Generally straightforward with some clever clues here and there. Thanks, Alberich
| Across | ||
| 1 | FACE PACK |
Confront gang? It’s for mugs (4,4)
FACE (confront) PACK (gang) is a cosmetic preparation applied to the face, or mug. |
| 5 | CLARET |
Outrageous article has one out for blood (6)
An anagram (outrageous) of ARTICLE, with I (the Roman numeral one) removed (out). Claret is an old-fashioned, slang word for blood that one rarely encounters (there is a funny scene in Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels that is probably the only time we’ve come across it other than in crosswords) |
| 9 | LAVATORY |
Can a tax cut look extremely risky? (8)
A VAT inserted (cutting) into LO (look), followed by R and Y the first and last letters (extremes) of risky. CAN is American slang for lavatory |
| 10 | CARPER |
Petty quibbler’s bound to tackle resistance (6)
CAPER (bound or leap) surrounding R for resistance (as in V=IR) |
| 12 | SLAPSTICK |
Friends is backed to endure as comedy (9)
Pals backwards plus STICK, or endure. |
| 13 | TABOO |
Ban pamphlet a bookshop stocks (5)
Contained (stocked) in the second, third and fourth words of the clue |
| 14 | JIVE |
Musical style from Japan that is about volume (4)
J for Japan plus IE (id est) surrounding V for volume |
| 16 | ASININE |
Inane is put another way, yielding this (7)
An anagram of INANE IS, with a similar meaning to asinine. There’s probably a term for this type of clue for those who care about such things. |
| 19 | IMPASTO |
This writer’s quiet concerning artistic technique (7)
IM (a contraction of ! am – in the third person this writer is) plus P for quiet (musical direction) plus AS TO (concerning) |
| 21 | BEER |
Busy sort runs to get porter? (4)
BEE is the busy person, plus R for runs as in cricket scoring |
| 24 | TEASE |
Kid is tense, needing to relax (5)
T for tense plus EASE (relax) |
| 25 | LOATHSOME |
Swear word in Latin a few will find repulsive (9)
OATH (swearword) inserted into L for Lain and SOME (a few) |
| 27 | ELECTS |
Returns and puts up with learner for end of semester (6)
Erects (purs up) with L (learner) substituted for R, the last letter (end) of semester |
| 28 | SABOTAGE |
Destroy boats, say, acting contrarily? (8)
An anagram (contrarily) of boats, eg (say) and a for acting |
| 29 | SATORI |
One rolls around to find enlightenment (6)
I (Roman numeral again) plus rotas (rolls or rosters), reversed. Satori is a Buddhist term for enlightenment. |
| 30 | MODERATE |
Reasonable price of fashion? (8)
MODE (fashion) plus RATE (price) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | FOLKSY |
Sociable fellow confused non- English yokels (6)
F for fellow plus an anagram (confused) of yokels, minus its E (for English) |
| 2 | CAVIAR |
Vehicle holds road classically, showing delicacy (6)
CAR with VIA (road in Latin, a classical language) inserted |
| 3 | PATES |
Spread put on small loaves (5)
PATE plus S for small. Pate is the head, which “loaf” is an informal term for (“use your loaf”) |
| 4 | CORNICE |
Moulding having notch almost in the centre (7)
NIC (nick, or notch minus its last letter – hence almost) inserted into CORE (centre) |
| 6 | LEASTWISE |
Certainly not the brightest,anyhow (9)
The least wise person is certainly not the brightest. |
| 7 | REPUBLIC |
Country local breaks object of historical interest (8)
PUB (local) inserted into (breaks) RELIC |
| 8 | TURNOVER |
Rob movement of workers? (8)
A double definition. To “turn over” a house is criminal argot for robbing it. Staff turnover is the rate at which employees leave a business. Some might complain that one of these is two words of four letters and the other is a single word of eight letters. We express no view: we are here merely to explain. |
| 11 | SKUA |
One bird or another’s soaring (4)
A reversal of auks (another bird’s) |
| 15 | INSPECTOR |
Dash isn’t core, primary part of proper Morse? (9)
An anagram (dash, as in throw is the indicator) of isn’t core and p, the first letter (primary part) of proper. Morse is a famous fictional example of an inspector. |
| 17 | LISTLESS |
Having no interest, unlike Pisa’s landmark? (8)
Without a list, or tilt, unlike the Leaning Tower. |
| 18 | APPARENT |
Dad upset Mum? That’s plain (8)
AP (a reversal of Pa, or father) plus PARENT (Mum, or mother, is one) |
| 20 | OSLO |
No case for disruptive reduction of working capital (4)
gO SLOw (disruptive reduction of workig) minus its outer letters, or case. |
| 21 | BRAVADO |
Bluster and puff adopted by Charlie’s predecessor (7)
AD (puff) inserted into BRAVO, which precedes Charlie in the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet |
| 22 | SONATA |
Native American once volunteers composition (6)
SON (native, as in “the son of England” plus A for American plus TA (the former (once) term for the Army Reserves |
| 23 | DELETE |
Exhaust pipe’s beginning to drop off? Remove! (6)
Deplete, or exhaust, minus P, the first letter (beginning) of pipe |
| 26 | HOOKE |
Scientist is an attraction for the audience (5)
A homophone (for the audience) of hook |
Thanks Alberich and David and Linda
28ac: I read this as anagram (“Destroy”) of BOATS, followed by reversal (“contrarily”) of EGA (say, acting), the whole clue also being the definition.
Attempted this for some Sunday afternoon recreation as I was too busy to look at it earlier in the week.
Wish I hadn’t bothered.
Awful clueing.
Re 2: Good to see a new (?) poster here making an incisive and intelligent comment. Not.
VJ, you should know better than to feed the trolls.
(Just in case “Sally” is real, I suggest “she” tries the Sun coffee time puzzle. It’ll seem pretty tough at first but after five years or so “she” might start getting a few answers. If “she’s” not too busy, that is.)
Thanks Alberich & D&L.
I found the top half easy going and the bottom a slog for some strange reason since almost all is fairly clued.
I didn’t properly parse SABOTAGE, ELECTS or OSLO so thanks for your help. There was a debate last week in the Grauniad about including in-included words/letters in anagram fodder. I remain marginally on the negative side with respect to SABOTAGE since ‘eg’ had to be derived from ‘say’ – and is ‘a’ accommodate single abbreviation for ‘acting’?
I was also a bit uneasy about the clue for DELETE. Surely ‘pipe’s beginning’ should drop OUT rather than OFF deplete.
So all in all, a good enough challenge but very mid range.
Accommodate? That was meant to say ‘a common’. Don’t you just love predictive text?
Thanks Alberich and D&L (miss the very descriptive explanations)
A backlog puzzle and after just following a Guardian Enigmatist (26,902), found this one quite a bit more easier going !! A lot of fun though with a diverse range of devices used throughout the puzzle.
Solved it in four quarters NW-SE-NE-SW and probably found the NE one the hardest going where it took a while to get the CARPER, CLARET and TURNOVER (hadn’t seen TURN OVER meaning ‘to rob’ before) answers.
The two littlies – JIVE (where I was looking for a Japanese word for musical style for a long time) and OSLO (‘cos that’s just where I ended) as the last couple.