Time: 23 minutes
Music, Dvorak, Symphony 8, Dorati/LSO
Here we have another fairly standard Monday puzzle that will put up little resistance to skilled solvers. I just got hung up at the end for a bit in the dowel/echelon/wolfish/Leningrad section. This one will probably be in the low 60s on the SNITCH – I haven’t looked yet.
| Across | |
| 1 | Irritable declaration of one in Casualty? (9) |
| IMPATIENT – I’M PATIENT, a chestnut. | |
| 6 | Peg wants to succeed for the most part (5) |
| DOWEL – DO WEL[l]. | |
| 9 | Meet clergyman eating ice cream? On the contrary (7) |
| CONVENE – CON(VEN)E. | |
| 10 | Time to embrace revolutionary left’s rank (7) |
| ECHELON – E(CHE,L)ON. | |
| 11 | Regret abusive Democrat must be removed (3) |
| RUE – RU[d]E. | |
| 12 | Bent copper facing end of his employment (11) |
| DISPOSITION – DI + [hi]S + POSITION. | |
| 14 | Saw for example Conservative leading state (6) |
| CUTTER – C+ UTTER. | |
| 15 | One drawing is of Her Majesty on small boat (8) |
| SKETCHER – S + KETCH + E.R. | |
| 17 | He perhaps is in Tangiers working (5,3) |
| INERT GAS – Anagram of TANGIERS, where He is helium. We have seen this trick before. | |
| 19 | Threaten island legislator with death (6) |
| IMPEND – I + M.P. + END. | |
| 22 | Opinionated idiot can err horribly (11) |
| DOCTRINAIRE – Anagram of IDIOT CAN ERR. | |
| 23 | Soldiers moving south for dope (3) |
| ASS – SAS with the first S moved. | |
| 25 | Nothing unreasonable about way one refuses to face reality (7) |
| OSTRICH – O(ST)RICH, with the slang meaning of rich. | |
| 27 | Greed, a weakness holding soldiers back (7) |
| AVARICE – A V(RA backwards)ICE. | |
| 28 | Subterfuge of old magistrate, jailing Penny once (5) |
| DODGE – DO(D)GE. | |
| 29 | Bit by bit story spread (9) |
| PIECEMEAL – PIECE + MEAL, where piece is a very peripheral synonym for story. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Suffer among reactionary force of old (5) |
| INCUR – IN + R.U.C. backwards, the old Royal Ulster Constabulary. | |
| 2 | Sarcastic chap cracking jokes? (7) |
| PUNGENT – PUN GENT, where the question mark indicates that the clue is not much better than the chap. | |
| 3 | Pioneer’s guard dog crossing river (11) |
| TRENDSETTER – T(R)END + SETTER. | |
| 4 | Last two avoiding service still (4,2) |
| EVEN SO – EVENSO[ng]. This was a really tough cryptic, most solvers will just biff the obvious answer. | |
| 5 | Everything in factory? (3,5) |
| THE WORKS – Double definition. | |
| 6 | Stretcher bearer going the wrong way? What an idiot! (3) |
| DOH – HOD backwards. | |
| 7 | Ravenous and unhappy, knocked up some food (7) |
| WOLFISH – LOW backwards + FISH. | |
| 8 | Duke learning about city once besieged (9) |
| LENINGRAD – Anagram of D + LEARNING. | |
| 13 | Meet painter, remarkably self-indulgent (11) |
| INTEMPERATE – Anagram of MEET PAINTER. | |
| 14 | Best days for one in minority? (9) |
| CHILDHOOD – Cryptic definition. | |
| 16 | Uncle’s place, where you can get dubious material, I hear (8) |
| PAWNSHOP – Sounds like PORN SHOP, if you are a non-rhotic speaker. | |
| 18 | Left without Charlie, on a high (7) |
| EXCITED – EX(C)ITED. | |
| 20 | Question old flame, an explosive type? (7) |
| EXAMINE – EX + A MINE. | |
| 21 | Talk foolishly about current danger on the seas (6) |
| PIRATE – P(I)RATE. | |
| 24 | Time for a bit of magic (5) |
| SPELL – Double definition. | |
| 26 | Cockney’s rent causing outrage? (3) |
| IRE – [h]IRE. | |
LOI was Leningrad which I couldn’t see for the trees — embarrassing as I’ve been there many times (but may never go there again, I fear).
Thanks all