Very nice to see Italicus again on a Monday
And as we have come to expect from this setter (as well as his FT alter ego, Steerpike), he has given us a pangram. Had I thought to expect this beforehand, it might have aided the solve, but I didn’t, so it didn’t. Nonetheless, this was a very pleasant and reasonably straightforward affair, just right for a Monday morning. There were a fair number of “vacation”-style clues as well as their opposites, which we might call the “essentialies”. This is certainly not a criticism, merely an observation.
Smooth meaningful surfaces always increase the pleasure to be had from solving cryptics, and today I had ticks for WOMBAT, GREMLINS, MACHISMO, the fearful Timorese rodent, the marvellously alarming EJECTS and the enraged Maga chants. Many thanks indeed to Italicus.
Moh’s patently daft cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Calcite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WOMBAT |
Marsupial reproductive organ initially astounded taxonomists (6)
|
| WOMB + A[stounded] T[axonomists] | ||
| 5 | GREMLINS |
Troublemakers playing REM single endlessly (8)
|
| Anagram (playing) of REM SINGL[e] | ||
| 9 | BEWAIL |
Lament extremely bizarre rule about nursing institute (6)
|
| B[izarr]E + reversal of LAW around (nursing) I (institute) | ||
| 10 | MACHISMO |
Chairman maintains church is centre of harmful masculinity (8)
|
| MAO (chairman) around (maintains) CH IS (church is) M (centre of harmful) | ||
| 11 | MEANDERS |
Turns nasty colour, repulsed by sulphur (8)
|
| MEAN (nasty) + reversal (repulsed) of RED + S | ||
| 12 | AVERSE |
Opposed state surveillance on vacation (6)
|
| AVER (state) + S[urveillanc]E | ||
| 13 | ZONE |
District of Cadiz on escarpment (4)
|
| Hidden in cadiZ ON Escarpment. I guess ‘of’ is the hidden word indicator, as even by itself it can imply ‘part of’ | ||
| 15 | TIMOROUS |
Fearful rodent discovered on Southeast Asian island (8)
|
| [m]OUS[e] (rodent discovered) after TIMOR (southeast Asian island) | ||
| 18 | HERDSMAN |
Detective entertained by Melville’s name for bucolic character (8)
|
| DS (detective sergeant) inside (entertained by) HERMAN (Melville, author of Moby-Dick) | ||
| 19 | SOLO |
Piece one played very softly in auditorium (4)
|
| Soundalike (in auditorium) of “so low” | ||
| 21 | RIBALD |
Funny bone with a large diameter (6)
|
| RIB + A + L + D | ||
| 23 | MISQUOTE |
Times desperately stifling question over inaccurate citation (8)
|
| Anagram (desperately) of TIMES around (stifling) QU O (question over) | ||
| 25 | INHERENT |
Entire broadcast about New Hampshire native (8)
|
| Anagram (broadcast) of ENTIRE around NH | ||
| 26 | INFAMY |
Popular fellow beginning to appreciate setter’s notoriety (6)
|
| IN + F + A[ppreciate] + MY | ||
| 27 | RELAUNCH |
A filling meal after essentially free promotional event (8)
|
| A inside (filling) LUNCH after [f]RE[e] | ||
| 28 | EJECTS |
Releases tip of willie caught in flies! (6)
|
| E (tip of williE – here it would be more usual for that to clue W rather than E, though I guess it works for both ends of a word) + JETS (flies) around C | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OBESE |
Burmese boarding houses served up super roly-poly (5)
|
| Hidden reversal (houses, served up) in burmESE BOarding | ||
| 3 | BRAIN-DEAD |
Stupid Scandinavian spawned Spoonerism (5-4)
|
| Spoonerism of “Dane bred” | ||
| 4 | TALKER |
Hunter S dismissed as gossip? (6)
|
| [s]TALKER (hunter with the S dismissed – no reference to the late gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson) | ||
| 5 | GAME SET AND MATCH |
Enraged MAGA chants meet defending Democrat’s victory statement (4,3,3,5)
|
| Anagram (enraged) of MAGA CHANTS MEET around (defending) D | ||
| 6 | EXCLAIMS |
Cries of former international comprehended by reticent people (8)
|
| EX (former) + I (international) inside (comprehended by) CLAMS (reticent people) | ||
| 7 | LOIRE |
Odd characters fleeing flood in Rye Valley (5)
|
| Alternate letters (odd characters fleeing) of fLoOd In RyE | ||
| 8 | NUMBSKULL |
Drunken bum slunk around Lima? Idiot! (9)
|
| Anagram (drunken) of BUM SLUNK around L (Lima in the Nato alphabet) | ||
| 14 | OBEDIENCE |
Deference award one kept in study overlooking empty countryside (9)
|
| OBE (award) + I inside (one kept in) DEN + C[ountrysid]E | ||
| 16 | RESHUFFLE |
Drag one’s feet following concerning shake-up (9)
|
| SHUFFLE after RE | ||
| 17 | SMIDGEON |
Pinch child squashing tiny insect (8)
|
| SON around (squashing) MIDGE | ||
| 20 | ASPIRE |
Seek over-the-counter drug when lacking in energy (6)
|
| ASPIR[in] (OTC drug lacking “in”) + E | ||
| 22 | ARENA |
An epoch reflected in entertainment venue (5)
|
| Reversal (reflected) of AN ERA | ||
| 24 | TEMPT |
Seduce office worker close to retirement (5)
|
| TEMP + [retiremen]T |
There are two things I always associate with this setter’s puzzles – pangrams and good fun. The former helped with 28a, my last one in.
I see had a wrong answer for 4d. I entered “teller” which fits with the checkers and and definition and is a plausible alternative based on STELLER (a type of sea eagle, so “hunter”) minus the S.
WOMBAT was my favourite of many ticked clues.
Many thanks to Italicus and to MOH.
Nice crisp clean puzzle. Nothing to complain about. The surface for GAME, SET AND MATCH made me smile. Likewise OBEDIENCE and BRAIN-DEAD.
Thanks both
Nice puzzle. Great blog.
Liked BRAIN-DEAD and GAME, SET and MATCH.
Thanks Italicus and MOH.
An accomplished puzzle, lots to like, nothing to dislike. I’ll wager that 3(d) and 5(d) [ BRAIN etc., GAME etc., ] were the setter’s starting clues, and jolly good ones, too…..since……it’s a grid of two halves, the right side being relatively easy, whilst the left half is more elusive, and home to better clues.
I’m not so impressed by New Hampshire in 25(ac), a bit of barrel-scraping methinks, when US postcodes are the cryptic device. Compare with LIMA = L, in 8(d), which is fair play.
15(ac) TIMOROUS, best in show, given the nice undertone of the Burns poem, “To A Mouse”.
A jolly good show, thumbs up both, Italicus + moh