A quick puzzle from Bradman this Friday, straightforward for 95% of the grid. A couple of clues were significantly tougher than the average for the crossword and that kept me from a finish that reflected the rapid start. Apologies for the late post, had saved a draft and then got tied up with some errands.
FF: 7 DD: 7
| Across | ||
| 9 | NEW MEXICO | I’m now involved with exec in American state (3,6) |
| IM NOW EXEC* | ||
| 10 | HYENA | Girl attached to heartless Henry, wild animal (5) |
| HY (HenrY, heartless) ENA (girl) | ||
| 11 | COYNESS | Modesty of military company head (7) |
| COY (military company) NESS (head) | ||
| 12 | LEFTIST | Supporting Socialists? It’s felt to be foolish (7) |
| ITS FELT* | ||
| 13 | SEA | Water essential to these activities (3) |
| hidden in “…theSE Activities” | ||
| 14 | RALLENTANDO | Slowing down later on land that’s been churned up (11) |
| LATER ON LAND* (new word for me) | ||
| 17 | SHEET | Group concealing explosive in paper (5) |
| SET (group) conatining HE (explosive) | ||
| 18 | PHI | Greek character showing a very high level of acidity (3) |
| cryptic clue; something that is pH 1 would be very acidic (pH is the indication of acidity or alkalinity of a solution, pH 7 is neutral, what water is usually supposed to be). | ||
| 19 | ACTON | Bill joins fashionable society somewhere in London (5) |
| AC (bill) TON (fashionable society, wiki here) | ||
| 21 | HEADDRESSES | The fellow deals with clothing at the highest level (11) |
| HE (the fellow) ADDRESSES (deals with) | ||
| 23 | MAC | River swirling round? This may keep you dry (3) |
| river = CAM, reversed | ||
| 25 | ROOSTED | Perched as bird in fixed position guarding last of eggs (7) |
| ROOTED (fixed position) containing S (last of eggS) | ||
| 27 | DECEASE | Dying to find relaxation after year’s ending (7) |
| EASE (relaxation) after DEC (year’s ending, decease) | ||
| 28 | ISSUE | Part of serial publication for children (5) |
| double def | ||
| 29 | NO PROBLEM | Brain teaser missing from newspaper? Don’t mention it! (2,7) |
| cryptic clue | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SNICKS | Little hits made by devil infiltrating saints (6) |
| NICK (devil) in SS (saints) | ||
| 2 | AWAY GAME | A wag may hit home finally – after this? (4,4) |
| A WAG MAY E* (homE finally) | ||
| 3 | CELEBRATED | Church the French bishop thought highly of – conducted a Eucharist here? (10) |
| CE (church) LE (the french) B (bishop) RATED (thought highly of) | ||
| 4 | PIES | Anna has a number of such birds (4) |
| Anna refers to the currency of old India where 12 pies made 1 anna. | ||
| 5 | COLLIERIES | Yells when Stan’s partner gets stuck in pits (10) |
| OLLIE (stan’s partners, from Laurel and Hardy) in CRIES (yells) | ||
| 6 | CHEF | Revolutionary female who can stand the heat of the kitchen? (4) |
| CHE (revolutionary) F (female) | ||
| 7 | REGION | Area with system of belief that’s left one unable to participate (6) |
| REliGION [system of belief, without L (left ) I (one) ] | ||
| 8 | CAST DOWN | Demoralised actors rusticated from Oxford? (4,4) |
| CAST (actors) DOWN (rusticated from Oxford, ~ sent down) | ||
| 15 | LIP READING | Finding a meaning in silence (3-7) |
| cryptic clue | ||
| 16 | TRANSACTOR | Barry Humphries type who does business? (10) |
| to be read as TRANS – ACTOR. cryptic clue, barry humphries is the actor who plays drag queen, edna everage . | ||
| 17 | SPHEROID | Upsetting depression’s overwhelming great man – one’s not perfectly rounded (8) |
| SPID (depression’s = DIP’S, reversed) containing HERO (great man) | ||
| 20 | TAMEABLE | Almost the last word in piece of furniture that could be suitable for domestic adaptation (8) |
| AMEn (almost the last word) in TABLE (piece of furniture) | ||
| 22 | AROUSE | Stir in a little river meeting a great one (6) |
| A R (river) OUSE (a great ~river) | ||
| 24 | CREAMY | Unrealistic having new leader that’s thick (6) |
| dREAMY (unrealistic, with D replaced by C) | ||
| 26 | TIED | Weary, having lost heart, and unable to get going (4) |
| TIrED (weary, without heart i.e. without the middle letter) | ||
| 27 | DOPE | Fool in failed operation (4) |
| hidden in “..faileD OPEration”. | ||
*anagram
Thank you, Turbolegs, I found this quite easy (and enjoyable, too).
At 4d I entered, um, TITS …..
But Bradman wouldn’t do that, so it had to be wrong.
It does fit the clue though ….. doesn’t it?
Many thanks to B & S.
TITS was my first thought too Sil, but I realised it had to be something else and eventually arrived at PIES. I suppose TITS does very loosely fit the clue, but Bradman wouldn’t be so imprecise (or vulgar). As it happens I know an Anna who leaped to mind when I was still stuck on my first idea for an answer, but that would have been too good to be true!
Re 4d: Since ‘anna’ is no longer current and since ‘pies’ too don’t exist any more in India, is ‘has’ in the clue correct? Should it have been ‘had’? If so would the clue be still elegant?
(On belated thoughts) As a numismatist she might possess those coins. Sorry for the earlier post.
Thanks Turbolegs and Bradman.
TITS for me two I’m ashamed to say. Surely Anna has two, although I did once help with a milking herd where Anna was a favourite Holstein!
23 could have been either CAM or MAC from the clue – so just had to wait to enter that.
Elsewhere, what is “here” adding to the clue for 3dn? And “newspaper” in 29?
“Hit” as an anagrind at 2dn was a new one on me.
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
Not as many obscurities as normal from the Don here and therefore felt that it was not as hard as normal for him. There were a number of clues in which I thought “that was very loose” but apart from some extra wording as indicated by Hamish@5 – the problem was more with me than the setter. One case in point was HEADDRESSES where I had parsed it as HEAD / DRESSES and thought both components were loose but as HE / ADDRESSES it works perfectly. Another was ACTON which I initially parsed as ACT / ON before realising that it was AC / TON.
Was another who went with the obvious thinking at 4d and then quickly scurried off to references to find alternative birds. So with PIES as components of a coin that hasn’t been used in umpteen years, there was at least one obscurity – wonder if the Indian solvers were able to identify it any faster.
PIES was my second to last in, with TRANSACTOR the closer.