This was fun. Slormgorm frequently coincides with my blogging slot, and every time I start off thinking that the familiarity developed from past blogs will help in solving each new puzzle. Wrong again, since this puzzle provided its own twists and turns.
I am not sure that I have ever seen TUMEFIED in real life, but it was deducible from the clue.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TUBBIEST |
Most well-upholstered bath cap that one wears (8)
|
| TUB (bath) + {I (one) inside (that . . . wears) BEST (cap)}, with a euphemistic definition | ||
| 5 | OTHERS |
Parents in need of bit of mollifying rest (6)
|
| [M]OTHERS (parents) minus (in need of) first letter of (bit of) M[OLLIFYING] | ||
| 10 | MALACHI |
Prophet from a church in African state (7)
|
| {A + CH (church)} inside (in) MALI (African state) | ||
| 11 | AFFRONT |
Deliberately offensive act in a show on radio (7)
|
| Homophone of (on radio) A FRONT (a show) | ||
| 12 | FLYWEIGHT |
One boxes whey gift up with muscleman essentially (9)
|
| Anagram of (up) {WHEY + GIFT + middle letter of (essentially) [MUSC]L[EMAN]} | ||
| 13 | SOBER |
Plain and dull as all teetotallers are? (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | EXAMS |
Chopper to be reviewed by Sunday after mass tests (5)
|
| AXE (chopper) reversed (to be reviewed) + M (mass) + S (Sunday), with “after” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 16 | GENITALS |
Privates stealing explosive (8)
|
| Anagram of (explosive) STEALING | ||
| 19 | ACIDHEAD |
Tripper did ache badly after accident at front (8)
|
| First letter of (at front) A[CCIDENT] + anagram of (badly) {DID ACHE} | ||
| 20 | IBIZA |
Business located in Iowa holiday spot (5)
|
| BIZ ([slang for] business) inside (located in) IA (Iowa) | ||
| 21 | CARDS |
Knaves smuggling rupees for knaves? (5)
|
| CADS (knaves) around (smuggling) R (rupees) | ||
| 23 | LAVENDERS |
Reason old queen enters loos to get perfumes? (9)
|
| {END (reason) + ER (old queen)} inside (enters) LAVS (loos). I guess the grammar works on this one if “reason old queen” is treated collectively. | ||
| 25 | AMUSING |
Thinking on drop of alcohol can be funny (7)
|
| First letter of (drop of) A[LCOHOL] + MUSING (thinking) | ||
| 27 | COLLECT |
Gather together some protocol lectures (7)
|
| Hidden in (some) [PROTO]COL LECT[URES] | ||
| 28 | ELEVEN |
Sports team possibly drawn by The Spanish (6)
|
| EL (the [in] Spanish) + EVEN (drawn) | ||
| 29 | DRESS TIE |
Earl put on outfit with this on occasion? (5,3)
|
| &lit and DRESS (outfit) + alternate letters of (on occasion) T[H]I[S] + E (earl), with “put on” also indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TUMEFIED |
Swollen stomach I feed without restraint (8)
|
| TUM (stomach) + anagram of (without restraint) {I FEED} | ||
| 2 | BELLY DANCER |
Corporate mover and shaker? (5,6)
|
| Cryptic definition, playing on the informal meaning of “corporation” | ||
| 3 | INCREASED |
When to cut awfully nice red rose (9)
|
| AS (when) inside (to cut) anagram of (awfully) {NICE RED} | ||
| 4 | STING |
Smart son idiot upset heading for graduation (5)
|
| S (son) + NIT (idiot) inverted (upset) + first letter of (heading for) G[RADUATION] | ||
| 6 | TOFFS |
Rotten to run into extremely tedious posh peeps (5)
|
| OFF (rotten) inside (to run into) outside letters of (extremely) T[EDIOU]S, “peeps” here being slang for “people” | ||
| 7 | EGO |
I try to follow edicts… at first (3)
|
| First letter of (at first) E[DICTS] + GO (try), with “to follow” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 8 | SITAR |
One picked up by George Harrison? (5)
|
| &lit and I (one) inside (picked up by) STAR (George Harrison?), an instrument he was famous for studying and popularizing | ||
| 9 | FASTENED |
Imprisoned nurse inside abstained from food (8)
|
| EN (nurse) inside FASTED (abstained from food). Although “fastened” and “imprisoned” can both mean “restrained,” I am not sure they are quite synonyms. | ||
| 14 | BELLIGERENT |
Scrappy green belt I hooked round back of heel (11)
|
| Anagram of (hooked) {GREEN BELT I} around (round) last letter of (back of) [HEE]L | ||
| 16 | GREYLAGS |
Flappers seen with unhealthy-looking convicts (8)
|
| GREY (unhealthy-looking) + LAGS (convicts), referring to a species of goose | ||
| 17 | TRIANGLES |
They have a tinkle in large tins after surgery (9)
|
| Anagram of (after surgery) LARGE TINS, referring to the percussion instrument | ||
| 18 | CASSETTE |
Bag up sofa without using last of adhesive tape (8)
|
| SAC (bag) inverted (up) + SETTE[E] (sofa) minus last letter of (without using last of) [ADHESIV]E | ||
| 21 | CHASE |
Go after husband during legal proceedings (5)
|
| H (husband) inside (during) CASE (legal proceedings) | ||
| 22 | SHINE |
Polish hotel admitted to error with pride ultimately (5)
|
| {H (hotel) inside (admitted to) SIN (error)} + last letter of (ultimately) [PRID]E | ||
| 24 | VICAR |
One collared by police unit mostly on a river (5)
|
| VIC[E] (police unit) minus last letter (mostly) + A + R (river), with “collared” meaning “wearing a collar” | ||
| 26 | USE |
Do drugs you possess deteriorate in the end? (3)
|
| Last letters of (in the end) [YO]U + [POSSES]S + [DETERIORAT]E |
I interpreted 23 as you did, Cineraria, and agree with your intro here in that I found this Slormgorm chewier than usual. That made it a very engaging solve.
I liked BELLY DANCER, INCREASED, EGO, CARDS and OTHERS among a slew of amusing surfaces and neat charades.
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria.
I needed a bit of time with this one, particularly the NE corner.
All parsed and I thought GENITALS and KNAVES had nice surfaces
I did not know GREYLAGS nor lags for convicts and needed the crossers. One question: is there any reason beyond style that 6 uses peeps rather than people?
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
Martyn@2: “Peep” has at least a couple of other meanings, so I assumed the setter was trying to misdirect us.
Yes, it certainly misdirected me. Thanks Cineraria
Agree about 9d, only ever seen fastening applied to inanimate objects (which, in turn, don’t get imprisoned); not a jailable offence tho. Didn’t see a problem with 23ac. Nice puzzle, ta S & C.
I’m glad some of you “peeps” finished; I didn’t. The northeast corner defeated me.
Might go for a walk and see if I can spot some greylags.