My solving time was off the scale yet again and I had a one letter error in an unknown answer. Quite a few unknowns for me today, amongst a number of very easy ones.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | I walk about on cold frozen area (6) |
| ICECAP – I, C (cold), PACE (walk) reversed [about]. | |
| 5 | Cheese pie dished up with corn, nothing more (8) |
| PECORINO – Anagram [dished up] of PIE CORN, 0 (nothing). And yet again we have this very annoying type of clue, a foreign or obscure word treated as an anagram. I didn’t know the cheese (it’s made from ewe’s milk) so had to guess the postions of the remaining letters once all the checkers were in place, but I managed to get it right on this occasion (unlike ‘pleistocene’ yesterday). | |
| 9 | African yak, I see, finally extinct (8) |
| GABONESE – GAB (yak – talk incessantly), ONE (I), SE{e} [finally extinct]. I think it’s more usually spelt ‘yack’ but the animal spelling is also acceptable. | |
| 10 | Vineyard owner on way back hurries at first to bar (6) |
| NABOTH – H{urries} [at first] + TO + BAN (bar) reversed [on way back]. This reference to an obscure Biblical character was completely wasted on me despite years of compulsory indoctrination. | |
| 11 | One with specific rights is stopping ambassador entering European country (10) |
| FRANCHISEE – IS contained by [stopping] HE (ambassador) also contained by [entering] FRANCE (European country) | |
| 13 | Writer‘s article appearing in Standard, devoid of substance (4) |
| SAND – AN (article) contained by [appearing in] S{tandar}D [devoid of substance – so there’s nothing in it]. The writer is George Sand, nom de plume of one Amantine Lucile Dupin (1804-1876) | |
| 14 | Joyful leading lady’s part (4) |
| GLAD – Rather well hidden in [part] {leadin}G LAD{y} | |
| 15 | One rejected university study, along with guy unsuited to academia? (10) |
| INEDUCABLE – I (one), DEN (study) reversed [rejected], U (university), CABLE (guy – as in a rope or stay, not Sir Vince who happens be a guy but isn’t dead or the Monarch so wouldn’t qualify for a mention) | |
| 18 | Mountain, terrible threat in early part of day (10) |
| MATTERHORN – Anagram [terrible] of THREAT contained by [in] MORN (early part of day) | |
| 20 | Uniform Salvation Army made without padding (4) |
| SAME – SA (Salvation Army), M{ad}E [without padding – once again there’s nothing in it] | |
| 21 | Boisterously play piano coming to end of concert (4) |
| ROMP – PROM (concert) with its P (piano) coming to the end | |
| 23 | My freedom’s under threat, for sure (3,2,5) |
| I’LL BE BOUND – Two meanings of sorts, the first being a cryptic hint | |
| 25 | Italian family by the sea here in Cannes (6) |
| MEDICI – MED (sea), ICI (here, in Cannes) | |
| 26 | Publicity supporting Democrat backing British city (8) |
| BRADFORD – BR (British), AD (publicity), FOR (supporting), D (Democrat) | |
| 28 | Briefly leaving the straight and narrow, girl finds joint (8) |
| ASTRAGAL – ASTRA{y} (leaving the straight and narrow) [briefly], GAL (girl). Another unknown. It’s the ankle joint, apparently. | |
| 29 | Overjoyed gun owners checked in record time (6) |
| ENRAPT – NRA (gun owners – Mr Trump’s friends) contained by [checked in] EP (record), T (time) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Copper leads a training session with a Spanish team (9) |
| CUADRILLA – CU (copper), A, DRILL (training session), A. Another unknown foreign word which on looking up I find means a bullfighting team consisting of a matador and his banderilleros and picadors. I thought the answer would be the name of a Spanish soccer team well-known to all but me, so I went with wordplay and still got it wrong by beginning with CO{pper} [leads]. On reflection, CU (copper) was going to be more likely but only yesterday in the QC we had an example where ‘leaders’ indicated a run of letters at the start of one of the words in the clue: “Rastafarian leaders backing former emperor (4)”. | |
| 3 | King Charles admitted wearing something regal (7) |
| CROWNED – CR (King Charles), OWNED (admitted). CR = Charles Rex and what we may get when ER’s reign comes to an end | |
| 4 | Pastry confection that is soft on top (3) |
| PIE – IE (that) has P (soft) on top | |
| 5 | Iron / stuff in / cupboard (5) |
| PRESS – Triple definition | |
| 6 | What follows first of carriages on train? (11) |
| CONSEQUENCE – C{arriages} [first], ON, SEQUENCE (train) | |
| 7 | Coffee mugs filled with last of cointreau? Cheers! (7) |
| ROBUSTA – ROBS (mugs) contains [filled with] {cointrea}U [last], TA (cheers!). Another unknown to me. I never drink ‘real’ coffee so I am unaware of all the varieties. | |
| 8 | Either way, it’s unacceptable (3,2) |
| NOT ON – ‘either way’ indicates the answer is a palindrome | |
| 12 | Musical artist and I perform song: scary! (4-7) |
| HAIR-RAISING – HAIR (musical), RA (artist), I, SING (perform song) | |
| 16 | Writer excising chapter one first of all (3) |
| ECO – E{xcising} C{hapter} O{ne} [first of all]. An Italian writer this time, Umberto Eco (1932-2016) who turned up in a Quick Cryptic shortly after his demise and also in the main puzzle two years before the event! | |
| 17 | Sweet, shortened version of French organ work after Rossini intro (5,4) |
| LEMON DROP – LE MOND{e} (French organ – newspaper) [shortened version], R{ossini} [intro], OP (work) | |
| 19 | Less sober Greek character brought into line (7) |
| TIPSIER – PSI (Greek character) contained by [brought into] TIER (line). I think of a ‘tier’ more as a level than a line but the dictionaries have ‘row’ so the clue is okay. | |
| 20 | One who’ll eat and drink, briefly entertained by sister (7) |
| SCOFFER – COFFE{e} (drink) [briefly] contained [entertained] by SR (sister) | |
| 22 | Gets started? Writer might not, having this (5) |
| OPENS – A straight definition with a cryptic hint based around 0 PENS | |
| 24 | Handle dog well, but only intermittently (5) |
| LABEL – LAB (dog), {w}E{l}L [only intermittently] | |
| 27 | Cockney’s own greeting (3) |
| AVE – ‘ave (own) [Cockney] | |
Too many biffs and DNK’s for it to be enjoyable, but COD to PRESS, another concise triple.
ordinary bloke