I enjoyed this very much. Nice to have some good straightforward cryptic puzzles in the mix. No bells and whistles just quality clues and a sensible grid. Thanks Alberich.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MANTRA |
Priest avoids dangerous situation, producing sacred text (6)
MANTRAp (dangerous situation) missing P=priest |
| 5 | POSITION |
Standing back, one’s caught in draught (8)
I’S (one’s) reversed (back) inside (caught in) POTION (draught) |
| 9 | ORGANDIE |
Stop working on newspaper? That’s material (8)
DIE (stop working) on ORGAN (newspaper) |
| 10 | GLADYS |
Gwent (for a start) woman’s name? (6)
G (start of Gwent) LADY’S (womans’s) |
| 11 | ADVERB |
Braved storms heroically perhaps (6)
BRAVED* anagram=storms |
| 12 | ELECTION |
Putting up with Left instead of Right is the people’s choice (8)
ErECTION (putting up) with L (left) replacing R (right) |
| 14 | BORIS GODUNOV |
Work of Mussorgsky and Borodin’s nearly all in vogue, for a change (5,7)
anagram (for a change) of BORODIN’S and VOGUe (unfinished, nearly all in) |
| 18 | RIDER HAGGARD |
Writer’s drawn one up in advance (5,7)
HAGGARD (drawn) with RIDER (one up) before (in advance) |
| 22 | A GOOD JOB |
One has decent employment? That’s just as well (1,4,3)
double definition |
| 25 | GARDEN |
A way to get inside information showing where stocks may grow (6)
A RD (road, way) inside GEN (information) – stocks are flowers |
| 26 | DOTARD |
Party given by Jack Dee, we hear, for senile fellow (6)
DO (party) with (given by) TAR (Jack, sailor) D sounds like (we hear) Dee |
| 27 | INTRIGUE |
A plot to arouse your curiosity (8)
double definition |
| 28 | UGLINESS |
Cape fruit previously creating a nasty scene? (8)
NESS (cape) with UGLI (fruit) coming before (previously) |
| 29 | PREYED |
Was a hunter requested urgently? Sounds like it (6)
sounds like PRAYED (requested urgently) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ABRADE |
Wear down nail breaking into casualty department (6)
BRAD (nail) inside A and E (Accident and Emergency, casualty department) |
| 3 | TRACEABLE |
A bracelet is whipped? That can be tracked down (9)
(A BRACELET)* anagram=is whipped |
| 4 | ALDEBURGH |
Director tucked into beer and hot food around Suffolk town (9)
D (director) in ALE (beer) then H (hot) GRUB (food) reversed (around) |
| 5 | PEERESS |
A noble without equal’s all but 50 (7)
PEERLESS (without equal) missing L (fifty) |
| 6 | SEGUE |
Some surprise guests follow without pause (5)
found inside (some of) surpriSE GUEsts |
| 7 | TRACT |
Auditor’s dogged, producing a booklet (5)
sounds like (for the auditor, listener) tracked (dogged) |
| 8 | OXYMORON |
First off, cunning idiot could be one of these (8)
fOXY (cunning) missing first leter then MORON (idiot) – “cunning idiot” could be one of these, a contradiction in terms |
| 13 | COD |
Fish bones will be served up (3)
DOC (bones, slang for doctor) reversed (will be served up) |
| 15 | ORANGE TIP |
Tenor appears in grand opera, in fantastic Butterfly (6-3)
T (tenor) inside anagram (fantastic) of G (grand) OPERA and IN – a type of butterfly with orange wings |
| 16 | UNDERLINE |
Inferior, not good, pill for stress (9)
UNDERLINg (inferior) missing G=good then E (pill, ecstasy?) |
| 17 | DING-DONG |
Fight in ring (4-4)
double definition |
| 19 | ROD |
Arnold regularly gets stick (3)
aRnOlD (regular selection from) |
| 20 | GUBBINS |
After illness recedes, throws out rubbish (7)
BUG (illness) reversed (recedes) then BINS (throws out) |
| 21 | BEMUSE |
Act as inspiration for puzzle (6)
BE MUSE (act as inspiration for) |
| 23 | OMANI |
Asian or European country without borders (5)
rOMANIa (European country) missing end letters (without borders) |
| 24 | JUDGE |
Justice for one radio presenter pulled up outside university (5)
EG (for one) DJ (radio presenter) reversed (pulled up) outside U (university) |
definitions are underlined
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee, and Alberich for another great puzzle.
I was going to list my favourite clues but I find I have easily as many with ticks as without. [And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those without!]
I really enjoyed it. Thanks again.
Thanks for blog PeeDee and another great puzzle.
Minor point for 14A, Boris Godunov is anagram of BORODINS VOGU(e), minor typo I think.
Best wishes
Thank you George, fixed now.
As ever a solid and very enjoyable puzzle from Alberich.
I just wondered whether in 26ac Alberich could have left out the homophone indicator.
According to Chambers et al, ‘dee’ (lower case) can mean D.
And false capitalisation is certainly no problem in crosswords.
Thanks PeeDee.
Sil – I wondered about 26ac too, but the homophone indicator version provided misdirection which sent me the wrong way at first, so I think I approve.
Thanks Alberich & PeeDee, a very enjoyable puzzle.
I particularly liked OXYMORON and the simple GARDEN.
Another excellent puzzle from Alberich – precision itself.
And thanks to PeeDee for his usual comprehensive blog.