XELA serves up a gentle jog for the Friday crossword run.
FF:8 DD: 4
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STEAKHOUSE |
Restaurant takes off, having offered “Unlimited Sushi” evenings at first (10)
|
| [ TAKES ]* HOUSE ( starting letters of “.. Having Offered Unlimited Sushi Evenings..” ) | ||
| 6 | CARP |
Complain about supposedly socially acceptable way of talking (4)
|
| CA ( about ) RP ( socially acceptable way of talking, Received Pronunciation ) | ||
| 9 | FLOUNDERED |
Flailed around and sank crossing lake (10)
|
| FOUNDERED ( sank ) containing L ( lake ) | ||
| 10 | DEMO |
Showcase made money to some extent (4)
|
| hidden in “..maDE MOney..” | ||
| 12 | LINE |
Family alliances periodically ignored (4)
|
| aLlIaNcEs, alternate letters of | ||
| 13 | TERMINATE |
Period of time at home had to end (9)
|
| TERM ( period ) IN ( at home ) ATE ( had ) | ||
| 15 | FLAGGING |
Female falling behind and becoming tired (8)
|
| F ( female ) LAGGING ( falling behind ) | ||
| 16 | BEHEST |
That chap is in ultimate command (6)
|
| HE ( that chap ) in BEST ( ultimate ) | ||
| 18 | EMPIRE |
Domain of elected official in Ireland (6)
|
| MP ( elected official ) in EIRE ( ireland ) | ||
| 20 | LET LOOSE |
Rent facilities close to here for free? (3,5)
|
| LET ( rent ) LOOS ( facilities ) E ( herE, last letter of ) | ||
| 23 | HORSEPLAY |
High jinks in stage adaptation of Seabiscuit? (9)
|
| HORSE ( seabiscuit ) PLAY ( stage adaptation ) | ||
| 24 | BEAT |
Attend bash? (4)
|
| cryptic def; read as BE AT ( attend ) | ||
| 26 | URGE |
In the end, you never freaking decide to push on (4)
|
| last letters of “..yoU neveR freakinG decidE..” | ||
| 27 | CALEDONIAN |
Scot in Iceland on a mobile (10)
|
| [ ICELAND ON A ]* | ||
| 28 | SINE |
Function of e.g. neon display in an auditorium (4)
|
| sounds like SIGN ( neon display, say ) | ||
| 29 | REAL ESTATE |
What some agents promote in relation to almost every type of car (4,6)
|
| RE ( in relation to ) ALl ( every, almost ) ESTATE ( type of car ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SOFT |
Smooth, very pink paper (4)
|
| SO ( very ) FT ( pink paper ) | ||
| 2 | EROTICA |
Rude content of book collection stolen by Heather (7)
|
| OT ( book collection, old testament ) in ERICA ( heather ) | ||
| 3 | KINDERGARTEN |
School is more generous with info about creative work (12)
|
| KINDER ( more generous ) [ GEN ( info ) around ART ( creative work ) ] | ||
| 4 | OVERTONE |
Obvious single suggestion (8)
|
| OVERT ( obvious ) ONE ( single ) | ||
| 5 | SPEARS |
Small pieces of fruit and bits of green veg? (6)
|
| S ( small ) PEARS ( pieces of fruit ) | ||
| 7 | AVERAGE |
Hail before storm is nothing special (7)
|
| AVE ( hail ) RAGE ( storm ) | ||
| 8 | PROPERTIES |
Strict bonds for flats and houses, perhaps (10)
|
| PROPER ( strict ) TIES ( bonds ) | ||
| 11 | LIKE OLD BOOTS |
Intensely enjoy vintage footwear? (4,3,5)
|
| LIKE ( enjoy ) OLD ( vintage ) BOOTS ( footwear ) | ||
| 14 | AFTER HOURS |
Our fathers worked beyond closing time (5-5)
|
| [ OUR FATHERS ]* | ||
| 17 | VERY WELL |
In great health, or OK (4,4)
|
| double def | ||
| 19 | PARAGON |
Exemplar of power somewhere in ancient Europe (7)
|
| P ( power ) ARAGON ( somewhere in ancient europe ) | ||
| 21 | OCARINA |
Instrument in middle of frame beneath old vehicle (7)
|
| O ( old ) CAR ( vehicle ) IN A ( frAme, middle of ) | ||
| 22 | CLEAVE |
Stick around, then make oneself scarce (6)
|
| C ( around ) LEAVE ( make oneself scarce ) | ||
| 25 | ONCE |
Clubs overwhelmed by United? Not again! (4)
|
| C ( clubs ) in ONE ( united ) |
We seem to see Xela once a month. This time he was gentle, as noted by the blog, but I thought he delivered another set of nice surfaces. I ticked URGE, DEMO, FLOUNDERED (so simple), AVERAGE (nice surface), VERY WELL (clever), CALEDONIAN (lovely surface), LET LOOSE (ditto) and LOI CLEAVE (ditto).
All parsed. LIKE OLD BOOTS is new to me and I wonder when it was last used. I thought the unsignalled word split in 24 was a pity.
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues with many nice touches , a puzzle for everyone I think but well constructed . ONCE is very neat .
LIKE OLD BOOTS means tough for me but I will look it up later .
Martyn@1 , BEAT is not really a word split , attend means BE AT so we are just putting this in as wordplay , HORSEPLAY is the same idea and many more .
If BEAT was used as a clue for the answer attend , then we would need to split it first .
Seen ‘As tough as old boots’ as a phrase rather than 11d.
Lots to like, nothing to dislike, some very nice clues, in the best sense.
CLEAVE is one of those opposite meaning rarities I like…stick together AND rend apart, I think it’s a “contronym” or whatever.
LIKE OLD BOOTS, 11(d), I think I’ve heard years ago, from my dad, in the WW2 slang sense, of something extreme – so, ” run like the clappers”, might also be, “run like old boots”. No idea why or how, the “tough as ” version is obviously better known.
Xelant puzzle and blog, thanks setter & Turbo
Thanks Roz@2. You are correct and I withdraw the comment
As everyone said, gentle, but none the worse for it; I always prefer elegant to difficult if there’s a choice between the two. I loved the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant that turned out to be a STEAKHOUSE. [All-you-can-eat sushi is indeed a thing. I was at a restaurant about a month ago that offered it–the sushi traveled around the restaurant on a refrigerated conveyor belt–but all the sushi I can eat is a small-enough amount that I ordered a la carte instead.]
LIKE OLD BOOTS is a new one for me.
LIKE OLD BOOTS = vigorously , is in Chambers93 so the setter has full cover .