A most enjoyable puzzle from Peto today.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CROSSBOW |
Weapon maker’s back in Colombia getting secret service leaders to comply (8)
|
| {Last letter of (back [of]) [MAKE]R inside (in) CO (Colombia)} + first letters of (leaders [of]) S[ECRET] S[ERVICE] + BOW (comply) | ||
| 5 | ORIOLE |
Flier showing Baltimore baseballer (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | NUTCASE |
Foolish person subject of investigation by head (7)
|
| NUT (head) + CASE (subject of investigation) | ||
| 11 | TRAILER |
Follow with oddly dismissed retro film advert (7)
|
| TRAIL (follow) + even letters of (oddly dismissed) [R]E[T]R[O] | ||
| 12 | OPERATION |
Speech admitting extremely pervasive influence (9)
|
| ORATION (speech) around (admitting) outside letters of (extremely) P[ERVASIV]E | ||
| 13 | HARDY |
Brave duke interrupting heartless prince (5)
|
| D (duke) inside (interrupting) HA[R]RY (prince) minus middle letter (heartless) | ||
| 15 | EXALT |
Praise film featuring times with Capone (5)
|
| ET (film) around (featuring) {X (times) + AL (Capone)} | ||
| 16 | FORMLESS |
Don’t make so many without a definite shape (8)
|
| FORM LESS (Don’t make so many) | ||
| 19 | UPPER LIP |
Tooth protector’s superior edge (5,3)
|
| UPPER (superior) + LIP (edge) | ||
| 20 | TORTE |
Cake quote’s back after about-face of revolutionary (5)
|
| TROT (revolutionary) reversed (about-face of) last letter of (back [of]) [QUOT]E, with “after” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 21 | DATED |
Extremely upset over one type of shirt being unfashionable (5)
|
| DEAD (extremely) reversed (upset) around (over) T (one type of shirt) | ||
| 23 | CLOSE CALL |
Put an end to discussion of California students’ narrow escape (5,4)
|
| CLOSE (put an end to discussion) + CA (California) + {L + L} (students) | ||
| 25 | PUERILE |
Rue lie sadly after Penny becomes childishly silly (7)
|
| P (penny) + anagram of (sadly) {RUE LIE} | ||
| 27 | CASSIUS |
Clay once used sauciness ignoring norms especially at the start (7)
|
| Anagram of (used) SAUCI[NE]SS minus (ignoring) first letters of (at the start) {N[ORMS] + E[SPECIALLY]}, referring to the birth name of Muhammad Ali | ||
| 28 | TILLER |
Row about line at end of manual for steering mechanism (6)
|
| TIER (row) around (about) {L (line) + last letter of (end of) [MANUA]L} | ||
| 29 | SENTENCE |
Defendant’s punishment for deplorable scene outside hospital department (8)
|
| Anagram of (deplorable) SCENE around (outside) ENT (hospital department) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CONDONES |
Overlooks temporary traffic markers taking in river (8)
|
| CONES (temporary traffic markers) around (taking in) DON (river) | ||
| 2 | ON THE CARPET |
In trouble over article about regularly upset inside right (2,3,6)
|
| ON (over) + THE (article) + CA (about) {alternate letters of (regularly) [U]P[S]E[T] inside RT (right)} | ||
| 3 | SEA BATTLE |
Decide to grab first-class sailor returning from Trafalgar, for instance (3,6)
|
| SETTLE (decide) around (to grab) {A (first-class) + AB (sailor) reversed (returning)} | ||
| 4 | OBELI |
Priest supporting former pupil’s indications of textual corruption (5)
|
| OB (former pupil) + ELI (priest) | ||
| 6 | REACH |
Get to crack disappearance of bishop (5)
|
| [B]REACH (crack) minus (disappearance of) B (bishop) | ||
| 7 | OIL |
Helios somewhat upset by one kind of painting (3)
|
| Hidden in (somewhat) [HE]LIO[S] inverted (upset) | ||
| 8 | EARLY |
Not quite removing name before the appointed time (5)
|
| [N]EARLY (not quite) minus (removing) N (name) | ||
| 9 | ETON CROP |
Brief summary put up by policeman describing resistance in Barnet, for example (4,4)
|
| NOTE (brief summary) inverted (put up) + {COP (policeman) around (describing) R (resistance)} | ||
| 14 | RESERVATION |
Expression of doubt qualifying approval of allowance to cover new verse (11)
|
| RATION (allowance) around (to cover) anagram of (new) VERSE | ||
| 16 | FILM CREW |
Movie makers finding fine haze covering most of Cheshire town (4,4)
|
| FILM (fine haze) + CREW[E] (Cheshire town) minus last letter (most of) | ||
| 17 | LETTERSET |
Method of printing brief dates essentially on permit (9)
|
| LET (permit) + TERSE (brief) + middle letter of (essentially) [DA]T[ES] | ||
| 18 | DÉCLASSÉ |
Having lost status of French girl protected by the church (8)
|
| DE (of [in] French) + {LASS (girl) inside (protected by) CE (the church)} | ||
| 21 | DEPOT |
Drink up behind rear of old warehouse (5)
|
| Last letter of (rear of) [OL]D + TOPE (drink) inverted (up) | ||
| 22 | DRIVE |
Initiative shown by copper finally entering seedy bar (5)
|
| Last letter of (finally) [COPPE]R inside (entering) DIVE (seedy bar) | ||
| 24 | ON CUE |
In the past catching you speaking just at the right moment (2,3)
|
| ONCE (in the past) around (catching) U (homophone of [speaking] you) | ||
| 26 | EEL |
Letters from freeloader revealing slippery character (3)
|
| Hidden in (letters from . . . revealing) [FR]EEL[OADER] |
Thanks Peto and Cineraria
For the benefit of non Brits ETON CROP is a severe hair cut and Barnet is hair in Cockney rhyming slang. In the other hand I was completely baffled by the Baltimore baseballer clue 5ac although the bird was clear from the crossers.
Yes, I enjoyed this too.
The two three-letter answers OIL and EEL provided a handy way-in to the grid while LETTERSET and SENTENCE were my favourites.
Thanks Pete and Cineraria.
ORIOLE is a funny sort of clue: baffling if you’re British, and a complete write-in if you’re American. Usually it’s the other way around. In a way there’s not enough there, since the baseball team is named after the bird, but I guess “flier” being used misleadingly does just enough to make it cryptic.
This occupied my lunchtime nicely while my grandson napped. A couple of NHOs: OBELI & DÉCLASSÉ, but both solvable from the solid clueing. Thanks, @PETO.
I’m a bit confused about 17. “on permit” suggests “let” comes at the bottom, not the top. The alternative, that “on” belongs with “dates essentially” strikes me as a bit forced.
Babbler@5: I read “on” in 17D as meaning something like “tacked on at the end.” I think that this is a permissible, if perhaps less common, cryptic usage.
So many wordy clues and so many obscure references meant a lot of guessing the answer first and parsing the clue later. I am afraid this was not my favourite type of puzzle. Thanks anyway Peto, and thanks to Cineraria for the blog
Thanks Peto and Cineraria
17dn: The correct usage of “on” to indicate juxtaposition is a hardy perennial. Some editors insist that X on Y means YX in an across clue and XY in a down clue, and setters intending to publish in multiple journals would be wise to stick to that, but the FT certainly allows XY or YX in any clue. For YX in a down clue, I find it helpful to think of the notion that something (paper, paint, an electric light bulb, etc) is on a ceiling if it is directly below that ceiling.