At least I didn’t have to wait for this one…
…after my Tuesday blog having to be dealyed due tot he puzzle not appearing on the FT website until late in the day, I was glad to see that today’s was there waiting for me at breakfast this morning.
This took me about fifteen minutes, and that includes writing the blog, so it was very straightforward with only the SW corner giving me pause. Most of the clues were clean and fair, and I particularly liked 4dn.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BRIEFCASE | Busy barrister’s requirement? (9) |
| Cryptic definition – a barrister needs a briefcase, but if theyr’e busy, they need their case to be brief as well. | ||
| 6 | CUPPA | Three coppers needing a drink (5) |
| CU + P + P (“three coppers”) + A | ||
| 9 | ALIBI | Defence of boxer holding one back initially (5) |
| ALI holding 1 B(ack) | ||
| 10 | RECOVERED | Got back 50% of rest with insurance (9) |
| RE(st) + COVERED | ||
| 11 | HEAVY METAL | Mercury perhaps isn’t representative of such music (5,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | FLUE | Fill up, oddly, in front of village’s last outlet (4) |
| FiLlUp + (villag)E | ||
| 14 | BRIGAND | Thief’s equipment pinched by musicians (7) |
| RIG in (“pinched by”) BAND | ||
| 15 | MARQUES | Brands grades by audience (7) |
| Homophone of MARKS | ||
| 17 | BENDERS | Pints must cover case of need for alcohol-fuelled sessions (7) |
| BEERS covering N(ee)D | ||
| 19 | RIPOSTE | Reply given by priest worried about love (7) |
| *(priest) about 0 | ||
| 20 | LATE | Departed after time expected (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | SPELLCHECK | Aid for writer putting limit on session (10) |
| CHECK on SPELL | ||
| 25 | JUXTAPOSE | Judge united expats squabbling about love’s place by side (9) |
| J + U + *(expates) about 0 | ||
| 26 | ON TAP | Where to find hot or cold, readily available? (2,3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | TASTE | Agreement as teacher shows discrimination? (5) |
| Hidden in “agreemenT AS TEachers” | ||
| 28 | EMOLLIENT | Rambling on – tell me I must be soothing! (9) |
| *(on tell me I) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRASH | Silence follows supporter who’s offensively bold (5) |
| SH follows BRA | ||
| 2 | IMITATION | Copy restriction, sacking leader (9) |
| (l)IMITATION | ||
| 3 | FAIRY TALES | Left, as furious about dismissive lies (5,5) |
| *(left as) about AIRY (“dismissive”) | ||
| 4 | AIRHEAD | Strain on the toilet at sea? Fool (7) |
| AIR (“strain”) + HEAD (“toilet at sea”) | ||
| 5 | EXCLAIM | Loudly call out demand made by divorcee (7) |
| CLAIM made by EX | ||
| 6 | CAVA | Classic! – a vault containing wine (4) |
| Hidden in “classiC A VAult” | ||
| 7 | PERIL | The risk for every single pound (5) |
| PER + 1 L | ||
| 8 | ADDRESSEE | Letter opener? (9) |
| (Fairly) cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | PREP SCHOOL | Where children may be taught there’s homework on train (4,6) |
| PREP (“homework”) + SCHOOL (“train”) | ||
| 14 | BUBBLEJET | Printer wanting fizz on plane? (9) |
| BUBBLE on JET
A bubblejet printer is a type of printer that uses high pressure and heat to expel tiny bubbles of ink from the printer’s nozzle on to the page |
||
| 16 | UNSHEATHE | Draw from sun’s heat here (9) |
| Hidden in sUNS HEAT HEre | ||
| 18 | SUPPOSE | Imagine drink with model! (7) |
| SUP + POSE | ||
| 19 | RELIEVO | Finished up accepting fiction – outstanding work (7) |
| <=OVER “accepting” LIE | ||
| 21 | TAXES | Strains to make cuts in case of teachers (5) |
| AXE in T(eacher)S | ||
| 23 | KAPUT | A place under a thousand? Gone! (5) |
| A PUT under K | ||
| 24 | BARE | Having nothing on – except end of course (4) |
| BAR (“except”) + (cours)E | ||
*anagram
Thanks, loonapick — as you say, a nice start to the day. My own difficulty was the NW, strangely. Good on you, Orense.
Almost a pangram – only W and Z missing.
Almost a pangram…isn’t that a bit like being almost a virgin?
Thanks Orense and loonapick
Fairly straightforward with the solving time pushed out by doing it whilst watching an interesting footy match on TV at the same time last night on Anzac eve. Write this after returning from this morning’s dawn service.
Started with ON TAP in the SE corner and finished a couple of hours later (it was a good footy match!) in the SW with BUBBLEJET, TASTE and BARE.
We don’t have the concept of PREP SCHOOLs over here, so it took a bit to understand that one. Agree that AIRHEAD was pick of the crop from the humorous surface to the clever definitions of the word play parts.
Thanks loonapick and Orense.
I zoomed through this too starting with BRIEFCASE and ending with EMOLLIENT.
By the time I got to JUXTAPOSE, I also thought we were in Pangram territory – but it was not to be!
At least I’m getting switched on to looking for one.