A fun and witty challenge from MUDD this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 8
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STUNNING |
Divine use of taser? (8)
|
|
cryptic def; debated a bit on whether this counts as a double def |
||
| 5 | SPIRIT |
Backbone in ghost? (6)
|
|
double def |
||
| 10 | ASSAM |
Service withdrawn by a state in India (5)
|
|
A [ reverse of MASS ( service ) ] |
||
| 11 | RIVERBANK |
Brave swimming in something icy, land found out of the water (9)
|
|
RINK ( something icy ) containing [ BRAVE ]* |
||
| 12 | ON THE BALL |
Bright, looking to pass, perhaps? (2,3,4)
|
|
cryptic def |
||
| 13 | GAMMA |
Reviewed in the morning journal, character of Greece (5)
|
|
reverse of AM ( morning ) MAG ( journal ) |
||
| 14 | CLOCHE |
Hat he put on counter, briefly (6)
|
|
CLOCk ( counter, briefly ) HE |
||
| 15 | EPISTLE |
Letter in pile set to be sorted (7)
|
|
[ PILE SET ]* |
||
| 18 | REDOUBT |
Fortification on reservation (7)
|
|
RE ( on ) DOUBT ( reservation ) |
||
| 20 | BEETLE |
Insect let loose, coleopteran (6)
|
|
BEE ( insect ) [ LET ]* |
||
| 22 | CIVIC |
City centre in Recife has cut crime (5)
|
|
CI ( reCIfe, centre of ) VICe ( crime, without its last letter ) ; the dictionary def says the def should be relating to a city? |
||
| 24 | RIGMAROLE |
Awfully grim, a part in pantomime (9)
|
|
[ GRIM ]* A ROLE ( part ) |
||
| 25 | IMPLICATE |
Incriminate little devil, prowler wrapped up in deceit (9)
|
|
IMP ( little devil ) [ CAT ( prowler ) in LIE ( deceit ) ] |
||
| 26 | CEDAR |
Partially knocked over, poplar, a deciduous tree (5)
|
|
hidden reversed in "..poplaR A DECiduous.." |
||
| 27 | GARAGE |
Wrath at shortage of gas in petrol station (6)
|
|
GAs ( ~shortage i.e. without last letter ) RAGE ( wrath ) |
||
| 28 | FRONT ROW |
King in town for dancing — best place to watch? (5,3)
|
|
R ( king ) in [ TOWN FOR ]* |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SHADOW |
Outline included in broadcast (6)
|
|
HAD ( included ) in SOW (~ broadcast ) |
||
| 2 | UNSETTLED |
Anxious — as bill still to pay? (9)
|
|
cryptic def |
||
| 3 | NUMBER-CRUNCHING |
Processing of data that’s less sensitive breaking down (6-9)
|
|
NUMBER ( less sensitive ) CRUNCHING ( breaking down ) |
||
| 4 | NARRATE |
Tell when rodent is in trap, lifting lid (7)
|
|
RAT ( rodent ) in sNARE ( trap, without first letter ) |
||
| 6 | PEREGRINE FALCON |
Winger replacing ref, one proving incompetent (9,6)
|
|
[ REPLACING REF ONE ]* |
||
| 7 | REALM |
Americans’ very male kingdom (5)
|
|
REAL ( very, american ) M ( male ) |
||
| 8 | TAKE A PEW |
Sit awake, pet barking (4,1,3)
|
|
[ AWAKE PET ]* |
||
| 9 | EVOLVE |
Mature Valentine gutted after sweetheart stood up (6)
|
|
EVOL ( sweetheart = LOVE, reversed ) VE ( ValentinE, gutted i.e. without inner letters ) |
||
| 16 | TALL ORDER |
Big ask for a big ask! (4,5)
|
|
TALL ( big ) ORDER ( ask ) |
||
| 17 | CRACKING |
Dynamite creating a fissure? (8)
|
|
double def |
||
| 19 | THROAT |
Passage which is lined with gold, running vertically (6)
|
|
RO ( gold = OR, reversed ) in THAT |
||
| 20 | BUGBEAR |
After illness, large omnivore imagined threat (7)
|
|
BUG ( illness ) BEAR ( large omnivore ) |
||
| 21 | REDRAW |
Design again coloured green (6)
|
|
RED ( coloured ) RAW ( green ) |
||
| 23 | VIPER |
Number of boxed eggs, perhaps, for each snake (5)
|
|
VI ( number of boxed eggs perhaps, 6 ) PER ( for each ) |
I enjoyed this one, and also have never been the first person to comment😳😳. I’m sure I’m not the first solver to finish.
Thank you for explaining Shadow and I confess to using dictionary to look up Coleopteran. Particularly enjoyed Viper and Cloche
Thanks to all.
I also enjoyed this and I also failed to parade SHADOW. I think ‘had’ = ‘include’ is a bit vague/loose, but maybe that’s just because I didn’t get it.
Thanks to Mudd and to Turbolegs.
Failed to parse…..
Re: civic. I felt that “city” could be an adjective (as in “city centre”) though my Chambers doesn’t list it as such.
Thanks Mudd for the fun. STUNNING, FRONT ROW, and VIPER were my top picks. I saw STUNNING as a double definition. I failed to parse SHADOW, probably because I didn’t think long enough about the clue. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Another very enjoyable puzzle. The FT is on a roll. I found it very approachable too and made my way steadily anti-clockwise around the grid, starting in the NE corner.
My first clue ASSAM got a tick and several followed, with PEREGRINE FALCON a stand-out. I parsed everything, even SHADOW. So saying, I did not think 16 works particularly well.
Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs