Some good fun-packed clues from Tees.
21 and 16 stood out for me as excellent.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9/10 | GARDENING LEAVE | Cruelly avenging leader in suspension from job (9,5) |
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(Avenging leader)* |
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| 11 | DROVE | Resistance stops bird moving herd (5) |
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R{esistance} in dove |
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| 12 | DAIRY FARM | Legion retreats to hold remote rural station (5,4) |
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Myriad< around far |
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| 13 | CRUSADE | Drive going backwards so landing in rough (7) |
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As< in crude |
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| 14 | OLD NICK | Scar that reveals Satan? (3,4) |
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DD |
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| 17 | POD | Shell in Aleppo detonates (3) |
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Hidden in "Aleppo detonates" |
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| 19 | TOPMAST | Johnson in tribute offers high-level support for sailors (7) |
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PM in toast |
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| 21 | ELI | Folk above ground in Wells disowning old priest (3) |
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El[o]i – ref not to the city but to HG Wells' The Time Machine in which the Eloi were a race living above ground, exploited by the underground Morlocks. |
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| 22 | NUMERAL | Figure manure should be spread and left (7) |
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Manure* + l{eft} |
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| 23 | PORTAGE | Documentary technique not about showing transport (7) |
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[Re]portage |
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| 25 | STATESMAN | See 27 |
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See 27 |
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| 27/25 | ELDER STATESMAN | Wise politician deals cunningly with matters in short space (5,9) |
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(Deals + matters)* in en (printing space) |
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| 29 | DREAD | Awesome Rastafarian (5) |
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DD. One of those where I thought of the answer but wasn't particularly confident. Dread can be an adjective meaning awesome and I think dread can be a term for a Rastafarian from the fact that they wear dreadlocks. |
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| 30 | NO ACCOUNT | Good-for-nothing turned on a cold nobleman (2-7) |
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On< + a c{old} count |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AGED | Ancient American good to meet news boss (4) |
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A{merican} g{ood} + ed{itor} |
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| 2 | ORMOLU | Metalwork in posh bathroom around dressing room (6) |
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(U loo)< around(=dressing) rm |
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| 3 | BENEFACTOR | One who helps France to be free (10) |
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(France to be)* |
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| 4 | BIRDIE | Albatross? Eagle? Yes and no! (6) |
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DD – albatross and eagle would both be birdies in an avian sense but not in a golf sense. |
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| 5 | AGRICOLA | Roman has drink with Greek in perfect setting (8) |
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Gr{eek} in AI + cola. Agricola was a Roman general. |
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| 6 | SLAY | Destroy Scottish island — no small island (4) |
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{I}slay |
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| 7 | PALATINE | One among seven hills in China coming to a point (8) |
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Not sure, but I think this is pal(=china) + at(=coming to) + I(=a) + NE(=point, North East) – one of the 7 hills of Rome. |
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| 8 | BEAM | Smile brings some light (4) |
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DD |
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| 13 | CAPON | Vessel crossing river brings chicken (5) |
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Can around Po (Italian river) |
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| 15 | DETERRENCE | Discouragement as lower classes hear Latin dramatist (10) |
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D + E (lower classes in the ABC system) + hom of Terence, a Roman dramatist. |
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| 16 | KNIFE | Is it taken up by chef in kitchen? (5) |
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&lit – hidden, rev in "chef in kitchen". |
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| 18 | DEMEANED | Put down false name in legal document (8) |
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Name* in deed |
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| 20 | PALOMINO | Doctored main polo mount (8) |
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(Main polo)* |
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| 23 | PENTAD | Ten moving into flat — five in this group (6) |
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Ten* in pad |
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| 24 | ARDOUR | Heat can make a run grim (6) |
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A r{un} + dour |
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| 25 | SIDE | Vicious for one English bank (4) |
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Sid (an example of a Sid, in this case Sid Vicious from The Sex Pistols) +E{nglish} |
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| 26 | EDDA | Work companion right when leaving cheesy village (4) |
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[Ch]edda[r] |
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| 28 | RATE | Rodent ultimately done for speed (4) |
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Rat + [don]e |
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The usual Monday morning fun from Tees, although I found it trickier than usual
Thanks to him for the fun and NealH for the blog, particularly the explanation of 21a
For 7d I think it is PAL (“china”) A TINE (“a point”)
Thanks for a great blog, Neal – like crypticsue, I needed it for 21ac. I parsed 7dn as you did but wasn’t very happy with it. I think passerby is right.
My favourites today were DAIRY FARM, BENEFACTOR and AGRICOLA (plus – now – ELI AND PALATINE).
Many thanks, Tees – most enjoyable.
We struggled with this in places – couldn’t parse ELI (we read The Time Machine so long ago that we’d forgotten most of it) and needed a wordfinder for EDDA, although it was obvious once we saw it – Doh!. And our first thought for 14ac was that the second word was ‘mark’ (= scar) with no idea for the first word, so that held us up for AGRICOLA and PALATINE – we parsed the latter, btw, as did passerby@2.
The rest was fine; we liked GARDENING LEAVE.
Thanks, Tees and HealH
I interpreted 7D like passerby, A TINE being the prong of a fork, and of course the favourite Cockney China plate = mate for PAL
I struggled with this one. Quite a few I didn’t get, and a few I couldn’t parse having guessed the answer.
I think there may be a tiny error in the excellent blog at 21a. Old isn’t part of the definition (unless you consider it is doing double duty I suppose), it’s part of the wordplay as shown in the explanation.
Thanks as ever to Tees and Neal.
Early gains foundered on poor GK and at least six words I’ve never seen before. Can any kind soul explain to me how AI comes from “perfect setting” in 5d and how the excised Ch is derived from “companion” in 26d?
Thanks to Tees and NealH.
El_Gwero @7. A1 (not AI) means excellent quality and CH is “companion of honour” often shortened to “companion” in cryptics.
@El_Gwero @7 if something is A1 it is perfect. Setting in this instance just describes the fact that it is the setting for GR
CH is Companion of Honour
Oops. Crossed with Hovis.
Bluth, Hovis, thanks to you both for the assistance.