Not in Havana, unfortunately from a nice-weather viewpoint, but at least Rutland is not on the amber list. Actually we’re moving again, from 1 mile inside Leicestershire (but only 4 miles from Oakham, Rutland’s capital town), to a real Rutland village (18 houses and a post box).
This was another pleasant puzzle, not as hard as last Wednesday’s I think, it took me 25 minutes or so. I learnt 3 new words, all obvious from wordplay (15a, 23a, 27a) and a new meaning at 24d.
Sorry if the formatting looks a bit odd, I had to rescue what I could when the LJ posting went pear shaped the first time.
Across
1 Degenerative state of Venetian magistrate keeping volunteer army once (6)
DOTAGE – DOGE keeps T.A.
4 One at home in Madrid perhaps — and Paris, surprisingly (8)
SPANIARD – (AND PARIS)*.
10 Blessedness of bishop with key position, so to speak (9)
BEATITUDE – B (bishop) E (musical key) ATITUDE sounds like attitude, position.
11 Eg Hammerstein’s very large limousine (5)
OSCAR – OS (outsize) CAR (limo).
12 Rowdy lout initially stabbing poet with little hesitation (7)
HOODLUM – HOOD, UM (hesitation) insert L = lout initially. Thomas Hood was an English poet 1799 – 1845, but I didn’t know that, being a poetrignoramus, I guessed him.
13 Mineral popular in Oman’s capital, as it happens (7)
OLIVINE – O (Oman’s capital), LIVE (as it happens), insert IN = popular.
14 Stuff wrapped round last of wholesome dairy product (5)
CREAM – CRAM = stuff, around E last of wholesomE.
15 New decanter full of sugary fluid (8)
NECTARED – (DECANTER)*. I didn’t know something could be “nectared” i.e. filled with nectar, but I see no reason why not.
18 Weaken resistance of son frequently before beak (6,2)
SOFTEN UP – S(on) OFTEN (frequently) UP = before magistrate.
20 Famous clown taking a drink (5)
COCOA – COCO the clown has A inserted.
23 Short song a girl’s written about an alien (7)
ARIETTA – A RITA has ET the usual alien inserted. I assume an ARIETTA is a short ARIA.
25 Picture the writer’s opposed to, enormously at first (7)
IMAGINE – I’M (the writer’s) AGIN, E(normously).
26 White mineral artist found in chest (5)
BORAX – insert RA into BOX. Sodium borate.
27 Like one part of speech attorney recalled, insignificant (9)
ADNOMINAL – DA reversed, NOMINAL = insignificant. It means adjectival, more or less.
28 Army musician, possibly, with sergeant-major in bar (8)
BANDSMAN – BAN = bar, insert AND (with), SM.
29 Unlimited load of French ship entering Black Sea Port (6)
ODESSA – O A = load “unlimited”, insert DE (of French) SS (ship).
| Down | |
| 1 | Little bird caught by peasant after severe upset (8) |
| DABCHICK – BAD (severe) reversed, = DAB, C (caught) HICK (peasant). | |
| 2 | Came about supporting husband dismissed from the plant (3,4) |
| TEA ROSE – AROSE (came about) “supports” T(h)E. | |
| 3 | Diving bird’s culpability, eating most of fruit (9) |
| GUILLEMOT – GUILT eats most of LEMO(N). | |
| 5 | Advance ideas of newspapers mostly about fertilisation (14) |
| PRECONCEPTIONS – insert CONCEPTION into PRES(S). | |
| 6 | Ruth’s mother-in-law’s current grumble going north (5) |
| NAOMI – I (current) MOAN reversed. As in the Bible story. | |
| 7 | Turn up, dropping round initially for church record store (7) |
| ARCHIVE – ARRIVE (turn up) drops an R and gains a CH. | |
| 8 | Deepen colour of chest in study (6) |
| DARKEN – ARK in DEN. | |
| 9 | Novel a Moravian nun originally absorbed happily at sea? (3,3,2,6) |
| OUR MAN IN HAVANA – insert H A (originally Absorbed Happily) into (A MORAVIAN NUN)*. | |
| 16 | Noted assertion of right accepted by fab duke (9) |
| ACCLAIMED – CLAIM (assertion of right) goes into ACE (fab) D(uke). | |
| 17 | Shrub Conservative woman planted across lake (8) |
| CAMELLIA – C, AMELIA has L for lake inserted. | |
| 19 | Old man holding sound-enhancing device — a character! (7) |
| OMICRON – O for old, RON a bloke, has MIC(rophone) inserted. 15th letter of Greek alphabet. | |
| 21 | Customers not exactly silent when screwed (7) |
| CLIENTS – C (circa, not exactly) (SILENT)*. | |
| 22 | British sailors gathering round African tree (6) |
| BAOBAB – B (British) AB AB (sailors), insert O (round). | |
| 24 | Try one’s manipulative procedure in the theatre (5) |
| TAXIS – TAX (try, as in try one’s patience) I’S (one’s). In surgery taxis means to move bits about without hacking into them. Or in posh medical speak, a manipulative procedure. | |
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