[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
This should have been a lovely puzzle to work through over a cup of coffee in the autumn sunshine… but as the past week has scrambled my brain and left my faculties in disarray, it was more of a struggle than it ought to have been. A very nice puzzle, as far as I can make out – smart clueing, some very sly misdirection and a few words that were new to me. Thank-you, Bradman.
ACROSS
9. HURRICANE Anagram of raunchier
10. PILEI Pile [heap] + i [one]
11. VENISON Ven [Venerable, archdeacon] + is on – not sure where ‘menu’ comes into it
12. TAX-FREE A + X [cross] + F [female] within tree [elder, perhaps]
13. LEI Levi [priest] minus v [very]
14. PNEUMOCOCCI CC [cold, repeatedly] within anagram of i come upon
17. CARET Care [worry] + t [time]
18. PAN P(age) + an [indefinite article]
19. ORCAS (F)or cas(h)
21. LO AND BEHOLD Anagram of hello bad don
23. RIB Double definition, alluding to the creation of Eve
25. BUGLOSS Double definition
27. GROWLED Grow [get more] + led [took in hand]
28. TONNE To [before the hour] + nine minus i [one]
29. VOLTE-FACE Anagram of vocal feet
DOWN
1. SHOVEL (Labour)s + hovel [shed]
2. FRONTIER F [female] + ron [man’s name] + tier [row]
3. DISSIPATED is + sip [drink] + ate [consumed] within DD [Doctor of Divinity, theologian]
4. LAWN Double definition
5. PENTIMENTO Pen [writer] + time [period] + NT [New Testament, collection of books] + o [old]
6. APEX Ape [primate] + x [cross]
7. CLERIC C [Conservative] + L [Liberal] + eric [fine]
8. TIBERIUS Anagram of is brute I
15. EXPRESSIVE Ex [no longer] + press [newspapers] + I’ve [this writer’s]
16. CLOUD COVER Cryptic definition
17. CELIBATE Eli [priest] + bat [nasty old woman] within CE [Church (of England)]
20. CARTLOAD Anagram of actor lad
22. ARGENT (S)argent [American artist]
24. BADGER Bad [not good] + Germany [country] minus many
26. OVER (D)over [port]
27. GALL Sounds like Gaul [France as it was]
Thanks Bradman for an enjoyable puzzle and Ringo for the blog. I too found myself taking longer than usual over this puzzle before seeing answers that were obvious once I had got them. Bradman on a Thursday – should we expect something special tomorrow related to the date?
11ac: I think “on the menu” is cluing “on”, although it seems a bit strange to clue a word by a phrase that includes that word.
Thanks B and R. I also found this tricky. Eric was new to me. Some quite obscure stuff but v. sound clueing, as usual.