A toughie from GUY this Friday.
FF: 8 DD: 10
I got through 75% of it before needing to get some help with the solves in the interest of getting the blog out.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SCURVY |
Siren primarily voluptuous menace to sailors (6)
|
| S ( Siren, primarily ) CURVY ( voluptuous ) | ||
| 4 | SANGUINE |
Celebrated victory, sounding that confident (8)
|
| SANG ( celebrated ) UINE ( sounds like WIN, victory ) | ||
| 10 | RECUMBENT |
Lying copper married criminal after romance on vacation (9)
|
| RE ( RomancE, without inner letters ) CU ( copper ) M ( married ) BENT ( criminal ) | ||
| 11 | OOMPH |
Energy zero, speed corresponding to that? (5)
|
| O ( zero ) O MPH ( 0 mph, speed corresponding to zero ) | ||
| 12 | SOPHISTICATED |
Clever chap sets idiot anagrams (13)
|
| [ CHAP SETS IDIOT ] | ||
| 15 | ORDINANCE |
Regulation in force around Brittany town, but fine cancelled (9)
|
| fORCE ( without F – fine ) around DINAN ( brittany town ) | ||
| 17 | IDAHO |
Turned back some who had illegal ID (5)
|
| hidden reversed in “..whO HAD Illegal..” | ||
| 18 | ROVER |
Typical dog runs too much (5)
|
| R ( runs ) OVER ( too much ) | ||
| 19 | PERSEVERE |
Soldier on a grave (9)
|
| PER ( a ) SEVERE ( grave ) | ||
| 21 | SALMAN RUSHDIE |
Writer’s original surname is Dahl (6,7)
|
| [ SURNAME IS DAHL ]* | ||
| 24 | AGAIN |
Military leader elected for another term? (5)
|
| AGA ( military leader ) IN ( elected ) | ||
| 25 | BILLABONG |
No object you throw comes back in vast Aussie backwater (9)
|
| { reverse of [ NO BALL ( object you throw ) ] } in BIG ( vast ) | ||
| 27 | PRESTIGE |
Honour litter bearer carrying others back from battle (8)
|
| [ REST ( others ) in PIG ( litter bearer ) ] E ( battE, last letter ) | ||
| 28 | CLOSET |
Finish last in cricket in which you’re not out? (6)
|
| CLOSE ( finish ) T ( crickeT, last letter ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STRASBOURG |
Grass to rub off Alsatian’s seat (10)
|
| [ GRASS TO RUB ]; alsatian referring to ‘of alsace’ | ||
| 2 | UNCAP |
Open new account upset charges increase (5)
|
| [ N ( new ) CA ( account = AC, reversed ) ] in UP ( increase ) | ||
| 3 | VIM |
Drive taking M4 the other way (3)
|
| reverse of M IV ( 4, roman numerals ) | ||
| 5 | ARTICLE |
Very common adjective journalist’s writing (7)
|
| double def | ||
| 6 | GHOSTLINESS |
Eery quality publican notes in empty gents (11)
|
| [ HOST ( publican ) LINES ( notes ) ] in GS ( GentS, empty i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 7 | IMMEDIATE |
Next time swimming across different channels (9)
|
| [ TIME ]* containing MEDIA ( different channels ) | ||
| 8 | ECHT |
German’s sterling kept by Czech tourist (4)
|
| hidden in “..czECH Tourist” | ||
| 9 | NEWTON |
Old Cambridge professor went dancing and running (6)
|
| [ WENT ]* ON ( running ) | ||
| 13 | INNER PLANET |
Private jet back in first world on shorter round trip (5,6)
|
| INNER ( private ) PLANE ( jet ) T ( firsT, last letter of ) | ||
| 14 | LOSE WEIGHT |
According to Spooner, courts at night become lighter (4,6)
|
| spoonerism of WOOS ( courts ) LATE ( night? ) | ||
| 16 | DEVASTATE |
Really upset Hindu god, say (9)
|
| DEVA ( hindu god ) STATE ( say ) | ||
| 19 | PEAT BOG |
Gap to be fixed, soaking fuel store? (4,3)
|
| [ GAP TO BE ]* | ||
| 20 | RARELY |
Gunners count with large intervals (6)
|
| RA ( gunners ) RELY ( count ) | ||
| 22 | DROSS |
Refuse piece of cake that Republican cuts (5)
|
| R ( republican ) in DOSS ( piece of cake, easy task ) | ||
| 23 | DAMP |
Supplier of hydro power affected by water? (4)
|
| DAM ( supplier of hydro~ ) P ( power ) | ||
| 26 | ALL |
Walls with bearings removed on each side (3)
|
| wALLs ( without directions at the extremeties, West, South ) |
Thanks Guy and Turbolegs
4ac: I prefer to think of this as SANGUINE sounding like SANG WIN. I am not sure that UINE really has a pronunciation.
14dn: I think the indication for LATE is “at night”.
My faves: SANGUINE, OOMPH, IDAHO, UNCAP, INNER PLANET,
LOSE WEIGHT and DAMP.
PEAT BLOG
I think ‘soaking’ is part of the def.
LOSE WEIGHT
courts at night=woos late (Taking it together with ‘at’ makes a better reading, I feel)
Thanks Guy and Turbolegs.
Thought I was going to get almost nowhere after the first pass.
In the end the one I couldn’t parse was the DOSS part of DROSS.
Pelham Barton@1
SANGUINE
Agree with you.
This was a super way to end the working week, with 21a alone well worth the effort.
The grid was chock-full of clever and imaginative wordplay from the surface of STRASBOURG to the neat simplicity of PERSEVERE, RARELY and VIM. I also liked 1a’s surface hinting at a mythological threat but producing an unpleasant seafarer’s malady instead.
Very satisfying.
Thanks to Guy and Turbolegs.
Thanks Guy. This was a slog and a big DNF for me. Of course there were some very satisfying clues such as RECUMBENT, SOPHISTICATED, IDAHO (COTD), VIM, and NEWTON. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Thanks for the blog , great puzzle , Diane@5 has put it much better than I can .
LOSE WEIGHT , agree with KVa@2 , the whole phrase is Spoonerised .
Rather chuffed to have finished this, given the blogger’s comments, and fairly briskly (for me). A doable challenge. Thanks to Guy and Turbolegs.