I struggled in the SW corner the most because in 21A I chose the foot bones over the hand bones - a star fish is a fish; it even has fish in its name! Last night I'd said on Twitter that I'd probably kick myself when I got the answer, seems I should slap myself instead. I also mentioned I had no idea what was going on with 27A and having the solution hasn't enlightened me any this morning. 20D is just mean and the kind of clue that sends newbies running back to quick crosswords.
The puzzle overall is clever and fun, the across clues reading like a recipe, the down clues yielding asterisks. Here's the pic:
NB - Asterisked clues are 19-down and not defined further.
So skip ahead to 19-down to find the solution and the answer is EDIBLE. So all asterisked clues are edible.
1A - Directions: peel carrot (wash regularly) (6)
How nice to have a clue that dictates its own instructions. "Directions" is our definition. Do as we are told and "peel" carrot by removing its first and last letter leaving ARRO. "Regularly" is telling us to take every other letter of "wash" and since "arroah" doesn't make sense, we'll go with ARROWS, something that gives "Directions"
4A - Next, stir stew pot! (4,3)
Still doing as we are told. Definition is "Next" and "stir" is an anagrind with "stew pot" its fodder. Mis those words up to get STEP TWO.
9A - Rub and endlessly mash herb (7)
I went round in circles with this one putting in an herb that fit with cross letters because I was working the wrong end of the clue. "Rub" is our definition and "endlessly mash" means to remove the last letter from mash for MAS and add a four letter "herb" = SAGE for MASSAGE. I was putting in MUSTARD, ignoring the words in front of me and only seeing an herb that fit cross letters and following the foodie theme
10A - Now turn over hundreds of dumplings (3,4)
"Dumplings" is our definition. "Now turn over" means to reverse the letters in Now to WON and "hundreds" = TONS but really once you've got WON and "dumplings" it's a safe bet the answer is WON TONS.
11A - Take some oregano, blend until fine (5)
I thought this was a charade clue and I tried taking letters from "oregano" and couldn't figure out what to "blend" them with. Then I searched the clue for a possible hidden word and there we see "oregaNO, BLEnd" and NOBLE is a synonym of "fine"...sort of. Kinda, in a second cousin sort of way or perhaps "Ross Noble is fine"
12A - Right, give LR pie mixture (9)
You can tell LR had fun making this puzzle. Cryptically speaking we will hone in on the word "mixture" as a blatant anagrind and mix up the previous nine letters "give LR pie" to get PRIVILEGE, a synonym for "Right."
13A - Too much seafood? Loosen tie (7)
Too much seafood?! No such thing! Clue-wise this was tougher because I needed cross letters before I was confident enough to put in the answer. I knew I needed a four letter word for "seafood" as "loosen tie" was telling me TIE or a variant of tie were my last three letters. We have to think Surf & Turf to get SURFIET, a word for "too much"
14A - Cover up doughnut with bugs evenly - disgusting! (7)
Nice way to ruin doughnuts. There comes a time, I'm told, when reading the surface of a cryptic clue fades away imagining a doughnut covered in bugs, disappears. Solvers become signpost hunters and tear clues apart, never taking surface into account. What a shame! Compilers spend so much time coming up with these delightful surfaces and it's a waste to not appreciate that effort. "Disgusting" is our definition. "Cover up" = HIDE "doughnut" = O because it's the shape of a doughnut, "with bugs evenly" tells us to add the even numbered letters of "bUgS" to get US and put together for HIDEOUS.
17A - Decry stale contents of expensive glass (7)
I had cross letters and honed in on "expensive glass" as our definition. The word "contents" is our big hint that this is a hidden word clue. Looking at "deCRY STALe" we see CRYSTAL clear as day. Or glass. Crystal clear, even.
19A - We four chop eel outside. Slippery! (7)
This took ages to solve and I got it with its cross letters. Definition is "Slippery", and "We" = US and "four" = IV the Roman numerals for four and "chop eel outside" tell us to put the mixed-up letters of EEL on the outside to get ELUSIVE.
21A - Grind meat, then fish. One gets bones (9)
This is the clue that screwed me from solving the SW corner. "Grind meat" where grind is the anagrind and MEAT the fodder and add to it "then fish" so we need to mix-up fish - but that doesn't make a word for us. No we'll need a synonym for fish or kind of fish that is only for letters because "One gets" means we're to add the letter I, too. In fact the letter I is the last letter, since we solved 19D first. Nine letter word ending in I that means "bones"? This is going to be tough. Medical, Latin. I went with STAR for fish, and put in METATARSI, the bones of the foot. The correct answer is METACARPI. The bones of the hand. I guess we weren't supposed to "grind" the "fish" after all. (Star fish is so a fish!) (ok not really, but still)
24A - Dye chicken with sodium (5)
"Dye" is our definition and "chicken" = HEN and "sodium" = NA the chemical symbol for sodium, to get HENNA, a type of plant based dye.
25A - Search for cockney alcohol to unwind (7)
I may have been a bit tired when I finally solved this one. "Unwind" is our definition (even though it looks like it could be an anagrind) "Search for" cockney style means we want a word starting with H that we then drop: HUNT -H, then add an "alcohol" = WINE for UNTWINE. My brain went with the "Take the first letter of a proper noun" rule and got something else entirely wrong.
26A - Spilling oil sure is worse (7)
"Is worse" is our definition and "Spilling" is an anagrind, mix the remaining "oil sure" to get LOUSIER.
27A - Finally, roast hot crusts, avoiding light speed forces (7)
I did not get this one. I'm still not sure how it works. I can see how "avoiding light speed" means -C as E=MC squared where C = speed of light which can get us RUSTS. "Finally roast" can give T but how was I to know to just take that the H from "hot"? Answer is THRUSTS so I'm not sure of the definition is just "forces" or "speed forces" as it's all just too physical.
28A - Two fingers of vodka first and mixed gins second (1-5)
I did not get this and I'm disappointed because I'd mistaken this answer in a clue on Friday. Definition is "Two fingers" of "vodka first" V and "mixed gins" tells us to scramble GINS to get SIGN for V-SIGNS. The surface of the clue does hint to plurals with "fingers" and "gins" so add the extra S on the end for grammar's sake.
- The asterisk clues have no definition, so we just work them along and should get something edible as an answer.
1D - *Don breaks into charity (7)
"Don breaks" means mix up DON into a word for "charity" = ALMS for ALMONDS.
2D - *Leading role with snake for actress Halle (9)
"Leading role" = R "with snake" = ASP "actress Halle" = BERRY for RASPBERRY.
3D - *Spooner's masculine grain (5,4)
Spoonerisms give me headache, I struggle with them. With many cross letters I managed to solve it as "Male Wheat" = WHALE MEAT. Oh and the Sea Shepherd team will be unhappy about that.
4D - *Observed little Fiona's heart (7)
This one took a while. "Observed" = SAW "Little Fiona's" = FI'S then we steal the H from "heart" - and I had been going back into "Fiona's" and taking the "heart" from the word to get N - answer is SAWFISH (not SAWFINS which I'd had for a long time and is not as nice a solution, or very edible as they're endangered)
5D - Directions from UN backing Iraq leader in boredom (5)
I had cross letters and know the answer immediately by the definition "boredom", lucky I did too or I'd struggle. "Directions" is wanting compass points, but which ones? "UN backing" means to put UN in the grid going upwards as this is a down clue it would read NU, and "Iraq leader" = I and our answer is ENNUI. So we wanted East and North as our directions. See, much easier to just know ennui = boredom.
6D - *Single following tuberculosis (1-4)
"Single" = ONE and that is to "follow" "tuberculosis" = TB to give T-BONE.
7D - *Topless lads model um...spade (7)
"Topless lads" = BOYS -B "model" = T which is a very common clueing in cryptics to get the letter T from "model T" and "um" = ER as a fellow stuttering sound, which gets us OYSTER but we're one letter short so why not just steal the S from "spade" for OYSTERS. I still never know when I'm allowed to steal a letter from a word or not.
8D - Drink pourer has weed after dinner (3-3)
Definition here is "Drink pourer" and "weed" = POT to be placed "after dinner" or TEA, the British word for evening meal (or afternoon snack or beverage) to give us TEA-POT. Which I've always thought was one word, not a hyphenated one.
15D - *Crazy after money (9)
"Crazy" = NUTS "after money" = DOUGH for DOUGHNUTS.
16D - *No getting upset one working with phone noise (5,4)
"No getting upset" where getting upset tells us to mix-up NO into ON "one" = I and then I'm guessing "working with" = ON but I'm not clear as to how and "phone noise" = RING for ONION RING. I am unsure how exactly we were to get that second ON in the clue.
17D - *Chum abandoned hotel squat topless (7)
"Chum abandoned hotel" means to take the word CHUM and remove the letter -H as indicated by the word "hotel" then "squat topless" means to remove the -S from SQUAT leaving us with CUMQUAT.
18D - Learner took a road to queen's pantries (7)
Definition is "pantries" and a one letter answer for "Learner" = L as people learning to drive in the UK and Australia must display a large letter L on their cars when learning to drive. We don't have this rule in USA. In Canada they'll use an N plate for Novice. "A road" = A RD and "queen's" = ER'S (ER meaning Elizabeth Regina) for LARDERS.
19D - Editor finds holy book without Genesis is consumable (6)
The kicker clue. Definition is "is consumable" and "Editor" = ED "holy book" = BIBLE "without Genesis" and Genesis is the first book of the bible so let's remove the first letter from Bible -B to get EDIBLE.
20D - Native tree chimp climbs on Councillor Island (7)
I did not get this clue and it's bloody hard and the answer is a word no one uses is their daily life unless maybe a horticulturist. Definition is "Native tree" and "chimp climbs" = APE but as it's a down clue the word ape will be placed going upwards and read EPA, "Councillor" = CR an abbreviation for councillor and "Island" = IS put together for EPACRIS, which agreed, are quite pretty.
22D - *English gallery has Rembrandt opening (5)
I didn't get this as I'd not expected a slang term. "English gallery" = TATE for the Tate Modern "has Rembrandt opening" = R for TATER.
23D - *You don't want these on your dishes? (5)
Having the wrong letter to start made this one hard. With the right letter much easier. Something we don't want on our plates that is also edible? CHIPS.
And we are done! As always let me know if you have a better solution or found your answer in a different way. Now, onward to today's puzzle. Have a good day, folks!
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