Super puzzle. Hypnos manages to produce a straightforward puzzle (which seems to be the remit for the Sunday slot) that is also interesting and fun to solve all the way through. Thanks Hypnos.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COPLAND |
Creator of notes in police station? (7)
COP LAND (police station?) – composer Aaron Copland, created notes of music |
| 5 | DAUPHIN |
Lawyer raised suggestion for restricting former royal (7)
DA (lawyer) UP (faised) HINt (suggestion for) unfinished (restricted?) |
| 9 | INCOMPETENT |
Useless cop in Met sloppily inclined to ignore lead (11)
(COP IN MET)* anagram=sloppily then bENT (inclined) missing first letter (lead) |
| 10 | MUG |
Face attack (3)
double definition |
| 11 | ABOARD |
Animal carried by trailer on train? (6)
BOAR (animal) inside (carried by) AD (trailer) |
| 13 | STALWART |
Loyal figure broke law amid surprise (8)
LAW* anagram=broken inside (amid) START (surprise) |
| 15 | REFRACTORY |
Fine artist occupying minister’s house being obstinate (10)
F (fine) RA (Royal Academician, artist) inside (occupying) RECTORY (minister’s house) |
| 16 | IDEA |
Plan assistant made to cycle (4)
AIDE (assistant) with letters rotated one place (made to cycle) |
| 18 | ACHE |
Long vista cherished inside (4)
found inside vistA CHErished |
| 19 | ETHAN HAWKE |
Actor brandishing a hat when on uncompleted Northern British film (5,5)
(A HAT WHEN)* anagram=brandishing (waving about) on KEs (Northern British Film, uncompleted) |
| 21 | MUSHROOM |
Working hours kept by NY mother to increase hugely (8)
HOURS* anagram=working inside (kept by) MOM (mother, American, in NY) |
| 22 | FRAYED |
Fellow always consumed by wine in rough condition (6)
F (fellow) than AY (always) in RED (wine) |
| 25 | TIE |
Stripe regularly seen in item of clothing (3)
sTrIpE (regular selection of) |
| 26 | FIELD OF VIEW |
Actress, female getting to struggle in old Western? It’s observable (5,2,4)
Sally FIELD (actress) with F (female) getting VIE (to struggle) in O (old) W (western) |
| 28 | LIFT-BOY |
Support organisation dismissing Dutch attendant (4-3)
LIFT (support) BOdY ( |
| 29 | NURSERY |
Sister rarely losing heart in growing place (7)
NURSE (sister) with RarelY (losing middle, heart) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHINA |
Links American found last for friend (5)
CHAIN (links) with A (American) moving to the end (found last) – rhyming sland for mate, china plate |
| 2 | PIC |
Famous number caught in film (3)
PI (famous number) and C (caught) |
| 3 | AL MURRAY |
Landlord, large foreign character interrupting order (2,6)
L (large) MU (foreign character, Greek letter) in (interrupting) ARRAY (order)- comedian who plays a character known as “The Pub Landlord” |
| 4 | DIET |
Restricted intake in parliament (4)
double definition |
| 5 | DEEP THROAT |
Key informant taped other criminal (4,6)
(TAPED OTHER)* anagram=criminal – codename of the informant in the Waterget scandal, an &littish feel to the clue |
| 6 | UNTOLD |
Former racing driver with support in East End? It’s extensive (6)
James HUNT (former racing driver) with HOLD (support) spoken in an East London accent would be ‘UNT ‘OLD |
| 7 | HOME AND AWAY |
Australian TV production characterising league fixtures? (4,3,4)
double definition |
| 8 | NIGHTMARE |
One dubbed dignitary in report as fiend (9)
sounds like (in report) Knight (one dubbed) Mayor (dignitary) |
| 12 | OFF THE SHELF |
Ready-made description of instant bestseller? (3,3,5)
definition,cryptic definition |
| 14 | STATIONERY |
Files etc not given to movement, we’re told (10)
sounds like (we are told) stationary (not given to movement) |
| 15 | ROAD METAL |
Old term AA devised for traffic base? (4,5)
(OLD TERM AA)* anagram=devised |
| 17 | THURIFER |
Incensing others is one’s role? (8)
cryptic definition |
| 20 | PREFAB |
Lead around official beside area exhibiting modular design? (6)
PB (lead, chem symbol) contains (around) REF (official, in football match) beside A (area) |
| 23 | DOWDY |
Drab widow dysfunctionally clothed (5)
found inside (clothed by) wiDOW DYsfunctionally |
| 24 | ODIN |
God requiring silence? (4)
O DIN (zero noise, silence) |
| 27 | ICE |
Reserve diamonds (3)
double definition |
definitions are underlined
Oh, Hypnos, I’m terribly sorry, I know you must have put your heart into setting this puzzle for us, but I didn’t like it.
“Copland” as even a humorous, queried reference to a police station is rather obscure. Does “Suggestion for restricting” really stand for “hin(t)”?
“Al Murray”? I’d seen a headline about him standing against Farage, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him, or his show, otherwise. “Ethan Hawke”? I’m sorry, I don’t take a lot of notice of these people.
Hypnos, this probably isn’t your fault, but the notion of “lift boy” I found very weird. A term at once obsolete, sexist and ageist!
But most of all, I would have appreciated any sort of clue other than a CD for “Thurifer”. I don’t think I’ve ever imagined the need for such a word, let alone come across it before, so some wordplay would have helped. “Thurifer” appears somewhere between once every hundred million to a billion words in printed English.
Never mind. Thanks, Hypnos and PeeDee! Next Time!
Thanks Hypnos and PeeDee.
I enjoyed this puzzle, especially 19a with the reference to the film Kes and the coincidence (?) of HAWKe.
THURIFER was in a Guardian clue last year, I remember because it was new to me and I was new to cryptics, but I agree with Emrys that it would have been better not clued as a CD.
LIFT-BOY comes up in old books and films, what is wrong with putting it in a crossword puzzle?
28a typos, LIFT (support) BOdY (organisation) dismissing D (Dutch), I hope he liked kissing the Dutch!
Cookie – I have no idea where kissing came from. More of a Freudian slip than a typo!
Al Murray is a fantastic comedian and his landlord act is some of the finest lampoon I’ve seen. Clue really made me laugh. Thanks pd and Hypnos.