An enjoyable puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum, but with a few curly ones to keep the scratch players on their toes. For those of us playing off 18 or worse, this was a great opportunity to post a respectable score whilst still playing a quality course.
Several went in easily enough but were more challenging to parse (e.g. 13dn). 16ac was easy if you knew the grape, but tricky otherwise as two plausible contenders came forward from the rest of the clue and the cross checkers. 19ac provoked a few comments on the Forum, but seemed an excellent and attainable clue to me (although it took a while to unravel).
Many thanks to Mr Moorey.
Definitions underlined, anagrams indicated by *(--), DD = double definition
Several went in easily enough but were more challenging to parse (e.g. 13dn). 16ac was easy if you knew the grape, but tricky otherwise as two plausible contenders came forward from the rest of the clue and the cross checkers. 19ac provoked a few comments on the Forum, but seemed an excellent and attainable clue to me (although it took a while to unravel).
Many thanks to Mr Moorey.
Definitions underlined, anagrams indicated by *(--), DD = double definition
| Across | |
| 1 | Help easily deceived person spoken of (7) |
| SUCCOUR - Homophone (signalled by "spoken of") of "sucker" (easily deceived person) | |
| 5 | Favoured a tap inside as protection from fire (7) |
| PARAPET - A RAP (a tap) inside PET (favoured) giving the shelter against enemy fire | |
| 9 | Uninhibited group one's seen in a day (9) |
| ABANDONED - BAND (group) + ONE "seen in" A and D (day) | |
| 10 | Rich fences look for cash in hand (5) |
| FLOAT - FAT (rich) "fences" (surrounds) LO (look), giving the cash in the till. Nice surface, neat clue | |
| 11 | Comedian allowed time to run out, something easily done (6) |
| DODDLE - DODD_LE | |
| 12 | Spooner's familiar greeting is unwanted communication (4,4) |
| HATE MAIL - The Reverend's version of | |
| 14 | In Paris my term is planned to include painting here? (10) |
| MONTMARTRE - MON (my "In Paris") + *(TERM), with "is planned" as the anagrind, including ART (painting) - with the whole lot giving the location where every conceivable Parisian cliché is represented, but which nonetheless still enchants. I think the whole clue may also be classified as a cryptic, with the echoes back to Paris and Art, but I'm not overly confident of these designations - any advice from the senior pros here much appreciated! | |
| 16 | Strongly flavoured red wine, not the best quality (4) |
| GAMY - GAM | |
| 18 | What's behind bar? Tango (4) |
| BUTT - BUT (bar - as in "all bar one") + T (Tango in the phonetic alphabet) providing the rear end | |
| 19 | Musical tenor quits? Could be me (3,7) |
| CAT STEVENS - CATS (musical) + T (abbrev. of Tenor) + EVENS (quits - as in "we're quits then"), revealing the artist latterly known as Yusuf Islam - who could be the tenor in question... Clever clue, and thanks to the setter for triggering memories of 6th Form turf wars between the Cat Stevens brigade and the King Crimson lads as each vied for use of the common room record player | |
| 22 | Releases groups without charge (4,4) |
| SETS FREE - SETS (groups) + FREE (without charge). Today's gimme | |
| 23 | See "hate" put otherwise (6) |
| LOATHE - LO (see) + *(HATE) with "put otherwise" as the anagrind. "Hate" doing double duty here as both the definition and the anagrist | |
| 26 | Weak trombone initially repelled a musical group perhaps (5) |
| TROOP - POOR (weak) + T (trombone initially) all reversed ("repelled") | |
| 27 | Brave action seen as wrong in Democratic party (7,2) |
| DERRING DO - D (Democratic) + ERRING (wrong) + DO (party) | |
| 28 | Quick! Name a town in northern England (7) |
| PRESTON - PRESTO (quick) + N (name), giving us the Lancashire town (now a city) forever associated with the great Tom Finney | |
| 29 | Not in favour of one on Benefit Street (7) |
| AGAINST - A (one) + GAIN (benefit) + ST (street) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Prominence for which Mr Toad's postured (7) |
| STARDOM - *(MR TOADS) with "postured" as the anagrind | |
| 2 | Somerset town Conservative? Not easily penetrated (5) |
| CHARD - C (Conservative) + HARD (not easily penetrated). A gimme for Somerset lads like myself, but a relatively obscure place for others, I suspect - although the wordplay was very generous. Attractive small rural market town in deepest Somerset, apparently it is now twinned with Seica Mare in Transylvania: the mind boggles... | |
| 3 | Former lover's unemotional, caught leaving insulting message (3,5) |
| OLD FLAME - | |
| 4 | Highly disagreeable standing order (4) |
| RANK - Originally had this down as a DD, but on reflection I think "standing order" is simply a cryptic clue supporting the definition. But then again... | |
| 5 | With top of patella dislocated, I tap and prod and it's treated? (10) |
| PODIATRIST - Nice cryptic with the wordplay being *(I TAP PROD ITS) minus one of the P's (top of patella dislocated), with "treated" as the anagrind | |
| 6 | Run behind beam (6) |
| RAFTER - R (run) + AFTER (behind) | |
| 7 | Advertise widely what sounds like the correct entrance (9) |
| PROPAGATE - Homophone (indicated by "what sounds like") of PROPER GATE. Corny but chuckleworthy. I don't generally associate propagation with advertising, but I think the usage here is as in propagating an idea | |
| 8 | Absolutely against credit record (7) |
| TOTALLY - Struggled to parse this, and still a bit unsure about what the "against" is doing. I think it's just TO (credit - as in add to) + TALLY (record), but I may be missing something here... [On edit: many thanks to Adrian Cobb for a better parsing - see below] | |
| 13 | Old fellow supporting a jolly large-scale conflict (10) |
| ARMAGEDDON - AGED DON (old fellow) "supporting" (i.e. preceded by) A RM (Royal Marine - being nicknamed a "jolly"). Took me a while to spot the RM / jolly connection, but then I managed to vaguely recall it from a previous crossword | |
| 15 | Name tooth wrenched out (3,2,4) |
| NOT AT HOME - *(NAME TOOTH) with "wrenched" as the anagrind | |
| 17 | Lady in charge entering northern Italian city (8) |
| VERONICA - IC (in charge) enters VERONA | |
| 18 | Lots roll up for a Monroe movie (3,4) |
| BUS STOP - SUB (roll) + POTS (lots) both reversed (up) giving the 1956 movie featuring a character with the magnificent handle Beauregard Decker unsuccessfully pursuing Marilyn | |
| 20 | Nanny's hat goes astray (3-4) |
| SHE GOAT - *(hat goes) with "astray" as the anagrind, for Billy's better half | |
| 21 | Not on track, almost exactly recalled (3,3) |
| OFF PAT - Not on = OFF, with PAT | |
| 24 | Hybrid thing born oddly (5) |
| TIGON - Every other letter (oddly) of T | |
| 25 | Space in nameless stadium (4) |
| AREA - ARE | |