Music: Mahler, Symphony 9, Bernstein/Concertgebouw
Time: 44 minutes
Once again, Monday is no longer very Mondayish, at least in my neck of the woods. There was some clever stuff here, and as I biffed many of the longer answers I am still figuring out some rather devious cryptics. Clues I thought were simply vague pointers to the answer are turning out to be perfectly conventional wordplay, very cleverly hidden. Some solvers may be on the wavelength, but many will struggle – or so I hope, not wanting to be the only one who couldn’t see the obvious.
Tonight’s music is a fine performance, and I highly recommend it. The two-LP set pressed in Germany is quite rare, and commands a rather stiff price from classical record collectors in Japan and Korea.
| Across | |
| 1 | Writer almost prepared to accept plagiarism (6) |
| SCRIBE – S(CRIB)E[t]. Once of my last ones in, I needed a few checkers to see it. | |
| 4 | A very regular writer, skipping intro, may be a cagey type (8) |
| AVIARIST – A + V + [d]IARIST, a cagey clue, indeed. | |
| 10 | Heavenly room accommodating one in fancy seat (9) |
| CELESTIAL – CEL(EST(I)A)L, where the middle is an anagram of SEAT. | |
| 11 | Exhaust American power restraining group of countries (3,2) |
| USE UP – US(EU)P. | |
| 12 | Impress after releasing singular song (3) |
| LAY – [s]LAY, using the slang meaning of the verb. | |
| 13 | Foreign areas sadly kept back in recording meal option (6,5) |
| CAESAR SALAD – C(anagram of AREAS + ALAS backwards)D. | |
| 14 | “Reduced Beauty Treatment” covering small shop sign (6) |
| FASCIA – FA(S)CIA[l], my FOI, and I saw right away this puzzle was not going to be an easy one. | |
| 16 | Wild financier finally not in favour of investing in soccer team (7) |
| FRANTIC – F([financie]R ANTI)C, where the enclosing letters are the abbreviatino for Football Club…..soccer team, indeed! | |
| 19 | Support I’ll back, beset by endless stress (7) |
| TRELLIS – [s]TRE(I”LL backwards)S[s]. It took me a while to realize that ‘stress’ was being used to indicate ‘stress’! | |
| 20 | Way the world won’t end: in a catastrophe, finally (6) |
| AVENUE – A(VENU[s])[catastroph]E……well, one of the worlds. | |
| 22 | All steroids in sport? Incompatible (3-8) |
| ILL-ASSORTED – Anagram of ALL STEROIDS, one of the few straightforward clues. | |
| 25 | Dance, taking lead in balletic work (3) |
| BOP – B[allectic} + OP. | |
| 26 | Good performance at golf a delight, moving last to first (5) |
| EAGLE – A GLEE with the last letter moved to the front. | |
| 27 | Old fogey to rage about source of expensive body spray (9) |
| DEODORANT – D(E[xpensive])ODO + RANT. | |
| 28 | Utterly wrong about article offering protection (8) |
| TUTELARY – Anagram of UTTERLY around A, referring chiefly to tutelary spirits in Roman mythology. | |
| 29 | This obliges fellow in good shape to spurn hospitals (6) |
| FEALTY – F + [h]EALT[h]Y – remove more than one hospital! | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Start of spring with a chill in Mediterranean location (6) |
| SICILY – S + ICILY, If you put SACOLD, you lose. | |
| 2 | Regarding length over Scottish course? Excellent for run (5-4) |
| RELAY-RACE – RE + L + AYR + ACE, an extended charade if there every was one. | |
| 3 | Essential one Conservative supports party, mostly (5) |
| BASIC – BAS[h] + I + C. | |
| 5 | Suggestive behaviour, maybe, with French kept in proportion (6,8) |
| VULGAR FRACTION – VULGAR (FR)ACTION. | |
| 6 | Something you shouldn’t attempt when prepared to save face (1,4,4) |
| A MUGS GAME – A(MUG)S + GAME. I had supposed this was a silly cryptic definition while solving. | |
| 7 | Principle that is engaging Democrat most of all (5) |
| IDEAL – I(D)E + AL[l] | |
| 8 | Band to adorn recording system (4,4) |
| TAPE DECK – TAPE + DECK, in entirely different senses. | |
| 9 | What’ll be anodyne news, I’d fancy, around end of year? (4,4,6) |
| NINE DAYS WONDER – Anagram of ANODYNE NEWS, I’D |+ [yea]R, a clever &lit. | |
| 15 | Weaponry: clubs, historic — a bargain, we hear (4,5) |
| COLD STEEL – C + OLD + sounds like STEAL. | |
| 17 | Hitch? Then fix web image (9) |
| THUMBNAIL – THUMB + NAIL. | |
| 18 | Small missile making a loud noise (8) |
| STRIDENT – S + TRIDENT, a chestnut. | |
| 21 | Lack of enthusiasm for one heading off around track (6) |
| APATHY – [s]A(PATH)Y, another one I biffed. | |
| 23 | Right to run away? (5) |
| LEGIT – LEG IT, chestnut number two. | |
| 24 | Army doctor has done with cut (5) |
| DROVE – DR + OVE[r]. I not entirely convinced a ‘drove’ is an ‘army’, but the answer is obvious enough. MER. | |
As always, I’m glad that others liked it.