
Very enjoyable. Two things I learnt today — new meanings for GUTTER & MINCEMEAT. The latter I’ve only ever associated with, say, cottage pies. Mince pies at Christmas makes more sense now.
I knew MINCEMEAT but GUTTER was new to me too
I agree with the praise for the puzzle. All solved and parsed, with my favorites being AJAR, RELIC, and HUMANITIES. Not easy but good, clear cluing.
Thanks STEERPIKE and loonapick
Lots to enjoy here although I struggled with the NW corner, Grand Duchy and Evildoers were my favourites.
Thanks to Steerpike and Loonapick
Geoff @6: curiously, in the US, MINCEMEAT only means the fruits that you put into Christmas baked goods. Actual minced meat is called ground meat.
This puzzle was in the Goldilocks zone for me–just chewy enough to accompany the carnitas tacos I was eating while solving (well, not really “while,” since eating a proper taco is a two-handed job), but not so chewy that one wondered how long they had cooked the carnitas.
The restaurant was dark, so I misread “epicurean” in the clue for GOURMET as “European,” which held me up for ages. European is, of course, always E (unless it’s Pole), so…Anyway, this is my way of saying that I have reached the age where I need glasses.