This was quite good, quite good. I got off to a quick enough start but then took an inordinately long time to see the likes of 12ac and 5dn.
Lots of fun &lits and high quality surface readings, a couple a bit cheeky, are always material for a winner in my book. I feel like the &lits were my favourite bits so I’ll say, hmm, 14ac for Clue of the Day.
Thank you setter for doing a fine job in the no doubt thankless (“oh God, him doing the blog again”) slot!
Live solve at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLoURuhyyTM
Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Brats go up to vandalise superior hostelry (9) |
| GASTROPUB – (BRATS GO UP*) | |
| 6 | Important person with a billion banked? (5) |
| NABOB – NOB [important person] “banking” A B(illion), &lit | |
| 9 | In part of East End that’s housing for the toffs? (7) |
| POPULAR – POPLAR [place in the East End of London] “housing” U [opposite of non-U, so toffish] | |
| 10 | Bit of food? Child eats seconds with a mother going short (7) |
| TOSTADA – TOT “eats” S(econds), with A DA{m} | |
| 11 | River for you to sit beside somewhere in Sussex (3) |
| RYE – R(iver) with YE sitting beside it | |
| 12 | One takes the biscuit, as against a donkey? (11) |
| CRACKERJACK – CRACKER [biscuit] against JACK [a donkey] | |
| 14 | About to dive into water? Hold it! (6) |
| BREATH – RE [about] to “dive into” BATH [water], semi-&lit: If you dive into water you need to hold your breath | |
| 15 | Giant oil spills making a sort of design (8) |
| INTAGLIO – (GIANT OIL*) | |
| 17 | One grand splashed out for something to make man a man? (8) |
| ANDROGEN – (ONE GRAND*) | |
| 19 | Religious proviso one gets in a church offering words of wisdom? (6) |
| ADVICE – D(eo) V(olente) [“God willing”] + I [one], in A C.E. | |
| 22 | Tom maybe has a fit of temper — explosive meltdown? (11) |
| CATASTROPHE – CAT has A STROP + H(igh) E(xplosive) | |
| 23 | Bird, one sadly missing out — it can’t fly! (3) |
| PIG – PIG{eon}. Very elaborate clue for such a short word! Take PIGEON [a bird] and remove (ONE*) to find one of the very many things in the dictionary unable to fly | |
| 25 | American players — see them briefly in undergarments? (7) |
| LINEMEN – ‘EM seen in LINEN. Vinyl patiently explained to me what linemen were but it went in one ear and out the other, so I’m still imagining these are those chaps in Wichita that Glen Campbell likes to sing about | |
| 27 | Gentleman sent back fish dish (it’s ”crumby”) (7) |
| RISSOLE – reversed SIR [gentleman] + SOLE [fish] | |
| 28 | Ultimately that unwanted plant is a border flower (5) |
| TWEED – {tha}T + WEED – that’s a flower as in something that flows, i.e. a river, the border being the one with Scotland | |
| 29 | Quiet and strange — that is street most badly built? (9) |
| SHODDIEST – SH! and ODD – I.E. ST(reet) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Mollusc that has one looking amazed? (5) |
| GAPER – some type of big ugly clam | |
| 2 | Chief has drink with engineers (7) |
| SUPREME – SUP with R(oyal) E(lectrical) & M(echanical) E(ngineers) | |
| 3 | Moves made by members of the family holding firm after upset (11) |
| RELOCATIONS – RELATIONS holding reversed CO(mpany) | |
| 4 | Characters that could be hard up in social isolation (6) |
| PURDAH – (HARD UP*) | |
| 5 | Second-rate monarch is moving (8) |
| BETAKING – BETA [second-rate] + KING | |
| 6 | Bright light upsets these Greek characters (3) |
| NUS – reversed SUN | |
| 7 | In quarrel notice piercing tool (7) |
| BRADAWL – in BRAWL, AD | |
| 8 | Bishop has deficiency, predicament from which there’s no getting away (5,4) |
| BLACK HOLE – B(ishop) has LACK, HOLE; not even light can escape this space-time region’s immense gravitational pull | |
| 13 | Like message passed on to be perused, having got tidied up? (11) |
| READDRESSED – READ [perused] + DRESSED [tidied up] | |
| 14 | Bit of wood left at back of farm in risky operation (9) |
| BRANCHLET – L(eft) at back of RANCH, in BET [an operation that clearly involves risking a stake] | |
| 16 | Small balls in position one doesn’t want to lose (8) |
| BEARINGS – double def. As in “lose one’s bearings”, hardly ever a good thing | |
| 18 | Relaxation of French taking wine with English (7) |
| DETENTE – DE [of, in French] taking TENT with E(nglish). Quite nicely &littish | |
| 20 | This writer’s needing to demonstrate progress (7) |
| IMPROVE – I’M [this writer is] + PROVE [to demonstrate] | |
| 21 | City circles infiltrated by the Left (6) |
| OPORTO – PORT [the left side] “infiltrating” a pair of O’s | |
| 24 | Visitor with touch of embarrassment breaking wind (5) |
| GUEST – E{mbarrassment} “breaking” GUST | |
| 26 | Crazy girl I dumped (3) |
| MAD – MA{i}D | |
I suppose I enjoyed this, but it did take a long time. I stopped just before the hour and came back later to finish the NW corner in another 25 minutes or so (BETAKING leading to GASTROPUB, then GAPER, POPULAR, SUPREME and finally ending with a desperate guess of PURDAH, since there seemed to be more wordplay for this word I had never heard of than for PARIAH, which I had heard of. A wing and a prayer, mostly the latter, but it was answered.) Lots of tricky but satisfying clues (PIG, for example). And COD to BREATH.
I’ve been in catch up mode for most of this week, doing each day’s crossword a day late. Yesterday’s was fairly straightforward, so when it started raining this afternoon I finally had a chance to catch up. Nearly gave up several times, but finally managed to crawl over the finish line, albeit with recourse to wiki to check the nho’s Gaper, Tostada and Betaking. Loi (and CoD) was a fully parsed Advice. Invariant
Yet another pariah. Nicely devious clue. The mental association with isolation undid us. Otherwise 27’51” with some pleasant memories of Leslie Crowther and Wichita.