I am filling in for scchua today . . .
. . . on a Mudd that was perhaps a bit trickier than usual.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | POP OFF |
Leave father out (3,3)
|
| POP (father) + OFF (out) | ||
| 4 | MUTINEER |
Christian, say, can always set upon Greek character (8)
|
| MU (Greek character) + TIN (can) + E’ER (always), with “set upon” indicating the order of the wordplay, referring to Fletcher Christian | ||
| 10 | SOLDIER |
Regular bond has one committed (7)
|
| SOLDER (bond) around (has . . . committed) I (one) | ||
| 11 | SOJOURN |
Stay sharp squeezing juice of orange and lemon, finally (7)
|
| {SOUR (sharp) around (squeezing) OJ (juice of orange)} + last letter of (finally) [LEMO]N | ||
| 12 | IRON |
Smooth seaweed rolled over (4)
|
| NORI (seaweed) reversed (rolled over) | ||
| 13 | ASTOUNDING |
Hard to believe sun-god ain’t tanned! (10)
|
| Anagram of (tanned) SUN-GOD AIN’T | ||
| 16 | ON FIRE |
In the zone — and red-hot? (2,4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | FLAT CAP |
Dull top hat (4,3)
|
| FLAT (dull) + CAP (top) | ||
| 20 | EGGHEAD |
Genius, he stuck in blunted knife, backwards! (7)
|
| HE inside (stuck in) DAGGE[R] (knife) minus last letter (blunted) and reversed (backwards) | ||
| 21 | VOLUME |
Sound publication (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | HATEMONGER |
Another gem proving fake, dislike merchant? (10)
|
| Anagram of (proving fake) ANOTHER GEM, with a slightly cryptic definition | ||
| 25 | ESPY |
See vampire bats slip away last of all (4)
|
| Last [letters] of all [of] [VAMPIR]E + [BAT]S + [SLI]P + [AWA]Y | ||
| 27 | SO-AND-SO |
Keep embroidering things, reportedly for little devil (2-3-2)
|
| Homophone of (reportedly) SEW AND SEW (keep embroidering things) | ||
| 29 | CHÂTEAU |
Drink and drink with posh wine-maker (7)
|
| CHA (drink) + TEA (drink) + U (posh) | ||
| 30 | OPPOSITE |
Facing work, ask about it (8)
|
| OP (work) + {POSE (ask) around (about) IT} | ||
| 31 | FELLAH |
Bloke tripped over, alack! (6)
|
| FELL (tripped over) + AH (alack) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | POSEIDON |
God poisoned converts (8)
|
| Anagram of (converts) POISONED | ||
| 2 | PILLOW FIGHT |
Stuffed, as the case may be — in this battle? (6,5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | FOIL |
Sword, perfect fit (4)
|
| Double definition, the second in the literary sense of “counterpart” | ||
| 5 | UNSPOILT |
Tulips on ground, immaculate (8)
|
| Anagram of (ground) TULIPS ON | ||
| 6 | INJUNCTION |
Order spaghetti spoon, last bits taken with fork (10)
|
| Last letters of (last bits [of]) [SPAGHETT]I + [SPOO]N + JUNCTION (fork) | ||
| 7 | EMU |
Bird featured in documentary running uphill (3)
|
| Hidden in (featured in) [DOC]UME[NTARY] inverted (running uphill) | ||
| 8 | RENEGE |
Cop out in Greene novel (6)
|
| Anagram of (novel) GREENE | ||
| 9 | BRASS |
Tubas etc, low musical range about right (5)
|
| BASS (low musical range) around (about) R (right) | ||
| 14 | IN A NUTSHELL |
Simply put, where kernel found? (2,1,8)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 15 | ARCHIMEDES |
Old scientist shared mice out (10)
|
| Anagram of (out) SHARED MICE | ||
| 18 | RAINCOAT |
Villain has stolen a fashionable company garment (8)
|
| RAT (villain) around (has stolen) {A + IN (fashionable) + CO. (company)} | ||
| 19 | VERY MUCH |
Selfsame chum failing a lot (4,4)
|
| VERY (selfsame) + anagram of (failing) CHUM | ||
| 22 | PHYSIO |
Therapist, having skipped a page, so happy, I gathered (6)
|
| Anagram of (gathered) {SO + H[AP]PY minus (having skipped) [A + P (page)] + I} | ||
| 23 | PERCH |
Land fish (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | MARE |
Tethered by groom, a retired horse (4)
|
| Hidden in (tethered by) [GROO]M A RE[TIRED] | ||
| 28 | ALP |
Mountain pass left alone, initially, when climbing (3)
|
| First letters of (initially) P[ASS] L[EFT] A[LONE] inverted (when climbing) |
Liked SOJOURN, HATEMONGER (nice def!!!) and PILLOW FIGHT (for the stuffed case).
Thanks Mudd and Cineraria (great blog).
Enjoyable overall. I found it fairly easy going, although it took a glass of red to sort out the last three answers.
As is often the case with Mudd, I had lots of ticks. I liked PERCH and lovedCHATEAU, MUTINEER, ASTOUNDING and POSEIDON. I thought IRON was clever.
I could not parse FOIL (and I am afraid I still do not see how counterpart = perfect fit), nor INJUNCTION. With great respect to KVa@1, does anyone actually say “dislike merchant”? And I thought there were a few very suspect synonyms.
Thanks Mudd and Cineraria
Martyn@2
Collins
FOIL
If you refer to one thing or person as a foil for another, you approve of the fact that they contrast with each other and go well together, often in a way that makes the second thing or person seem better or less harmful.
He thought of her serenity as a foil for his intemperance.
A cold beer is the perfect foil for a curry.
INJUNCTION is a legal order by a court, I think.
HATEMONGER
‘dislike merchant’ with a ? is a nice (slightly as the blogger says) cryptic def, I thought.
The surface leads us to a verbal phrase. Nice deception. No?
Thanks KVa@3 for FOIL – it is starting to make sense.
I actually understood the meaning of INJUNCTION and Cineraria’s parsing, and apologise if I wrote about it in a misleading way.
Easy at first but harder to finish. Liked unspoilt. Thanks both!
In a nutshell, not a dud in this Mudd, 100% excellent clueing. Loved it.
Great blog too, Cineraria. 1.35 am? That’s dedication above and beyond!