Middle-of-the-road Monday puzzle. 20 minutes.
| Across | |
| 1 | University church among least decorated in the city (9) |
| BUCHAREST – U CH in BAREST | |
| 6 | Take the initiative following quiet appeal (5) |
| PLEAD – P LEAD | |
| 9 | A number of the upper-class left wing in secure employment (7) |
| TENURED -TEN U (of the upper class: say lavatory not toilet etc.) RED | |
| 10 | Scientist entertaining wife in Harlow? (3,4) |
| NEW TOWN – W in NEWTON | |
| 11 | Colour of house regularly seen (3) |
| HUE – H[o]U[s]E | |
| 12 | Female group opposing — no good making agreement (11) |
| COVENANTING – COVEN ANTI N G (dictionary.com has n.g. for no good) | |
| 14 | Chemical cover including aluminium (6) |
| HALIDE – AL in HIDE | |
| 15 | What could be chained outside a foreign estate (8) |
| HACIENDA – A in anagram* of CHAINED | |
| 17 | Small car you finally grab in retreat (8) |
| RUNABOUT – [yo]U NAB (grab) in ROUT (retreat) | |
| 19 | Hostile language behind traditional scripture (6) |
| AVERSE – AV (Authorised Version of the Bible) ERSE | |
| 22 | Gerbil a gent’s mistaken for something much fiercer (6,5) |
| BENGAL TIGER – GERBIL A GENT* | |
| 23 | Cake, something squelchy sent back (3) |
| GOB – bog reversed; a gob cake is a chocolate cake, apparently. Is this what the setter is referrring to? Not really; both gob and cake can be used to refer to a mass of something, as known to most of us in ‘cake of soap.’ | |
| 25 | More frivolous arsonist? (7) |
| LIGHTER – double definition | |
| 27 | Indicator of love concealed by playwright (7) |
| POINTER – O in PINTER; I understand his stuff as much as I understand Faulkner… | |
| 28 | Cheerful boy being listened to (5) |
| SUNNY – sounds like ‘sonny’ | |
| 29 | Record rush to secure bit of gold in stream maybe (9) |
| DISCHARGE – DISC G in HARE; not enamoured by ‘bit of gold’ for G | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Group in club meeting honoured companion (5) |
| BATCH – BAT CH | |
| 2 | Hide in study, getting secure, we hear (7) |
| CONCEAL – CON sounds like ‘seal’ | |
| 3 | Villain is protected by a supporter repeatedly? Nonsense! (11) |
| ABRACADABRA – CAD in A BRA A BRA | |
| 4 | Beneath border one has salad plant (6) |
| ENDIVE – I’VE (one has) after END (border) | |
| 5 | Tool — one wasn’t working (5,3) |
| TENON SAW – ONE WASNT* | |
| 6 | The old man with initially weak touch (3) |
| PAW – PA W[eak]; paw as a verb | |
| 7 | Maybe hate proposal made electronically? (7) |
| EMOTION – E-MOTION | |
| 8 | Belittle group of thieves — one wonderful to hear of (9) |
| DENIGRATE – DEN (group of thieves) I sounds like ‘great’ | |
| 13 | Polish rival his nan upset (4,7) |
| NAIL VARNISH – RIVAL HIS NAN* | |
| 14 | Plants rise up, as captured by Dutch artist (9) |
| HAREBELLS – REBEL in [Frans] HALS; famous for his ‘Portrait of a man’ | |
| 16 | Gathered in street before sinking in mire (8) |
| MUSTERED – ST ERE in MUD | |
| 18 | Figure on outside of horse is twelve (7) |
| NONAGON – NAG in NOON | |
| 20 | Author said to be one making correction (7) |
| RIGHTER – sounds like ‘writer’ | |
| 21 | A good primate’s providing religious feasts (6) |
| AGAPES – A G APES; besides meaning Christian love, agape can refer to a meal early Christians took together | |
| 24 | Put up with tedious fellow, man finally restricted (5) |
| BORNE – [ma]N in BORE | |
| 26 | Go very cold when victory is denied (3) |
| TRY – [win]TRY | |
42.46 Much slower at the bottom, especially in the SW. AGAPES and HAREBELLS were new to me, I never did parse TRY and RUNABOUT was LOI. As ever, I’m pleased to finish. Thanks ulaca.
51:09, with the last 20m of that spent in the SW corner.
At the point where I could not see the answers to 16d and 18d I started to doubt LIGHTER for 25a – I entered and deleted it several times. Biffed TRY, but had not seen wintry, probably because I would usually spell it wintery.
LOI was DISCHARGE, not fully parsed. The DISC was OK, but the idea that a bit of gold might be G never occurred to me.
Straightforward Monday puzzle perhaps with the exception of ‘gob’. I’ve heard of the expression among common folk of ‘shut your cake-hole’ also ‘shut your gob’ meaning to be quiet so from that I derived gob and cake from the squelching backward bog !
Quite easy (38 minutes) and I wasn’t expecting a pink square, but there was one because I wasn’t paying attention on the SUNNY boy clue. But since that was more a slip of the pen than outright stupidity I suppose I can live with it. Nothing else was remarkable enough to actually remark about.
30 minutes to complete. All fair, although I agree with Ulaca that “bit of gold” = “g” is not a nugget.
Not so breezy for me. Took 22.09 to finish. NHO Halide and thought abraetc was a spell, does that make it nonsense? Try was my last in after looking for a v that couldn’t be there. Liked discharge, covenanting but my COD was harebells.
Fairly gentle 17’30”. Isn’t SUNNY one of the most covered songs of all time, or something? Written by Bobby Hebb after his brother got knifed to death in a fight a day after JFK’s assassination. You may wonder what an upbeat song like SUNNY has got to do with two such dreadful events, and the answer I think is that Hebb was determinedly determined to keep cheerful no matter what.
Hi. I migrated from QC land and managed to complete in about 2 hours !! My 2nd ever 15X15 completion. However while I semi-biffed 16d (mustered) I still don’t get how “street before sinking” is st ere. I know street is st but it’s the “ere” bit I don’t understand . Can somebody explain please
Gathered in street before sinking in mire (8)
ST is street, ERE is before (poetical) in MUD
Ta v much . I got the “mud” and “st” but failed on the poetry ( again)
Perfect Monday fare. Thanks U for explaining TRY.
Thank you setter
34’15”
Never nearer.
Yes, I was soon way behind the pace, but finished in under my par, which was a pleasant surprise as it seemed longer.
Very enjoyable; thanks U and setter.
Much the same experience as others, with plain sailing until I reached the SW: NHO HALIDE, and HAREBELLS , although familiar, would not come, not being able to dismiss Holbein from my brain! (And Franz Hals being familiar too..ah well). Liked the BENGAL TIGER and the cheerful boy.