Time: 22:19
Music: Shostakovich, Symphony #5, Bernstein/NYPO.
This puzzle should not have been that hard, but I was slowed down by clues that should have been write-ins. Sure, there were some things I didn’t know, but I might have been a bit quicker to guess. I did not know tip and run, and line-out, and was slow to realize that Dick Whittington must be a pantomime, even though I had pan-. I nearly put olive instead of opine, too. I did enjoy the Highland Fling, but the best clue was probably Lille/Lillehammer.
This concludes my run of four consecutive Monday puzzles. Ulaca will be returning from his tour of Asia next week, and he will be taking over for the rest of June. The normal rotation will resume on July 7.
| Across | |
| 1 | Particular sort of female American dog, perhaps (7) |
| FUSSPOT – F + U.S. + SPOT. | |
| 5 | Cover of gossip magazine carried by that lady (7) |
| SHEATHE – S(HEAT)HE. | |
| 9 | Covert mission excavated alluvial mineral (5,4) |
| BLACK OPAL -BLACK OP + A[lluvia]L. | |
| 10 | Offer view of duck by tree (5) |
| OPINE – O + PINE. | |
| 11 | Tool missing from Norwegian town and French city (5) |
| LILLE – LILLE[hammer]. | |
| 12 | Trip often generated earnings after tax (3,6) |
| NET PROFIT – Anagram of TRIP OFTEN. | |
| 13 | Weakens binding in book (9,4) |
| WATERSHIP DOWN -WATERS (HIP) DOWN. | |
| 17 | Scottish dance or caber toss? (8,5) |
| HIGHLAND FLING – Cryptic hint. | |
| 21 | Writer briefly cut off in Iberia, say (9) |
| PENINSULA – PEN + INSULA[r]. Not a good clue, since insular and peninsula are closely related. | |
| 24 | Move camera in direction of Dick Whittington, say (5) |
| PANTO – PAN TO. | |
| 25 | Animal’s joint seen by river in Italy (5) |
| HIPPO – HIP + PO, a beginner clue. | |
| 26 | Conquistador outside university with a new mistress (9) |
| COURTESAN – CO(U)RTES + A + N. | |
| 27 | Range of colours permitted in crown (7) |
| PALETTE – PA(LET)TE. | |
| 28 | Letters backing phoney researcher (7) |
| POSTDOC – POST + COD backwards. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Upset if male cut top of another bone (6) |
| FIBULA – IF upside-down + BUL[l] + A[nother]. I was thinking a fibula isn’t a bone, it’s a brooch, but of course it’s both. | |
| 2 | Rascal caught partner dividing loot (9) |
| SCALLYWAG – S(C,ALLY)WAG. | |
| 3 | I spoke about top of tower that’s most cramped (7) |
| POKIEST – Anagram of I SPOKE around T[ower]. | |
| 4 | Type of cricket Dan plays with turnip (3,3,3) |
| TIP AND RUN – Anagram of DAN + TURNIP. | |
| 5 | Leave ice-cream dish (5) |
| SPLIT – Double definition, not the first word you would think of for either one. | |
| 6 | Four awards to rent for act of self-promotion (3,4) |
| EGO TRIP – EGOT + RIP, where EGOT = Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony. You could look it up….or you could just biff the obvious answer and move on. | |
| 7 | Robber one featured in article on forgery primarily (5) |
| THIEF – TH(I)E + F[orgery]. | |
| 8 | YouTube finally airing equestrian sport (8) |
| EVENTING – [youtub]E + VENTING. Actually, there are hundreds of eventing videos on YouTube, but we can’t let that get in the way of a good cryptic clue. | |
| 14 | Man with a bit of sugar follows very loud imaginary creature (9) |
| HEFFALUMP – HE + FF + A LUMP. | |
| 15 | Arranged grandiose dancing (9) |
| ORGANISED – Anagram of GRANDIOSE. | |
| 16 | Composer loses home twice, very quickly (4,4) |
| CHOP CHOP – CHOP[in], CHOP[in]. A chestnut. | |
| 18 | Yob secures unlimited wines for activity with hookers (4-3) |
| LINE-OUT – L([w]INE[s])OUT. Probably something to do with rugby. | |
| 19 | Time’s up to develop motivation (7) |
| IMPETUS – Anagram of TIME’S UP. | |
| 20 | Drink container to become cold when turned over (6) |
| COGNAC – CAN + GO C, all upside-down. | |
| 22 | State of some Byzantine palaces (5) |
| NEPAL – Hidden in [Byzanti]NE PAL[aces]. | |
| 23 | Relative in doubt after losing a rook (5) |
| UNCLE – UNCLE[a,r], another chestnut. | |
A fairly rare finish for me whilst watching the cricket today, but can someone please explain the “hip” inserted in “Waters Down” & what this has to do with binding?
Binding is an insertion indicator – waters down ‘binds’ hip. Hip is another word for in, in the sense of fashionable or popular.
@vinyl1
Many thanks, I was vaguely aware that “hip” was “in” even thoughI am just (only just!) too young to have been a beatnik.
Came here to boast about my super-quick time (for me, that’s about 20 minutes) , but was defeated by biffing in OLIVE ! However, very happy to have sailed through the rest ( yes, enjoyed the LILLEHAMMER series on TV a while back) and liked the lovely HEFFALUMP. A fun feel to this one, with its PANTO and CHOP CHOP.