A familiar face this Friday with the return of the Don. Genial puzzle, with only a couple of clues that bothered me due to the fact that I didnt know these words existed. Typical smooth straightforward cluing for most part. Thanks Bradman, for stress-free passage today.
FF: 8 DD : 8
| Across | ||
| 1 | STOCKING FILLER |
Playing golf irks client – small gift is what’s wanted (8,6)
Anagram of GOLF IRKS CLIENT |
| 10 | CANON |
Member of clergy to be head of Cathedral soon (5)
C (head of Cathedral) ANON (soon) |
| 11 | TIGHTENED |
Having had too much drink and drug, man is screwed up (9)
TIGHT (having had too much drink) E (drug) NED (man) |
| 12 | RAMPAGE |
With short memory, servant gets to rush around angrily (7)
RAM (short memory, Random Access Memory which is volatile and short-term) PAGE (servant) |
| 13 | SURREAL |
Fantastic mammal seen outside old city by river (7)
SEAL (mammal) outside [ UR (old city) R (river) ] |
| 14 | DUKAS |
Composer died when going round country (5)
[ D (died) AS (when) ] around UK (country) |
| 16 | LEASEHOLD |
Meadow disposed of, the man about to enter it getting tenure (9)
[ LEA (meadow) SOLD (disposed of) ] containing EH (the man = he, reversed) |
| 19 | HARQUEBUS |
Travel quickly by public transport conveying queen’s old weapon (9)
[HARE (travel quickly) BUS (public transport) ] conveying QU (queen) – Had to look this one up. |
| 20 | TUTOR |
Men attached to old archbishop briefly as teacher (5)
OR (men) attached to TUTu (old archbishop = Desmond Tutu, briefly) |
| 22 | REWARDS |
Prizes about to be given to sections of hospital (7)
RE (about) WARDS (sections of hospitals) |
| 25 | UNCLEAN |
Relation with a name for being filthy (7)
UNCLE (relation) A N (name)
|
| 27 | CONSTRICT |
Prisoner given precise limit (9)
CON (prisoner) STRICT (precise) |
| 28 | PIECE |
A bit quiet for anyone listening (5)
Sounds like PEACE (quiet) |
| 29 | THE NETHERLANDS |
Hen twice startled wandering in the country (3,11)
Anagram of HEN HEN STARTLED |
| Down | ||
| 2 | TENTMAKER |
Old vintner who would provide shelter for others? (9)
Cryptic reference to apostle Paul |
| 3 | CINNA |
Caesar’s father-in-law reportedly a transgressor (5)
Sounds like SINNER (transgressor) |
| 4 | IN THE CLUB |
Expecting to be a member of the Carlton? (2,3,4)
cryptic clue |
| 5 | GAGES |
Good times for green fruits (5)
G (good) AGES (times) |
| 6 | INTERSECT |
Bury school making one cross (9)
INTER (bury) SECT (school) |
| 7 | LANGE |
Old PM’s supporter, last to come to the fore (5)
Supported = ANGEL with L coming to the front |
| 8 | RADDLED |
Looking embarrassed about tot getting left the worse for wear (7)
RED (looking embarassed) around [ ADD (tot) L (left) ] |
| 9 | SCORED |
Decor’s badly marked (6)
Anargram of DECORS |
| 15 | SOUBRETTE |
Flirty female wanting a bit of money – little right in Miss Davis? (9)
SOU (a bit of money, old french coin) [ R (little right) in BETTE (referring to Bette Davis) ] |
| 17 | ASSAULTER |
One to attack a book in church audibly (9)
Sounds like A PSALTER (book in church) |
| 18 | ON THE MEND |
Those people coming in continuously getting better (2,3,4)
MEN (people) in [ON END (continuously)] |
| 19 | HARICOT |
Hard fruit, not soft vegetable (7)
H (hard) ApRICOT (fruit, not soft i.e. no ‘p’) |
| 21 | RINGER |
Call on important lady, one who knows the ropes? (6)
RING (call) ER (important lady, Elizabeth II Regina) – referring to the person pulling on a bell rope |
| 23 | WINCE |
Draw back from alcoholic drink, having caught cold (5)
C (cold) in WINE (alcoholic drink) |
| 24 | SWISH |
Little son with desire to be smart (5)
S (little Son) WISH (desire) |
| 26 | COPRA |
Artist sat on by policeman is a bit of a nut (5)
RA (artist) sat on by COP (policewoman) |
I thought the reference in 2d was to Omar Khayyam.
Thanks, Bradman and Turbolegs for a nice crossword and blog.
Cory@1 and Turbolegs: It could be either Paul or Omar Khayyam, but the clue works without either of them. Tent is a variety of red wine, so someone who makes tent is a vintner. Actually, I think of a vintner as a wine merchant, rather than a wine maker, but using “winemaker” instead of vintner in the clue would be a bit of a giveaway, to say the least. And no doubt Chambers includes winemaker in its definition of vintner.
A bit sneaky having an old Kiwi PM (much as I liked him) in an otherwise user-friendly puzzle. C’est le Don..
I think you meant to put THEM for those people in 18D
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
David @ 2: while I knew tent as a sort of wine, I wasn’t totally convinced by vintner as winemaker. Chambers only gives ‘a person who sells wine’, and the only reference in Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas Of Wine gives the Vintners Company as starting as one that imported rather than made wine.
Possibly other authorities include maker in the definition: google’s first result is ‘a wine merchant’ but wikipedia has ‘a person engaged in winemaking’, so I guess the jury is out.
Enjoyed this one better that yesterdays.I was in with a chance. Only tentmaker I found strange. Thanks all for explanations.
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
An atypically benevolent and typically enjoyable offering from the Don which was finished much quicker than normal for this setter. Missing the normal obscure words with only composer, Paul DUKAS, a NZ prime minister in David LANGE and RADDLED that were in any way out of the norm.
Completely missed the allusion to St Paul at 2d and had satisfied myself with the clue as being the maker of TENT wine – hadn’t really thought much through whether a vintner made or sold it though..
Last couple in were HARQUEBUS and HARICOT, made a little harder than it needed to be by lazily having written in a not fully parsed APRICOT at 19d.
Thanks Turbolegs and Bradman.
A nice gentle solve after the previous day’s Io.
Based on the previous day’s debate about the merits of the FT, Guardian, and Indy, 7dn clearly fits into the ‘global circulation’ model for the FT – so no quibbles there.
I had forgotten about both Paul and Omar Kyyam and parsed 2dn as others had – tent being a red wine. Quite happy to pass over the maker/supplier issue since the answer was the only answer that it could be.
So thanks to all.