A super crossword. Entertaining and fun. Thanks, Bradman
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHEAP SHOT |
Unfair comment has lot in Civil Service seething? (5,4)
CS (abbreviation of civil service) with HEAP (lot) inserted, plus HOT (seething) |
| 6 | PACED |
Walked from accommodation around church (5)
PAD (accommodation) surrounding CE (abbreviation of Church of England) |
| 9 | ANAGRAM |
A pair of animals to get characters confused (7)
A plus NAG and RAM (horse and goat respectively) |
| 10 | ANTENNA |
Girl about 10 may be one to sense something (7)
ANNA is the girl, surrounding TEN |
| 11 | EQUIP |
Fit ending for discourse – witty remark (5)
E, the final letter of discourse, plus QUIP, a witty remark |
| 12 | SCHILLING |
Carol catching cold in Austrian unit once (9)
SING (carol) surrounding CHILL (cold). The Schilling was the official currency of Austria prior to the introduction of the euro |
| 14 | PIE |
Very good English food (3)
PI (an informal term for sanctimonious – presumably a contraction of pious) plus E for English |
| 15 | REPRIMANDED |
Embarrassed about Lions, fellow hauled in to be told off? (11)
RED (embarrassed) with PRIDE (a collective term for lions), itself having MAN (fellow) inserted |
| 17 | CHRISTENDOM |
The world of religion could make moderns itch (11)
An anagram of moderns itch |
| 19 | GIN |
Be given this drink for start (3)
Add GIN to BE and you have begin, or start |
| 20 | MANGOUSTE |
Animal given fruit and chopped-up suet (9)
MANGO is the fruit, with an anagram (chopped up) of suet. Mangouste is the French (derived from Portuguese) word for mongoose. |
| 22 | SINIC |
Chinese home, so classical on the outside (5)
SIC (thus or so in the classical language Latin) surrounding IN or (at) home |
| 24 | KNOWING |
Intelligent man in charge currently restricted (7)
NOW (currently) surrounded (restricted) by KING (man in charge) |
| 26 | SPIT OUT |
Such could be tips for discharge (4,3)
Tips is an anagram (often denoted in crosswords by “out”) of SPIT, hence, SPIT OUT |
| 27 | RINSE |
What’s provided by dishwasher in sequence? (5)
Contained in the final three words of the clue |
| 28 | PARENTAGE |
Dad torn apart with time – the state he’s in! (9)
PA (dad) plus RENT (torn apart) plus AGE (time) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CRATE |
Old vehicle in bottomless pit (5)
Crater (a pit) minus its final (bottom) letter |
| 2 | ERASURE |
Destruction is certain after a period (7)
SURE (certain) following ERA (period) |
| 3 | PERSPIRES |
Material erected on architectural features gets wet (9)
PER, a reversal of rep, a ribbed fabric, or material, plus SPIRES (features of many buildings) |
| 4 | HOMO SAPIENS |
Man destroyed by poison – shame! (4,7)
An anagram (destroyed by is the indicator) of poison shame |
| 5 | TEAR |
Drink a drop, not a small river (3)
Tear, a drop, minus R, the common abbreviation for river |
| 6 | PETAL |
Daisy has more than one favourite old singing star? (5)
PET (favourite) plus AL (Jolson, an old singing star). A daisy has multiple petals |
| 7 | CANDIED |
With Sugar being frank, apprentice ultimately gets squashed (7)
CANDID (frank) surrounding (squashing) E, the final letter of apprentice |
| 8 | DRAGGED ON |
Fellow going round like a tramp wouldn’t come to a halt (7,2)
DON (fellow) surrounding RAGGED, as tramps typically are |
| 13 | HAIRDRESSER |
One working with shears and drier? (11)
An anagram of shears and drier. Very clever. |
| 14 | PACEMAKER |
One runs off quickly – it affects the heartbeat (9)
A double definition |
| 16 | ADMISSION |
In the Christian era, religious outreach is something acknowledged (9)
AD, or Anno Domini, plus MISSION (religious outreach) |
| 18 | RUN DOWN |
Manage part of province in need of regeneration? (3-4)
RUN (manage) plus DOWN, one of the six sounties of the province of Northern Ireland |
| 19 | GONDOLA |
Vessel almost broken down with awkward load (7)
GON (gone, or broken down, minus its final letter) plus an anagram (awkward) of load |
| 21 | ON ICE |
Nothing pleasant should be delayed (2,3)
O signifying zero or nothing plus NICE (pleasant) |
| 23 | CUTIE |
Copper has to restrain smart girl (5)
CU, the symbol for the element copper, plus TIE or restrain |
| 25 | GAP |
Short part of book, uplifting passage (3)
A reversal (uplifting) of pag (page, part of a book, curtailed) |
I agree with you David & Linda; 4 & 7d were my favourites. Thank you, Bradman.
Agree this was a class act, albeit on the gentler side, but none the worse for that. I too thought 7d and 13d were excellent clues. Cheers all.
Enormous fun. When the Don discovered 13d he must have shouted Eureka. Thanks all
Much more friendly than last week’s pasquale- and of course two new words, perfectly clued.A good puzzle day.
Thanks David and Linda and Bradman. I liked this one. Got a lot further with than usual too so I guess it was a little on the easier side. The only thing I don’t get is how RENT = “torn apart” in 28a?
Thanks Bradman & David and Linda
Mark @ 5: ‘torn apart’ as in ‘rent asunder’.
hth
Mark@5 Rent is the past participle of rend, which is synonymous with the verb tear.
The best illustration is these two versions of the same passage: the first from the King James Bible; the second from a modern edition
And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
I can’t say I enjoyed this – I’m just not a Bradman fan.
Thanks to Bradman, and to David and Linda for the analysis. (I’m also David and my wife is Linda, so I always do a double take when I see your names…)
LIke several others I loved 13d; mangouste was a new one for me. Also did not know rep, so I missed 2d… but lots of fun with this one.
Ah, no.8 –you are an old spoilsport!
Thanks D&L for the blog and to Bradman for setting and dropping in.
Good clean fun. Clearly clued, a new word (MANGOUSTE), and reasonably gentle.
D&L – you have a typo in 5dn – you have TEAR as the answer – should be TEA.
Liked PIE, but who doesn’t?
Thanks Bradman and D&L
Did this on an extended (well 50 odd minutes, much longer than normal) train and bus ride into the city last night. Found that it filled the time perfectly.
MANGOUSTE was new to me … and apparently to a number of the online dictionaries (neither Oxford nor Collins had it). I wonder does it then need some an indicating for French in the definition. A bit rhetorical since I managed to get the answer as obviously the rest of you guys did.
Didn’t correctly parse GIN – went down the US path of ‘to gin something’ is to ‘dishonestly generate or increase something’. Clearly the [BE]GIN way is much neater.
Finished in the NE corner with HOMO SAPIENS, SCHILLING and PETAL the last few in.