A good Tuesday challenge with wit and some ingenuity.
Some head-scratching required but nothing to complain of and some quiet chuckles as well. Thanks, Slormgorm.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FAMISHED | Starving religious sect saved by US agent (8) |
| FED (‘U.S. agent’) surrounds AMISH (‘sect’). | ||
| 6 | AGASSI | Server brought over one’s drop with touch of arrogance (6) |
| 1’S + SAG (‘drop’) + A (1st of ‘arrogance’) all reversed (‘brought over’). Andre Agassi, of course, former U.S. & world No. 1 tennis player, thus ‘server’, ho-ho. | ||
| 9 | DENTAL | Barter over books on the subject of choppers (6) |
| DEAL around N[ew] T[estament] w cryptic def. | ||
| 10 | FRILLIES | Spirited young gals pinching right fancy pants (8) |
| F.ILLIES (‘spirited young girls’) surrounds R[ight] for ‘light & pretty underwear’, Chambers coyly informs us, | ||
| 11 | ATOM | Tiny fragment gleaned from Nato message (4) |
| Inclusion in in ‘nATO Message’. | ||
| 12 | SANDCASTLE | Temporary structure built on The Strand? (10) |
| Cryptic def. | ||
| 14 | BASEMENT | Soldiers in HQ head to the sub- ground level (8) |
| MEN (‘soldiers’) included in BASE (‘HQ’) + 1st of ‘The’. | ||
| 16 | LAID | One must charge boy that’s made to lie (4) |
| 1 in LAD. | ||
| 18 | FLEA | A little nipper in field chasing after fellow (4) |
| F[ellow] + LEA. | ||
| 19 | ANACONDA | Articles by lawyer written about jailbird strangler (8) |
| AN x2 + D.A. surround CON (‘jailbird.’]. | ||
| 21 | BLUEBOTTLE | Fly low? That requires courage! (10) |
| BLUE (adj. ‘low’) + BOTTLE (‘courage’). | ||
| 22 | ELMS | Golfer that hugs medium-sized trees (4) |
| [Ernie] ELS – croswordland’s favourite golfer – around M[edium-sized]. | ||
| 24 | ACROSTIC | A clue-type relying on structure: this illustrative clue primarily? (8) |
| 1st (‘primarily’) letters of 1st 8 words, &lit, near as dammit. Nice. But see below. | ||
| 26 | ATTACK | Go for a riding harness one’s heard of on radio (6) |
| A + homophone (‘heard of on radio’) of TACK (‘riding harness’). | ||
| 27 | ASSESS | Estimate cost of donkeys eating last of crops (6) |
| ASSE.S contains last letter of ‘cropS]. | ||
| 28 | EMERSION | One stopping US philosopher coming out (8) |
| 1 in [Ralph Waldo] EMERS.ON, 19thC US thinker. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | AGENT | A very nice chap in rep (5) |
| A + GENT for a salesman. | ||
| 3 | INTEMPERATE | Drunken parent I meet is in a drunken state (11) |
| Anagram (‘drunken’) of PARENT I MEET. | ||
| 4 | HALF-STEP | Broadway musical interval section sent up Cats? (4-4) |
| HALF (a ‘section’) + reversal of PETS (‘cats’, perhaps). A ‘half-step’ is American English – hence on ‘Broadway’ – for the ‘musical interval’ of a semitone. | ||
| 5 | DEFINITE ARTICLE | You might say the ant I electrified needs treatment! (8,7) |
| Anagram (‘needs treatment’) of ANT I ELECTRIFIED w definition by example. | ||
| 6 | APIECE | A gun for every person (6) |
| A + PIECE (sl. ‘gun’). | ||
| 7 | AIL | Detective losing head creates trouble (3) |
| tAIL, (one following someone, perh. ‘detective’), without 1st letter. | ||
| 8 | SPELLBIND | Give the right letter-order for ‘secure entrance’ (9) |
| SPELL (‘give the right letter order’) + BIND (to ‘secure’), i.e. an instruction to “spell ‘bind'”. | ||
| 13 | SILHOUETTES | Shadows house tiles cast over centre of patio (11) |
| Anagram (‘cast’) of HOUSE TILES around middle letter of ‘paTio’. | ||
| 15 | ALL BLACKS | Everyone needs to support British team (3,6) |
| ALL (‘everyone’) + LACKS (‘needs’) under B[ritish] for New Zealand (usu. rugby) international sides. | ||
| 17 | LACERATE | Cut the price of decorative cotton fabric? (8) |
| The ‘lace rate’ might be the price of such ornamental fabric. | ||
| 20 | FORTES | Warnings about leader of troops in strong points (6) |
| FOR.ES (golfers’ ‘warnings’) around 1st of ‘Troops’. | ||
| 23 | MACHO | Butch old lady seen at church by Oscar (5) |
| MA (‘old lady’) + CH[urch] + O[scar]. | ||
| 25 | ODE | After cutting away top, fashion creative work (3) |
| mODE (‘fashion’) without 1st letter. | ||
Yes, some that needed a bit of thought, especially the ever so slightly naughty FRILLIES, an unknown word for an answer which I initially thought must have something to do with “fairies” and my last in, AGASSI. The ‘Broadway musical interval’ was also new and I couldn’t come up with the correct ‘head’ for the ‘Detective’.
All in all, a good challenge with ACROSTIC my pick of the day.
Thanks to Slormgorm and Grant
… and we mustn’t forget LACERATE. Thanks, both
I liked ACROSTIC very much but did wonder whether ‘perhaps’ instead of ‘primarily’ – whose sense is inherent in the definition of an acrostic anyway – might have perfected a lovely clue.
Thus:
24 A clue-type relying on structure: this illustrative clue, perhaps (8)
… wouldn’t even need the q-mark.
Thanks Slormgorm for an entertaining crossword. I too thought ACROSTIC was brilliant; I also ticked ANACONDA, FORTES, and DEFINITE ARTICLE as favorites. I could not finish, however, without using a word finder for AGASSI (I thought server was a stretch for the definition), BLUEBOTTLE, or SPELLBIND. Thanks Grant for parsing.
Thanks, Slormgorm and Grant. Tony@5: I used Chambers Word Wizard for several – I still usually have to use it for a few words per puzzle. Fortunately I’d heard of ALL BLACKS. Some clever deceptive meanings in clues like 6a, 12a and 5d.
I’ve sung under choral directors from U.K. and Commonwealth nations who are used to saying semitone and have to say “excuse me, Half-Step”. ?
“Some head-scratching required but nothing to complain of and some quiet chuckles as well” – we’ll second that!
Lots to enjoy here. We liked FRILLIES, particularly as ‘fancy’ and ‘pants’ are so often used as angram indicators and they weren’t in this case. We also liked SANDCASTLE, ACROSTIC and EMERSION. Head-scratching moments occurred with HALF-STEP and LACERATE (the latter because at first we were looking for a type of fabric as the answer).
Thanks, Slormgorm and Grant.
Surely in 19ac. it is 1 AN and 1 A rather than AN x 2. Thanks Slomgorm and Grant. I too could not come up with the head for AIL in 7 dn.
Thanks Slormgorm and Grant
A much sterner challenge than is usual for a Tuesday, but a lot of fun to do across 3 or 4 sittings. Saw ALL BLACKS quite early but struggled to get away from looking for a British team until seeing that they only supplied the B.
Some other clever devices used throughout – especially at 1a, 10a,19a, 24a, 4d and 17d.
Agree with john@8 that 19a has an AN and a A, instead of two ANs.
Finished in the NE corner with APIECE, SPELLBIND (liked the ‘give the right letter order’ definition) and the trickily defined AGASSI as the last one in.
Thanks for the blog, Grant Baynham.
I didn’t rate this. I thought 4, 7, 12, & 20 were all poor examples of clueing.
Please could somebody explain how ‘built on The Strand’ gives Sandcastle? Thanks.
Abi, “strand” means “beach” here, rather than a fiber.
Didn’t get AGASSI (good clue) because I had ILL for 7d, which I still think is as good an answer as AIL (bill as slang for detective). With the I instead of A in 6a I had no chance to solve it.
Otherwise an excellent puzzle. I especially liked 14a BASEMENT for te surface and construction. Thanks Slormgorn and Grant.