MUDD kicks off the week…
Sorry for the late blog, I somewhat lost track of what day it was what with all the World Cup nonsense going on. Anyway, a very enjoyable and not too taxing solve.
Thanks MUDD!
ACROSS
1. Security mechanism as yet uncertain, female brought in with contract (6,5)
SAFETY CATCH
((AS YET)* (*uncertain) with F (female) brought in) + CATCH (contract)
7. Supreme power knocks vessel over (3)
RAJ
9. Country retreat utterly relaxing and luxurious, first of all (5)
RURAL
R[etreat] U[tterly] R[elaxing] A[nd] L[uxurious] (first of all)
10. A way to go before fight filled with wonder (9)
AWESTRUCK
A + WEST (way to go) + RUCK (fight)
11. Loaded, predicament with verbal agreement? (3-6)
JAM-PACKED
JAM (predicament) + “pact” = PACKED (agreement, “verbal”)
12. Great beauty in bird circling English lake (5)
HELEN
HEN (bird) circling (E (English) + L (lake))
13. Heading for victory, could it be gold for outsider? (7)
VISITOR
V[ictory] (heading for) + IS IT (could it be) + OR (gold)
15. Taste of spoiled American cheese (4)
EDAM
[spoil]ED AM[erican] (taste of)
18. Drink and complain loudly? (4)
WINE
“whine” = WINE (complain, “loudly”)
20. Remove spoof (4-3)
TAKE-OFF
23. Hate to have leader removed from platform (5)
ODIUM
[p]ODIUM (platform, to have leader removed from)
24. Two legal terms in bag? (9)
BRIEFCASE
BRIEF CASE (two legal terms)
26. Drawing animal, cat without tail shorter somehow (9)
CARTHORSE
CA[t] (without tail) + (SHORTER)* (*somehow)
27. One pocketed by scoundrel, a dip (5)
RAITA
I (one) pocketed by RAT (scoundrel) + A
29. Make a mistake and cancel party? (4,3,4)
DROP THE BALL
Double (cryptic) definition
DOWN
1. Capital city finished as built up, a capital in Japan described (8)
SARAJEVO
(OVER (finished) + AS)< (<built up), (A + J[apan] (capital in)) described
2. Premier soft, more fickle (8)
FOREMOST
3. University goes in last when redeveloping US city (5)
TULSA
U (university) goes in (LAST)* (*when redeveloping)
4. Biscuit, one of those on Christmas table? (7)
CRACKER
Double (cryptic) definition
5. Process altered for levering mechanism (7)
TREADLE
6. Brood over finance for car (9)
HATCHBACK
HATCH (brood) over BACK (finance)
7. Currency suffering where capital skimmed off (6)
ROUBLE
[t]ROUBLE (suffering, where capital skimmed off)
8. Playing the fool, run rings round family (6)
JOKING
JOG (run) rings round KIN (family)
14. Word of hesitation amid stumble, then he had won (9)
TRIUMPHED
(UM (word of hesitation) amid TRIP (stumble)) then HED (he had)
16. Nations excited over a musical composition (8)
SONATINA
(NATIONS)* (*excited) over A
17. Where ‘igator’ goes for reptile, ultimately? (5,3)
AFTER ALL
Double (cryptic) definition
ALL[igator] being a reptile
19. Ban doctor, a Republican engaged in self-love (7)
EMBARGO
(MB (doctor) + A + R (Republican)) engaged in EGO (self-love)
20. Weapon in filth served up on Net, unfortunately (7)
TRIDENT
(DIRT)< (filth, <served up) on (NET)* (*unfortunately)
21. Chat translated after match — I understand that! (6)
GOTCHA
(CHAT)* (*translated) after GO (match)
22. Bedroom at home set up for hunter (6)
NIMROD
(DORM (bedroom) + IN (at home))< (<set up)
25. Power supporting Chile on the borders (5)
FORCE
FOR (supporting) + C[hil]E (on the borders)
Thanks Mudd and Teacow.
Good puzzle. Good blog.
Liked JAM-PACKED, BRIEFCASE, SARAJEVO, JOKING
and AFTER ALL.
Thanks KVa@1… I also liked the whimsical nature of AFTER ALL
As above comments, enjoyed this. Enough misdirection to keep me happy, but not completely perplexed. I liked the construction for VISITOR…
Thanks Mudd and Teacow
Thanks for the blog , good set of neat and mainly concise clues and a very friendly grid .
HELEN an usual SI unit , like decibel and hectare it is mainly known using the prefix form milliHelen .
Thanks Mudd and Teacow
12ac: In case anyone did not already know this, a millihelen is sufficient pulchritude to cause the launching of one ship. For some unaccountable reason, this word does not appear in either Chambers 2016 or Collins 2023.
Thanks Mudd for an enjoyable crossword that fell into place rather quickly after a somewhat slow start. My favourites included HELEN, VISITOR, WINE, ODIUM, and HATCHBACK. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
An enjoyable puzzle with enough challenge for it not to be over too quickly. Nice to see that 26ac didn’t require an orchestra ro be disbanded.
Thanks, Mudd and Teacow.
Quite a nice Monday challenge, just above quiptic level. Thanks to Teacow and Mudd.
This was a fun and quick solve after Guy’s weekender!! I liked 17D 😊
Not much to add except I always seem to enjoy Mudd and my favourites today were FORCE, TRIDENT, HELEN, TULSA
Thanks Mudd and Teacow
Adding to Big Al @7 re the orchestra-carthorse chestnut: it is also nice to see TULSA without involving a slut for once.
[Wait–why does my default avatar only have one letter where everyone else has two?]
Many thanks Mudd and Teacow. A very pleasant solve. Needed the blog to parse Sarajevo. Fave was AFTER ALL.
I’m tired and I didn’t complete this swiftly. Partly due to a typo. It was straightforward enough though and enjoyable. AFTER ALL was a fun write in. I liked DROP THE BALL, SARAJEVO and CARTHORSE. I knew a girl called JO KING; laughter wasn’t her thing.
Thanks MUDD and Teacow.
Easy enough but not sure why catch is contract or why match is Go.
1ac: Collins 2023 p 326 has catch vb 8 (tr) to be infected with: to catch a cold. This matches p 439 contract vb 4 (tr) to a acquire, incur, or become affected by (a disease, liability, debt, etc)
21dn: Collins 2023 p 835 has go vb 18 to blend or harmonize: these chairs won’t go with the rest of your furniture. I think you can say that things match together or go together.
21dn revisited: Perhaps this usage example from ODE 2010 p 747 works better: the earrings and the scarf don’t really go.
Adding to Martin @ 14, there was a character in London Underground trains known as Nosmo King.