Traveling on work and a full day meant I got to this Mudd challenge a lot later than I would have liked to – so apologies for the late post. I found this to be a tough challenge to begin with but gradually picked up steam along the way. Outclassed on a few clues that required googling to confirm or supplement the parsings. Some deviousness exhibited by Mudd – enough to leave me seeking a helping hand on the deconstruction for a couple as well.
FF: 9 DD: 10
| Across | ||
| 1 | BOSOMY |
Thus maiden entertained by youth is well-endowed (6)
[ SO (thus) M (maiden) ] in BOY (youth) |
| 4 | SCRAWL |
Union of creep and premier of supermodels – that’s hard to understand (6)
CRAWL (creep) after (I am taking this to be implied by union) S (premier of Supermodels) |
| 8 | CANASTA |
Players holding an ace then, for a game of cards (7)
[ CAST (players) holding AN ] A (ace) |
| 9 | BARCODE |
Retail lines putting fish in plain packaging? (7)
COD (fish) in BARE (plain) |
| 11 | GANGSTA RAP |
Noted aggressive performance of a no-good idol into crack (7,3)
[A NG (no-good) STAR (idol)] in GAP (crack) |
| 12 | ITEM |
On the contrary, police inspector’s lead provides a piece of information (4)
MET (police) I (Inspector’s lead) , reversed (‘on the contrary’ being the indicator) |
| 13 | RARER |
Less likely to get runs in the end when sent back (5)
R (runs) in RAER ( end = REAR, reversed) |
| 14 | GERONIMO |
On manoeuvres, more go in for a battle cry (8)
Anagram of MORE GO IN |
| 16 | SOMALIAN |
African, very African (8)
Cryptic clue – solution can also be read as SO MALIAN (native of Mali, and fitting “very african!”) |
| 18 | GABON |
African country unable to carry things back? (5)
NO BAG implies unable to carry, back = reversed. |
| 20 | PERI |
Fairy doing the backstroke in Yorkshire pudding (4)
Hidden (backstroke = reversed) in “..yorsshIRE Pudding”. |
| 21 | BELLADONNA |
Call girl hosting party, a poisonous thing (10)
BELL (call) [ ANNA (girl) containing DO (party) ] |
| 23 | NIGHTIE |
Fixture coming up that’s put on late (7)
|
| 24 | BOROUGH |
Queens, perhaps, keeping gold in branch (7)
OR (gold) in BOUGH (branch) |
| 25 | NOOKIE |
No thumbs up, that is, for relations (6)
NO OK (thumbs up) IE (that is, i.e.) – |
| 26 | HECTOR |
Man caught terrorising head, or bully (6)
HE (Man) C (caught) T (Terrorising, head) OR |
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRAGA |
A dress lifted in Portuguese city (5)
A GARB (dress), reversed. |
| 2 | SWAGGER |
Tail supporting pole, as strut (7)
WAGGER (tail) supporting S (pole, south) |
| 3 | METATARSI |
Bones at times broken, including a radius (9)
Anagram of AT TIMES around A R (radius) |
| 5 | CLAMP |
Gripper, mollusc stuck on bottom of ship (5)
CLAM (mollusc) stuck on P (bottom of shiP) |
| 6 | AUCTION |
Lots here fighting to rescue university (7)
ACTION (fighting) rescuing U (university) |
| 7 | LADIES MAN |
Rake leaves out in ideal amounts, tidied up (6,3)
Anagram of IDEAL AMouNtS (i.e. less the letters of OUT) |
| 10 | DRAGONFLY |
Delicate creature finding Spooner’s drinking vessel empty? (9)
Spoonerism of FLAGON (drinking vessel) DRY (empty) |
| 13 | RHODESIAN |
Old African or Danish translated around English (9)
Anagram of OR DANISH around E (English) |
| 15 | RIGMAROLE |
Equip mother with part for song and dance (9)
RIG (equip) MA (mother) ROLE (part) |
| 17 | ATISHOO |
Sneeze in the general direction of children, audibly (7)
Sounds like AT (in the general direction of) ISSUE (children) |
| 19 | BLOW OUT |
Fight to control Mini in sudden loss of a tyre (4-3)
BOUT (fight) containing LOW (mini) |
| 21 | BLINI |
Not entirely lacking sense, one making Russian food (5)
BLINd (lacking sense [of sight] = BLIND, not entirely) I (one) |
| 22 | NIGER |
African country on the drink after uprising (5)
RE (on) GIN (drink), all reversed. |
I really enjoyed this – 1a made me smile and so did several others.
4a I wasn’t sure how ‘union’ was telling us to put the S before the creep.
23a I just thought it was a nigh tie (fixture coming in the near future).
25a I think the definition is just ‘relations’ – as you say NO (from the clue) OK (thumbs up) and IE (that is).
Thanks for the explanations Turbolegs, and thanks to Paul for making me giggle several times during the morning when I really should have been concentrating on work rather than crosswords.
Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs
16ac: I prefer to think of this as a charade SO + MALIAN, with the parts clued separately as “very” and “African” respectively, but it works either way.
23ac: Here a NIGH TIE can be a fixture coming up: then “that’s put on late” gives a satisfactory definition.
25ac: I have the wordplay the same as you, but took “for” as a linking word, with “relations” on its own as the definition.
I should really have checked to see if any new comments had appeared while I was typing, but crypticsue@1 and I seem to be of the same mind regarding 23ac and 25ac.
Thanks CS@1 and PG@2! I will make the edits.
CS@1 – I thought Mudd was naughtier this time around than compared to 6 weeks ago when I last blogged him.. 🙂
Cheers
TL
Thanks MUDD and Turbolegs.
I enjoyed this puzzle. 4a revived happy memories, The Creep and The CRAWL were (are?) two large old farms in East Sussex next to each other where I spent many happy hours as a girl.
The PERI isn’t the only being doing the backstroke in the Yorkshire pudding, I think the fairy has been duped.
re 23a …that’s put on late could be also night (late) i.e ((that is). Thanks to Turbolegs and Mudd.
Is anyone going blog FT 14,902? I have two unanswered clues that are killing me and I don’t get the paper itself, just did it on a plane.
CCRGMac
A blog of 14,902 will appear this coming Thursday. It was a Saturday prize puzzle and we don’t comment on it until after the closing date for entries.