Greetings from sunny Phuket!
I’m taking a Lunar New Year break, so this will be a concise blog. Please fill in any gaps.
17:20
| Across | |
| 1 | Disgusted about angry speech, finally bought sheathed weapon (10) |
| SWORDSTICK – WORDS |
|
| 6 | Collection of letters from such a keen swimmer (4) |
| HAKE – hidden | |
| 10 | Means to follow bombed thoroughfare (7) |
| HIGHWAY – HIGH (bombed – on drugs) WAY (means) | |
| 11 | Gain fame at last, plugging a food flavouring (7) |
| ACHIEVE – |
|
| 12 | Marsupial with crooked legs caught bird (9) |
| BANDICOOT – BANDI (sounds like ‘bandy’) COOT (bird) | |
| 13 | Discredit military engineers only (5) |
| REBUT – RE BUT (‘only’, as in ‘to name but two’) | |
| 14 | Fundamental reason for full stop? (5) |
| POINT – double definition (DD) | |
| 15 | Film medic with wee tot in upper-class area (9) |
| DOCUDRAMA – DOC DRAM in U (upper-class) A (area) | |
| 17 | Fragmentary report of dinner organised by UN? (9) |
| PIECEMEAL – sounds like a ‘peace meal’; bit weak, this | |
| 20 | Long period of time before November (5) |
| YEARN – YEAR N | |
| 21 | Coarse person turning dried grass over and over (5) |
| YAHOO – HAY reversed O O | |
| 23 | Royals use this material to trouble fool surrounded by silence (9) |
| SAILCLOTH – AIL (to trouble) CLOT in SH; a royal is a type of sail; sailcloth is a material of which it might be made | |
| 25 | Boring part in exam going over repetitive course (7) |
| ORBITAL – BIT (boring part, i.e. tool) in ORAL (exam); ‘going over’ seems to be intensifying ‘in’ rather than indicating reversal; on the other hand, as fvi, Dvynys and K point out, ‘orbital’ is here being used in its basic adjectival sense, so ‘going over’ is part of the definition. Great effort, team! | |
| 26 | Sign in EU country mostly welcoming immigrants primarily? (7) |
| INITIAL – IN (‘in’ from the clue) I |
|
| 27 | US lawyer given thanks for information (4) |
| DATA – DA TA | |
| 28 | Make censorious remarks in main broadcast commercial (10) |
| ANIMADVERT – anagram* of MAIN ADVERT (commercial) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Respectful way to address male relative keeping a hotel (5) |
| SAHIB – A H in SIB[ling] | |
| 2 | Material in publication unknown in east (9) |
| ORGANZINE – ORGAN Z (unknown) IN E | |
| 3 | Where a dentist may look dispirited? (4-2-3-5) |
| DOWN-IN-THE-MOUTH – DD with a hint of whimsy | |
| 4 | Sort of gland your old French king ultimately had (7) |
| THYROID – THY (old form of ‘your’) ROI (‘king’ in French) |
|
| 5 | Confused church article relating to the ear (7) |
| CHAOTIC – CH A OTIC | |
| 7 | Great Head of Repton, but initially bitter (5) |
| ACERB – ACE R |
|
| 8 | Problem with vision England’s first coach conceals very well (9) |
| EYESTRAIN – YES (very well) in E |
|
| 9 | One who’ll go far perhaps rebuked about line supporting rash study misguidedly (9,5) |
| THURSDAYS CHILD – RASH STUDY* L (line) in CHID (rebuked); in the rhyme, Thursday’s child ‘has far to go’ | |
| 14 | But not your present setter’s formative years! (9) |
| PUPPYHOOD – cryptic definition, riffing on two meanings of ‘setter’ – one a dog, the other a crossword compiler | |
| 16 | Dissect a cat in an island quarter (9) |
| ANATOMISE – A TOM in AN (from the clue) I (island) SE (south-east, thus ‘quarter’) | |
| 18 | Greek character’s record on pit administration ultimately (7) |
| EPSILON – EP (record) SILO (pit) |
|
| 19 | Odd claim involving one’s secularity (7) |
| LAICISM – IS (one is > I’s >IS) in CLAIM* | |
| 22 | Clothing worn by sisters in hospital to some extent (5) |
| HABIT – H A BIT | |
| 24 | Slave’s extremely horrible fate (5) |
| HELOT – H |
|
As above reply to Edric. Nice puzzle.