ACROSS
1 SECURE Ins of EC (city) in SURE (confident)
4 MEGALITH MEG (rev of GEM, stone) ALIT (came down) H (first letter of henge) for a memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe). Quite like the separate use of Stonehenge
10 RECONDITE Ins of SECOND (moment) minus S (saint) in RITE (church ceremony. Recondite means hidden; obscure; abstruse; profound.
11 SEPTA SEPIA (brown) with T (time) substituted for I (symbol for current in physics) septum (pl septa) a partition or dividing structure in a cavity, tissue, etc.
12 BLASPHEMOUS Ins of U (university) in *(hapless mob)
14 NET NEAT (ox) minus A (area)
15 ECONOMY Ins of CO (care of) in *(money) A lovely quasi-&lit
17 ELIXIR Rev of ins of XI (eleven or football team) in RILE (get annoyed)
19 MANIOC Ins of O (last letter of sago) in MANIC (wild) a kind of tuber cultivated for its rich source of starch
21 STAGGER S (son) TAGGER (graffiti artist) a tag is an identifying mark or sign; a symbol or signature used by a graffiti-writer)
23 Acrostic answer deliberately omitted
24 CONFEDERATE *(Following DECREE NATO)
26 LOTTO BLOTTO (one of many slang words for being very drunk) minus B (British)
27 INTERMENT IN TERM (when schools are open) *(TEN) Very misleading def for a burial
29 SINISTER Ins of IN (home) in SISTER (nurse)
30 LENTIL LENT (period of fast) ILL (unwell) minus L
DOWN
1 SCRUBBER Cha of S (second) C (century) RUBBER (series of games) Well Done to the English cricket team for their sterling performance to date. Whatever is happening to the team touted as the best test side in the world? Are they suffering from the English equivalent of the Bombay Rumble or the Delhi Belly?
2 COCOA CO (company) COAT (Ulster, perhaps) minus T
3 RUN RUNG (step) minus G
5 rha deliberately omitted. Sounds like a home for 23Across
6 ASSASSINATE Cha of AS (like) SAS (Special Air Service, special forces) + ins of IN in SATE (gorge)
7 IMPENDING IMP (devil) ENDING (finish)
8 HEARTH H (first letter of horoscope) + EARTH (planet) Before the advent of the modern central heating, the fireplace used to be the symbol of home
9 FINERY Ins of N (chess symbol for knight; since K has been taken by King who easily outranks any knight) in FIERY (passionate)
13 PROMISCUOUS Cha of PROM (concert) IS + CURIOUS (unusual) minus R & I (first and last letter of Rossini) For that superb def, my COD. Frequently coupling, indeed
16 ORANG-UTAN Ins of RANG (called) in OUT (openly gay) AN (first two letters from Anglicans)
18 ORIENTAL Ins of N (new) TA (Territorial Army or volunteers) in ORIEL (Oxford college)
20 CONFINE CON (convict or prisoner) FINE (quite well)
21 SHEATH S (small) HEATH (scrub)
22 APPLES APPLIES (is relevant) minus I (one)
25 ALERT ALE (beer, the golden 17A of life) R (symbol for runs in cricket) T (last letter of out)
28 RUE Alternate letters of RoUgE
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Apropos of yesterday’s discussion re semi-&lits with pronominal defs, 15ac is a splendid case of one that works. In this case because of its allusion to James Carville’s “It’s the economy, stupid” (c1992; the Clinton campaign).
Thanks to Uncle Yap for finding ALIT in 4ac where I could only find LIT and wondered where the A came from! Great blog as ever. Only 81 puzzles to go to no. 25000. (A Monday puzzle by my dubious reck?)
Edited at 2011-08-04 01:37 am (UTC)
I am now a strong supporter of Peter’s innovation and hope it becomes a regular feature, since the resulting thread is as entertaining as the crossword itself, if not more so.
Liked the governing body in particular. Top clue.
I didn’t know MANIOC but it was obvious from the wordplay.
a dwarf shrub with small leathery leaves and small pink or purple bell-shaped flowers, characteristic of heathland and moorland. Erica and related genera, family Ericaceae (the heath family): many species, including the common European cross-leaved heath (E. tetralix).
I doubt anybody actually uses SCRUBBER to mean “one cleaning up”, the slang usage being too powerful. And LOTTO is surely now universally known as Bingo. Solved MANIOC and STAGGER from wordplay.
Loved “frequently coupling” and “procedure governing body”. Those little gems plus the clue to ECONOMY are what this puzzle is all about.
http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/home.ftl
??
Do people really participate in that nonsense at those odds against winning?
There’s a lot of difference!
Paul S.
Paul S.
“derogatory, (of a person) having many sexual relationships, esp. transient ones”.
I know those — don’t ask! — who engage in “frequent coupling” but are extremely discriminating about the many partners they choose. The obvious conservatism of the clue is that it confines promiscuity to couples!
Edited at 2011-08-04 08:37 am (UTC)
Louise
I laughed at 16 down, a bit insulting if you think about it?
All present and correct in about 30 mins or so, must be something of a record for me! I too guessed at SEPTA, having only come across the singular, and didn’t know the Ulster connection. Didn’t bother to work out why it was PROMISCUOUS, so thanks for working that one out.
Btw, MANIOC is often used by coeliacs or others who cannot tolerate gluten in wheat. I believe it is the same as cassava.
I didn’t know MANIOC but the wordplay was very clear. Likewise SEPTA, even though I knew the word in the singular. It’s been in the news recently because two famous SEPTA have been treated surgically of late: one deviated (Ed Milliband) and one collapsed (Tara Palmer-Tomkinson).
I thought whilst solving that Ulster must be a type of coal, although as jerrwh says the coat appears quite regularly. The right answer by the wrong route will do me.
I too was rather taken aback by the definition of PROMISCUOUS, which seems to imply that one could be promiscuous with one’s other half. Which won’t do at all.
Agree with richnorth, thought the clue for LENTIL was superb.
Certainly a lot more LOTTO players than BINGO players where I come from.
CoD: I’m another quickened pulse.
I liked the INTERMENT, PROMISCUOUS and ORANG-UTAN clues.
Regards
Andrew Kitching
Mike and Fay
6:06 in a clean sweep (my first since February). Relieved to find I haven’t lost it completely.