It seems to me that it has been a while since we last heard from Moo, . . .
. . . and for a number of clues, it took me a few minutes to get back into a Moo state of mind. Not to worry, though. I think I tuned back in successfully when all was said and done.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DECORATE |
Give medal to Grace? (8)
|
| Double definition, with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 5 | COUPLE |
Item left in car (6)
|
| L (left) inside (in) COUPÉ (car) | ||
| 10 | AGONISE |
Worry past is constraining north European (7)
|
| [{AGO (past) + IS} around (constraining) N (north)] + E (European) | ||
| 11 | EPISTLE |
Letter from desperate elites clinging to power (7)
|
| Anagram of (desperate) ELITES around (clinging to) P (power) | ||
| 12 | LANDSCAPE |
Nothing initially in boy’s head but painting (9)
|
| First letter of (initially) N[OTHING] inside (in) LAD’S (boy’s) + CAPE (head) | ||
| 13 | MALAY |
Language complaint board ultimately rejected (5)
|
| MALA[D]Y (complaint) minus (rejected) last letter of (ultimately) [BOAR]D | ||
| 15 | NORMA |
Line missing from ordinary opera (5)
|
| NORMA[L] (ordinary) minus (missing from) L (line) | ||
| 16 | SWEEPING |
General’s son in tears (8)
|
| S (son) + WEEPING (in tears) | ||
| 19 | INGESTED |
Somehow Enid gets taken in (8)
|
| Anagram of (somehow) ENID GETS | ||
| 20 | RIOJA |
Ontario janitor knocking back the red? (5)
|
| Hidden in (knocking back) [ONTA]RIO JA[NITOR] | ||
| 21 | CHEEP |
Professor’s vulgar tweet (5)
|
| Homophone of (professor’s, i.e., of one who professes) CHEAP (vulgar) | ||
| 23 | RETROUSSÉ |
Trousers lost by launderette finally turned up (9)
|
| Anagram of (lost) TROUSERS + last letter of (finally) [LAUNDERETT]E | ||
| 25 | ADDRESS |
Attend to speech (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | REALIST |
Others eclipsing heavyweight once, no dreamer he (7)
|
| REST (others) around (eclipsing) [Muhammad] ALI (heavyweight once) | ||
| 28 | STEADY |
Be careful, young man (6)
|
| Double definition, the first, as an admonition; the second, in the sense of “boyfriend” | ||
| 29 | SEVERELY |
Badly cut English lady’s clothing (8)
|
| SEVER (cut) + E (English) + outside letters of (clothing [of]) L[AD]Y | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DEADLINE |
Why you couldn’t get an answer last time? (8)
|
| DEAD LINE (why you couldn’t get an answer, as on a telephone) | ||
| 2 | CROWN PRINCE |
Boast about new musician, one who will succeed (5,6)
|
| CROW (boast about) + N (new) + PRINCE [Rogers Nelson] (musician) | ||
| 3 | REINSTATE |
Restore Main Street, foolishly wasting millions (9)
|
| Anagram of (foolishly) {[M]AIN STREET} minus (wasting) M (millions) | ||
| 4 | THETA |
Letter from ambassador at heart of Times article (5)
|
| [HE (ambassador, i.e., His Excellency) inside (at heart of) {T + T} ([two] times)] + A (article), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 6 | ODIUM |
Hate old allegations coming back to bite one (5)
|
| O (old) + MUD (allegations) inverted (coming back) around (to bite) I (one) | ||
| 7 | POT |
Kitty weed in sink (3)
|
| Triple definition | ||
| 8 | ELEGY |
Requiem for one inhabiting cathedral city (5)
|
| E.G. (for one) inside (inhabiting) ELY (cathedral city) | ||
| 9 | REVEREND |
Clergyman beginning to rush, always on edge (8)
|
| First letter of (beginning to) R[USH] + EVER (always) + END (edge) | ||
| 14 | LANGOUSTINE |
Auntie longs to cook a bit of seafood (11)
|
| Anagram of (to cook) AUNTIE LONGS | ||
| 16 | SATIRISE |
Day I rebel results in ridicule (8)
|
| SAT. (day) + I + RISE (rebel) | ||
| 17 | PARSONAGE |
Call about crime in priest’s accommodation (9)
|
| PAGE (call) around (about) ARSON (crime) | ||
| 18 | TAPESTRY |
Record judge defending second hanging (8)
|
| {TAPE (record) + TRY (judge)} around (defending) S (second) | ||
| 21 | CRASS |
His Majesty on dope? That’s silly (5)
|
| CR (His Majesty) + ASS (dope) | ||
| 22 | PLEAD |
Beg Penny to go first (5)
|
| P (penny) + LEAD (to go first), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 24 | TERSE |
Blunt anxious after change of heart (5)
|
| TE[N]SE (anxious) changing the middle letter to R (after a change of heart) | ||
| 26 | DIE |
Pass festival on way north (3)
|
| EID (festival) inverted (on way north) |
One clue virtually identical to one in Maskarade’s in today’s Guardian, and even in the same position in the grid. What are the chances? It felt like déjà vu.
Solid puzzle. Liked retrousse. Thanks both.
I agree with Geoff. Was RETROUSSE the word of the day in The Setter’s Daily? I had never heard it before and then twice in one day (and I will probably never hear it again). I thought this puzzle was a little more challenging and also a little more interesting than its’ Guardian counterpart. Nice job Moo! Also, thank you to Cineraria for the usual great blog.
Thanks Moo and Cineraria.
Liked RETROUSSE, DEADLINE and LANGOUSTINE.
CROWN PRINCE
Isn’t crow about=boast about? Is the ‘about’ in the clue redundant for WP?
One of those puzzles where I didn’t know whether to feel clever to finish or stupid for taking so long. My statistics isn’t up to calculating the odds of the same word turning up in two different crosswords. My guess is that they aren’t as long as you might think. In this particular case, I can see that the chance to use “trousers” as neither an inclusion indicator, nor as wordplay for “nicks” “takes” etc. would appeal to a setter.
4d: I got the one T, but where does the second one come from?
Calluna@6: “times” should be read as TIME + TIME or two times, each of which represents one T apiece.
Thanks for the blog , very neat set of clues with many nice touches , I thought this clue for RETROUSSE was the better one for using launderette .
Peter@5 the odds are probably quite long but we just notice it when it happens . I have seen retrousse at least ten times before and nearly always clued using trousers . I have also seen it as a reversal indicator for a Down clue which is very neat .
Similar to Cineraria, it took me a while to get on Moo’s wavelength. Similar to Roz, I thought it a solid set of clues
Would someone please tell me how “knocking back” is a hidden word indicator? Is it something to do with eating or drinking?
Thanks Moo and Cineraria
Martyn@10 , mainly drinking , usually quickly , things like shots .
” You are knocking back the booze tonight ” .
This was flying in until it wasn’t. Looking back, my last few in were no harder than the others. Maybe my brain ran out of juice.
I liked DEADLINE, REALIST and CROWN PRINCE. I didn’t take the time to parse two or three.
Good stuff. Thanks Moo and Cineraria.
Thanks Roz@11. I still do not get how that becomes a hidden word indicator, I am afraid
Cineraria@7, thanks for the explanation. D’oh!
Martyn#12, further to Roz#10, in the context of drinking, knocking back = taking in, which can be a hidden word indicator.