Pete is on holiday and I’m stepping in for him this week. I last blogged an FT in around 2008, but this was very pleasant, nice surfaces and although at times the answer didn’t come immediately it did eventually. Perhaps one could criticise Rosa for having so many clues where letters have to be omitted but this is minor I think.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RUM BABA |
Sweet dance with bachelor (3,4)
|
| rumba BA | ||
| 5 | POPEDOM |
Report revolutionary system in Leo’s office (7)
|
| pop (mode)rev. — pop = report, mode = system — ref the present Pope, Leo XIV | ||
| 9 | BIGHT |
Sound from great height (5)
|
| big ht. — the geographical feature | ||
| 10 | ASPIRATED |
Perhaps made it into hit parade — it’s fantastic! (9)
|
| (parade its)* — a very clever definition that had me flummoxed for a while, and it was only when the checkers made the answer more or less obvious that I worked out how it was | ||
| 11 | THE ARCHER |
Stars in interminable BBC soap (3,6)
|
| The Archer[s] — a constellation — the use of a radio soap gave some trouble since TV soaps didn’t of course work — interminable indeed: it’s been going since 1951, although here it indicates the dropping of the final letter | ||
| 12 | PARSE |
Released from trap, old men verbally break down (5)
|
| “pa’s” — ‘Released from trap’ is the homophone indicator | ||
| 13 | CLING |
Caught fish? Hold on tight! (5)
|
| c ling | ||
| 15 | DYNASTIES |
Powerful families of decidedly vacuous, unpleasant people (9)
|
| d[ecidedl]y nasties — nasties = unpleasant people | ||
| 18 | HAMADRYAS |
Noah’s son with a thirsty and extremely audacious baboon (9)
|
| Ham a dry a[udaciou]s — never heard of it, although it’s there in Collins (not quite in Chambers) — Ham was Noah’s son, dry = thirsty | ||
| 19 | ULCER |
Public fears oddly invisible threat to health (5)
|
| [P]u[b]l[i]c [f]e[a]r[s] — I don’t understand why a setter is allowed to use ‘oddly’ but not ‘evenly’: the setter has to find a circumlocution, which works fine here | ||
| 21 | RIFLE |
Shooter in Moroccan mountains with the French (5)
|
| Rif le — the Rif are the (unheard-of) Moroccan mountains and ‘le’ = ‘the’ in French | ||
| 23 | BRAKE SHOE |
It helps you stop, pause and drive away as stated (5,4)
|
| “break shoo” — break = pause, shoo = drive away | ||
| 25 | LOITERING |
Angry lion and tiger mooching about (9)
|
| *(lion tiger) | ||
| 26 | GROPE |
Fondle backside of good-looking guy? (5)
|
| [good-lookin]g rope | ||
| 27 | DOTARDS |
Toads jumping across road confused old folk (7)
|
| (toads)* round rd | ||
| 28 | ARTISAN |
Crafty sort of guerrilla hiding face (7)
|
| [p]artisan | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ROBOTIC |
Back in Montecito, bored stiff (7)
|
| Hidden reversed in MonteCITO BORed | ||
| 2 | MAGNESIUM |
Element of broadcast amusing me (9)
|
| *(amusing me) | ||
| 3 | ASTIR |
Bubbly roommate’s first out of bed (5)
|
| Asti r[oommate] — nicely misleading: for quite a while I was thinking ‘bubbly’ was the definition; this was my last one in | ||
| 4 | ABASHEDLY |
Army’s leader thumped half-cut ally with embarrassment (9)
|
| A[rmy] bashed [al]ly — bashed = thumped | ||
| 5 | PAPER |
Upset about drivel in essay (5)
|
| (re pap)rev. — re = about, pap = drivel | ||
| 6 | PARI PASSU |
Secretaries in City University, side by side (4,5)
|
| PAs in (Paris) U — this Latin phrase was something I was a bit vague about despite its appearing in The Times the other day, and I had to look it up: Chambers does indeed give ‘together’ | ||
| 7 | DETER |
Prevent cleaner scrubbing chap (5)
|
| deter[gent] — gent = chap | ||
| 8 | MADNESS |
Card index regularly covered by manuscripts in chaos (7)
|
| [C]a[r]d [i]n[d]e[x] in MSS — MSS is the plural of MS, manuscript | ||
| 14 | GADGETEER |
Excitedly greet aged technophile (9)
|
| *(greet aged) | ||
| 16 | NOSTALGIA |
Sat in gaol, suffering homesickness (9)
|
| (Sat in gaol)* — I didn’t think nostalgia and homesickness were quite the same, but Collins says they are, at least in one sense | ||
| 17 | IN CAHOOTS |
Intriguing old American jokers (2,7)
|
| Inca hoots — Inca = old American, hoots = jokers | ||
| 18 | HURTLED |
Shot and injured, left with journalist (7)
|
| hurt L ed. — hurt = injured, L = left, ed. = journalist (editor) | ||
| 20 | ROEDEAN |
Eggs on clergyman in girls’ school (7)
|
| roe dean — roe = eggs, dean = clergyman — Roedean is a girls’ school in Sussex | ||
| 22 | FAINT |
Female isn’t commonly feeble (5)
|
| f ain’t — f = female, ain’t = isn’t (commonly) | ||
| 23 | BLISS |
Topless snog behind British Library is heaven (5)
|
| BL [k]iss — BL = British Library, kiss = snog | ||
| 24 | ERGOT |
Fungus thus beginning to thrive (5)
|
| ergo t[hrive], ergo = thus |
Found this a bit trickier than usual for a Rosa Klebb puzzle but as always very enjoyable.
Favourites were: HAMADRYAS (also never heard of it), ARTISAN, ASTIR, DETER, ROEDEAN
Thanks Rosa Klebb and John
I lost my notes unfortunately, but I can say without any reminders that I enjoyed this tremendously, as almost every clue had a wonderful surface. A true lesson in how to set a crossword.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and John
Thanks Rosa Klebb and John.
My faves: ASPIRATED, DYNASTIES, BRAKE SHOE, NOSTALGIA and FAINT.