An entertaining puzzle – I particularly liked 9ac, 2dn, 16dn, and 19dn. Thanks to Brummie
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | PLAINTIFF |
Frank, Barney’s suitor (9)
|
| definition: someone involved in a law suit
PLAIN=”Frank” (e.g. ‘I’ll be plain/frank on that topic’) + TIFF=”Barney”=slang for an argument |
||
| 10 | FRAIL |
Fine bannister in a decrepit state (5)
|
| F (short for Fine) + RAIL=”bannister” | ||
| 11 | TEMPI |
Times: ‘Politician wearing wrong tie!’ (5)
|
| definition: plural of ‘tempo’ for ‘time’
MP (Member of Parliament, “Politician”) inside/”wearing” an anagram/”wrong” of (tie)* |
||
| 12 | SPECTACLE |
Exhibition dancing, etc in fancy places (9)
|
| anagram/”dancing” of (etc)*, in anagram/”fancy” of (places)* | ||
| 13, 24 | GENGHIS KHAN |
Warlike ruler needs good English, not Latin, to move a thousand Chinese people (7,4)
|
| G (good) + ENGHIS (see below) + K (kilo, “a thousand”) + HAN=ethnic group from China=”Chinese people”
ENGHIS is an anagram (“to move”) of (Eng [L] ish)* minus/”not” the L for “Latin” |
||
| 14 | DISMISS |
Brush off insult by female (7)
|
| DIS=to disrespect=to “insult” + MISS=”female” | ||
| 17, 19, 20 | VALUE FOR MONEY |
On removal of a rum levy one gets a good, fair price (5,3,5)
|
| anagram of (of a rum levy)*
anagram indicator is “removal”, to re-move, to move again |
||
| 19 | VALUE FOR MONEY |
See 17
|
| 20 | VALUE FOR MONEY |
See 17
|
| 21 | LIMITER |
It restricts one who’s prone to crush male sex (7)
|
| LIER=someone who lies [down in a prone position]=”one who’s prone”; around/”to crush” M (male) + IT=slang for “sex” | ||
| 22 | FELLINI |
Director got into line beside one (7)
|
| definition: Federico Fellini the film director
FELL IN=”got into line” + I=”one” |
||
| 24 | KICKSTART |
Kay playing tricks – a time to get going again (4-5)
|
| K (letter pronounced as “Kay”), anagram/”playing” of (tricks a)*, plus T (time) | ||
| 26 | SCRUM |
Fight to see star’s bottom in dirty film (5)
|
| the “bottom” or final letter from [sta]-R, inside SCUM=a layer or film of dirt=”dirty film” | ||
| 28 | ACORN |
Fruit, one applied to painful growth (5)
|
| A=”one” + CORN=a hard growth on the foot=”painful growth” | ||
| 29 | DERRING-DO |
Heroics – pistol turned on fleeing diamonds ring (7-2)
|
| DERRING-[er]=a type of pistol, minus er; plus D (diamonds) + O (ring)
er is a reversal/”turned” of RE=about=”on” |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SPAT |
Row of drums overturned (4)
|
| TAPS=”drums” as a verb, reversed/”overturned” | ||
| 2 | GAMMON |
Rear end removed from game meat (6)
|
| back=”Rear end” removed from [back]-GAMMON=”game” | ||
| 3 | ENRICHMENT |
Increasing the wealth of Bezos and Musk, say, in field of medicine (10)
|
| RICH MEN=”Bezos and Musk, say”, inside ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat = “field of medicine”)
references to Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) and Elon Musk (Tesla) |
||
| 4 | MISSUS |
Fail to spot American old lady (6)
|
| MISS=”Fail to spot” + US=”American” | ||
| 5 | OFFENDER |
Criminal proposal to squeeze rear (8)
|
| OFFER=”proposal”, to squeeze around END=”rear” | ||
| 6 | E-FIT |
In brief, I think it might help the police (1-3)
|
| definition: method to generate digital composite images of someone’s face from eyewitness statements
hidden “In”: [bri]-E F I T-[think] |
||
| 7 | SANCTION |
‘Contains nuts’ ban (8)
|
| anagram/”nuts” of (Contains)* | ||
| 8, 27 | BLUE MOON |
Rare occurrence of adult at low end of chain (4,4)
|
| when describing e.g. a film, BLUE=risqué=”adult”; plus MOO=make a lowing sound=”low” plus end of [chai]-N | ||
| 13 | GAVEL |
Donated large mallet (5)
|
| GAVE=”Donated” + L (large) | ||
| 15 | SIMPLISTIC |
Facile, off limits pics (10)
|
| anagram/”off” of (limits pics)* | ||
| 16 | STYLI |
Digital writers using pen element (5)
|
| definition: plural of stylus as in e.g. a digital stylus used for writing on a tablet computer
STY=a “pen” to keep animals; plus LI (chemical symbol for the “element” lithium) |
||
| 18 | LAMB CHOP |
Meek sort on about Spring dinner item (4,4)
|
| LAMB=”Meek sort” + C (circa, “about”) + HOP=”Spring” | ||
| 19 | FORWARDS |
Struggle through crossings ahead (8)
|
| WAR=”Struggle” going inside/through FORDS=”crossings” | ||
| 22 | FUTURE |
Tense fellow, head of union, true eccentric (6)
|
| F (fellow) + first letter/”head” of U-[nion] + anagram/”eccentric” of (true)* | ||
| 23 | IN RAGS |
Like Cinderella’s popular jazzy pieces (2,4)
|
| IN=”popular” + RAGS=musical compositions in ragtime=”jazzy pieces” | ||
| 24 | GENGHIS KHAN |
See 13 Across
|
| 25 | SAND |
Southern – what’s more, smooth (4)
|
| definition: to “smooth” as a verb
S (Southern) + AND=”what’s more” |
||
| 27 | BLUE MOON |
See 8
|
What a Monday treat with Brummie on top form. Ticks for GENGHIS KHAN, FELLINI, SCRUM, DERRING-DO, GAMMON, ENRICHMENT and IN RAGS. Thought there might be a rugby theme with KICK-START, SCRUM and FORWARDS but not enough.
Ta Brummie & manehi.
At 17 I think the anagram is of “of a rum levy one”. Thanks for the helpful blog. Couldn’t parse derring-do.
Another searching in vain for a theme, as well as rugby @AlanC 1 considered meat and court trials.
Thanks to S&B
Slightly tricky, mildly enjoyable workout.
I couldn’t parse 29ac apart from the D O bit and I realise now that I forgot to parse 3d – probably the names mentioned turned my brain off!
New for me: for 9ac tiff = barney and plaintiff = suitor.
Good start to the crossword week. I liked the PLAINTIFF, Barney’s suitor, the SPECTACLE of exhibition dancing, and the star’s bottom in the dirty SCRUM.
Thanks Brummie and manehi.
Michelle@4: Barney is Cockney rhyming slang from Barney Rubble – Trouble.
Tricky in places, couldn’t parse GAMMON, BLUE MOON or DERRING-DO but neat clues when you see how they’re done. SANCTION is a nice anagram of CONTAINS. Thanks Brummie & manehi.
‘Element’ for Li is a bit on the vague side – there are 118 elements. I got it though, so a shouldn’t complain.
That aside, all lovely, and as several Guardian commenters have said, somehow easier than it at first seemed.
Thanks Brummie & manehi.
I liked this a lot. Witty surfaces and clearly clued. Good Monday fare.
Favourites as above, so nothing to add.
Thanks Brummie and manehi
Was worried when my FOI was 29A but got there in the end. A nice challenge for a Monday morning. Agree with AlanC@1 re favourites.
Thanks to Brummie and manehi
Couldn’t parse GAMMON, though obvious now of course. I thought “star’s bottom” in an Across clue a bit poor in an Across clue. Otherwise good fun.
I’m really enjoying Brummie in the Monday slot. Top ticks for ENRICHMENT, STYLI and BLUE MOON
Cheers B&M
poc@11 just rotate the crossword through 90 degrees and bottom works fine 🙂
An excellent puzzle with smooth clues and nice surfaces — “Fight to see star’s bottom in dirty film” being my favourite.
(I’ve always thought it a bit odd that MISSUS is spelt that way, because the second vowel sounds like a short i rather than a u (or a schwa). The SOED has it as either “missis” or “missus” and gives a first recorded date of 1837, but it doesn’t say which spelling came first. A quick glance in David Copperfield shows that Dickens uses the former, with Mr Peggotty referring to “Missis Gummidge”.)
Many thanks Brummie and manehi.
I finished this one in record time this morning. Brummie always a delight, and big ticks for DERRING-DO and GHENGIS KHAN from me.
Thanks both.
Jacob@6 “Barney” is much older than the Flintstones, going back at least to the 19th century. The etymology is uncertain but, as Barney is a common Irish name, it might have the same origin as “paddy”, from the stereotype of Irish people arguing.
Dad’sLad @3 was looking for a theme, but how often these days does Brummie construct one of his puzzles around a theme? He certainly used to – I still remember his pub names theme from more than five years ago. Perhaps someone knows when his last thematised offering was.