I enjoyed this puzzle hugely.
It was in many ways the perfect crossword with a lot of superficially quite trickly clues whose construction was revealed as you got more and more letters in the puzzle. I don't know if the intertwined "can clues" of 16 and 19 was deliberate or not but it was very neat. 8D was also a well-worked clue and the use of envelope as fodder in conjunction with Manila in 1D was excellent.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ATTRACT |
Draw an area of land in hearing (7)
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Hom of "a tract" |
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| 5 | FLAPPER |
Fellow gets drink for each girl in 20s (7)
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F{ellow} + lap(=drink) + per(=for each) |
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| 9 | IN PASSING |
Carol touring Spain first, incidentally (2,7)
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Spain* + sing(=carol) |
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| 10 | IONIA |
Roman couple stopping close to a classical region (5)
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(II(=Roman couple) around(=stopping) on(=close to)) + a |
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| 11 | SWEET NOTHINGS |
Teen songs with incoherent, lovey-dovey words (5,8)
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(Teen songs with)* |
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| 13 | NOTABLES |
Schedules denial to be put before VIPs (8)
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Tables(=schedules, as in "tabling a motion") with no(=denial) put ahead of it. |
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| 15 | DICTUM |
Formal pronouncement by police, turning on corporation (6)
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CID<(=police) + tum(=corporation) |
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| 17 | EYELID |
Shutter of Leica only opening to one diameter? Yes, as reported initially (6)
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(L[eica](=Leica only opening, so just the first letter) + I d{iamater}(=abbrev used in maths)) with hom of "Aye" at the start. |
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| 19 | RING PULL |
Close-knit criminals, perhaps, Force can part (4-4)
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Ring(=close-knit criminals) + pull(=force, as in the pull of the Earth) |
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| 22 | LONG TIME NO SEE |
On meeting old Les: ‘Fantastic – we haven’t met in yonks‘ (4,4,2,3)
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(On meeting o{ld} Les)* |
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| 25 | CABER |
Pole dancing bare at clubs (5)
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C{lubs}(=abbrev from playing cards) + bare* |
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| 26 | SPEED TRAP |
What lies in wait for those over 30, sometimes? (5,4)
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CD, referring to a possible speed at which a speed trap might activate |
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| 27 | SLEDDED |
Travelled down in snow in silver Dodge periodically used by Penny (7)
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Odd letters of silver Dodge + d(=penny i.e. denarius) |
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| 28 | TEASHOP |
Dance with short guy in genteel establishment (7)
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Hop(=dance) after teas[e](=guy in the sense of make fun of) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ANIL |
Dye source in Manila envelope discarded (4)
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[M]anil[a] – discard the "envelope" i.e. outer parts of the word. |
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| 2 | TYPESET |
Extremists in Tory pressure group get ready to print (7)
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T[or]y p[ressur]e + set(=group) |
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| 3 | AISLE |
The author will read out loud a passage (5)
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Hom of I'll |
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| 4 | THISTLES |
Potentially injurious plants she tilts alarmingly (8)
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(She tilts)* |
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| 5 | FOGBOW |
Spooner’s marshland enemy, that shines faintly in mist (6)
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Spoonerism of "bog foe". I'd never heard of this but it's a kind of rainbow formed in fog. |
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| 6 | ALIGHTING |
Getting down after trimming gas street lamps, possibly (9)
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[G]a[s] + lighting(=street lamps possibly) |
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| 7 | PINE NUT |
Re-order punnet containing single salad item (4,3)
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Punnet* around i(=single) |
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| 8 | REASSEMBLE |
About to suppress rising chaos in island and put things back together (10)
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Re(=about) above(=to suppress) (mess in Elba)< |
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| 12 | INTERLACES |
Mixes up seasonal posts – openings go begging (10)
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[W]inter [p]laces |
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| 14 | BLISTERED |
Berated retired surgical pioneer? (9)
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Lister(=Joseph Lister, pioneer of antiseptic surgery) in bed(indicated by "retired", which can have the meaning "retired to bed"). |
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| 16 | TINNIEST |
Canned drinks in Perth? Tango’s most cheap (8)
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Tinnies(=slang for drink cans used in Australia) + t{ango}(=abbrev used in the phonetic alphabet) |
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| 18 | ENNOBLE |
French maid turns up – the French turn to peer? (7)
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Bonne<(=word for a maid) + le(="the" in French) |
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| 20 | UNEARTH |
Discover caribou near the hides (7)
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Hidden in "caribou near the". Containment indicated by "hides". |
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| 21 | AMUSED |
Victoria wasn’t thought to follow Albert’s lead (6)
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Mused(=thought) after A[lbert]. Refers to the unproven cliché that Victoria often said "she wasn't amused". |
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| 23 | SEDNA |
Boosted range of remote orbiter (5)
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Andes<(=mountain range with "boosted" indicating vertical reversal, although I personally find that a bit dubious). Sedna is a minor planet orbiting the sun. |
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| 24 | K POP |
Football stand filled with soft music (1-3)
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Kop(=football stand at Liverpool FC) around p(=soft). K-pop refers to Korean pop music. |
Exact reverse of our blogger experience! Started off quite well, but slowed down about halfway through… turgid towards the end.. mostly looking at the wrong end of the clue for the def. Was happy to know French for maid, which helped, and also Aussie for drinks can. NHO the minor planet, nor K-POP…
Thanks Brunel and NealH
Where is everyone? Also liked this very much as I completed most of it without checking help. Top half went in very steadily. Always nice to be able to start at Iac or Id and go smoothly on. Caught out by RINGPULL, as was trying to get something for force in somewhere, and SPEED TRAP which I initially put in as speed bump, as we’ve got those in our road and they’re a menace. Liked the misdirection in 20d as spent ages trying to make an anagram of aribo and ea until penny dropped. NHO 5d and 23d but were quite easy to get from the wordlplay and crossing letters. Thanks Brunel and NealH for a very pleasant start to the week.
Had no trouble at all with three quarters of this and then stumped in the SW. A couple of reveals was enough to get the momentum to finish if off but DNF for me.
Very well clued puzzle.
My picks: SWEET NOTHINGS, LONG TIME NO SEE, SPEED TRAP,
FOBBOW, TINNIEST and ENNOBLE.
Thanks Brunel and NealH.
Like others, North and East mainly good, stuck in the SW. Wasted too much time at 5d having the F and assumed marshland was surely fen.
Enjoyed RING PULL and SPEED TRAP
Thanks both
PS a refreshing ride after yesterdays brilliant but over-challenging-for-me
I always enjoy an apposite anagram, so I liked SWEET NOTHINGS. The definition for RING PULL was cleverly hidden. Like others, I found the SW corner hardest.
Thanks both. I’ll go middle-ground in that I enjoyed much of this, but have little time for SEDNA (impenetrable for me) and the parsing of ENNOBLE, for which I use my stock phrase that solving based on the English language is challenging enough.
Similarly raced through most of it then came unstuck – but in the SE! Over 30? 30 what? It isn’t years, obviously. Missing SEDNA (NHO and I share the blogger’s reservations about “boosted”) I guessed temperature and bunged SWEAT DROP. Needed reveals after that which, given the early momentum, was a bit gutting. Thanks Neal and Brunel.
Thanks both.
It’s always good to learn and SEDNA will be remembered.