I have blogged a few Alberich puzzles now and they have been consistently good, this one no exception. Thanks Alberich.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AMPERSAND |
Working man’s first to patiently read and sign (9)
anagram (working) of MAN’S Patiently (first letter of) READ
|
| 6 | HAVOC |
In Messiah a vocal part creates confusion (5)
found in messiaH A VOCal
|
| 9 | DOYEN |
Senior member is to see the sights of Japanese capital (5)
DO (see the sights) YEN (Japanese capital, money)
|
| 10 | COSTA RICA |
One among principal characters in charge of a country (5,4)
COSTAR (on among principle characters, in film) IC (in charge of) A
|
| 11 | PEARL DIVER |
Lad regularly plunging into water, after small round object? (5,5)
LaD (regular selection of) inside (plunging into) RIVER (water) follwing (after) PEA (a small round object) – definition is &lit. Bravo Alberich!
|
| 12 | REEK |
Attic perhaps loses good smell (4)
gREEK (attic) missing G=good
|
| 14 | NITRATE |
Compound interest’s not half complicated, snitch held (7)
RAT (snitch) held in INTErest* (not half) anagram=complicated
|
| 15 | SHAMPOO |
Cleaning fluid lasts out: pity it stinks! (7)
SHAMe (pity) POOh (it stinks!) with last letters removed (lasts out)
|
| 17 | BAR MEAL |
Pub grub is basic, a pound covering prime bit of mutton (3,4)
|
| 19 | CHAGRIN |
Leaves with expression of happiness or annoyance (7)
CHA (tea, leaves) with GRIN (expression of happiness)
|
| 20 | ACHE |
The man will have account before long (4)
HE (the man) with AC (account) coming before
|
| 22 | ROUNDABOUT |
Part of fight, then a whole one, could be playground attraction (10)
ROUND (part of fight) then A BOUT (a whole fight)
|
| 25 | NEW POTATO |
Welsh city losing right to import a vegetable (3,6)
NEWPOrT (Welsh city) missing R (right) TO contain (import) A
|
| 26 | CEASE |
Out of gas, car is parked by rest stop (5)
Car missing AR (argon, gas) with (parked by) EASE (rest)
|
| 27 | RAYON |
Performing? Start with some light material (5)
ON (performing) with RAY (some light) to start
|
| 28 | DETERGENT |
Cleaner needs some work and a lot of relaxation outside that (9)
DETENTe (relaxation, a lot of=unfinished) containing ERG (unit of work)
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | ADD UP |
A sweet daughter is raised to be reasonable (3,2)
A then PUD (sweet) D (daughter) reversed (is raised)
|
| 2 | PAYMASTER |
He’s responsible for giving out bread to feed workers (9)
cryptic definition? seems a bit too obvious
|
| 3 | RINGLEADER |
Band’s songs will be heard – he’s the one responsible (10)
RING (band) has LEADER sounds like (heard) lieder (songs)
|
| 4 | ASCRIBE |
Rampaging bear is caught and put down (7)
anagram (rampaging) of BEAR IS C (caught)
|
| 5 | DISPELS |
Greek character in vehicle reverses and drives away (7)
PSI (Greek character) in SLED (vehicle) reversed
|
| 6 | HEAR |
Try hard to get attention (4)
H (hard) with EAR (attention)
|
| 7 | VOICE |
Attention seeker wearing medal on Orient Express (5)
OI (cry seeking attention) contains (wearing) VC (medal) on E (east, orient)
|
| 8 | CRACKDOWN |
Firm preventative action as drug’s reduced in price (9)
CRACK (drug) DOWN (reduced in price)
|
| 13 | MADAGASCAR |
Crazy commander’s to leave mark on island republic (10)
MAD (crazy) AGA (commander) SCAR (to leave mark on)
|
| 14 | NO-BRAINER |
Is he stupid? It’s simple (2-7)
definition/cryptic definition
|
| 16 | PERSONAGE |
For example, an extremely large salesman upset VIP (9)
EG (for example) AN OS (out-size, extremely large) REP (salesperson) all reversed (upset)
|
| 18 | LEONARD |
Wrong role finishes off acclaimed Sacha Baron Cohen? (7)
anagram (Wrong) of ROLE and acclaimeD sashA baroN (finishing letters) – Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer and writer
|
| 19 | CONSORT |
Rip off kind companion (7)
CON (rip off) SORT (kind)
|
| 21 | HOWDY |
Why do sports people use this greeting? (5)
(WHY DO)* sports=anagram
|
| 23 | TREAT |
Turkey snack could be a feast (5)
TR (Turkey) EAT (snack)
|
| 24 | MOAN |
Hungry fellow, as it were, gets bellyache (4)
a MAN with O (nothing) inside would be hungry
|
*anagram
definitions are underlined
definitions are underlined
Two good puzzles in a row from the FT. 11ac was indeed a cracking &lit. The sort of clue you want to solve twice!
Thanks Alberich and PeeDee (esp explanation of 24d).
Thanks PeeDee – I enjoyed this: i thought it seemed a bit easier than usual for Alberich. 11ac was excellent, though I thought 2d was a bit weak (like you I read it as a cryptic defintion).
In 1ac, I think you could extend the definition to be “and sign”, which is what an ampersand is.
Didn’t take long but I did enjoy myself. 11a was very good. Agree with Andrew @2 about the ‘and sign’.
No brainer is also in today’s Times – and Madagascar has been around lately too.
Thanks PeeDee and Alberich. Did not quite finish but enjoyed what I did.
I had a slightly different parsing for 17A: BARE (=basic)A L (pound) around M (prime bit of mutton). Both work I think.
And sign corrected, obvious now you mention it.
I agree another very good puzzle. PEARL DIVER stands out, but it’s all good.
Another very good crossword from Alberich as you come to expect from him.
Agree with Urieka at 4# re 17a. Chambers does not give ‘b’ as an abbreviation for basic but does give ‘basic’ as a meaning for bare.
Many thanks to PeeDee in particular for the explanation of 24D (moan)
Another fab one by Alberich.
Urieka is, I think, right with ‘bare’ for ‘basic’.
Alberich regularly uses ‘are’ giving A but – the other way around – ‘a’ in the clue giving us ‘area’ is not what he’s like.
Of course, I agree that 11ac (PEARL DIVER) is marvellous but 7d (VOICE) is once more an example of what I call ‘lift and separate’ (and others don’t).
I did not find this a very difficult puzzle, being someone very familiar with this setter’s style.
Apart from his love of L&S clues, Alberich is also a setter whose anagrams are often partially “indirect”.
I never said something about that (nor did anyone else) yet I think he’s different from other setters when it comes to this.
Three examples today:
(MAN’S P[atiently] READ)* – 1ac
(BEAR IS C[aught])* – 4d
(ROLE [acclaime]D [sach]A [baro]N)* – 18d
Great stuff.
Enjoyed peterj saying ’11ac was indeed a cracking &lit. The sort of clue you want to solve twice!’.
Thanks PeeDee.
I didn’t look up B=basic as at the time it seemed obvious from computing abbreviations such as VB (Visual Basic). Probably not obvious in any other context though.
Thanks Alberich and PeeDee
Although I can often struggle with this setter, always enjoy his off-beat (musical sense) setting style – he just serves up the unexpected.
PEARL DIVER was good, but I think that for sheer misdirection, LEONARD was quite brilliant.
Did have some parsing issues – didn’t parse 11a at all, and had POO instead of POOH (went for the more unsavoury direct meaning!) and had DETENTION instead of DETENTE at 28a.
Finished up with the clever short clues – CEASE and TREAT.