An enjoyable puzzle from Mudd with the usual mix of mildly cryptic to seemingly obscure clues. Thanks Mudd for a pleasant workout.
FF: 9 DD : 9
| Across | ||
| 1 | CARAFE | Worry about a frog’s head in bottle (6) |
| CARE (worry) around [ A F (Frog’s head, first letter ) ] | ||
| 4 | STUDYING | University behind good man failing examination (8) |
| [ U (university) after ST (good man, saint) ] DYING (failing) | ||
| 10 | SPATULA | Bowl cleaner deliveries finally up at dodgy left-handed Australian openers (7) |
| S (deliverieS, finally) [ anagram of UP AT ] LA ( Left-handed Australian, openers = starting character) | ||
| 11 | RECEDED | A month after retirement in plant, withdrawn (7) |
| [ CED (month = DEC, reversed) ] in REED (plant) | ||
| 12 | MARX | Red streaks, did you say? (4) |
| sounds like MARKS (streaks) | ||
| 13 | DELIBERATE | Intentional to incarcerate? (10) |
| To be read as DE – LIBERATE (incarcerate) | ||
| 15 | RUN OUT | Dismiss weakling stealing heart of spouse (3,3) |
| RUNT (weakling) containing OU (heart of spOUse) – from the game of cricket | ||
| 16 | OUTSIDE | Faint from tedious dancing (7) |
| Anagram of TEDIOUS | ||
| 20 | DEADPAN | Gone to meet his maker, god giving little away (7) |
| DEAD (gone to meet his maker) PAN (god) | ||
| 21 | ANSWER | Solution swallowed by Housman’s werewolf (6) |
| hidden in “..housmAN’S WERewolf”. | ||
| 24 | IMPERSONAL | Detached semi requiring plan or otherwise (10) |
| Anagram of SEMI PLAN OR | ||
| 26 | IRIS | I stand, briefly, for the flag (4) |
| I RISe (stand, briefly) | ||
| 28 | MARTINI | Still life, perhaps, in small drink (7) |
| ART (still life, perhaps) in MINI (small) | ||
| 29 | TRIGGER | One attempting to stash goods, set off (7) |
| TRIER (one attempting) containing GG (good = G, plural) | ||
| 30 | STEADIER | Crash diets are more reliable (8) |
| anagram of DIETS ARE | ||
| 31 | GOATEE | It’s hairy to travel with a supporter (6) |
| GO (travel) A TEE (supporter) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CASHMERE | Bucks with bare wool (8) |
| CASH (bucks) MERE (bare) | ||
| 2 | REARRANGE | Shift behind mountains (9) |
| REAR (behind) RANGE (mountains) | ||
| 3 | FOUR | A pair of braces (4) |
| cryptic clue – a pair of pairs (braces) | ||
| 5 | TERMINUS | The empty road’s beginning – the end of the line (8) |
| TE (ThE, empty i.e. no middle characters) R (Road’s beginning) MINUS (-) | ||
| 6 | DECREASING | Ironing is going down (10) |
| DE – CREASING (ironing) | ||
| 7 | INDIA | Nation in journal lacking railway (5) |
| IN DIAry (journal, without ‘RY’ – railway) | ||
| 8 | GADGET | Wander over to buy mechanical contrivance (6) |
| GAD (wander) GET (buy) | ||
| 9 | RAVEN | Bird, headless chicken (5) |
| cRAVEN (chicken, headless) | ||
| 14 | WUNDERKIND | Subordinate and king in turn getting early success (10) |
| [ UNDER (subordinate) K (kind) ] in WIND (turn) – I hadnt come across this word before. | ||
| 17 | DOWNRIGHT | Totally blue, Conservative (9) |
| DOWN (blue) RIGHT (conservative) | ||
| 18 | GASOLINE | Silage on ground as fuel (8) |
| Anagram of SILAGE ON | ||
| 19 | PRESERVE | Keep page on book (8) |
| P (page) RESERVE (book) | ||
| 22 | LITMUS | Books read before problem coming up in test paper (6) |
| LIT (short for literature, books) before MUS (problem = SUM, reversed) | ||
| 23 | PARTY | Function as separate agency, ultimately (5) |
| PART (separate) Y (agencY, ultimately) | ||
| 25 | PURSE | Prize money unaffected, favourites in the end entered (5) |
| PURE (unaffected) around S (favouriteS, in the end) | ||
| 27 | BIRO | Writer and children’s author (4) |
| double def with the second being a reference to Balint Stephen Biro, a children’s author originally from Hungary. | ||
*anagram
I enjoyed this too. Particularly liked the use of “de” at 13ac & 6d. Didn’t know the children’s author at 27d, so special thanks for that, Turbolegs.
Thank you, Mudd.
I really enjoyed this puzzle too, so thanks Mudd.
I parsed the answers as TL has down except that I thought the children’s author in 27d was the late, great Val Biro, creator of Gumdrop, the lovable old car.
I’m not sure I’m quite happy about ‘studying’ and ‘examination’ being used as synonyms in 4ac, although perhaps I am nitpicking here.
Oh, on checking Google I see that Balint Stephen and Val Biro were one and the same! Sorry about that TL!
Most enjoyable thank you Mudd.
My last one in was the author – it is a long time since I had to read Gumdrop to my sons!!
Thanks to Turbolegs too
Yes, Mudd up to standard with his quirky way of looking at things (although I found the definition of spatula a bit too quirky — except to help with a beautifully witty surface). Thanks to TL and Mudd.
Very enjoyable indeed. Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs. I can’t offer even a quibble.
Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs
Picked this up in the witching hours when I couldn’t sleep … and as so often at this time, found that I was immediately on to the wavelength of cryptic setters and this was finished quicker than normal for a Mudd. Very enjoyable all of the same with his trademark wit, clever de-vices and smooth surface readings.
Haven’t heard WUNDERKIND used for ages now … and found it the hardest to get. Had to work SPATULA out from the wordplay and then twig to it being the thing that my mother used to scrape all of the cake mix from the bowls when I wanted to be eating as much of it as was left 🙂
Finished in the NE corner with INDIA, OUTSIDE (which was not the easiest definition to get an anagram for) and the clever DELIBERATE (which took quite a while to get the ‘incarcerate’ meaning).
Thanks Turbolegs and Mudd.
It must be my mood – I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as my usual Mudd bath.
My only real quibble is “Faint” for OUTSIDE in 16ac. The answer was clear but I still don’t get it.
Use of the minus sign at 5dn was clever but I didn’t get any “ahas” or giggles.
Like I say – must just be me because I really appreciate the effort that goes into these puzzles.
Faint for outside works when you consider faint chance and outside chance
Aha. Thanks Ken.