Solving time: 38 minutes. There were a couple of unfamiliar words here but the answers came easily enough from wordplay, which is as things should be so I have no complaints. Much more enjoyabe than yesterday’s strange offering.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Hollow black blocks arrive (5) |
| COMBE : B (black) is contained by [blocks] COME (arrive). It’s a hollow or valley at the side of a hill. | |
| 4 | Baggage southern type brought back to Scotland (9) |
| ALBATROSS : ALBA (Scotland), then S (southern) + SORT (type) reversed [brought back]. SOED has ALBATROSS as : fig. usu. with allusion to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner: A heavy burden, a disadvantage, a hindrance. M20. ALBA is Gaelic for ‘Scotland’ and the name of the BBC TV channel that broadcasts in that language. | |
| 9 | Fellow respected in song about north country (9) |
| ARGENTINA : GENT (fellow) contained by [respected in] ARIA (song) itself containing [about] N (north). On edit, keriothe suggests the parsing GENT (fellow respected) contained by [in] ARIA (song), which on reflection I am inclined to agree with. | |
| 10 | Worker taking order to ignore current in sea (5) |
| WATER : WA{i}TER (worker taking order) [ignore current – I] | |
| 11 | Concocted tale splits pair married in capital (6) |
| WEALTH : Anagram [concocted] of TALE is contained by [splits] W…H (pair, married – Wife / Husband) | |
| 12 | Commons vote brings disagreement (8) |
| DIVISION : Two meanings | |
| 14 | Man needs good drink going for broke at casino? (10) |
| MARTINGALE : MARTIN (man), G (good), ALE (drink). Never ‘eard of it, but SOED has: A gambling system in which a player who is losing repeatedly doubles the stake in the hope of eventual recoupment. E19. | |
| 16 | Small flute provided in further education (4) |
| FIFE : IF (provided) contained by [in] FE (further education) | |
| 19 | Dubliners, say, unlikely to feature in such films? (4) |
| NOIR : NO IR (Irish – Dubliners, say). Another negative definition like the one I attempted to explain in the QC yesterday. I hope this speaks for itself. | |
| 20 | Officer shortly brought in to transform meeting (10) |
| CONVERGENT : GEN (officer shortly) contained by [brought in to] CONVERT (transform) | |
| 22 | Hard to stop copy cat finding point in orbit? (8) |
| APHELION : H (hard) contained by [to stop] APE (copy), LION (cat). Unknown to me, although it has appeared as an answer at least once before and has been mentioned in dispatches a couple of times. I arrived at it by trusting to wordplay. SOED: The point in the orbit of a planet, comet, etc., at which the furthest distance from the sun is reached. | |
| 23 | Order to begin shooting in battle (6) |
| ACTION : Two meanings, the first as said by a film director at the start of a shoot | |
| 26 | Sanskrit teaching is just great, but oddly ignored (5) |
| SUTRA : {i}S {j}U{s}T {g}R{e}A{t} [oddly ignored] | |
| 27 | Just one member keen on war – not the leader (9) |
| IMPARTIAL : I (one), MP (member), {m}ARTIAL (keen on war) [not the leader]. I wondered about ‘keen on war’ but then found ‘fond of fighting’ in the dictionary. | |
| 28 | Scrambling device used for American helicopter (9) |
| EGGBEATER : Two meanings | |
| 29 | Duke murdered and cut into pieces (5) |
| DICED : D (duke), ICED (murdered) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Daily executive, one to be unseated (9) |
| CHARWOMAN : CHA{i}RWOMAN (executive) [one to be unseated]. As Mrs Mopp used to say, “Can I do you now, sir?“ | |
| 2 | Rock periodical almost duplicated (5) |
| MAGMA : MAG (periodical), MA{g} [….almost duplicated]. MER because magma is molten and rock is solid. | |
| 3 | Nineties eccentric or exceptional intellectual? (8) |
| EINSTEIN : Anagram [eccentric] of NINETIES | |
| 4 | Help needed to cross river that’s dry (4) |
| ARID : AID (help) contains [to cross] R (river) | |
| 5 | City lives taken in horror with 2 in flow (10) |
| BRATISLAVA : IS (lives) contained by [take in] BRAT (horror) + LAVA (2 – magma – in flow). The capital of Slovakia. | |
| 6 | Individual in Bow no bumpkin? (6) |
| TOWNIE : OWN (individual) contained by [in] TIE (bow). Another negative definition as bumpkins are usually associated with the countryside. | |
| 7 | At risk when circling narrow island (2,4,3) |
| ON THIN ICE : ONCE (when) containing [circling] THIN (narrow) + I (island) | |
| 8 | Amritsar incident involves deadly agent (5) |
| SARIN : Hidden in [involves] {amrit}SAR IN{cident} | |
| 13 | Margins too tight for soil manager (10) |
| AGRONOMIST : Anagram [tight – drunk] of MARGINS TOO | |
| 15 | Wealthy speculator consumes energy in German diet (9) |
| REICHSTAG : RICH (wealthy) + STAG (speculator) contains [consumes] E (energy). ‘Diet’ as in parliament. | |
| 17 | Caught in twisted net, fish died (9) |
| ENTANGLED : Anagram [twisted] of NET, then ANGLE (fish), D (died) | |
| 18 | Shade raised around stack (5,3) |
| BRICK RED : BRED (raised) containing [around] RICK [stack – of hay] | |
| 21 | Lorraine’s partner almost too wonderful (6) |
| ALSACE : ALS{o} (too) [almost], ACE (wonderful) | |
| 22 | Passage your compiler will read aloud (5) |
| AISLE : Sounds like [read aloud] “I’ll” (your compiler will) | |
| 24 | Trouble in Channel Islands that’s upset hippy? (5) |
| ILIAC : AIL (trouble) contained by [in] CI (Channel Islands) all reversed [upset]. Pertaining to the ilium or hip bone. | |
| 25 | Encourage son without stain to abandon east (4) |
| SPUR : S (son), PUR{e} (without stain] [abandon east] | |
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