This is a tough puzzle with not many easy clues. I had to work hard all the way to the end.
There seemed to be a lot of removed/replaced letter devices in the clues. After a while I started to expect them and look for the next one. I don’t know if this was conciously done by Alberich or just chance. There are a couple of clues where I think Alberich may have some typos or editing to do, or perhaps I have misunderstood (which would not be the frst time). Anyway, thank you very much Alberich for a challenging and enjoyable puzzle.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PROSPER MERIMEE | French writer presenting emperor’s empire in novel form (7,7) |
| (EMPEROR’S EMPIRE)* anagram=in novel form – French writer who’s short story Carmen became the basis for Bizet’s opera | ||
| 10 | ENDUE | Invest with last dollar finally spent (5) |
| ENDUrE (last) with R (last or final letter of dollar) missing (spent) – definition is ‘invest’. |
||
| 11 | VEHEMENCE | Forcefulness shown by macho types overwhelming centre of European city (9) |
| HE-MEN (macho types) replacing (overwhelming) the NI (centre of) in VEniCE (European city) | ||
| 12 | TACITUS | Historian can be understood by you and me (7) |
| TACIT (understood) by US (you and me) – Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian | ||
| 13 | TORMENT | Harrow’s wrong to take on older boys (7) |
| TORT (wrong) contains (takes on) MEN (older boys) – definition is ‘harrow’ | ||
| 14 | PRIOR | From bustling airport take off at – at an earlier time (5) |
| aIRPORt* anagram=bustling with AT removed | ||
| 16 | RETRIEVER | Dog expert vows initially to stop terrier barking (9) |
| EV (inital lettters of expert vows) inside (stops, like a cork) TERRIER* anagram=barking | ||
| 19 | SANDPAPER | Flyer’s first person booted out by aircrew, primarily for rough stuff (9) |
| SANDPiPER (bird, flyer) with I (first person) replaced (booted out) by A (first letter, primarily, of aircrew) | ||
| 20 | SCRUB | Cancel loan, needing to secure credit (5) |
| SUB (loan) contains (needing to secure) CR (credit) | ||
| 22 | TAGALOG | “Play gooseberry” perhaps has no name in foreign language (7) |
| TAG ALOnG (play gooseberry perhaps) missing N (name) – language of the Philippines | ||
| 25 | ANGRIER | Vexed, in rage that’s greater, ultimately (7) |
| (IN RAGE)* anagram=vexed with (that has) greateR (ultimate letter) – definition is &lit. The writer is angrier because in the end his vexation and rage gets greater. | ||
| 27 | EMOTIONAL | Moving book about uninitated woman with little learning (9) |
| TOME (book) reversed (about) fIONA (woman, uninitiated) with L (first letter, a little, of learning) – definition is ‘moving’ | ||
| 28 | GARBO | Somewhat vulgar Bollywood film star? Yes and no (5) |
| found in (somewhat) vulGAR BOllywood – Greta Garbo. ‘Yes and no’ indicates (I think) that yes Garbo is part of the string of characters but no, she is not a vulgar Bollywood star. | ||
| 29 | SYSTEMS ANALYST | My slant, say, set out to incorporate streamlining first of all? (7,7) |
| (MY SLANT SAY SET)* out=anagram contains (to incorporate) S (first letter of, first of all, streamlining) – definition is &lit. A systems analyst is an IT worker who investigates computer and business systems to produce new or improved system designs. I suppose that simplification (streamlining) would be among his or her first approaches. Unless I have misread this it seems an obscure and overly contived definition. Better to have just stuck to a standard clue format here? | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | REDUCTION | Discount, third off? Er, could be (9) |
| anagram (could be) of DIsCOUNT (third letter missing) and ER – definition is &lit | ||
| 3 | SHEET | Ready to grab guy rope (5) |
| SET (ready) contains (grabs) HE (guy) – a rope on a boat | ||
| 4 | EAVESDROP | First off, in autumn this happens to bug (9) |
| LEAVES DROP (this happens in autumn) with first letter missing – definition is ‘to bug’ | ||
| 5 | MY HAT | Maiden’s heart regularly broken by Yankee? I don’t believe it! (2,3) |
| M (maiden) has HeArT (regular letter of) containing (broken by) Y (yankee, phonetic alphabet) – exclamation ‘my hat’, I don’t believe it | ||
| 6 | REMARRIES | Gets new Dutch residence to house girl around west end of Rotterdam (9) |
| RES (residence) contains (to house) MARIE (girl) containing (around) R (west end, left-most letter, of Rotterdam) – definition is ‘gets new Dutch’ | ||
| 7 | MANGE | Fruit mostly heading off endemic skin disease (5) |
| MANGo (fruit, mostly) E (the first letter of, heading off, endemic) – skin disease in animals | ||
| 8 | EVENTER | Rider’s still on time to meet royal (7) |
| EVEN (still) on T (time) with (to meet) ER (royal, The Queen) – someone who rides in horse trials | ||
| 9 | RED-TOP | Mirror perhaps reflects earthenware article, one from Dresden? (3-3) |
| POT (earthenware |
||
| 15 | REPULSIVE | Note, drip’s captivated by heart- throb – that’s disgusting! (9) |
| RE (note, music) with IV (intravenous drip) in (captured by) PULSE (the throb of the heart) | ||
| 17 | TARPAULIN | Man batting after Jack gets 3 (9) |
| PAUL (man) IN (batting, cricket) after TAR (jack, sailor) – a sheet | ||
| 18 | VERDIGRIS | Composer firmly holds piano should go – it may affect the brass (9) |
| VERDI (composer) GRIpS (firmly holds) missing P (piano) | ||
| 19 | SETTERS | Perhaps The Sun’s for people like me (7) |
| the sun sets, so is a setter | ||
| 21 | BARROW | Pub brawl in northern town (6) |
| BAR (pub) ROW (brawl) – one of a number of towns in the North of England, most probably referring to Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria | ||
| 23 | GLOSS | On ship clog dancing’s avoided by Charlie Sheen (5) |
| cLOG* anagram=dancing missing C (charlie, phonetic alphabet) on SS (steam ship) – definition is ‘sheen’ | ||
| 24 | GENTS | Note is included in contracts for convenience (5) |
| N (note) in GETS (contracts, a disease for example) – public conveniences, toilets | ||
| 26 | GOGOL | An enormous number denied a love for this Russian writer (5) |
| GOoGOL (an enoumous number with over 100 digits) missing (denied) O (a love, a= only one of the three) – Nikolai Gogol. |
||
*anagram
Agreed, quite tough.
26d – I think it’s “a love” to show only one of the Os is dropped?
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Thanks PeeDee and Alberich,
I think for 9 down, DER is “article, one from Dresden” and earthenware (as a noun) is pot.
In the clue for GOGOL, I took “denied a love” to mean that only one of the letter Os was missing.
TACITUS was my favourite.
Thanks Muffyword and Cruciverbophile and apologies to Alberich!
I agree with PeeDee — that was a mighty tussle, but all the better for that. I thought EAVESDROP was seriously elegant. Thanks, Alberich and PeeDee.
Thanks PeeDee.
I agree with you about the overdose of one-letter devices.
One might expect some from this setter but not that many.
Apart from that vintage Alberich, I thought, and if you’re familiar to his style (as I think I am) not too hard.
29ac was indeed not the best of the bunch and I wondered where the extra S was coming from. In crossword language “first of all” suggests a bit more than just the first letter of the preceding word. And the definition, ah well.
Also thanks for explaining the IV in 25d. Unknown to me.
Just one remark re 11ac: HE-MEN is replacing the centre of Venice which is NI.
7d
Should the clue not have read as ‘heading of endemic’. Heading off endemic would lead to ‘ndemic’, it seems to me.
Perhaps this was one of the typos that Peedee referred to in his preamble.
Thanks to PeeDee and Alberich
ernie – I read ‘heading off endemic’ as ‘the heading taken off endemic’. In the same sense as ‘I used the wheels off another car’ meaning I used the wheels, not the remainder of the car.
Quite enjoyed this, 1a problematic until i had all the crossers for the anagram.
Alberich/Klingsor often throws in some lovely &lits. Thanks PD.
@Ernie, heading off seems to be the first letter or the rest, certainly Quixote uses both.