One for the beginners today with generally straightforward wordplay and nothing particularly obscure.
A very quick solve for me with 90% of the answers being entered during my first pass through the clues. The ones that didn’t go in immediately had some slightly vague wordplay such as ‘support’ = PLANK in 18dn and ‘light’ = TAPER in 16ac.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CELERITY | CELE[b]RITY |
| 5 | PADDLE | P (coppers {pence}) ADDLE (confuse) |
| 9 | NOTATION | TA (reservists) in NOTION (idea) |
| 10 | DONATE | DON (Spanish gentleman) ATE (devoured) |
| 12 | PASO DOBLE | *(A BOLD POSE) |
| 13 | REALM | L (sovereign {£}) in REAM (paper) |
| 14 | NICE | double def. |
| 16 | TAPSTER | ST (good man) in TAPER (light) |
| 19 | HELIPAD | LIP (insolence) in HEAD (supervisor) |
| 21 | SNAP | double def. |
| 24 | RANGE | RANG (called) E[xpedition] |
| 25 | SECTIONAL | *(COASTLINE) |
| 27 | BETRAY | BET (risk) RAY (skate {fish}) |
| 28 | MORALIST | ORAL (exam) in MIST (fret) |
| 29 | CANNED | C (caught) ANNE (old queen) D (dead) |
| 30 | DRAINAGE | *(READING A) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CANAPÉ | A N (new) in CAPE (head) |
| 2 | LATEST | LA (the French) TEST (trial) |
| 3 | RATED | DE (of French) TAR (sailor) reversed |
| 4 | TROUBLE | T[aking] ROUBLE (foreign money) |
| 6 | APOCRYPHA | *(CORA HAPPY) |
| 7 | DIAMANTÉ | I AM (setter is) in DANTE (Italian poet) |
| 8 | EVERMORE | EVE (first lady) R (runs) MORE (further) |
| 11 | BENT | double def. |
| 15 | IMPRECATE | *(TRIPE CAME) |
| 17 | CHERUBIC | HER (girl) in CUB (youth) IC (in charge) |
| 18 | PLANKTON | PLANK (support) TON (heavyweight) |
| 20 | DISC | I (one) S (second) in DC (current) |
| 21 | SUCCOUR | homophone of ‘sucker’ (dupe) |
| 22 | ANGINA | AN GIN (alcoholic drink) A |
| 23 | CLOTHE | LOT (many) in CHE (revolutionary) |
| 26 | IRAQI | I[rritate] R[eporter] A[fter] Q[uestion’s] I[gnored] |
Many thanks Gaufrid & Armonie – this was very enjoyable.
However, I hadn’t realised that I had made a mistake until I read your excellent blog.
Sadly, I had CANAPE for 1d without realising that CANAPÉ was called for.
I must be more careful in future or I never will win any of those amazing prizes which are sometimes available.
Thanks to Armonie for a gentle, but enjoyable puzzle, and to Gaufrid for the review.
Couldn’t get anywhere in the NE.
6d while this was obviously an anagram of cora happy, I’d still be sitting here now trying to work it out with only the last letter of a filled in.
5d Thought this might be plodge. plod for coppers=police but couldn’t justify ge.
10a Spanish gent =don never occured to me once
13a just too tough having to get ream out of the all the possibilites for paper.
7d My heart sank when I saw a reference to an Italian poet as I knew I had no chance with this clue.
Thanks for the blog
Hi Gaufrid
I didn’t understand the first half of the dd in SNAP, perhaps you can elucidate.
I realize I’m turning up late to this one, but when I saw Armonie on the website, one of my favorites, I thought it would be good for a train ride home. Only lasted a few stops, though, so it couldn’t have been too hard!
Hi Agentzero
When two people have the same thing, idea etc one of them is likely to say snap. This derives from the children’s card game of the same name.