A super fun crossword from SOLOMON with several witty and smooth surfaces.
FF: 10 DD: 8
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MOB |
Crowd of millions on Belarus’s western borders (3)
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starting letters of "..Millions On Belarus.." ( western border implies left most ) |
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| 3 | DISAPPEARED |
I’d put back vegetable juice before vegetable wine went (11)
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DI ( reverse of ID ) SAP ( vegetable juice ) PEA ( vegetable ) RED ( wine ) |
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| 9 | SPROCKETS |
Sons followed by exhausted parents with salad stuck in teeth (9)
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S ( sons ) [ PS ( ParentS, exhausted i.e. without inner letters ) containing ROCKET ( salad ) ] |
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| 10 | LEMUR |
Madagascan ruler not the first to regret misguidely taking money (5)
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[ rULER ( without R – starting letter of Regret ) ]* containing M ( money ) |
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| 11 | MIRROR |
Newspaper that prompts self-reflection (6)
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cryptic def |
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| 13 | ANTONYM |
Distant relative to close cycling function on the outskirts of Yarm (7)
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ANT ( function = TAN, with first letter moving to last ) ON YM ( YarM, end letters of ) |
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| 15 | RIGHT |
Fair, intelligent leader gets kicked out (5)
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bRIGHT ( intelligent, without first letter ) |
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| 16 | GROGGIEST |
Dopiest tigers go swimming around midnight (9)
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[ TIGERS GO ]* around G ( niGht, middle letter ) |
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| 18 | MEANDERED |
Twisted title of Prince Philip’s matrimonial memoirs? English Duke (9)
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ME AND ER ( title of prince philip's matrimonial memoirs, as husband of queen elizabeth ) E ( english ) D ( duke ) |
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| 20 | INANE |
Silly old lady that is seen about (5)
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IE ( that is ) around NAN ( old lady ) |
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| 22 | ORINOCO |
One who hunted duck moving east by the edges of Colorado river (7)
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ORIoN ( one who hunted, with O moving eastward, to the end ) CO ( ColoradO, end letters of ) ; should there be an indicator for the second O of orion ? |
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| 24 | REEBOK |
Antelope smells one charging another (6)
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BO ( smell, body odor ) in REEK ( smell ) |
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| 26 | IDIOT |
Clown turned to identify ringmaster’s number two (5)
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reverse of [ TO ID ( identify ) I ( rIngmaster, 2nd letter of ) ] |
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| 27 | TELEPHONE |
Call hot Brazilian footballer back during match (9)
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reverse of [ H ( hot ) PELE ( brazilian footballer ) ] in TONE ( match? ) |
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| 29 | EVERLASTING |
Reveal new singer for Eternal (11)
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[ REVEAL ]* STING ( singer ) |
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| 30 | LIP |
Cheek or other facial feature (3)
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double def |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MASH |
Pulp hit needs no introduction (4)
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sMASH ( hit, without first letter ) |
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| 2 | BARKING |
Licensed premises above Top Man in East London town (7)
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BAR ( licensed premised ) KING ( top man ) |
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| 3 | DECORATED |
Done up smartly, Ant’s best man made a speech (9)
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DEC ( ant's best man, from ant & dec ) ORATED ( made a speech ) |
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| 4 | SEE |
Get to hear the first part of Carmen (3)
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sounds like C ( first part of Carmen ) |
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| 5 | POSTAL ORDER |
Voucher from a posh dude accepted by Bill (6,5)
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[ A LORD ( posh dude ) ] in POSTER ( bill ) |
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| 6 | ECLAT |
Striking effect of knitted lace on Twiggy’s top (5)
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[ LACE ]* containing T ( Twiggy, first letter ) |
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| 7 | ROMANCE |
The start of Emmanuel Macron’s unconventional love affair (7)
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[ E ( Emmanuel, first letter ) MACRON ]* |
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| 8 | DARK MATTER |
District attorney starts to reflect and knowingly question something hitherto unperceived (4,6)
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DA ( district attorney ) RK ( starting letters of "..Reflect and Knowingly.." ) MATTER ( question ) |
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| 12 | RIGOR MORTIS |
State in which The Departed is set (5,6)
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cryptic def; lovely clue this |
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| 14 | TRAMPOLINE |
Olympic sport during which tension makes people jumpy (10)
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cryptic def |
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| 17 | GUINEA PIG |
Test participant flipping second of two coins ahead of game’s opening (6,3)
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GUINEA ( coin ) PI ( reverse of 1p, coin ) G ( Game, starting letter ) |
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| 19 | ASININE |
Like 19 or 20 (7)
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AS I (1) NINE (9) ; another elegant clue, answer to 20a is INANE |
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| 21 | AXOLOTL |
Mexican being too lax? Ultimately, Miguel prepared… (7)
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[ TOO LAX L ( migueL, last letter ) ]* |
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| 23 | OCTAL |
…about eight tacos, almost gone before the end of meal (5)
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[ TACOs ( almost ) ]* L ( meaL, last letter of ) |
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| 25 | DEEP |
Went up and down a lot (4)
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revere of PEED ( went ) |
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| 28 | LEI |
Upset, I duel, having lost the heart of Judy Garland (3)
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LEud I ( reverse of I DUEL ) without UD ( jUDy, central letters of ) |
Liked ANTONYM, MEANDERED, ORINOCO (tho I agree with the blogger on the duck), REEBOK,
SEE, R MORTIS, GUINEA PIG and ASININE.
TELEPHONE
I think match=TONE as in “these colours tone/match with each other”
AXOLOTL
Took “Mexican being” as the def.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.
Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable set of clues with lots of good ideas . ANTONYM my favourite out of many .
Chambers93 has TONE = harmonise , could work for clothing , colours or music .
DARK MATTER very hard to define for a crossword but the wordplay was fine .
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
10ac: using “not the first to regret” to mean the removal of only one of the two Rs in “ruler” is the sort of thing I can forgive, but not really endorse. On the other hand, I am completely happy with 22ac using “duck moving east” to indicate that one of two Os moves without specifying which one.
18ac: I think the question mark indicates that “Me and ER” is a whimsically supposed title for a book by Prince Philip, not an actual title. I assume the ER is meant to be Elizabeth Regina, not ‘er as in ‘er indoors.
A great puzzle. I agree with KVa about tone and match. EVERLASTING was my pick of a great bunch of clues.
27ac: Further to earlier answers, Collins 2023 p 2078 has a usage example the curtains tone with the carpet.
Thought ASININE was great. A clue that refers to itself!