The Age cryptic crossword by DH 13/5/14 solved and explained

Tuesday's was much easier than Monday's. I don't know if it's a frame of mind kind of thing, or a mix of easier clues. I don't care, so long as I can crow "I got all but three!" I'm delighted. It's true, All but three!

Here's the pic, click to embiggen:

The orange post-it notes are covering notes I took while on a phone call and are directions. Nothing puzzle worthy so I covered that bit.

There was a bit of a Latin/French theme or just more than a few without being a full-on theme. I am disappointed to see DH use sexist term again. Last week it was prostitutes, this week it's strumpets/tarts. Too many judgemental words against women in these cryptics, and from a few compilers. Tsk tsk I say. You're word masters, use better words.

1A - Watch me after turning it a little(9)
"Watch" is our definition, ME after, turning IT ->TIME "a little" PIECE.

6A - Dozed off when left in Irish clan (5)
"Dozed" is our definition, Word for an Irish clan is SEPT and we want L from "left" in that for SLEPT.

9A - Old Roman procurator's exercise regimen (7)
"exercise regimen" is our definition because we could insane trying to whittle down all the "old Romans" The list for exercise regimens is smaller and to fit this punny clue we want PILATES (Pontius Pilate? He was the judge, not the lawyer. Are we splitting hairs?)

10A - Beaten up, I had to finish application for French king's oldest son(7)
Beaten up is an anagrind for the following fodder "UP I HAD" finish application means take the last letter from application N, and our definition is a French king's son to give us DAUPHIN.

11A - Disallows bowling at Australian football (9)
"Disallows" is our definition, "Bowling" is a cricket term for an OVER and the word missing between Australia and football is RULES, for OVERRULES. I'm not confident that this is how we get "rules" in a cryptic sense and welcome anyone's further clarification.

12A - Very quickly astride (5)
A double definition clue? Charade? I'm not sure about "astride" but the answer came to me after I had the down letters and in particular the C in 8D to give me APACE. Pace and stride are synonyms, but apace and astride aren't. Cryptically could this mean to keep the A and alter the rest of the word? I'm not sure, so I asked the people at Cryptic Crossword Society Facebook group and they say it's called  "elision (dropping the space between consecutive words) is allowed although it is best to use it sparingly."  Well there we go. Always learning!

13A - One Dane is confused. It's a compound in all living cell (9)
"One Dane is" is fodder for anagram signpost confused. Unscramble to get ADENOSINE, and yes, I used anagram solver for that. I'm not a biochemist.

16A - Father's appreciation for some farinaceous food (5)
Farinaceous? I know farina is a polenta-like baby food. "Father's" becomes PA'S "appreciation is "TA" for PASTA which is indeed, farinaceous.

17A - Back in Borstal ceremonies reveal some brilliance (5)
My first inclination was BLAST as a synonym for "brilliance" and all those Bs but alas, not. This is a hidden reversal. If you don't know the French term you'd miss it...like I did, and I do know French. Just not this particular word. Hidden in there is ECLAT. If like me you used the thesaurus, you'd have been left out, too as eclat and brilliance do not show as synonyms for each other on thesaurus.com.

18A - Less feeling person is the most important (6,3)
Charades clue, "less feeling" is NUMB I'm not sure how we cryptically get the rest but I managed to solve with that beginning and the definition "most important" as NUMBER ONE.

21A - In the morning of union registration starts love affair (5)
Word salad! Yuck! what does it mean? "In the morning" is AM then "of union registration starts" tells us to use the first letters of the previous words OUR to give us a word for our definition "love affair" AMOUR.

23A - A long complicated procedure for right leg Mario broke (9)
"A long complicated procedure" is our definition for "right" they usually want us to use just the R, "leg Mario broke" where broke is an anagram signpost and is we scramble R + LEG MARIO  we get RIGMAROLE. One of my mother's favourite words.

28A - Strumpets returning with little hesitation, forming a distinct level (7)
No! Not another "strumpet, prostitute" sexist word clue! We had one last week from DH, too. Stop it with the judgemental sexist words. If it's taboo to use racist terms, then it's taboo to use sexist terms, too. Let's get through it: "Strumpets returning" gives a synonym for strumpets TARTS and we reverse it STRAT "with a little hesitation" is UM to give a word for a distinct level STRATUM. Let's hope we have no more HUSSIES, TARTS, STRUMPETS or COURTESANS for a while, eh?

26A - Aria-like recitatives in a South American city like that, son (7)
Sorry, I struggled with this one. I had all the down letters and filled in something that looked acceptable but i was a letter off. answer is ARIOSOS. I did get the RIO reference for South American City but couldn't cobble the rest.

27A - Two letters for English county (5)
An English county that's made up of two letter's sounds? ESSEX.

28A - American guy a highly skilled political leader (9)
Double definition here. the solution is a STATESMAN.


1D - New topic about a top Australian bead-like starch (7)
Bead like starch? I knew straight off it was Tapioca. But how to make that fir the clue to double check iIwas right? "New topic" means to scramble the letters in TOPIC "about A top Australian" or put the mixed letters of TOPIC around A,  then the top of Australian for the end. T-A-PIOC+A.

2D - Old French author makes oil spill in lake (7)
Definition is to find an "Old French author" whose name make OIL spill in a word for lake MERE...ok let's use a rarely used, archaic word for lake. MOLINERE

3D - Father! Gull-like bird with duck disturbed res in Lord's Prayer (11)
"The Lord's prayer" is our definition. "Father" PA "Gull-like bird" TERN and from here I got a wee bit lost. I googled "Lord's prayer latin" and got PATERNOSTER, but I'm not sure how "duck" gives us O. "rest disturbed" means scramble REST.

4D - Stand in the Red Sea seldom pays off (5)
Definition is "Stand". "in the Red Sea Seldom" is a hint there with the word in that a container clue is afoot. Nestled there in sEA SELdom is EASEL.

5D - Proem ends. Affected nourishing seed tissue (9)
Ok, doesn't "Proem ends" look very weird? And it's 9 letters. Scramble them to get ENDODERM.

7D - The French whelp to accept it enthusiastically (3,2)
"The French" LA "whelp" PUP gives LAP UP to mean "accept enthusiastically.

8D - Charles not up in American University? (9)
"American university" is our definition. "Charles" is the PRINCE but I'm not sure how "not up in" give ETON for PRINCETON.

12D - Confused them? A pieman making stimulant drug (11)
"Confused them" gives Meth which is a kind of AMPHETAMINE, "stimulant drug"

14D - Returning frozen friends, destroys a large proportion (9)
Honestly I got this as a guess for "destroys" and the wordplay was hard for me. Answer is DECIMATES. "Friends" can give MATES but...OH I see it now. "Frozen returning" ICED backwards. Whew! I tell you, writing these out helps me immensely.

15D - Amusing or otherwise, a complete fool (9)
I had many cross letters and I'm glad for it. The definition is "a complete fool" and the answer is IGNORAMUS which on further inspection is an anagram of "Amusing or" meaning "otherwise" is an anagram signpost. Not come across that one yet.

19D - After work, very generous amount for phalanger (7)
Phalanger? New word alert. And that's a name for a family of marsupials. I'm glad for that, and that I had several cross letters to get OPOSSUM because i'm not sure how "after work", very generous amount" gives the answer. I can see SUM but that's all.

20D - Ralph Waldo! Roy upset me senor! (7)
Well it was easy enough to get EMERSON especially since I'd had to read his stories in high school and growing up in Massachusetts, he was everywhere. "Me senor" is the anagram for his name and upset is the signpost.

22D - You and I have time for custom (5)
"You and I" US "have time" AGE for our definition "custom USAGE. I'd not have thought of that if Thesaurus.com didn't list usage as a synonym.

24D - Fruit in Managua varies in price (5)
"Fruit in" is a hint to a hidden word and that it's contained in "manaGUA VAries" and I guess "in price" is superfluous.

There we go. All done. Hey, did you notice all of the clues had total number of letter of either 5,7,9 or 11? I did. I don't think there's any significance, but it was neat. Would've been better is this puzzle was published on one of those dates. Will see you tomorrow with solution and clues for today's DP in The Age.