It’s a beautiful, sparkling autumn day as I write this blog in the Emerald City, so I found it a little ironic that my last answer in was the one with the Oz reference.
Never mind, I found it a delightfully challenging puzzle. Clues like 15a, 18a, 5d and 17d needed chewing before they cracked. 28a was an answer I didn’t know, but gettable from wordplay. Everything else was familiar, or at least seen before. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.
Notes for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is posted a week later, after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on the current Saturday Cryptic.
Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Deletions are in [square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | Film fan Harry came in with vamp (10) |
| CINEMAGOER – anagram (‘harry’: CAME IN*), then GOER (‘vamp’; not the first synonym that came to mind!) | |
| 6 | Party’s withdrawn Murphy (4) |
| SPUD – DUP’S the party you need. Turn it round (‘withdraw’). | |
| 9 | Spurs stumped by short cross between pair (7) |
| STIMULI – ST (stumped), then MUL[e] between II (pair). | |
| 10 | Charge forces American to block petition (7) |
| SUFFUSE – FF (forces) and U.S. ‘blocking’ SUE (petition). | |
| 12 | Where to study hip after trips round hospital (4,6) |
| HIGH SCHOOL – COOL round H for hospital, all after HIGHS (trips). | |
| 13 | Removing odd bits, repair organ (3) |
| EAR – even letters of r-E-p-A-i-R. | |
| 15 | Part of remote island home? (6) |
| KEYPAD – KEY (island), PAD (home). | |
| 16 | Catholic European clubs shown round Celtic ground (8) |
| ECLECTIC – E (european) and C (clubs), around an anagram (‘ground’: CELTIC*). On first reading, I thought ‘I have no idea what ground Celtic play at’! Score: setter, one; blogger, nil. | |
| 18 | Slick English touring Oz are repellent (8) |
| NAUSEATE – NEAT (slick), and E (English), ‘touring’ AUS. | |
| 20 | Try to seize old superior westbound vessels (1-5) |
| U-BOATS – STAB (try) ‘seizing’ O (old), then U (superior); all backwards (‘westbound’). | |
| 23 | Anger republic ceding territory (3) |
| IRE – the Republic of IRE[land]. | |
| 24 | I argue with aunt manoeuvring launch (10) |
| INAUGURATE – anagram (‘manoeuvring’: I ARGUE AUNT*). | |
| 26 | Being visible, I succeeded during evening (2,5) |
| IN SIGHT – I, S in NIGHT. | |
| 27 | Bookish learner’s going to do repeats (7) |
| ITERATE – [L]ITERATE. | |
| 28 | In future, litter producer‘s self-reproach picked up (4) |
| GILT – sounds like ‘guilt’. I didn’t know ‘gilt’. Apparently in some dialects, it’s a word for a young sow. | |
| 29 | Kind dog, one no longer seen in Fleet Street (10) |
| TYPESETTER – TYPE | SETTER. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Change when chief comes round (4) |
| CASH – CH around AS. | |
| 2 | Champion, reckless, lacking length with racket (7) |
| NOISILY – No. 1 (champion), SI[l]LY. | |
| 3 | Very appetising argument and how it turned out (13) |
| MOUTHWATERING – anagram (‘turned out’: ARGUMENT HOW IT*). | |
| 4 | Guardian’s leader shone light on church failing (6) |
| GLITCH – G[uardian], LIT, CH. | |
| 5 | Plant nuts with pine fruit, about 100 (8) |
| ENSCONCE – ENS are spaces in printing, that 29ac’s call ‘nuts’. A CONE is a pine fruit, insert C for 100. | |
| 7 | Sage‘s quiet place to hide boring routine (7) |
| PRUDENT – P (quiet), DEN (place to hide) ‘boring’ RUT (routine). | |
| 8 | Fair treatment expected for tax (3,7) |
| DUE PROCESS – DUE (expected), PRO (for), CESS (an old tax, vaguely remembered from past crosswords). | |
| 11 | Ogle briefs dancing ’ere? (6,7) |
|
FOLIES BERGERE – anagram (‘dancing’: OGLE BRIEFS ERE*).
Usually dropping an initial H suggests something cockney; fortunately for the anagram, the stereotypical Parisian ’as been ’eard to drop them too, n’est pas? A literal definition. |
|
| 14 | Main explorer’s occupation in delta avoiding work clothes (4-6) |
| SKIN-DIVING – SKIVING (avoiding work) ‘clothes’ IN D[elta]. | |
| 17 | Note key concealed in throw under the counter (8) |
| STEALTHY – TE (note) and ALT (key) in SHY. | |
| 19 | Device that’s universal able to be drawn out briefly (7) |
| UTENSIL – U (universal), TENSIL[e] (able to be drawn out). | |
| 21 | Draw a short line separating tees (7) |
| ATTRACT – A, then TRAC[k] separating T |T (tees). | |
| 22 | Light lead-free fuel (6) |
| IGNITE – [L]IGNITE is the fuel. | |
| 25 | The Times abandoning superior booze (4) |
| BEER – BE[TT]ER, minus ‘Times’ twice. | |
FOI SPUD
LOI BEER
COD SKIN-DIVING
TIME 20:36
Edited at 2020-05-09 07:14 am (UTC)
This was tough and, like, Kevin, I don’t have an overall COD.
Thank you Bruce for HIGH SCHOOL and NAUSEATE. I doubt I would ever associate GOER with ‘vamp’ but it had to be that.
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Celtic are NOT the Catholic team in Glasgow. The club was founded by Marist Brothers for the relief of the poor of the East End, irrespective of religion, and it has always been the case that the support and the players have been drawn from all sections of society.
If you want a team that for a century was religiously and racially exclusive (no Catholics and no Irish), then you should try the bunch of bigots and tax dodgers south of the river, whose supporters still yearn for the good old days.
But I did like the clue.
Had I been able to, I would have written Folies Bergeres (like Keriothe, just now) as many school French teachers have drummed the grammar into me. But Wiki reveals its a singular named after a road.
I liked ECLECTIC. David
FOI 6ac SPUD
LOI 28ac GILT
COD 14dn SKIN-DIVING
WOD 3dn MOUTHWATERING