Dac is occupying his traditional Wednesday slot, while this blogger is exceptionally late with his blog for technical reasons beyond his control, alas.
Finding a wi-fi network strong enough to upload this blog to the site, either at home or at work, has proved rather difficult today, so my apologies all round.
A typically fine set of Dac’s well-honed clues with smooth surfaces on a grid containing four 15-letter entries. Actually, the long entries held me up for quite a while today, surrendering themselves to me only when most of the crossing letters had been identified.
My favourite clues today are 12 for its poignancy and topicality – I couldn’t help but think of that recent disaster in a Bangladeshi clothing factory – and 8 for making me smile. 27 as a term was new to me – at school we called it non-uniform day, but I can see that the term wouldn’t be appropriate in all workplaces.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | MISTRUSTFULNESS | Film’s stunts sure create suspicion
*(FILM’S STUNTS SURE); “create” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | DAILY MAIL | Parliament facing trouble after this person’s backed paper
DAIL (=Parliament, i.e. in Ireland) + YM (MY=this person’s; “backed” indicates reversal) + AIL (=trouble) |
| 10 | GARBO | Famous actress – she died, newspaper recalled
OB. (=she died, from Latiin obiit) + RAG (=newspaper); “recalled” indicates (here full) reversal; the reference is to Swedish actress Greta Garbo (1905-90) |
| 11 | LIBRA | House near Bilbao incomplete, if viewed from the rear
Reversed (“viewed from the rear”) and hidden (“incomplete”) in “neRA BILbao”; Libra is one of the 12 houses/divisions of the heavens/Zodiac in astrology |
| 12 | SWEATSHOP | Type of factory with positions bound to be filled by women, principally
W<omen> (“principally” means first letter only) in [SEATS (=positions) + HOP (=bound)] |
| 13 | AFRESH | A hard worker on the land suffers in recession once again
A + FRES-H (H=hard + SERF=worker on the land; “(suffers) in recession” indicates reversal) |
| 14 | TEAR DOWN | Demolish end of house on a road in Oldham, maybe
[<hous>E (“end of” means last letter only) + A + RD (=road)] in TOWN (=Oldham, maybe) |
| 17 | EXERTION | Out of shape, Everton XI eschews very physical activity
*(E<v>ERTON XI); “eschews very (=v)” means letter “v” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “out of shape” |
| 19 | FRIGHT | Alarm’s loud and accurate
F (=loud, from forte) + RIGHT (=accurate) |
| 22 | PACEMAKER | Hearty support for runner?
Cryptically, a pacemaker provides “hearty” support, i.e. support for the heart |
| 24 | DINGO | Animal died during journey
D (=died) + IN (=during) + GO (=journey, as verb) |
| 25 | EVADE | Avoid publicity during day before event
AD (=publicity) in EVE (=day before event) |
| 26 | TRAVERSAL | Journey across a lake with Travers
TRAVERS (=playwright, i.e. Ben Travers) + A + L (=lake) |
| 27 | DRESS-DOWN FRIDAY | When habits become sloppy, castigate manservant?
DRESS DOWN (=castigate) + FRIDAY (=manservant, from Robinson Crusoe); the “habits” referred to in the definition are clothes |
| Down | ||
| 01 | MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD | Unwanted development in Chaucer’s time and earlier?
MIDDLE AGES (=Chaucer’s time) + PRE-AD (=earlier than Chaucer’s time) |
| 02 | SWINBURNE | English poet and Scottish one briefly taken in by beastly type
BURN<s> (=Scottish poet, i.e. Robbie Burns; “briefly” means last letter dropped) in SWINE (=beastly type); the reference is to English poet Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909) |
| 03 | RAY-BANS | Stop being hampered by sunlight thanks to these?
BAN (=stop) in RAYS (=sunlight); Ray-Bans are a type of designer sunglasses |
| 04 | SPARSE | Scattered spears all over the place
*(SPEARS); “all over the place” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | FALTERED | Having to introduce change, FBI official hesitated
ALTER (=change) in FED (=FBI official) |
| 06 | LIGHTER | Barge is so, once cargo is unloaded
Logically, an unloaded barge is lighter than a loaded one |
| 07 | EARTH | <d>EARTH (=poverty); “except for the capital” means first letter dropped |
| 08 | SHOPPING TROLLEY | Kind of mad creature hides in – that’s right – upturned carrier
[HOPPING (=mad) + TROLL (=kind of creature)] in SEY (YES=that’s right; “upturned” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 15 | ORGANISED | Maybe 9 editor is inwardly orderly and efficient
ORGAN (=maybe Daily Mail, i.e. entry at 9) + IS + ED (=editor) |
| 16 | COCKATOO | Heard spaniel, also parrot
Homophone (“heard”) of “cocker” (=spaniel) + TOO (=also) |
| 18 | TEMPERS | Moderates // angry outbursts
Double definition |
| 20 | RED DEER | Cardinal picked up pet animal
RED (=cardinal) + homophone (“picked up”) of “dear” (=pet) |
| 21 | ORDAIN | Decree given at last after radio broadcast
*(RADIO) + <give>N (“at last” means last letter only); “broadcast” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | CLARE | Cambridge college has concern about lecturer
L (=lecturer) in CARE (=concern) |
Thanks to setter and blogger. Apart from preventing conversation over lunch the puzzle caused no upsets and was finished before my coffee got cold and before the blog was posted. Unique experience so no apologies needed. My ego got a huge, although little needed, boost
Another enjoyable Dac puzzle. My last ones in were the SWINBURNE/AFRESH crossers. My only minor quibble is that in the online version the clue for RAY-BANS is enumerated (7) rather than (3-4), although that didn’t stop me solving it.
Curiously, unlike our blogger, three of the four 15-letter answers came to me straight away, almost the first ones in. Only 8dn came later. In the end, it was 22ac and 18dn which held me up. And like MinMalvern@1, it was unusual (in a good way) to have completed the puzzle before the blog was posted.
I didn’t entirely follow why Libra (scales) was a house, but not too disappointed to find that my knowledge of such a nonsensical subject is lacking.
I found this quite tough, although that’s probably due to not starting until 7 pm. I thought there were some lovely clues – I particularly liked 1 down with the pre-AD but being a nice touch to go with the middle ages theme.
13A Not sure if “suffers” is an ad littish touch, but cannot see its purpose, as the clue seems to read OK without it.
27A generally known as casual Friday in Oz.
Thanks to Dac and RatkojaRiku.