A gentle saunter of a grid today from Magwitch. Simple, inambiguous cluing for most part, ruffled ever so slightly by 8dn. Thanks to Magwitch for this Friday treat.
This was one of the quicker solves for me today. And by Magwitch’s standards, she has let us off the hook quite easily. An excellent grid for beginners getting introduced to both FT and Magwitch.
FF: 8 DD: 6.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MOBILE |
Rapidly changing crowd violence in the centre following independence (6)
MOB (crowd) [ LE (vioLEnce in the centre) following I (independence) ] |
| 5 | ACCURATE |
Bill you reportedly estimate as correct (8)
AC(C) U (Bill you reportedly) RATE (estimate) – I would have liked to use “reportedly” just for YOU = U as generally Bill is AC rather than ACC. |
| 9 | DETACH |
Teach daughter another way to take away (6)
Anagram of TEACH D (daughter) |
| 10 | TENDENCY |
Nurse has regularly been extremely cheery in disposition (8)
TEND (nurse) EN (regularly bEeN) CY (extremely CheerY) |
| 11 | WELCOMED |
Turn up in joint and get warmly received (8)
COME (turn up) in WELD (joint) |
| 12 | RISING |
Revolting teacher retires in middle age (6)
RIS (reverse of SIR) IN G (middle aGe) |
| 13 | SNUB |
Last to guess the point of rebuff (4)
S (last to guesS) NUB (the point of) |
| 15 | PATIENCE |
I thank you quietly about measure on church tolerance (8)
[ I TA (thank you) P (quietly) – all reversed ] EN (measure) CE (church) |
| 18 | GRUESOME |
Horrible rose geranium runs wild without rain (8)
Anagram of ROSE GEraniUM (less the letters of RAIN) |
| 19 | PULP |
Starts to provide upmarket leek and potato mash (4)
Starting letters of “…Provide Upmarket Leek and Potato…” |
| 21 | BASHES |
Harshly criticises second-rate series (6)
B (second rate) ASHES (series, cricket) |
| 23 | SEASONAL |
A sale’s on possibly for part of the year only (8)
Anagram of A SALE’S ON |
| 25 | MISTAKEN |
Notes written down are wrong (8)
MIS (notes, Do Re Mi ..) TAKEN (written down) |
| 26 | ENAMEL |
Final slice of stollen with a honey coating (6)
EN (final slice of stollEN) A MEL (honey, now you know how Diatebes Mellitus came to be). |
| 27 | DEAD ENDS |
People cannot escape from these late consequences (4,4)
Cryptic clue (late = dead). |
| 28 | TREATS |
Begin to backtrack over Executive Head’s rewards (6)
Reverse (backtrack) of START (begin) over E (Executive head i.e. first letter) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | OBESE |
Point by honoured people is carrying too much weight (5)
E (point) by OBES (honoured people – Order of the British Empire, in plural) |
| 3 | IRASCIBLE |
Hot-tempered Irish like newly introduced religious text (9)
IR (Irish) AS (like) |
| 4 | EXHUME |
Bring up again strong smell in river (6)
HUM (strong smell) in EXE (river) |
| 5 | ANTIDEPRESSANTS |
They alleviate misery of print workers after hostile journalist turns up (15)
ANTI (hostile) DE (journalist = ED, turns up) PRESS (print) ANTS (workers) |
| 6 | CONTRITE |
Worn out by constant working – sorry! (8)
TRITE (worn out) by [C |
| 7 | REEFS |
Banks raise special charge on second letter of credit (5)
[ S (special) FEE (charge), all reversed (raise in a Down clue) ] after R (second letter of cRedit). I am not sure about this parsing – specifically S for special. |
| 8 | TECHNICAL |
Specialist from California supporting detective with hazardous nuclear investigation initially (9)
CAL (california) supporting [ TEC (detective) HNI (Hazardous Nuclear Investigation, initially) ] – Am not sure about this, parsing seems to describe a noun rather than an adjective. |
| 14 | NARRATIVE |
It tells the story of a local receiving a monarch twice (9)
NATIVE (local) receiving A RR (monarch, twice) |
| 16 | ESPIONAGE |
Sea pigeon used for undercover work (9)
Anagram of SEA PIGEON |
| 17 | FORSAKEN |
Left for a drink at the Nag’s Head (8)
FOR SAKE (drink, japanese) N (Nag’s head) |
| 20 | LAMENT |
Keen for people to get into Cicero’s concise language (6)
MEN (people) in LATin ( Cicero’s language, shortened – concise) |
| 22 | HATED |
Couldn’t stand the thought of death at sea (5)
Anagram of DEATH |
| 24 | AVERT |
Ward off a victory by the European Right (5)
A V (victory) E (europe0 RT (right) |
I read 3d as IR(ish) AS (= like) C(b)IBLE
Thanks Coby@1. You are of course right. I will make the change.
Cheers
TL
Thanks Turbolegs – I did finish and with only one question mark on the parsing of 6D which I have since resolved, little differently from how you have it. I think the CON is C (constant) and ON (working).
Thanks to Magwitch for a Friday treat.
Thanks Urieka@4 for the useful tip.
Cheers
TL
Thanks Turbolegs.
Not sure whether this is just an ‘excellent puzzle for beginners’.
I liked it a lot.
As ever with this setter care for the surface and well-constructed clues.
The one thing I don’t like in her style of setting [cluing unspecified parts of words] she left at home today.
I think in 5ac ‘Bill’ = ACC [it’s in Chambers for ‘account’].
For me, ‘you’ = U doesn’t need a homophone indicator nowadays but some will disagree.
In 28ac: I saw this as a charade, DEAD (late) + ENDS (consequences). The latter is in Chambers.
In 7d: S = ‘special’ is fine [again, it’s in Chambers].
In 8d: ‘Specialist’ can be used as an adjective [Oxford agrees], e.g. ‘a specialist subject’.
A winning puzzle!
Thanks for the education Sil@5. Especially 8d which had me slightly unsure of myself there…
As with other occasions before, good to see Margaret back on a Friday.
Cheers
TL
Thanks Magwitch and Turbolegs
Nice puzzle without any real problems which I also thought was on the easy side. Had not heard of MEL though.