We have not seen Italicus on a Saturday for a very long time.
This was a pleasure to complete: nothing too obscure and some nice clues, my favourite was 10A.
It is also a pangram.
Only one clue I have not parsed 3d. It surely must be EJECT else there’d be no J for the pangram but the wordplay foxes me.
Solving started from 22d which I found an easy one to get going after failing to cold solve the across & down 1s, and 5a. Then that little corner got completed and the answers appeared in a clockwise manner around the grid till the last few remained in the bottom right. Last one in, the Spoonerism. I believe I’m even worse at “hearing” Spoonerisms than Homophones. There’s probably a word for it. Ahomophonia? Better not, that could be easily misconstrued.
It’s probably associated with my appalling language skills. (Typical monoglot Brit of my age – French O-level grade 6 at second attempt.) My brain doesn’t hold word sounds, I think it stores them as nebulous concepts. There’s probably a word for it – that I can’t spell.
Thank you Italicus.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BRAZENLY |
Bombers essentially level city bordering lake without shame (8)
|
| [bom]B[ers] (bombers, essentially) RAZE (level), then L[ake] inside NY (city) | ||
| 5 | SWIVEL |
Turn back women wearing jeans (6)
|
| W[omen] inside LEVIS (jeans) all reversed (back) | ||
| 9 | RETREATS |
European doctors on hand for periods of withdrawal (8)
|
| R (hand) E[uropean] TREATS (doctors) | ||
| 10 | KOALAS |
Tree-huggers fine revolutionary, unfortunately (6)
|
| OK< (fine, revolutionary) ALAS (unfortunately). Top clue for misleading def. | ||
| 12 | DWELT |
Lived with the Spanish in outskirts of Detroit (5)
|
| W[ith] EL (the, Spanish) inside (outskirts of) D[etroi]T | ||
| 13 | INCIPIENT |
Just starting remarkably nice pint after one (9)
|
| I (one) (NICE PINT)* AInd: remarkably. | ||
| 14 | NOTABLE |
Important reason for refusing service in restaurant? (7)
|
| Cryptic Def. delivering NO TABLE | ||
| 16 | TALENTS |
Anecdotes about extremely nondescript gifts (7)
|
| TALES (anecdotes) around (extremities of) N[ondescrip]T | ||
| 19 | EXCERPT |
Passage emerging from former church run by discontented priest (7)
|
| EX (former) CE (church) R[un] P[ries]T (discontented!) | ||
| 21 | MISTRAL |
Some surreal art simply reflected atmospheric phenomenon (7)
|
| Hidden reversed in surreaL ART SIMply | ||
| 22 | DISTEMPER |
Daughter initially implied suspicious character is dog killer? (9)
|
| D[aughter] I[mplied] S[uspicious] TEMPER (character) | ||
| 24 | BRAWN |
Emptied bin filled with uncooked meat (5)
|
| RAW (uncooked) inside B[i]N | ||
| 25 | COUPON |
Ticket scam captivates press (6)
|
| OUP (press, Oxford University Press) inside CON (scam) | ||
| 26 | HELLFIRE |
Decreased rent, to Spooner’s eternal torment (8)
|
| Spoonerise the answer to get “FELL HIRE” (Decreased rent) Last One In | ||
| 27 | DUTIES |
Doubt misers regularly admitted responsibilities (6)
|
| Alternate letters of DoUbT mIsErS | ||
| 28 | ETCHINGS |
Fellow leaving attractive soprano inscriptions (8)
|
| [f]ETCHING (attractive, Fellow leaving) S[oprano] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BARN DANCE |
Bachelor with no date gatecrashing weirdly arcane shindig (4,5)
|
| B[achelor], N[o] D[ate] inside (ARCANE)* AInd: weirdly. | ||
| 2 | AUTHENTIC |
Genuine gold article conservationists originally insured comprehensively (9)
|
| AU (gold) THE (article) NT (conservationists, the National Trust) I[nsured] C[omprehensively] | ||
| 3 | EJECT |
Bail out of plane circling around south of Spain (5)
|
| I need help here. ‘Plane’ could give us JET but I cannot see how the rest of the clue works. I probably don’t know the relevant Spanish. | ||
| 4 | LATRINE |
Strip naked in backstreet toilet (7)
|
| [s]TRI[p] (strip, naked) inside LANE (backstreet) | ||
| 6 | WOODPILES |
Court finally seized stately home’s fuel reserves (9)
|
| WOO (court) [seize]D PILES (stately home’s) | ||
| 7 | VALVE |
Regulating device found in retrieval vehicle (5)
|
| Hidden in retrieVAL VEhicle | ||
| 8 | LISZT |
Record in auditorium for composer (5)
|
| Homophone “list” (record) | ||
| 11 | SCOT |
Intelligence gatherer dismisses posh British national (4)
|
| SCOUT (Intelligence gatherer) – U (posh) | ||
| 15 | BARGEPOLE |
Beating GOP rebel with a big stick! (9)
|
| (GOP REBEL + A)* AInd: Beating. | ||
| 17 | NARRATION |
Telling state to protect a reporter on vacation (9)
|
| A R[eporte]R inside NATION (state) | ||
| 18 | SPLINTERS |
Aboard ship, decorator without a harnessing line shivers (9)
|
| PAINTER – A (decorator, without a) around (harnessing) L[ine] all inside SS (aboard ship) | ||
| 20 | TYPO |
Mistake blood group in report (4)
|
| Homophone “Type O” HInd: in report. | ||
| 21 | MORDENT |
Musical ornament mentor modified to conceal diamonds (7)
|
| (MENTOR)* AInd: modified, around D[iamonds] | ||
| 22 | DICED |
Given the chop, investigators turned on journalist (5)
|
| CID< (investigators, turned) ED (journalist) | ||
| 23 | SQUAT |
Posed entertaining question, in short (5)
|
| QU[estion] inside (entertained by) SAT (posed) | ||
| 24 | BELCH |
Spew black lies, oddly about Switzerland (5)
|
| B[lack] LE< (LiEs, oddly, about) CH (Switzerland) |
BM, EJECT foxed me too.
I can only think….
Spain=E, plane=JET, around= c (circa)
An excellent pangram to start the weekend, which was nicely challenging and good fun.
I parsed EJECT as suggested by ENBoll& #1.
Many thanks to Italicus and to BM.
#1 and #2 have it: JET circling C south of E
I sailed through this with the exception of the opening pair: BRAZENLY and BARNDANCE. The latter in particular, I could not parse. I think this is the first time I have encountered ‘no’ = N in an Indy puzzle and did not know that was accepted. Obv, we have Y/N appear as optional answers often enough for the abbreviations to be as familiar as S/M/L on clothing but they’re not in Chambers. I just went through Collins and thought I was ending up with the same result but see N given as a US abbreviation for ‘no’ – which will delight RD!
Thanks both
Favourite today TYPO.
Re E for Espana – the use of the E prosthesis in front of any ‘S’ word in Spanish results in far more evocative language than their translations, e.g. my name Stephen in Spanish is Estefan. I wonder if Gloria Estefan would have been as famous if she were plain Gloria Stephen.
I think you have to read nd together for no date, as this is listed as an abbreviation in Chambers. KOALAS made me smile.
PM@3
I should have been clearer re EJECT, so thanks, but one-letter abbreviations are the last refuge of the scoundrel, in my book – and there’s a helluva lot of ’em in this puzzle!
Despite which, I enjoyed it, and it was gently plain sailing.
No shame in that, either.
Will any setter be brave/brazen enough to set a puzzle which uses 100% abbreviations and acronyms? From American to Zulu. I hereby declare it a challenge!
PostMark #3. Isn’t that what ENB and I are both suggesting for 3d?
N = US? 🙂
Thanks Italicus and beermagnet
PM @ 3 I think it’s not the blog’s “N[o] D[ate]” but ND = “no date” as a phrasal abbreviation. I vaguely recall hearing it in the past and it’s confirmed by Chambers
#7 Yes it is. I was merely endorsing your wise observations. And it turns out ‘nd’ is a valid abbreviation all on its own – thanks Petert. A nho abbreviation but at least it has dictionary backup and avoids the Americanism!
ENB: far less objection than you to one-letter abbreviations. I’d prefer them to single letter indicators much of the time.
I tried to make sd (sine die, without a date) work first, which would have been perhaps more common abbreviation.
PM@9
So..is that challenge accepted!?
To include the awful duets, Former, In Charge, No Date, Gold, Men, Church, Bachelor, City, and Fine.
A Pan Gram of course!
May be PS too, because…..PS: I totally got your nod @3. Appreciated.