A quirky offering for the start of the working week, and one which was rather more tricky than your average Monday, I think.
21:10 for me. How did you do? And how did you find its quirks?
| Across | |
| 1 | A little place in the county, the very thing (6) |
| BEDSIT – BEDS (Bedfordshire) IT (the very thing) | |
| 5 | In dark, run over sunshade (8) |
| SOMBRERO – SOMBRE (dark) R O (two abbreviations from the game of cricket – a game England used to play) | |
| 9 | Be arrogant as actor, concealing source of wealth (8) |
| DOMINEER – MINE in DOER | |
| 10 | Beginning to avoid betrayal in moderation (6) |
| REASON – [t]REASON | |
| 11 | A daughter wearing bracelets at hotel in the country (10) |
| BANGLADESH – A D in BANGLES H | |
| 13 | Sympathy as prime minister fails to complete year (4) |
| PITY – PIT[t] Y | |
| 14 | Position for diving for fish (4) |
| PIKE – double definition (DD), the first referring to a position in diving in which the diver’s body is bent at the waist and their chest lies flat against their thighs. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME! | |
| 15 | Rock resident as two pubs finally close, full of foolish chatter (7,3) |
| BARBARY APE – YAP (foolish chatter) in BAR BAR (two pubs) last letter of [clos]E; YAP has a nominal use meaning annoying or stupid speech | |
| 18 | Mint producing something less than the King’s Shilling? (10) |
| PENNYROYAL – there were I suppose twelve pennies in a King’s shilling, which is a slang term referring to the advance (earnest) payment, which used to be given to recruits in the UK armed forces; PENNYROYAL is a species of flowering plant in the mint family. I assumed it was something you sucked… | |
| 20 | Pursue female, as dog may? (4) |
| WOOF – WOO F | |
| 21 | They poetically address European port, mostly (4) |
| ODES – ODES[sa]; it’s a bit unusual to be asked to delete the two final letters of a word, but never say never…alternatively, they changed the spelling of the city while I wasn’t looking: ODES[a] | |
| 23 | Cobblers put up with endless pressure after cash arrangement (10) |
| CODSWALLOP – COD (cash on demand – cash arrangement) SWALLO[w] (to put up with something without its ending letter) P (pressure); alternatively, just biff and move on | |
| 25 | Manifest horror, about to be caught by swindle (6) |
| SCREAM – RE (about) in SCAM | |
| 26 | Contradicted, gets help (8) |
| GAINSAID – GAINS AID | |
| 28 | Cinema-lover maybe is at a bizarre film (8) |
| FANTASIA – FAN anagram* of IS AT; Disney film of the 40s | |
| 29 | Thirty-one days hail, the length of a festival (6) |
| OCTAVE – an octave is a Catholic festival with an (inclusively counted) eight-day length; Luxembourg, I learn, has an Octave Festival which is actually a double-octave one, celebrated over two weeks. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Bringing to mind corrupt 29 I have as support (9) |
| EVOCATIVE – OCTAVE* IVE (I have > I’ve supporting it, or propping it up in a down clue); the editor likes to pop one of these Guardianesque cross-referencing clues in from time to time, so we can all throw our arms up in the air and talk about declining standards, policemen getting younger each year, kids having it too easy at school, comedy shows no longer being funny, etc. etc. ‘Corrupt’ is the anagram indicator. | |
| 3 | Stones record, about an hour (7) |
| SHINGLE – H in SINGLE | |
| 4 | One curled in disgust, not from ecstasy (3) |
| TOE – ‘not from’ is TO, ecstasy is, I am told, E; well, you have toe-curling things, so you could have one curled in disgust. A tad Guardianesque, peut-être? | |
| 5 | Welcoming pair to spend time with in bout of self-indulgence (5) |
| SPREE – PR (pair) in SEE (to spend time with) | |
| 6 | Sweet world, getting permit for king to visit (11) |
| MARSHMALLOW – HM (His Majesty > king) in MARS (world) ALLOW (permit) | |
| 7 | Ask again about what cider is like (7) |
| REAPPLY – RE (about – again) APPLY (what cider is like – geddit?!) | |
| 8 | Decline to accept too big a bed (5) |
| ROOST – OS (outsize > too big) in ROT (decline) | |
| 12 | Novelist Marcel, but as translated (6,5) |
| ALBERT CAMUS – MARCEL BUT AS*; I liked L’Etranger a lot, La Peste a little less so. Or was it the other way round? I must read them again and find out. Unless, of course, I have changed my tastes, in which case it would be a waste of time, if that were the only reason I were performing the exercise. Anyway, much better than Sartre… | |
| 16 | Man who painted a little light (3) |
| RAY – DD, the second referencing the coolly named Man Ray, American visual artist | |
| 17 | Composer’s verification about Köchel number that is “5” (9) |
| PROKOFIEV – just a matter of getting the spelling right in this one. I’ve tried hard to like other stuff of Sergei’s apart from Romeo and Juliet but have never quite pulled it off. Oh! the parsing: K (Köchel number, AKA K, referencing the fellow who catalogued Mozart’s music) in PROOF (verification) IE (that is > id est) V (five) | |
| 19 | Finally discern a nice smell that is arising (7) |
| NASCENT – [discer]N A SCENT | |
| 20 | Long-established oil producers, not in Middle East (4-3) |
| WELL-SET – WELLS (oil producers) ET (we have a bit of Yoda speak here; if you were asked to provide the word ‘east’ but without the middle bit (‘not in middle’), you might offer E[as]T) | |
| 22 | Ace hospital scoundrel turned over in Russian retreat (5) |
| DACHA – reveral of A H CAD | |
| 24 | Follow parent, in principle (5) |
| DOGMA – DOG (follow) MA (mother) | |
| 27 | One and the same language (3) |
| IDO – I DO (i.e. ditto > the same); an invented language derived from Reformed Esperanto. I rest my case… | |
27.20 done late this evening but I doubt I would have fared any better earlier. Almost gave up with bedsit but a prosaic alphabet trawl finally saved me. Ray was an interesting one, I had it in mind he was more of a photographer. Happy to be educated.
Thx setter and blogger.
Thanks Ulaca
Enjoyed your fun blog as always. I found this quite straightforward with a few crossers to keep me straight but fell at the last with a biffed IBO not knowing DO for ditto…but I do now. Man Ray is indeed a cool name, as is that of his long time companion Kiki Man Ray, whose name I share.
All said in reply to AndyPandy.