A not too stretching puzzle from Jeff which I enjoyed solving whilst sipping a couple of glasses of wine in the garden of a French farmhouse owned by some friends near Carcassonne with whom I am currently holidaying. Very pleasant all round, and not much to add by way of introduction.
Thanks as ever to our setter.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): letters omitted indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Boat outside harbour provides staff in Equity (13) |
| SPORTSMANSHIP – SS (boat) goes around (outside) PORT (harbour) + MANS (provides staff) + HIP (in). Whilst the wordplay led remorselessly to the answer, the “equity” definition caused me to do a bit of a double take, but I suppose both equity and sportsmanship are fundamentally driven by the notion of fair play. | |
| 10 | Not oddly, David Cameron prepared a drink (9) |
| AMERICANO – *(CAMERON) – with “prepared” signposting the anagram – and AI (not oddly dAvId) also in the mix | |
| 11 | Drink is taken in part of church (5) |
| AISLE – ALE (drink) with IS ‘taken in’ | |
| 12 | Strong worker’s extremely friendly (5) |
| BEEFY – BEE (worker) + ‘extremes’ of FriendlY | |
| 13 | Some French bombs outside old city on the plains (3,6) |
| DES MOINES – DES (some in French) + MINES (bombs) going around (outside) O (old), giving the capital city of Iowa also known as the “capital of the plains” – and (perhaps surprisingly, at least to me) ranked as the USA’s wealthiest city according to NBC. | |
| 14 | Place heater in cold crack (8) |
| COVENTRY – OVEN (heater) ‘in’ C (cold) + TRY (crack – go on son, ‘ave a crack…). The definition didn’t really help to narrow a field with an extraordinarily high number of possible answers, but the wordplay was generous. | |
| 16 | Admiral in the hold (6) |
| NELSON – DD, the latter being a wrestling term as I recall from watching the likes of Jackie Pallo and Mick McManus on TV as a kid | |
| 19 | Flag officer (6) |
| ENSIGN – DD | |
| 20 |
It’s a pleasure to see absence of rubbish at the shops — no hint of muck (3,2,3) |
| NOT AT ALL – NO TAT (absence of rubbish) + {M}ALL (the shops with no M – ‘no hint of Muck’) | |
| 22 | Jazz leader — one requesting “Fly me to the moon”? (9) |
| ARMSTRONG – Louis of that ilk, and a supporting reference to astronaut Neil | |
| 24 | Those at the front of May’s injured government have finally bought power (5) |
| MIGHT – First letters of (those at the front of) May’s Injured Government Have + T (finally boughT) | |
| 25 | Fresh chlorine put round something used at the pool (5) |
| CRAWL – RAW (fresh) with CL (chlorine) ‘put round’ it | |
| 26 | Hot claret poured around pudding (9) |
| CHARLOTTE – *(HOT CLARET) with “poured around” suggesting the anagram, giving us the apple charlotte dessert | |
| 27 | Grabbing toy he trashed Lemaître’s idea (3,4,6) |
| BIG BANG THEORY – *(GRABBING TOY HE) with “trashed” pointing to the anagram. Georges Lemaitre, priest and physicist: to my shame I’d never heard of this chap, but the enumeration and a couple of cross checkers meant that unravelling the anagram was fairly straightforward. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Items sold at school fetes made by PTA? (9) |
| PRESERVES – Took me a ridiculous amount of time to spot the supporting wordplay – P + RESERVES (TA) | |
| 3 | Clever to cover head when this? (5) |
| RAINY – Cryptic clue incorporating the wordplay of {B}RAINY – ‘clever covering head’ | |
| 4 | It’s normal to stop on a road (8) |
| STANDARD – STAND (to stop) ‘on’ A RD (a road) | |
| 5 | Evoke a river — one in the northeast (6) |
| AROUSE – A R (a river) + OUSE – the North Yorkshire river (one in the northeast) as opposed to the East Anglian or Sussex rivers of the same name | |
| 6 | Accordingly a religious big-wig and artist get together for programme (4,5) |
| SOAP OPERA – SO (accordingly) + A POPE (a religious big-wig) + RA (artist) combine to give us Coronation Street, East Enders or The Archers etc. There is something quite pleasing about the image conjured up by the surface. | |
| 7 | One heading for snow protected by mountain is a famous Norwegian (5) |
| IBSEN – I (one) + S (heading for Snow) with BEN wrapping around it (protected by mountain) | |
| 8 | Dressing required after hairdresser cut Rod on cheek (8,5) |
| BARBECUE SAUCE – BARBE{R} (hairdresser cut) + CUE (rod) + SAUCE (cheek) | |
| 9 | Private Eye, say, connects famous people (13) |
| PERSONALITIES – PERSONAL (private) + I (sounds like – ‘say’ – eye) + TIES (connects) | |
| 15 |
Too much booze and dancing here and it might dawn on you! (9) |
| NIGHTCLUB – Gentle cryptic clue based on revelling through until dawn | |
| 17 | Butcher starting to sell best medicine? (9) |
| SLAUGHTER – S (starting to Sell) + LAUGHTER (the best medicine, as per the adage) | |
| 18 | Distressing detail about poor nag (8) |
| POIGNANT – POINT (detail) goes around (about) *(NAG) with “poor” signposting the anagram | |
| 21 | Almost come into contact with an arboreal dweller (6) |
| TOUCAN – TOUC{H} (almost come into contact) + AN (with an). My scant knowledge of the toucan being limited to its apparent fondness for Guinness as per the ads of bygone years, I had to check on its habitat and sure enough it lives in rainforests. | |
| 23 | Note copied about a city (5) |
| MIAMI – MI twice (note copied) ‘about A’ | |
| 24 | Some feel embarrassed about fracas (5) |
| MELEE – Reverse (about) hidden (some) in fEEL EMbarrassed | |
This ‘Sunday Roast’ took me 45 minutes to cook.
FOI 7dn IBSEN
LOI 10 ac the AMERICANAO as served up by IKEA.
14ac COVENTRY was a poor clue IMO.
Favourite wrestlers from when I was a kid – Spiros “The Golden Greek” Arion and Killer Kowalski.
Thank you to setter and blogger.
Ong’ara,
Nairobi.
In the absence of anywhere else to say it I will mention that today’s effort by Dean Mayer is one of the best cryptic crosswords I’ve ever seen. Some amazing clues… a bit harder than this one, but still towards the easier end of Dean’s spectrum.
Very enjoyable xword. Thanks to all concerned.
Janet and Tom, Toronto.