A largely unobjectionable offering from Falcon today – and I learned a new word, which is always nice.
I didn’t feel that this was one of Falcon’s most inspired days, but the wordplay was all sound and the vocab nicely varied (olent my new word). Too many As for my liking but that’s the merest quibble. I struggled for some reason with the SE corner, but on reflection I wouldn’t really expect anyone else to. Thank-you, Falcon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | APOSTROPHE | Mark in Schindler’s List (10) |
| Just a cryptic definition, I think | ||
| 7 | SKIP | Miss sleep after onset of storm (4) |
| S(torm) kip [sleep] | ||
| 9 | ALSO | A leading orchestra too (4) |
| A LSO [London Symphony Orchestra] | ||
| 10 | STRIPTEASE | Band bringing in drinks for floor show, perhaps (10) |
| Teas [drinks] within stripe [band] | ||
| 11 | SNATCH | Kidnapping head of state? Of course (6) |
| S(tate) natch [of course] | ||
| 12 | OBSERVER | Spectator, or weekly newspaper? (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | LASTAMPA | Italian newspaper printing ultimate answer about a politician (2,6) |
| A MP [a politician] within last [ultimate] A [answer] | ||
| 15 | IOTA | Volunteers to follow one old Greek character (4) |
| I [one] o [old] TA [Territorial Army, volunteers] | ||
| 17 | ESAU | Backing application involving a son of Isaac (4) |
| A within reversal of use [application] | ||
| 19 | PLANTAIN | Worker brought in basic fruit, staple food in the tropics (8) |
| Ant [worker] within plain [basic] | ||
| 22 | GAZPACHO | Soup in Gaza, and chop in a stew (8) |
| Anaram of gaza chop | ||
| 23 | LAYMAN | Outsider? Worker put on bet (6) |
| Lay [bet] man [worker] | ||
| 25 | MIRACULOUS | Marvellous copper entering new solarium (10) |
| Cu [copper] within anagram of solarium | ||
| 26 | ECHO | Ringing some of the choir (4) |
| Hidden in thE CHOir | ||
| 27 | GLAD | Happy? Good boy (4) |
| G [good] lad [boy] | ||
| 28 | TINSOLDIER | Lead toy, red on list I ordered (3,7) |
| Anagram of red on list I | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | POLENTA | Secretary describing scented Italian dish (7) |
| Olent [scented] within PA [Personal Assistant, secretary] | ||
| 3 | SPORT | Drop of sherry left for trifle (5) |
| S(herry) port [left] | ||
| 4 | RESTHOME | Others poorly, and yours truly in here? (4,4) |
| Anagram of others me [yours truly] | ||
| 5 | PERSONALPRONOUN | She could make an example of one (8,7) |
| Cryptic definition (‘she’ is a personal pronoun) | ||
| 6 | EL PASO | Extremely economical soap manufactured in US city (2,4) |
| E(conomica)l anagram of soap | ||
| 7 | SPEARMINT | Man with priest relaxed, chewing gum (9) |
| Anagram of man priest | ||
| 8 | INSPECT | Look at source of problem in cricket, for example (7) |
| P(roblem) within insect [e.g. cricket] | ||
| 14 | TRUMP CARD | Top character, valuable resource (5,4) |
| Top [trump (verb)] card [character] | ||
| 16 | CALLISTO | Satellite phone and its unusual ring (8) |
| Call [phone] anagram of its O [ring] | ||
| 18 | SPANIEL | Talk volubly about a name for a dog (7) |
| A n [name] within spiel [talk volubly] | ||
| 20 | IVANHOE | Book one vehicle on promontory (7) |
| I [one] van [vehicle] hoe [promontory] | ||
| 21 | ACQUIT | Clear area 100 left (6) |
| A [area] c [100] quit [left] | ||
| 24 | YIELD | Deliver product (5) |
| Double definition | ||
Thanks, Ringo — olent was a nice new word for me too. An enjoyable, workmanlike puzzle — thanks Falcon: I enjoyed especially 1ac and 5dn.
Thanks, Ringo. I quite enjoyed this one. I had come across olent before, but it’s the sort of word that you only ever encounter in crosswords.
I did have a minor quibble with 7d, in that spearmint is really the flavouring, rather than the chewing gum itself, though they used to advertise “Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum”. But in the end it was such a trivial point that I decided not to make it. 😉
Olent and kip unknown to me but I got them anyway. The big hangup was 21d. I was sure you had to subtract “C” from a word for area. Finally said, “ah quit!”
Thanks Falcon and Ringo
Actually had time to enjoy this from Falcon. I find that I normally just write in the answers for him, but this one had some challenge – enjoyed it a lot. Finished down in SE with CALLISTO, YIELD and LAYMAN the last few in.
But Tom, you did … hahaha … and I had exactly the same thought process as you did !!!
I do like clues like 1a – even more effective here, because it’s so unexpected a device from this setter.