Hello everyone. I very much liked today’s puzzle, and not just because I finished in under my inner target time. I don’t anticipate many protests about the difficulty and expect to see a wide selection of favourites. Spoilt for choice, I nearly couldn’t pick one, but I will nominate 22a as my COD. Could use a strong drink of that sort myself. Cheers Jalna!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Charge one type of vehicle (4) |
| TAXI — TAX (charge) + I (one) | |
| 4a | Struggling onward, we gradually overcome resistance (4,4) |
| WEAR DOWN — An anagram of (struggling) ONWARD, WE | |
| 8a | Extravagantly fashionable suit (2,6) |
| IN SPADES — IN (fashionable) + SPADES (suit) | |
| 9a | Stage favourites making a comeback (4) |
| STEP — PETS (favourites) reversed (making a comeback) | |
| 10a | Those heading up promotions should sell things over here! (4) |
| PSST — Initial letters of (those heading up) Promotions Should Sell Things | |
| 11a | In shrewd fashion, clubs and bar finally pool money (8) |
| CLEVERLY — C (clubs) and LEVER (bar) + the last letters of (finally) pooL moneY | |
| 12a | Strategy mostly pursued by a country in Africa (6) |
| GAMBIA — GAMBIt (strategy) mostly followed by (pursued by) A | |
| 14a | Hate engendered by extremely divisive experiment (6) |
| DETEST — Outer letters of (extremely) DivisivE + TEST (experiment) | |
| 16a | Nothing found in ghastly premium shop (8) |
| EMPORIUM — O (nothing) found in an anagram of (ghastly) PREMIUM | |
| 18a | King boarding large sailing vessel (4) |
| BRIG — R (king) going into (boarding) BIG (large) | |
| 19a | Senior journalist from America given employment (4) |
| USED — US ED (senior journalist – ED – from America – US) | |
| 20a | Dignitary occasionally interrupted by discourteous gatecrasher (8) |
| INTRUDER — Regular letters of (… occasionally) dIgNiTaRy with insertion of (interrupted by) RUDE (discourteous) | |
| 22a | Strong drink reporters love after the ends of some shifts (8) |
| ESPRESSO — PRESS (reporters) and O (love) after the last letters of (ends of) somE shiftS | |
| 23a | People in funks do bounce back (4) |
| BODS — The answer is hidden in funkS DO Bounce in reverse (back) | |
| Down | |
| 2d | Memory loss means I somehow start to ad-lib (7) |
| AMNESIA — Anagram of (… somehow) MEANS I + the first letter of (start to) Ad-lib | |
| 3d | Popular place for data loaded to a computer (5) |
| INPUT — IN (popular) + PUT (place) | |
| 4d | You and I decided — in the end — to get married (3) |
| WED — WE (you and I) + the last letter of (… in the end) decideD | |
| 5d | Drama set around middle of Flemish city (9) |
| AMSTERDAM — DRAMA SET anagrammed (around) + the middle of FleMish | |
| 6d | Sons featuring in proper family tree (7) |
| DESCENT — S (sons) found inside (featuring in) DECENT (proper) | |
| 7d | Make circular motions with part of foot (5) |
| WHEEL — W (with) + HEEL (part of foot) | |
| 11d | After cloudiness at first, Fair Isle otherwise clears up (9) |
| CLARIFIES — After Cloudiness at first, an anagram of (… otherwise) FAIR ISLE | |
| 13d | Minor route, I hesitate to say, is more expansive (7) |
| BROADER — B–ROAD (minor route) + ER (I hesitate to say) | |
| 15d | Payment of small gratuity on completion (7) |
| STIPEND — S (small) + TIP (gratuity) on END (completion) | |
| 17d | Mass requests for protective equipment (5) |
| MASKS — M (mass) + ASKS (requests) | |
| 18d | Publisher’s description of obscure book (5) |
| BLURB — BLUR (obscure) + B (book) | |
| 21d | Couple also outspoken (3) |
| TWO — Sounds like (… outspoken) TOO (also) | |
Liked this one. Good variety of clues. Despite a good run. DNF due to PSST
That was fun. Hopefully an easier week ahead than last!!! LOI PSST but liked it when I saw it.
Very late even by my standards! Don’t suppose anyone will see this but heigh-ho. Did it this morning but busy all day. Super puzzle, lots of ticks, 7:32 😊
Thanks Jalna and Kitty