Fed rounds off the run of weekday puzzles with another enjoyable challenge.
There are a number of very straightforward clues (9ac, 12ac, 4dn, 19dn, 20d) to ensure a steady solve, with some more intricate and ingenious constructions to maintain the interest. Some very neat anagrams and a deft and witty use of real people’s names, which I always admire and enjoy, with fine surfaces throughout. There were a few head-scratching moments in the parsing department but I managed to tease them all out, satisfyingly, with no cries for help today. (I puzzled over 22ac and 8dn for too long before realising that they were both simple charades.)
I had ticks for 10ac TARANTULA, 14ac BILLIE EILISH, 1dn BYLAWS, 2dn NUDITY, 5dn CORPOREAL, 7dn TSUNAMIS, 13dn DISAPPOINTMENT, 15dn LAUGH LINE and 17dn NARCOTIC – and there could have been more.
Thanks to Fed for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Advantage of computerised identikit picture when pursuing crook virtually (7)
BENEFIT
BEN[d] (crook, virtually) + E-FIT (computerised identikit picture)
5 Spotted predator – shark is caught (7)
CHEETAH
Sounds like (caught) ‘cheater’ shark
9 Young male nurse is loaded (5)
LADEN
LAD (young male) + EN (Enrolled Nurse)
10 Tea, cream – not full fat – oddly it’s a Cambodian delicacy (9)
TARANTULA
Odd letters of TeA cReAm NoT fUlL fAt
11 Call Musk with Washington opening that ought to bear fruit (10)
WATERMELON
WA (Washington) + TERM (call) + ELON (Musk)
12 Two Americans holding back on driving range (3)
AGA
A A (two Americans) round [drivin]G
14 Pop singer’s ill – lie about swallowing pill in trashed Ibis hotel (6,6)
BILLIE EILISH
An anagram (about) of ILL, from the clue, + LIE round (swallowing) E (pill) in an anagram (trashed) of IBIS + H (hotel)
18 TV star barking cruelly at crew (6.6)
TRACEY ULLMAN
An anagram (barking) of CRUELLY AT + MAN (crew)
21 Bow and scrape while retreating to some extent (3)
ARC
Hidden reversal (retreating) in sCRApe
22 Hunk needing reason to start op-ed? (5,5)
THINK PIECE
THINK (to reason) + PIECE (hunk) – a new term for me (and it’s not long since I learned ‘op-ed’, through crosswords)
25 Corrupt state maybe does if cutting back (9)
PUTREFIED
PUT (state) + a reversal (back) of IF in DEER (maybe ‘does’ – it seems a long time since I‘ve seen this trick)
26 Initially in sonatas, Liszt enjoyed this minor key (5)
ISLET
Initial letters of In Sonatas Liszt Enjoyed This – great definition and surface
27 Expensive – taking 150 Euros, say (7)
DECLARE
DEAR (expensive) round CL (150) + E (Euros)
28 In bed, weary, drinking wine – quite the opposite (7)
RETIRED
RED (wine) round (drinking) TIRE (weary)
Down
1 On vacation Bradley Walsh ultimately ignored resort’s in-house rules? (6)
BYLAWS
B[radle]Y + an anagram (resort) of WALS[h]
2 Finally – given you identified graffiti artist – Banksy’s in exposed state (6)
NUDITY
Last letters of giveN yoU identifieD graffitI artisT banksY
3 In France and in Germany, shaver sounded 1 across? (4-6)
FUND-RAISER
F (France) + UND (and in Germany) + RAISER (sounds like – sounded – ‘razor’ (shaver)
4 Tax article without it (5)
TITHE
THE (article) round IT
5 My friend entertains men with essentially new material (9)
CORPOREAL
COR (my) + PAL (friend) round OR (men) + [n]E[w]
6 Ages in prison’s manure shed (4)
EONS
[dung]EONS (prisons) minus dung (manure shed)
7 A film star cycles and waves (8)
TSUNAMIS
A MIST (film) + SUN (star) with the letters ‘cycled’
8 Pine nut’s beginning to be problem (8)
HEADACHE
HEAD (nut) + ACHE (pine)
13 School paid to spin results in mock (10)
DISAPPOINT
An anagram (school) of PAID TO SPIN
15 Conducted lessons in English, with students covering tenses – one might appear with a smile (5,4)
LAUGH LINE
[t]AUGH[t] (conducted lessons) IN E (English) with the t t (tenses) replaced by l l (students)
16 Leaves power drills on the counter, securely fastened (8)
STRAPPED
A reversal (on the counter) of DEPARTS (leaves) round P (power)
17 Sedative not applicable on piercing in the middle of the ear (8)
NARCOTIC
NA (not applicable) + the middle letters of [pie]RC[ing] + OTIC (of the ear
19 Stock of wine merchant delivered (6)
CELLAR
Sounds like (delivered) ‘seller’ (merchant)
20 Gossipy magazine journalist is excited (6)
HEATED
HEAT (gossipy magazine) + ED (journalist)
23 Lowest point of brain drain with regular emigration climbing (5)
NADIR
Hidden reversal (climbing) of alternate letters (with regular emigration) of bRaIn DrAiN – rather devillishly complicated, since NADIR is an anagram of DRAIN
24 Excellent, for example, to be Morocco-bound (4)
MEGA
EG (for example) in (bound by) MA (Morocco – domain name)
Thanks Fed and Eileen
I hadn’t heard of THINK PIECE (and op-ed only recently – possibly from the same puzzle, Eileen!) and couldn’t see the parsing. I don’t see how “mock” means DISAPPOINT.
Favourite ISLET.
I was not on the setter’s wavelength. Could not finish – managed to complete the top half but failed to solve 18 (never heard of Tracey Ullman),22,25,27ac and 15,16,17,23,24d.
Of the ones I solved, I could not parse 1ac, 6d.
New for me: TARANTULA = Cambodian delicacy; HEAT magazine.
Muffin @1 – At the risk of winding you up, I just looked up “mock” in a well known and widely available red book. Guess what I found?
Thanks Eileen. Didn’t get anywhere near parsing several of these, but, as you say, they were quite clever once you’d explained them.
muffin @1 – Crispy’s right, of course! It made me think of ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans’.
Comment #5
Think Piece and tarantula as a delicacy anywhere new for me too, plus several others that I could not parse, so thank you very kindly Eilleen. I did know of op-ed, but like others only in crosswordspeak
And thanks of course to Fed for stretching my brain cells with the ones I did parse
Apologies Eileen. Being as bad at spelling as i am is not a useful trait around here
OK, it’s under “mock”, but I really can’t see how it equates. “Disappoint” doesn’t include mock as a meaning!
Minor point, but in 14a ILL has to be part of the anagram – “ill lie about”. It could also work if ILL and LIE are both reversed separately, but I don’t think there is anything to indicate that.
Thanks to Fed and Eileen
DISAPPOINT
Google AI:
Here are examples of “mock” used in the sense of disappointing, deceiving, or defeating someone’s hopes or expectations.
Examples in Sentences”The persistent rain mocked their hopes for a sunny wedding day.”
“His sudden illness mocked all his months of intense training.”
“The mirage mocked the thirsty travelers in the desert.”
DuncT @ 9 – thanks: that was careless – amended now.
I always expect Fed to be fun and I wasn’t mocked today.
Thanks for the excellent blog Eileen. Very welcome reminder of the wonderfully talented Tracey Ullman. Though yesterday’s predicted, and actual, earworm Montego Bay likely to be replaced with They Don’t Know today. Ah well.
Fantastic fun as always from Fed.
I won’t share a link, but google “canned tarantula” if you’re not too squeamish (which I actually am). I remember seeing this on a BBC documentary once.
It took a while to unpick LAUGH LINE, DECLARE and TSUNAMIS and to work out whether 6D was EONS, ERAS or EMIT (shed). All very satisfying once I got them.
This wasn’t easy, but I didn’t need to look anything up and there was humour in abundance. It struck the perfect balance for me.
I won’t pick out any further clues as favourites because it could be all but the simplest ones – and there was nothing wrong with those either.
Thanks Eileen and Fed.
Fried spiders, who knew! And took a minute to remember virtually as “nearly all of”, and disappoint for mock was a que? But all good in the end, thx Fed and Eileen.
Oh dear, I have been calling her Billy Irish having only having heard her name on the radio.
I thought this was a lot tougher in the south than the north.
A few I needed the blog to fully parse.
BENEFIT my favourite today.
Thanks Fed and Eileen