I sat down to this and quickly had the NW corner all done, then the NE, but even then I was thinking ‘this is Wednesday, not Monday, you’re not the Friday-blogging genius, things will soon grind to a halt’. But they didn’t. I arrived in 13 minutes with only the six blanks in 28a and 29a to fill in. The penny dropped with a literal ‘Doh!’ on 28 and I popped in 29 with a ‘must be’ although I didn’t actually know the word. I hope it was actually one of my few ‘on song’ days and you all found it really hard. But I doubt it.
| Across | |
| 1 | Team poet’s hirsute growth (9) |
| SIDEBURNS – SIDE = team, Robert Burns a poet even I knew. | |
| 6 | Colourful bird originally making a harsh cry (5) |
| MACAW – a large parrot, from M initial letter of ‘making’, A, CAW a harsh cry. | |
| 9 | Indian city taken in by ill-defined plan (7) |
| DIAGRAM – AGRA = Indian city, inside DIM = ill-defined. | |
| 10 | Element one past student initially identified among miners (7) |
| NIOBIUM – I (one) OB (past student) I (initially identified) inside NUM (miners). Element 41, the 34th most abundant in the Earth’s crust, a metal used in alloys especially in jet engine turbines. | |
| 11 | Emit shrill sound, having twisted foot? (3) |
| YAP – PAY = foot, as in foot the bill, reversed / twisted. | |
| 12 | Breaking ice on, and in, a vast expanse of water (6,5) |
| INDIAN OCEAN – (ICE ON AND IN A)*. Not much ice there though. | |
| 14 | Variable lodging-place, one by entrance to auto plant (6) |
| ZINNIA – Z (variable), INN, I, A(UTO). A pretty flower in the daisy family. | |
| 15 | Polly abandons island for a place in the Low Countries (8) |
| FLANDERS – Polly Flinders (as in the nursery rhyme) loses an I and adds an A. | |
| 17 | This writer refuses to accept singer’s distinctive property (8) |
| IDENTITY – I (this writer) DENY, insert TIT a singer. | |
| 19 | Slate someone acting ineptly? (6) |
| HAMMER – Double def, = slate as in criticise, hammer as in a bad actor. | |
| 22 | Sort of roast coming? It’s to do with good eating (11) |
| GASTRONOMIC – (ROAST COMING)*. | |
| 23 | React emotionally when retired manager loses son (3) |
| SOB – BOSS loses S and is reversed. | |
| 25 | US president introduces embargo primarily affecting Japanese craft (7) |
| IKEBANA – IKE = US President, BAN, A(ffecting). Japanese flower arranging, although I’m sure that’s a simplistic explanation. | |
| 27 | Young chap entering libertine for run (7) |
| ROULADE – LAD goes into ROUE. A roulade is a musical term for a run of notes, as well as a rolled up dish recipe. | |
| 28 | Do taking place with team leader in charge (5) |
| TONIC – T(eam), ON (taking place), IC (in charge). Do, or Doh, the first note of the tonic scale. | |
| 29 | Eg fungus identified by secret symbol, right away (9) |
| CRYPTOGAM – CRYPTOGRAM loses an R. All things which multiply with spores, I think. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Sortie requires 500, not 50, in the centre, alas (5) |
| SADLY – SALLY = sortie, replace an L with a D. | |
| 2 | Unemotional father framing “Head of Egyptian God” (7) |
| DEADPAN – E in DAD then PAN a God. | |
| 3 | Pub sibling drinks in: a sign of shame once (3,8) |
| BAR SINISTER – BAR = pub, SISTER has IN inserted. A heraldic indication of illegitimacy. | |
| 4 | Relief provided by Yankee on sea at first (6) |
| REMEDY – RE (on) MED (sea), Y (Yankee). | |
| 5 | Partially composing a blessing apt for vocal performance (8) |
| SINGABLE – Hidden word in COMPO(SING A BLE)SSING. | |
| 6 | Low state of mind duke’s shaken off (3) |
| MOO – MOOD loses D. | |
| 7 | Asian revolutionary accommodating fashionable French art (7) |
| CHINESE – Our old friend CHE Guevara hosts IN = fashionable, ES as in tu es, French fhou art, or familiar you are. | |
| 8 | Seducer’s old way to cross country river (9) |
| WOMANISER – WISE = old word for way, as in clockwise, insert OMAN a country, add R for river. | |
| 13 | Completely unrecorded by bank? Emphatically not! (2,2,7) |
| ON NO ACCOUNT – Cryptic definition, and prosaic one. | |
| 14 | European in spot gets confused about current spirit (9) |
| ZEITGEIST – ZIT is a spot, insert E, add (GETS)* insert I. | |
| 16 | Like some poetry? Briefly stay around a New Zealand area (8) |
| STANZAIC – STIC(K) around A NZ A. Not a familiar word to a bardophobe but seems fair enough. | |
| 18 | Oriental festival supported by unspecified number (7) |
| EASTERN – EASTER, add N. | |
| 20 | Greek character flies over wild horse (7) |
| MUSTANG – MU Greek letter, GNATS reversed. | |
| 21 | Obsequious sergeant-major and his sphere of influence (6) |
| SMARMY – SM and his ARMY. | |
| 24 | Ray biting tail of another fish (5) |
| BREAM – R tail of another, into BEAM = ray. | |
| 26 | Part of circle talking of animal rescue vessel? (3) |
| ARC – sound lke ARK. Simps, eh? | |
There were one or two words I hadn’t encountered, ROULADE for example as anything other than a pudding, but the clues generally made things pretty simple.
The one that had me scratching my head was 8d. Not solving it, because WOMANISER was obvious given that I already had half the letters, but I couldn’t see how to get there from the clue, other than that it is a synonym for “libertine”. Now that, thanks to this blog, I know how the answer is derived from the clue, I’m still not convinced – ‘way’ = ‘wise’? hmm…..