Another great bonus puzzle with wonderful words and wordplay. Mostly quite friendly, it took me about 1hr 10 mins. but some of the parsings are quite tricky. I particularly liked “MC’s half”. Thank-you clever setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Very nimble, moving freely (6) |
| VAGILE – V (very) AGILE (nimble). An easy one to start with. | |
| 4 | Throbbing form of flu is interrupting film (8) |
| PULSIFIC – [form of] (flu is)* in PIC (film). | |
| 10 | Ceremonial gift tokens delay salary cuts, all at the centre (7) |
| KELLAUT – Middle letters, [all at the centre], of toKEns deLay saLAry cUTs. | |
| 11 | Dog with little hair is to shed third of skin (7) |
| SLOUGHI – SLOUGH (shed) and third letter of skIn. | |
| 12 | Part of bow string along back (4) |
| LOOF – FOOL (string along) reversed -> LOOF. | |
| 13 | Each Spenserian, superficially into modest conduct of Spenser (10) |
| DEMEASNURE – EA (each) and the outside letters of SpenseriaN [superficially], all in DEMURE (modest). | |
| 15 | He’s like a worker around children at agreed exhibits (9) |
| ERGATANER – Reverse hidden [around… exhibits], in childREN AT AGREeed. | |
| 16 | Sharply goad inferior, always changing sides (5) |
| ROWEL – LOWER (inferior) with the L->R and R-> [always changing sides] -> ROWEL. | |
| 18 | Old woman taking to heart the end for ancient king (5) |
| CREON – CRONE (old woman) moving the last letter to the middle [taking to heart the end] -> CREON. | |
| 19 | Lines I stuck in glue behind Private Eye cover’s thickened part (9) |
| PTERYGIUM – PTE (private), RY (railway; lines), I in GUM (glue). | |
| 21 | Former groom’s mate more amicable after cancelling yours truly and MC’s half? (10) |
| PALFRENIER – PAL (mate) FR{i}EN{DL}IER (more amicable) without the I (yours truly) and DL (550; 1/2 of 1100, MC). Clever. | |
| 23 | Example of minor third creature with off-putting smell (4) |
| ATOC – The musical interval A TO C (example of minor third). | |
| 26 | Dividing something banked in Gateshead, was a candidate to be dictatorial no more? (7) |
| TYRANNE – RAN (was a candidate in an election) in TYNE (river; something banked; in Gateshead). | |
| 27 | Kiwis’ dance almost over: expect short perch for them (7) |
| KAHAWAI – HAK{a} (Kiwi’s dance) [almost] reversed -> KAH, AWAI{t} (expect) without the last letter. | |
| 28 | Stimulus for casting eastern European’s gripping return of curious detective constable (8) |
| ECDYSONE – NOSY (curious) DC (detective constable)) all reversed -> CDYSON, in E (East) E (European) | |
| 29 | Pointer to Mecca saving the man changing direction (6) |
| MIHRAB – BAR (saving) HIM (the man), reversed -> MIHRAB. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Various later parts dismissed by Val Kilmer’s agent (5) |
| VAKIL -Lose various later letters from VA{l} KIL{mer}. | |
| 2 | Celebrity in funny exposé eviscerated Turkish sailor (9) |
| GALIONGEE –LION (celebrity) in GAG (funny, the noun), outside letters of E{xpos}É. | |
| 3 | Retired sleuth discarded lead necessary to supply a motive (4) |
| LYAM – Hidden in suppLY A Motive. The word can mean a bloodhound , an old meaning of sleuth, or a leash. | |
| 5 | Grow straight and erect, for Cowper prizes crownless tree (7) |
| UPSPEAR – {c}UPS (prizes) without the first letter [crownless], PEAR (tree). Read about William Cowper who coined the word here. | |
| 6 | Second officers’ hammocks lightly scratch, said dragoons (5,5) |
| SCOTS GREYS – S (second) COTS (officers’ hammocks) GREYS sounds like GRAZE (lightly scratch) [said]. | |
| 7 | Underground passage mostly barred after confusion (5) |
| FOGOU – FOG (confusion) OU{t} (barred) [mostly]. | |
| 8 | Part of brass instrument you covered with crook and organ for The Spinners (9) |
| CRIBELLUM – BELL (part of brass instrument) U (you) in CRIM (criminal; crook). Organ for web spinners, i.e. spiders. | |
| 9 | Once every so often engaged in little one’s heart (6) |
| ATWEEN – AT (engaged in) WEE (little) and middle letter of oNe. | |
| 14 | More little insects bringing the second one to the top workers on the move (10) |
| ITINERANTS – I TIN{i}ER (more little) ANTS (insects) moving the second I from TINIER to the front. | |
| 15 | US rifle sighting device packaged with letter’s contents (9) |
| ESCOPETTE – SCOPE (sighting device) in all but the outside letters of {l}ETTE{r}. | |
| 17 | Local tack maker with welcoming word about Scottish inventor turning up (9) |
| WHITTAWER – W (with) HI (welcoming word), RE (about) WATT (Scottish inventor) [about] -> TTAW ER. | |
| 19 | Concerned with syringes, rave about Torvill but … ? (7) |
| PANDEAN – Cryptic definition… if you rave about ice-skater Jayne Torvill you might PAN her dance partner Christopher DEAN. | |
| 20 | Just family, excluding north Siberian people (6) |
| EVENKI – EVEN (just) KI{n} (family) without the N (north). | |
| 22 | Pa thus taught in Scottish would be pink (5) |
| LERED – PA LE RED (Scottish word for taught) (pink). | |
| 24 | Male, bachelor, following X channel to help clear the decks (5) |
| CHIMB – CHI (Greek letter X) M (male) B (bachelor). | |
| 25 | British address shortly to be Indian man’s address (4) |
| BHAI – B (british) HAI{l} (address) [shortly]. | |
This one took me rather longer than usual, perhaps because of the late time of day. I ploughed my way through the weirdness, with the help of Magic Chambers, but lost my chance of a prize with the hazardous homophone of one of the plainer ones. I seem to have identified the US branch of the SCOTS GRAYS!
Yes I particularly liked half of MC.