A fun puzzle from BOBCAT this Friday.
FF: 8 DD: 6
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DEPICTION |
Record boring speech in sketch? (9)
|
| EP ( record ) in DICTION ( speech ) | ||
| 6 | COMUS |
God having care of particular Greek characters (5)
|
| CO ( care of ) MUS ( greek characters ) | ||
| 9 | BABY-SIT |
Youngster’s relations take charge for a while (4-3)
|
| BABY’S ( youngster’s ) IT ( relations ) | ||
| 10 | STAGGER |
Astonish excessively grand old actor (7)
|
| STAGER ( old actor ) with 2 G’s instead of one ( ~excessively, G – grand ) | ||
| 11 | RAITA |
Side dish from Croatia ready on the counter (5)
|
| hidden, reversed in “..croATIA Ready..” | ||
| 12 | AD-LIBBING |
Bling (almost half diabolical) adapted for presenting off the cuff (2-7)
|
| [ BLING DIABolical ( almost half of ) ]* | ||
| 13 | DARK AGES |
Ask Edgar about times past (4,4)
|
| [ ASK EDGAR ]* | ||
| 14 | EYOT |
You once capsized, retreating to island (4)
|
| EY ( you once = YE, reversed ) OT ( reverse of TO ) | ||
| 17 | RELY |
Bank on lady missing out on promotion (4)
|
| RE ( on ) LadY ( without AD – promotion ) | ||
| 18 | UNGAINLY |
Lumbering French unit get lamentably stoned (8)
|
| UN ( french unit, one ) GAIN ( get ) LY ( LamentablY, stoned i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 21 | BATTLE-AXE |
Conflict and cut! … sums up the Iron Lady? (6-3)
|
| BATTLE ( conflict ) AXE ( cut ) | ||
| 22 | EIGHT |
Wait for singer to ditch opening number (5)
|
| wEIGHT ( sounds like WAIT, without starting letter ) | ||
| 24 | ADORERS |
Fuss about adult being excluded by Ra’s worshippers (7)
|
| ADO ( fuss ) RE ( about ) RaS ( without A – adult ) | ||
| 25 | AERIALS |
Receivers of Iranian currency in deep water taking a turn (7)
|
| RIAL ( iranian currency ) in reverse of SEA ( deep water ) | ||
| 26 | DUSTY |
Old-fashioned levy charged by governments in the East (5)
|
| DUTY ( levy ) containing S ( governmentS, east implying rightmost letter ) | ||
| 27 | ADDRESSEE |
Letter opener? (9)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DEBAR |
Stop woman coming out stark naked? There’s no time (5)
|
| DEB ( woman coming out, socialite ) AR ( stARk, naked i.e. without end letters, and no T – time ) | ||
| 2 | PUBLIC RELATIONS |
Department churning prosaic bulletin? (6,9)
|
| &lit; [ PROSAIC BULLETIN ]* | ||
| 3 | CASTAWAY |
Lonely islander suggests reason for theatre closure (8)
|
| cryptic def; read as CAST AWAY ( reason for theatre closure ) | ||
| 4 | INTRANET |
Computer facility that connects circulating public transport with difficulty (8)
|
| INTRA ( public transport = TRAIN, with the last two letters moving to the front – circulating ) NET ( difficulty ) | ||
| 5 | NESTLE |
New wrestlers, having been exposed repeatedly, huddle together (6)
|
| N ( new ) wrESTLErs ( exposed repeatedly, i.e. without two end characters on either side ) | ||
| 6 | CRABBY |
Tetchy element of reviews received by Taxi Driver (6)
|
| R ( element of Reviews ) in CABBY ( taxi driver ) | ||
| 7 | MAGNIFYING GLASS |
Unfortunate snag with failing gyms that could make bums look big (10,5)
|
| [ SNAG FAILING GYM ]* | ||
| 8 | SPRIGHTLY |
Energetic agent takes in both sides (9)
|
| SPY ( agent ) containing [ RIGHT L ( left ) – both sides ] | ||
| 13 | DARTBOARD |
Nothing to stop dull sort of jazz being sent up in pub fixture? (9)
|
| O ( nothing ) in reverse of [ DRAB ( dull ) TRAD ( sort of jazz ) ] | ||
| 15 | ON DEMAND |
Whenever required, having been reimprisoned, Republican’s giving way to Democrat (2,6)
|
| ON rEMAND ( reimprisoned, with R – republican changing to D – democrat ) | ||
| 16 | LAKE ERIE |
Mix kir with East European ale and North American water (4,4)
|
| [ KIR E ( east ) E ( european ) ALE ]* | ||
| 19 | SLEEPY |
Go north to be introduced to crafty dwarf (6)
|
| reverse of PEE ( go ) in SLY ( crafty ) | ||
| 20 | NAUSEA |
To some extent, marijuana use arouses aversion (6)
|
| hidden in “..marijuaNA USE Arouses..” | ||
| 23 | TASTE |
Society gallery closes in style (5)
|
| TATE ( gallery ) containing S ( society ) |
Good fun with the addition of two cats (and a male appendage)!
I also made rapid progress and ticked RAITA, DARK AGES, and NAUSEA. I could not parse DUSTY and missed both the second cat and the male appendage.
What does a MAGNIFYING GLASS have to do with bums? In 18, why is stoned a vacation indicator?
Thanks Bobcat and Turbolegs
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues , a lot of intricate wordplay which made it quite tricky for me .
Martyn@2 when making damson jam they must be stoned , take out all the middle .
A MAGNIFYING GLASS makes everything look bigger , the example was just to go with the clue .
I actually found the two tigers , to celebrate there will be a Bank Holiday on Monday .
Two tigers share one penis, odd. Fun puzzle—thanks Bobcat.