Solved in exactly 10 minutes to the second,and on paper, so definitely an easy one. A lot of the wordplay was quite intricate, but it seemed to me that the definitions were often very specific, and a few were quite wordy, so maybe that helped. There was a lot of confident biffing, and a few I didn’t parse properly until this morning!
Across | |
1 | Who needs to discharge jet? (11) |
FIREFIGHTER – cryptic definition. [ Edit: as mohn2 points out, it’s actually a semi-&lit, with FIRE (discharge) + FIGHTER (jet) as the wordplay ]. | |
7 | Miss all but the last runner (3) |
SKI – SKIP (miss), minus the last letter. | |
9 | Fine distinction made by peacekeepers in politic manoeuvring (9) |
PUNCTILIO – UN (peacekeepers) inside (politic)*. | |
10 | I vote for everyone to stop politician’s confusion (3-2) |
MIX-UP – I + X (vote) + U (for everyone, film classification), inside MP (politician). | |
11 | Sick in one taxi on the way back — are these to blame? (7) |
BACILLI – ILL (sick) inside [I (one) + CAB (taxi) reversed]. | |
12 | Building only half used, despite being cool (7) |
EDIFICE – ED (half of USED) + IF (despite) + ICE (cool). | |
13 | Put up with yogurt initially like cottage cheese? (5) |
LUMPY – LUMP (put up with, as in the phrase “like it or lump it”) + Y(ogurt). | |
15 | Playwright about to ring character in Chicken Run? (9) |
ORPINGTON – ORTON (playwright) around PING (ring). It’s a breed of chicken. | |
17 | Evolutionary pioneer’s success is seen in small river fish (9) |
DARWINIST – WIN (success) + IS, inside DART (small river fish, another name for a dace). | |
19 | Study origins of extraordinarily blue star (5) |
DENEB – DEN (study) plus initial letters of E(xtraordinarily) B(lue). A blue-white supergiant star in the constellation Cygnus. | |
20 | Meals cut down all round after overabundance of big muscles (7) |
GLUTEAL – (m)EAL(s) after GLUT (overabundance). | |
22 | Anger about working silver when another metal was being worked (4,3) |
IRON AGE – IRE (anger) around ON (working) + AG (silver). | |
24 | Good deal closed game (5) |
LOTTO – LOT (good deal) + TO (closed, like a door). | |
25 | Early part of costume fabricated liner keeping in hoop shape? (9) |
CRINOLINE – C(ostume) + (liner)* around IN + O (hoop shape). &lits aren’t usually so complicated, but this just about works. A comma after costume would have improved the surface. | |
27 | Work steadily at college to avoid getting second (3) |
PLY – POLY (college) without the second letter. | |
28 | Prove modern taste is degenerate (11) |
DEMONSTRATE – (modern taste)*. |
Down | |
1 | One who’s turned out well following a little work (3) |
FOP – F(ollowing) + OP (a little work). | |
2 | Work in charge of collection of old letters (5) |
RUNIC – RUN (work) + IC (in charge). | |
3 | Obese throughout the year, so as to cause death (7) |
FATALLY – FAT (obese) + ALL (throughout the) + Y(ear). | |
4 | Turkish town girl tops sauce with unusual oil (9) |
GALLIPOLI – GAL (girl) + LIP (sauce) + (oil)*. Ancient Turkish port on the Dardanelles strait, now known as Gelibolu. Only familiar to me as the scene of a major battle in WW1. | |
5 | Steak is black in colour (1-4) |
T-BONE – B(lack) inside TONE (colour). | |
6 | Wild orpin conceals a minute bellflower (7) |
RAMPION – (orpin)* around A M(inute). Orpin is “a purple-flowered broad-leaved stonecrop”, but I have no idea how likely those broad leaves are to conceal a rampion! | |
7 | Flirty woman succeeded without clothing size for the smaller figure? (3,6) |
SEX KITTEN – S(ucceeded) + EX (without) + KIT (clothing) + TEN (size for the smaller figure?). | |
8 | Puzzling G in preamble is beyond doubt (11) |
IMPREGNABLE – (G in preamble)*. Sounds like a defence of some dodgy instructions for a Listener puzzle! | |
11 | Papers are gripped by this person in university office going on strike (7,4) |
BULLDOG CLIP – BULLDOG (person in University office) + CLIP (strike). A bulldog is apparently a proctor’s attendant at Oxford University. I suppose you’d know if you’d been there. Someone the students don’t want to upset by the sound of it! | |
14 | Make of car to experiment with inlaid work (9) |
MARQUETRY – MARQUE (make of car) + TRY (experiment with). | |
16 | Simple plant toxin trapping a noble Roman (9) |
PATRICIAN – PAT (simple) + RICIN (plant toxin) around A. I’m really not keen on simple for PAT, but I suppose it almost works in the sense of “convenient”. | |
18 | Siberian diamonds need cutting (3-4) |
ICE-COLD – ICE (diamonds) + COLD (cutting). | |
19 | Free spirit? Fall unconscious! (7) |
DROPOUT – DROP (fall) + OUT (unconscious). | |
21 | Substitute copper for one ring in weaving machine (5) |
LOCUM – CU (copper) replacing one of the O’s (one ring) in LOOM (weaving machine). | |
23 | A cat and a dog from Japan (5) |
AKITA – A + KIT (cat) + A. There’s a great film about one of this breed called Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, starring Richard Gere. | |
26 | Ruminant of arable wetlands (3) |
EWE – hidden in “arable wetlands” |
Edited at 2016-01-30 11:09 pm (UTC)
25 minutes, never close to the right wavelength.
Rob
I had 1A as a semi-&lit, with the wordplay FIRE (discharge) + FIGHTER (jet).
Struggled with 1a and thanks for the enlightening explanations. Couldn’t think of the Japanese dog. Deneb and Rampion unknown and still look strange to me.
Was surprised to find a new meaning for Orpington (some would say it needs one). David
Lost ages on the last three letters of 17ac before the checkers were in play. I suppose the answer has to be used adjectivally to fit the clue but I couldn’t see that at the time. I also wondered why the Dart should be clued as “small river” and what “fish” had to do with it. I don’t recall coming across this name for “dace” before.
Edited at 2016-01-31 01:22 pm (UTC)
Equally unknown the unlikely sounding Deneb plus Punctilio, Akita & Rampion but the clueing was fair & pleased to see I got them all right.
Around 50 minutes for me.
Thanks setter & blogger – I learnt a few new interesting things from this.