I thought this was an elegant puzzle, the best on Wednesday for a while, not difficult but with some clever, smooth surfaces and no MERs for me. I went astray at first with 15a and took a while to sort out 21a, no issues with the rest in a total time of around 24 leisurely minutes. For a clue of the day I’d pick either 10a or 21a.
| Across | |
| 1 | Bank charge discount partially returned (4) |
| SIDE – bank = side e.g. of a river. Reversed hidden in CHARG(E DIS)COUNT. | |
| 3 | American embraces endlessly resilient old scientist (10) |
| ASTRONOMER – There was discussion recently when we had AMER for American, and here it is again. Into AMER you insert STRON(G) (endlessly resilient) and O for old. | |
| 10 | Describing open-air activities that could be yours to do (9) |
| OUTDOORSY – (YOURS TO DO)*. | |
| 11 | Tycoon is second victim of hoax, though losing just one pound (5) |
| MOGUL – MO (second) GUL(L) victim of hoax loses an L. | |
| 12 | Make fun of a politician in guise of a fool? (7) |
| LAMPOON – A MP inside LOON = fool. | |
| 13 | Guy at St Andrews? Liberal guy at St Andrews, not Conservative (6) |
| LADDIE – A Scottish chap. The guy at St Andrews (R & A Golf Club of) is a CADDIE, carrying my bag, not C, add L. | |
| 15 | Preparation the public can’t see for exclusion of NHS work? (7,8) |
| PRIVATE PRACTICE – Cryptic double definition, where ‘practice in private’ wouldn’t be seen in public. I went wrong for a while with PRIVATE MEDICINE, thinking the ‘preparation’ was a drug not an activity, but 6d ending in I woudln’t work. | |
| 18 | Landlord blocking theatre presented by cultivated political group (10,5) |
| REPUBLICAN PARTY – PUBLICAN is our landlord, he goes into REP our theatre, then ARTY = cultivated. | |
| 21 | Necklace queen’s wearing removed by force (6) |
| TORQUE – I put in the correct answer to this quite a while before seeing how it worked; was the definition force or necklace? I think it is necklace, as TORE = removed by force, leaving you with QU for queen to insert. A torque (or torc) is a rigid metal necklace, as well as a force causing rotation. | |
| 23 | Rewarding golf? Agonising missing first of putts (7) |
| GAINFUL – G for golf, PAINFUL = agonising, loses its P. | |
| 26 | Supple, seeing reduction of ailment in time (5) |
| AGILE – AGE (time) has IL(L) inserted. | |
| 27 | Area a lot choppy? Channel swimmer weak (2,1,3,3) |
| AT A LOW EBB – (A A LOT)* then WEBB = Captain Matthew Webb, first to swim the channel in 1875. What a nice, topical surface, given the recent amazing feat by Sarah Thomas. A pity she didn’t get sponsored to raise money for breast cancer research. | |
| 28 | Lack of skill recording songbird? One gets exposed about that (10) |
| INEPTITUDE – I NUDE = one gets exposed; into that insert EP (recording) TIT (songbird). | |
| 29 | Times item in centre: several bits (4) |
| BYTE – BY = times, multiplied by, TE = central letters of iTEm, a byte has 8 bits in it. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Plunder harbour town, getting damper (10) |
| SPOILSPORT – SPOILS = plunder, as a noun; PORT. | |
| 2 | Information corporation supplied to American lawyer (5) |
| DATUM – DA (American lawyer) TUM (corporation). Singular of DATA, which latter is all too often treated as singular not plural. A moment of pedantry. | |
| 4 | Determined to include wild green island in African ecosystem (9) |
| SERENGETI – My FOI. SET = determined, insert (GREEN)* and add I for island. | |
| 5 | Though no son, optimistic over a line of monarchs (5) |
| ROYAL – ROSY could be optimistic, delete the S for son, add A L(ine). | |
| 6 | Mostly I refuse to accept degree of person who’s travelled (7) |
| NOMADIC – I refuse could be “NO DICE”, mostly = NODIC, insert MA degree. | |
| 7 | Source of detailed view that is needed in review of farming (9) |
| MAGNIFIER – Insert I.E. into (FARMING)*. | |
| 8 | No opening for comic turn (4) |
| ROLL – DROLL loses its opening letter. | |
| 9 | Study leading to answer about golden solar gases (6) |
| CORONA – CON (study) has OR (golden) inserted, then A for answer. | |
| 14 | Playground: yard left cordoned off by rope, fit for repeated use (10) |
| RECYCLABLE – REC = playground, Y = yard, CABLE = rope, insert L for left. | |
| 16 | Pull together one million, supporting Society in contest (9) |
| IMPROVISE – I, M(illion), PRO (supporting), then S for society inside VIE = contest. | |
| 17 | Defending month being taken up in Bishop engaging in study (9) |
| REARGUARD – READ = study; insert AUG reversed into RR (bishop) then insert that RGUAR into READ. | |
| 19 | Happen to search for a legacy (7) |
| BEQUEST – BE = happen, QUEST = search. | |
| 20 | River being shown? It’s not what you’d want to drink (6) |
| POISON – The River PO (in Italy) IS ON = being shown. | |
| 22 | Praise X-ray as investment in unlimited health (5) |
| EXALT – HEALTH “unlimited” = EALT, insert X for x-ray. | |
| 24 | Passionate on-line exclamation of disapproval (5) |
| FIERY – FIE! = exclamation of disapproval, is ‘”on line” i.e. on RY railway line. | |
| 25 | Artist I’d upset about almost everything (4) |
| DALI – AL(L) inside I’D reversed. | |
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