A pleasant opening to the day. Thanks, Wanderer
| Across | ||
| 1 | HIT IT OFF |
Get on well with upper-class sort on Polynesian island? No thanks! (3,2,3)
TAHITI is the Polynesian island. TOFF is the upper class sort. Remove TA (thanks) |
| 6 | DIRNDL |
Regularly placed in drier, one dull dress or skirt (6)
Alternate letters of drier one dull |
| 9 | ON EDGE |
Unsettled by legside boundary (2,4)
ON (leg side in cricket) plus EDGE (boundary) |
| 10 | VIEWABLE |
Compete with second son in broadcast on TV? (8)
VIE (compete) plus W (with) plus ABLE (homophone (broadcast) of ABEL, the second son of Adam and Eve). |
| 11 | WRAP |
Demolished most of prawn sandwich (4)
An anagram (demolished) of most of the letters of PRAWN |
| 12 | LAW ABIDING |
Criminal, bald and in a wig? Not criminal at all (3-7)
An anagram (criminal) of BALD and IN A WIG |
| 14 | SPONDAIC |
Like some poetry on iPad, rewritten in small capitals (8)
An anagram (rewritten) of ON IPAD, surrounded by SC for small capitals (usually referring to fonts) |
| 16 | STAB |
Shot from Surrey’s opener, Bill (4)
S, the first letter of Surrey, plus TAB (bill) |
| 18 | TREE |
Cricketer suffering after cramp dropped willow? (4)
CRICKETER minus CRICK (cramp) rearranged (suffering) |
| 19 | ENLARGER |
What photographers used, taking Joel Garner shot after two openers dropped (8)
An anagram (shot) of Joel Garner minus its first two letters (two openers dropped) |
| 21 | HUNTRESSES |
“Women like Diana avoid going topless” shock? (10)
Hun (shun without its first letter (going topless)) plus tresses (a shock of hair). Diana was a huntress. |
| 22 | ABSE |
Going to the West Indies, batsman’s content to be a poet (4)
Contained in Indies batsman, reversed (going to the west) |
| 24 | ATTEND TO |
Deal with toad jumping around collapsing tent (6,2)
An anagram (indicated by jumping and collapsing) of toad and tent |
| 26 | DUENNA |
Older woman in charge of girls playing nude against Namibia (6)
An anagram (playing) of nude plus Na (Namibia) |
| 27 | TEFLON |
Broken left leg? That’s tough, and . . . . (6)
An anagram (broken) of left plus on (the leg side in cricket) |
| 28 | NON STICK |
. . . . new three-quarter length sock isn’t dreadfully easy to keep clean (3-5)
An anagram of n (new) plus ock (3 of the 4 letters of sock) plus isn’t |
| Down | ||
| 2 | INNER |
Shot on target from Victor, after wicket lost (5)
Winner minus w for wicket. |
| 3 | INDEPENDENT |
Free newspaper (11)
Double definition |
| 4 | OVERLEAF |
Put past short leg by a fellow on the other side (8)
Over (past) plus le (first two letters of leg) plus a plus f (fellow) |
| 5 | FIVE WICKETS DOWN |
This clue’s about gates VW’s knocked over when roughly half in, half out (4,7,4)
Five down (5dn) is this clue with wickets (gates) in the middle. |
| 6 | DWEEBS |
Daughter number one beds extremely nerdish guys (6)
D (daughter) plus wee (number one) plus b,s (extreme letters of beds). |
| 7 | RNA |
The Messenger runs article about . . . . (3)
R (runs) plus an (reversed or about). RNA conveys genetic information from DNA to the ribosome (whatever that is) |
| 8 | DELINEATE |
. . . . stupid run-out of tail-ender before end of tame draw (9)
An anagram (stupid) of tail-ender minus the r (run-out) plus e (last letter of tame) |
| 13 | DISARMAMENT |
Midterm Nasa outing for long- term member of CND? (11)
An anagram of midterm Nasa. The long term member presumably means that disarmament has always been in the name of the organisation. |
| 15 | PIROUETTE |
Spin bowler ultimately gets Pete out with one that turns (9)
R (last letter of bowler) plus Pete plus out plus I (one). |
| 17 | CLOSED IN |
Drew near to home (6,2)
(Near to) closed plus in (home). Near seems to play a double role. |
| 20 | VERDUN |
Battle over Dunsinane hedges (6)
Contained in over Dunsinane |
| 23 | SONIC |
In over after second over, caught an animated, prickly character (5)
An anagram of S (second) plus o (over) plus “in” (reversed or over) plus c (caught). Refers to Sonic the Hedgehog. |
| 25 | EEL |
What fisherman might use, taking head off fish (3)
A fisherman might use a reel. Take off the head/first letter and you get eel |
Hi D&L,
Thanks for the blog – totally enjoyed this puzzle. Couple of things:-
5d: The additional clue is “..VW’s knocked over..” with V = FIVE (in roman) W for WICKETS and Knocked Over = DOWN.
25d: I found out that a Weel is a trap for catching fish (in Chambers, dialect) , something that I didn’t know before. Its fits the solve, just the same.
Thanks Wanderer for a nice treat !!
Regards,
TL
Thanks D&L and Wanderer,
Re CLOSED IN: To = Closed
Great crossword. LAW ABIDING was my favourite.
The right hand Nina gave me the ‘e’ I needed to see the hidden reversed poet ‘Abse’ in 22a – otherwise I would have been stumped (ahem!)
Thanks Wanderer and D&L
Another excellent puzzle from this setter – and with a cleverly woven theme into the surfaces of many of the clues. That and the ninas down each side and the long clue down the centre made for a very enjoyable solve.
For once I spotted the ninas early enough for them to come in helpful in getting some problem clues – TREE, SPONDAIC, STAB, ENLARGER and ABSE.
Thought that FIVE WICKETS DOWN was the clue of the day – for the witty definition and the double cryptic parts. It should nearly have been ‘purpled out’ along with the ninas for it’s thematic property.
Many other fine clues throughout … and a feeling of achievement when the previously unknown Danny ABSE was written in at 22a.