STEERPIKE serves up a gentle treat this Friday.
FF: 8 DD: 5
Apologies for the late blog as I have been on the move for most of the day today.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HAMMOCK |
Ridicule dogs histrionic performer in bed? (7)
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HAM ( histrionic performer ) MOCK ( ridicule ) |
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| 5 | INHABIT |
People wearing monastic garb (7)
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IN ( ~wearing ) HABIT ( monastic garb ) |
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| 9 | MANGE |
Reflecting, say, on chap’s cause of hair loss (5)
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MAN ( chap ) GE ( reverse of E.G. , say ) |
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| 10 | REFERENCE |
Quotation about barrier around outskirts of Rome (9)
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RE ( about ) [ FENCE ( barrier ) around RE ( RomE, outskirts of i.e. end characters ) ] |
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| 11 | RECONQUER |
Win back heart of warrior queen, battling with orc (9)
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R ( warRior, central character ) [ QUEEN ORC ]* |
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| 12 | BOOZE |
Taken aback by private zoo banning drinks (5)
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hidden, reversed in "..privatE ZOO Banning.." |
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| 13 | SWEDE |
European married in style on vacation (5)
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WED ( married ) in SE ( StylE, on vacation i.e. without inner letters ) |
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| 15 | FACULTIES |
Fellow leading a weird sect is thwarted by European powers (9)
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F ( fellow ) A CULT ( weird sect ) [ IS containing E ( european ) ] |
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| 18 | PESTILENT |
Disease-ridden poor settle in east of Portugal (9)
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[ SETTLE IN P ( Portugal, east of i.e. left most letter ) ]* |
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| 19 | SHADY |
Suspect characters in leathers had Yamahas (5)
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hidden in "..leatherS HAD Yamahas" |
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| 21 | TIBET |
Bird crossing extremely bare, mountainous region (5)
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TIT ( bird ) containing BE ( BarE, extremely i.e. end letters ) |
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| 23 | DRAINPIPE |
Breaking cover, detective follows home waste collector? (9)
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[ IN ( home ) PI ( detective, Private Investigator ) ] in DRAPE ( cover ) |
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| 25 | HUMANISES |
Preparing mean sushi makes one more relatable (9)
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[ MEAN SUSHI ]* |
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| 26 | VIAND |
Delicacy finally served after a cracking French wine (5)
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[ A in VIN ( french wine ) ] D ( serveD, finally ) |
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| 27 | TOSSERS |
They throw things at horses and zebras occasionally (7)
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alternate letter of "..aT hOrSeS zEbRaS.." |
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| 28 | SPLAYED |
Dramatic piece editor put on first of six-page spread (7)
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S ( Six-page, first letter of ) PLAY ( dramatic piece ) ED ( editor ) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HUMERUS |
Play along with setters, reportedly supplying bone (7)
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sounds like HUMOR US ( play along with setters ) |
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| 2 | MONICKERS |
Alternative names for minute undergarments without opening (9)
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MO ( minutes ) kNICKERS ( undergarments, without first letter ) |
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| 3 | OCEAN |
Old church overlooking an expanse of water (5)
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O ( old ) CE ( church ) AN |
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| 4 | KERFUFFLE |
Kane disheartened and upset about France controversy (9)
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KE ( KanE, disheartened i.e. without inner letters ) [ RUFFLE ( upset ) around F ( France ) ] |
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| 5 | INFER |
Surmise case of Italian match official is over (5)
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IN ( ItaliaN, case of i.e. end letters ) FER ( reverse of REF – match official ) |
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| 6 | HORNBILLS |
Uplands bordering Oregon essentially abounding with black birds (9)
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HILLS ( uplands ) around [ OR ( oregon ) N ( abouNding, essentially i.e. central letter ) B ( black ) ] |
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| 7 | BANJO |
Instrument of justice cop unsheathed pursuing outlaw (5)
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BAN ( outlaw ) J ( justice ) O ( cOp, unsheathed i.e. without end letters ) |
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| 8 | THESEUS |
Heroic character initially stopped English invading America (7)
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[ S ( Stopped, initially ) E ( English ) ] in THE US ( america ) |
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| 14 | EXISTENCE |
Former partner entices diabolical being (9)
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EX ( former partner ) [ ENTICES ]* |
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| 16 | CUTLASSES |
Hackers deliberately avoid young women (9)
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CUT ( deliberately avoid ) LASSES ( young women ) |
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| 17 | IMAGINARY |
Mythical island cultivated grain and yams mostly (9)
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I ( island ) [ GRAIN YAMs ( mostly ) ]* |
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| 18 | POTSHOT |
Prevent upstanding husband rising to unfair criticism (7)
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POTS ( prevent = STOP, reversed ) H ( husband ) OT ( reverse of TO ) |
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| 20 | YIELDED |
Bore accepted defeat (7)
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double def |
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| 22 | BUMPS |
Jostles politician boarding vehicle (5)
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MP ( politician ) in BUS ( vehicle ) |
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| 23 | DOSES |
Sits daughter in position of power for draughts (5)
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pOSES ( sits ) with D – daughter replacing P – power |
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| 24 | NAVAL |
Sort of orange scar on abdomen (5)
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double def |
Thanks Steerpike and Turbolegs. I think 24dn should be NAVEL. Perhaps bizarrely, when it occurred to me to check for a pangram, the letters I was missing were Y and Z, which I got with my next two answers (SPLAYED and BOOZE).
Thanks for the blog , very good clues with lots of neat wordplay .
For PESTILENT I had Portugal=P and the anagram to the East of P . ( East of Portugal would be L ) .
Dr John , TV quiz Phd , bags few lynx .
This was a corker!! A couple of NHOs for me – VIAND, NAVEL (for an orange) – but all perfectly gettable from the clues. I thought the clues for DRAINPIPE & FACULTIES were excellent. Many thanks, STEERPIKE!
18ac: I agree with Roz@2: [SETTLE IN]* following (east of, in an across clue) P.
I am not sure why Roz has given us a sentence with 26 letters including two Ds, two Hs, and two Ns, but no C, K, or M. Maybe it was to see if anyone would spot this, and be bothered enough to comment.
Brain freeze .
Mr Jock , TV quiz Phd , bags few lynx .
I was going to comment on NAVEL and Pestilent but no point now (but I’ve just done it anyways). I guess Turbolegs is American given his spelling of HUMOUR.
A kindly challenge, but smoothly compiled.
Not the hint of a quibble, and I enjoyed every clue.
Thanks, SP & TL
A gentle treat as the weekend approaches; our only problem was with 23dn where for far too long we thought the definition was ‘sits’. Favourites werE FACULTIES and CUTLASSES.
Thanks, Steerpike and Turbolegs.
Just my level. Thanks.
Surely the point of a DRAINPIPE is that your waste doesn’t collect there…
Thanks T+S
Hi. This is my first post on here. I’ve been doing cryptic crosswords for about five years now and do pretty well most days. My absolute bugbear, however, is reading someone on here or in the comments on the Guardian saying “a nice gentle breeze today” or words to that effect. It is so unbelievably disheartening for me, let alone a beginner. As it happens, I found this utterly impenetrable today. Congrats if you found it a gentle treat, I guess.
Welcome Marc. I took my time over this one. There’s no point worrying about what commenters say and the bloggers have earned the right to give their personal reactions. This is definitely a wavelength game. I could name 2 commenters on the Guardian thread who regularly dispatch (those whom I believe to be) the hardest setters while floundering on the easier ones. If you’re doing pretty well most days, just use the grating comments as motivation.