Gurney is todays compiler in the FT.
After a few short entires slotted in without my having to think too hard, I needed to solve METAPHORICAL and GLOBETROTTER to give me a few more crossing letters before I could get my teeth into the puzzle. It took way too long to solve the other two long entries, which held me up for a bit, SERENADE and DRAGOON were the last two to be solved and satisfactorily parsed, so I got there in the end, but it took a while.
Thanks Gurney.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | METAPHORICAL |
Using images, sadly proclaim hate (12)
|
| *(proclaim hate) [anag:sadly] | ||
| 10 | ORCHARD |
Fruit here as alternative to vegetable (7)
|
| OR (“as alternative to”) + CHARD (“vegetable”) | ||
| 11 | DRAGOON |
After return, no opening for difficult criminal force (7)
|
| <=(h)ARD (“difficult” with no opening, after return) + GOON (“criminal”) | ||
| 12 | COATI |
Mammal’s outside layer is trimmed (5)
|
| COAT (“outside layer”) + I(s) [trimmed] | ||
| 13 | SERENADE |
To beloved, this possibly endears one ultimately? (8)
|
| *(endears e) [anag:possibly] where E is (on)E [ultimately] | ||
| 15 | MENACINGLY |
Trouble in my glance? (10)
|
| *(in my glance) [anag:trouble] and &lit. | ||
| 16 | EDIT |
Revise course after reflection (4)
|
| <=TIDE (“course”, after reflection) | ||
| 18 | LIST |
Lean piece of veal is tempting (4)
|
| Hidden in [piece of] “veaL IS Tempting” | ||
| 20 | PASSIONATE |
Difficult situation — island, extremely tense, emotional (10)
|
| PASS (“difficult situation”) + IONA (Hebridean “island”) + [extremely] T(ens)E | ||
| 22 | ANARCHIC |
Part of Norman arch I cite as following no rules (8)
|
| Hidden in [part of] “normAN ARCH I Cite” | ||
| 24 | SYRIA |
Country premises finally well-ventilated, written about (5)
|
| (premise)S [finally] + <=AIRY (“well-ventilated”, written about) | ||
| 26 | CHIMERA |
Unrealistic idea? Agree, risible actually at the outset (7)
|
| CHIME (“agree”) + R(isible) A(ctually) [at the outset] | ||
| 27 | SPANIEL |
Glib talk about a new pet? (7)
|
| SPIEL (“glib talk”) about A + N (new) | ||
| 28 | GLOBETROTTER |
Attempt to include large wager by despicable guy — he’s seen many places (12)
|
| GO (“attempt”) to include L (large) + BET (“wager”) by ROTTER (“despicable guy”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ENCHAIN |
Captivate attention of number coming up, welcoming tea (7)
|
| <=NINE (“number”, coming up) welcoming CHA (“tea”) | ||
| 3 | AT A PINCH |
After first-class exploit, move carefully forward if necessary (2,1,5)
|
| after A (first class) + TAP (“exploit”), INCH (“move forward”) | ||
| 4 | HIDE |
The man gathering papers, obscure (4)
|
| HE (“the man”) gathering ID (identitfication “papers”) | ||
| 5 | RUDDERLESS |
Daughter introduced to complicated dress rule with no clear aim (10)
|
| D (daughter) introduced to *(dress rule) [anag:complicated] | ||
| 6 | CRAVE |
Urgently need word of warning about Romeo? (5)
|
| CAVE (Latin for “beware”, so “word of warning”) about R (Romeo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 7 | LEOPARD |
One spotted senior church figure, American friend in brief (7)
|
| (Pope) LEO (XIV) (“senior church figure”) + PARD(ner) (“American friend”, in brief) | ||
| 8 | NONCOMPLIANCE |
Regularly unsound, complain with exchange of letters, engineer a refusal to budge (13)
|
| [regularly] (u)N(s)O(u)N(d) + COMPL(ai)N [with exchange of letters] becomes COMPL(IA)N + CE (civil “engineer”) | ||
| 9 | UNDER THE TABLE |
One over the eight, referring to sweetener? (5,3,5)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to being very drunk, the second to an illicit deal | ||
| 14 | INVALIDATE |
Discredit dreadful vigilante ad, no good (10)
|
| *(viilante ad) [anag:dreadful] where VIILANTE is VI(g)ILANTE with no G (good) | ||
| 17 | CONSTANT |
Loyal contestant missing outside of Tralee? (8)
|
| CON(te)STANT missing [outside of] T(rale)E | ||
| 19 | STAYING |
On visit for while, give information about river (7)
|
| SING (“give information”) about (River) TAY | ||
| 21 | AIRLINE |
Firm on the up in broadcast row? (7)
|
| AIR (“broadcast”) + LINE (“row”) | ||
| 23 | CREDO |
Clubs have another go at set of principles (5)
|
| C (clubs) + REDO (“have another go at”) | ||
| 25 | TSAR |
Leader at first taking serious action rapidly (4)
|
| [at first] T(aking) S(erious) A(ction) R(apidly) |
Thanks for the blog , good and solid set of clues with nice touches .
ENCHAIN held me up , could not get away from enchant with the cha but failed to make the number bit work . Not convinced by the definition but will check Chambers later .
GLOBETROTTER could have involved Harlem for a bit of 70s nostalgia .
We seem to see Gurney around the middle of each month. This started off easily enough, but I then found several clues challenging that were easier to answer than parse.
It certainly started off with a bang – I really liked 1ac. I also thought SYRIA and ORCHARD were clever
I was unable to parse UNDER THE TABLE (NHO one over the eight = drunk) and DRAGOON. I was not sure what american friend in brief is in LEOPARD and find it hard to believe it is pardner. NHO CAVE as word of warning – seems to be English school slang. In PASSIONATE, why is difficult situation = PASS?
Thanks Gurney and loonapick. In particular thanks for teaching me even more British slang for drunk and criminal. I think I must have encountered at least 100 new examples of each in these crosswords.
Martyn@2 , CAVE is Latin for beware , CAVE CANEM is preserved in a mosatc at Pompeii . Think I have heard PARD in old Westerns .
For LEOPARD, I thought the senior church figure was Lord and the American friend was a pal, leaving an unexplained E. Good to see a more plausible parsing.
Good fun, and I learnt another Scottish river.
Roz@1: Having looked at Chambers(2016) I don’t think ENCHAIN=CAPTIVATE either (or only at a very long stretch). I wonder whether Gurney was confusing enchain/enchant and/or captivate/capture. Perhaps Pelham Barton will have something to say later.
Collins has this under ENCHAIN
to hold fast or captivate (the attention etc)
(Chambers has ‘to hold fast (informal)’)
Martyn@2
I think difficult situation=PASS as in “It has reached such a pass”.
Someone may have a better explanation.