A grid from Tack for our pleasure today.
I felt this to be a mostly straightforward proposition from the start, with quite a bit of clueing to exercise my anagram muscles. 20 across was my favourite clue for artfully cheeky (every pun intended) construction.
Thanks very much to Tack for the entertainment.
Item of crockery [BOWL] in [IN] kitchen [GALLEY]
In an excited state [UP] drunk [TIGHT]
Runs [R] past [after] where skaters relax [OFF ICE]
First letters of [“principally”] LAWS OF GENERATING INTELLIGENT CONCLUSIONS
Anagram [“formed”] THE YARDS
Anagram [“troubled”] ABOUT MESSI
Junk [TAT] energy [E] emitted [removed] by toothless [EDENTATE]
Fury docked twice [FU] by international [I] boxing [around] judge [J]
Caught [sounds like] behind [BOTTI = ” botty”] player not stumped [CELLIST without ST]
Anagram [“bananas”] MANKIEST
Drugs, primarily [D] with one of The Libertines [RAKE]
Sent back [backwards] to correct [EDIT] swimmer [EEL]
Gun [ARM] back from [last letter of] Saturday [Y] at [AT] around noon [N]
Double definition
Elsewhere [OUT] succeeded [S] suppressing [around] generation [AGE]
Experts [ACES] defending [around] one [I] carrying [under] on [LEG]
NOTE = “NOT E”
Anagram [“rogue”] AGAINST YOU with I replaced by new [N]
REFILL without second L [briefly] served up [backwards]
Anagram [“going off”] CHAY to meet [“with”] TED
Greek character [NU] evidently [CLEARLY] defending [around] loud [F] friend in French [AMI]
I should have mentioned [PS], harbouring [around] ill-feeling [RESENTMENT] about island [I]
Anagram (“spread”) PRETENSION
Double definition
Alternate letters of [“periodically”] JOEL SAT NEAR US
Hidden word: CAPSULE AKA GEMINI
University [U] will support [under] advanced [A] random number generator [DIE]
Sounds like [“we hear”] Food and drink = FARE
Thanks to Tack for brightening up a dreary day with some nice humour.
Minor slip-up in blog for 5d. Should have said I replaced by N(ew).
As our blogger says, very approachable with plenty of amusing surfaces. BOWLING ALLEY, BOTTICELLI, LEE TIDE, PRESENTIMENTS, TIN-OPENERS and ACADEMIC my faves.
Thanks both
EDEN was completely impossible to get (for me, anyway). NOTE is nice. Thanks Tack & leedsclimber
I can only agree with the above compliments. A clever, amusing puzzle to brighten a cloudy Saturday.
I left entering EDEN right to the end as I was determined to parse it and was very pleased when I finally succeeded .
Thanks all.
Very clever clueing throughout, something for everyone, no bums (apart from one bottie ), and no obscurities.
Nice nod to Sir CHAY Blyth in 7(d).
14(d) is a lovely anagram, no problem with the solution, though does anyone ever say “tin opener”? It’s always can-opener.
I agree with Layman @3, EDEN was a shoe-in but the parsing took me ages.
Superb setting, great fun, hats off, Tack & LC
BOWLING ALLEY and BOTTICELLI were, for me, the two stand out clues. ENB@5 I would always say “tin-opener”. “Can-opener” is still an Americanism to me. I can see how ACADEMIC sort of means “ideal”, but I am struggling to find a good example.
Thanks Hovis #1 and well spotted. All corrected
Petert@6
Fair play on “tin-opener”, though after your post, I went into my Amazon account and asked for a tin opener, and every product said can-opener!
Fair play, too, on ACADEMIC. I don’t think it is a good match, at all, for IDEAL.
I reconciled it, as being something utopian, but which is a theoretical thing, that cannot practically be achieved, so it’s “academic”.
I’d be interested to hear other views.
Though it’s purely academic, now.
I was brought up with tin-opener, rather than can-opener. Confusingly, we also referred to the device for puncturing holes in evaporated milk tins as tin-openers as well. Can’t remember when I last used mine.