A brisk solve, with a nice variety of clues
Gozo often offers a pangram (not this time) or a theme, but if there are any extras today, I am failing to spot them. ANAGRAM looks like a hint, and there are nine in today’s puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DIAL TONE |
Possible lead in to making a phone call? (4,4)
|
| semi-&lit and anagram of (possible) LEAD IN TO | ||
| 5 | BRUNEI |
The state of Sarkozy’s wife out East (6)
|
| [Carla] BRUNI (Sarkozy’s wife) around (out) E (East) | ||
| 10 | RIGHT |
Spot on brilliant book overlooked (5)
|
| [B]RIGHT (brilliant) minus (overlooked) B (book) | ||
| 11 | REALISTIC |
Forged article is true to life (9)
|
| Anagram of (forged) ARTICLE IS | ||
| 12 | CANISTERS |
Tins of wine special constable imbibed, upset (9)
|
| {SC (special constable) around (imbibed) RETSINA (wine)} all reversed (upset) | ||
| 13 | ENSUE |
For starters, even nowadays, Surrey usually enforce follow on (5)
|
| First letters of (for starters) E[VEN] N[OWADAYS] S[URREY] U[SUALLY] E[NFORCE] | ||
| 14 | KIDNEY |
Youngster recalled desire for offal (6)
|
| KID (youngster) + YEN (desire) reversed (recalled) | ||
| 15 | REHEATS |
Puts back in the oven — but there’s a difficulty (7)
|
| Anagram of (difficulty) THERE’S A | ||
| 18 | ANAGRAM |
Could be danger from garden, for example (7)
|
| Clue as definition, “danger” being an anagram of “garden” | ||
| 20 | LOCATE |
Company back in former position (6)
|
| CO. (company) reversed (back) inside (in) LATE (former) | ||
| 22 | LEMON |
Carol rejected consuming bit of microwaved fruit (5)
|
| NOEL (carol) reversed (rejected) around (consuming) first letter of (bit of) M[ICROWAVED] | ||
| 24 | LIVERPOOL |
City supply of organs (9)
|
| Cryptically, a LIVER POOL could be a “supply of organs.” | ||
| 25 | POLICE CAR |
In which real cop in charge crashed? (6,3)
|
| &lit and anagram of (crashed) {REAL COP + I/C (in charge)} | ||
| 26 | AWAKE |
A vigil alert (5)
|
| A + WAKE (vigil) | ||
| 27 | DIREST |
I’d flipped over, repose being most terrible (6)
|
| I’D reversed (flipped over) + REST (repose) | ||
| 28 | ETON MESS |
Sweet comment about shambles (4,4)
|
| NOTE (comment) reversed (about) + MESS (shambles) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DIRECT |
Unambiguous order (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | ARGENTINA |
Country inn, a great resort (9)
|
| Anagram of (resort) INN A GREAT | ||
| 3 | TITUS ANDRONICUS |
Tudors in Tunics — a new play by the Bard (5,10)
|
| Anagram of (new) TUDORS IN TUNICS A | ||
| 4 | NURSERY |
New North Surrey garden centre (7)
|
| Anagram of (new) {N (North) + SURREY)} | ||
| 6 | RAISE THE CURTAIN |
Lift drapes when Austrian heretic is murdered (5,3,7)
|
| Anagram of (when . . . is murdered) AUSTRIAN HERETIC | ||
| 7 | NOTES |
Determined to reject memos (5)
|
| SET ON (determined to) inverted (reject) | ||
| 8 | INCREASE |
Where striker stands for more pay? (8)
|
| IN CREASE (where striker stands in cricket) | ||
| 9 | CAESAR |
Roman ruler will grab girl, we’re told (6)
|
| Approximate homophone of (we’re told) SEIZE HER (grab girl) | ||
| 16 | ASTROLABE |
Scientific instrument bathed city in a flickering light (9)
|
| LA (city) inside (bathed . . . in) {A + STROBE (flickering light)} | ||
| 17 | GALLOPED |
Lass strode along and moved fast (8)
|
| GAL (lass) + LOPED (strode along) | ||
| 19 | MALICE |
Claim a point out of spite (6)
|
| Anagram of (out) {CLAIM + E (a point, i.e., east on a compass)} | ||
| 20 | LEVERET |
Young form-filler (7)
|
| Cryptic definition. According to Chambers, a leveret is “a hare in its first year,” and a form, in this sense, is “the bed of a hare, shaped by the animal’s body.” Nice clue. | ||
| 21 | FLEETS |
Speedy, small companies’ cars (6)
|
| FLEET (speedy) + S (small) | ||
| 23 | MILER |
Middle-distance runner turning up from the preliminaries (5)
|
| Hidden in (from) [P]RELIM[INARIES] inverted (turning up) |
Very quick solve today for me too, with a few too many anagrams and reversals.
I ticked TITUS ANDRONICUS, and KIDNEY (not an anagram). I did not remember Carla Bruni or ASTROLABE and did not know a company car is called a FLEET. At least I could solve those clues, unlike LEVERET where I did not know the word for young hare or its bed.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria
Thanks Gozo. I thought this was heavy with anagrams but oddly my only miss was ANAGRAM itself. All else went in quickly but the parsing of CANISTERS and BRUNEI eluded me. Favourites included KIDNEY, LIVERPOOL, POLICE CAR, ARGENTINA, and TITUS ANDRONICUS, my COTD. I was surprised to see ‘new’ used twice as an anagram indicator when there are so many others to choose. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
Bright and breezy does it!
Lovely.
Thanks Gozo (this brought me more cheer than Liverpool’s domestic form!) and Cineraria.
Meant to say that I found REALISTIC was very neat.
Wonder if there’s any jokes about Scousers trading organs. But yes, pretty cruisy, few dnk (or cnr) bits, like Bruni, and the hare’s form. Retsina backwards was neat, tho done before I fancy, and the Bard’s new play is a brill anag. Fun, thx GnC.
Filled the top straight in and the bottom almost as quickly. Either my iq has gone up or that was easy. Liked realistic, Argentina. Not sure kidney and liver are enough to form a theme. Thanks both.