Sleuth is this morning’s setter.
I got off to a slow start with this, but the long across and down solutions broke the back of the puzzle and I was able to finish it at a steady pace thereafter. I was held up by trying to parse OLEV instead of OLEG and I had thrown COFFIN in at 1 across instead of COFFER, so I couldn’t;t solve EDEN until I’d corrected that.
Thanks. Sleuth.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | COFFER |
Sound of one clearing throat and chest (6)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [sound of] of COUGHER (“one clearing ones throat”) | ||
| 4 | ADAPTIVE |
Fit into a seedy joint, being able to adjust? (8)
|
| APT (“fit”) into A DIVE (“a seedy joint”) | ||
| 9 | MOANED |
Had a beef Wellington lastly in Missouri with a media type (6)
|
| (wellingto)N [lastly] in (MO (Missouri) with A + Ed. (editor, so “media type”)) | ||
| 10 | PLATFORM |
Place with a tense set of students has policy programme (8)
|
| Pl. (place) with A + T (tense) + FORM (“set of students”) | ||
| 12 | OVER |
Completed song previously recorded with no lead (4)
|
| (c)OVER (“song previously recorded”) with no lead (letter) | ||
| 13 | FINCH |
Bird beginning to fly in Switzerland (5)
|
| [beginning to] F(ly) + IN + CH (IVR code for “Switzerland”) | ||
| 14 | PAWN |
Leave with uncle piece easily taken (4)
|
| Double definition, the “uncle” in the first being a pawnbroker | ||
| 17 | IMPORT DUTIES |
Possibly optimist rued certain taxes (6,6)
|
| *(optimist rued) [anag:possibly] | ||
| 20 | SOMERSAULTED |
When dancing, made sure lots did a leap in the air (12)
|
| *(made sure lots) [anag:when dancing] | ||
| 23 | OLEG |
Reaction in Spain to victory by good guy from Russia (4)
|
| OLE (“reaction in Spain to victory”) by G (good) | ||
| 24 | STEER |
Guide found in haste, erroneously (5)
|
| Hidden in [found in] “haSTE ERroneously” | ||
| 25 | IRAQ |
Measure of intelligence about Republican leading a place with oil reserves (4)
|
| IQ (“measure of intelligence”) about R (Republican) leading A | ||
| 28 | BOAT RACE |
Competition in the main? (4,4)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 29 | PATINA |
Film making American money in Pennsylvania (6)
|
| A (American) + TIN (“money”) in PA (Pennsylvania) | ||
| 30 | EXERCISE |
Do some runs, say, in this place discovered amid duty (8)
|
| (h)ER(e) (“in this place”, discovered) amid EXCISE (“duty”) | ||
| 31 | LEAGUE |
Workmate giving up pass for union (6)
|
| (col)LEAGUE (“workmate”) giving up COL (mountain “pass”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CAMBODIA |
Agents detaining a doctor with revolutionary party somewhere in Asia (8)
|
| CIA (Central Intelligence Agency, so “agents”) detaining (A + MB (Bachelor of Medicine, so “doctor”) with [revolutionary] <=DO (“party”)) | ||
| 2 | FLARE-UPS |
Fine pal sure to get agitated in bursts of violence (5-3)
|
| F (fine) + *(pal sure) [anag:to get agitated] | ||
| 3 | EDEN |
Runner in Cumbria gained endorsement? Not entirely (4)
|
| Hidden in [not entirely] “gainED ENdorsement”
The river EDEN “runs” through Cumbria. |
||
| 5 | DELICATESSEN |
Director sees a client excited in site offering exotic fare? (12)
|
| D (director) + *(sees a client) [anag:excited] | ||
| 6 | PATH |
Walkers follow this plot of land ignoring cold (4)
|
| PAT(c)H (“plot of land”) [ignoring] C (cold) | ||
| 7 | ISOBAR |
Boris is confused about a feature of a weather chart (6)
|
| *(boris) [anag:is confused] about A | ||
| 8 | ERMINE |
Unwelcome creatures first off , source of expensive fur (6)
|
| (v)ERMIN (“unwanted creatures” with first (letter) off) + [source of] E(xpensive) | ||
| 11 | FIDDLESTICKS |
Doctors have moments showing expression of annoyance (12)
|
| FIDDLES (“doctors”) have TICKS (“moments”) | ||
| 15 | PROOF |
Pressure on upper limit for evidence (5)
|
| P (pressure) on ROOF (“upper limit”) | ||
| 16 | REBUT |
Puzzle shortly over character opening this counter (5)
|
| REBU(s) (“puzzle”, shortly) over [character opening] T(his) | ||
| 18 | STERLING |
Very reliable currency (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | ADEQUATE |
Middling union cut by half within a specified time (8)
|
| EQU(ity) (actors’ “union”, cut by half) within A DATE (“a specified time”) | ||
| 21 | SOMBRE |
Second card game of a dull nature (6)
|
| S (second) + OMBRE (“card game”) | ||
| 22 | DECADE |
Long period showing evidence of corruption, reportedly (6)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of DECAYED (“showing evidence of corruption”) | ||
| 26 | CROC |
Decrepit sort picked up snapper (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [picked up] of CROCK (“decrepit sort”) | ||
| 27 | CARE |
Worry about flipping time (4)
|
| C (circa, so “about”) + [flipping] <=ERA (“time”) |
I got the top and left-hand perimeter clues early, which oiled the works nicely
Liked the surfaces of COFFER, FINCH, and SOMERSAULTED
NHO OMBRE / OMBER and I think a DELICATESSEN defined as “offering exotic fare” says more about the setter than the shop. Could not parse ADEQUATE
Thanks Sleuth and loonapick
A nice batch of definitions, nothing obscure, and well-worked surfaces.
22(d), I’m not sure about “long” period. ( for DECADE ).
Personally, “union” = EQUITY, (19d), was a bit niche, I only twigged after getting the solution.
28(ac) is a very crafty idea, and CD, but… for me, THE boat race is not “in the main”, so the answer is a bit “green paint”.
But hey….it is a cracking puzzle, very doable and enjoyable.
Thanks, Sleuth + loonapick
Thanks Sleuth and loonapick
5dn: Collins 2023 p 529 gives delicatessen n 1 a shop selling various foods, esp unusual or imported foods, already cooked or prepared. I think “exotic” fits well to “unusual or imported”.
I seemed to be on Sleuth’s wavelength and so found this enjoyable and smooth sailing. I like the ‘beef Wellington’ idea in 9A, and the definitions of PATINA and REBUT being nicely embedded within their surfaces.
Thanks to Sleuth and Loonapick.
Couldn’t get DECADE – I was looking for something ending in ‘-age’ but in any case I would pronounce the first syllable with a short E so the homohone doesn’t work for me. Apart from that a pleasant and not too difficult solve.
Thanks, Sleuth and loonapick.
PB@3: Thanks for providing one of the definitions of delicatessen. To clarify, I@1 did not say this meaning is wrong, I just mused about which definition the setter chose to use.
Enjoyed this one although Sombre took too long to drop.
Fiddlesticks was my fav.
I found the top half flew in; the lower was slower.
Thanks