Garry Gillard > crosswords > solutions > Guardian > 27633
The puzzle is available from the Guardian site here. It was compiled by Boatman (Ashley Knowles). The theme is seafood, tho I thought at first it was specifically shellfish. There are eleven examples of seafood among the answers: abalone, clam, crab, crayfish, king prawn, mussel, oyster, shrimp, winkle, one collective: fruits de mer, and ... squid, tho it's different from the first nine, not having a shell. This is a Saturday and therefore a prize puzzle. The daily puzzles are blogged here; but this one won’t be blogged until next Saturday. It's available now.
ACROSS
1. KING PRAWN - KING and PAWN capture R(ook)
8. FI,SHY (unlikely)
9. SK,IN (D)IVER (one gathers pearls) First and last letters of sandbank; D(elta) instead of R in river.
10. SQUID. QUID is slang for 'pound', and S here = $. I've never seen that before. Also, a squid has no shell, and nine of the eleven themed answers do ... so this held me up for three days.
12. LEVI[T]ES (Hebrews)
13. FOR K EEPS (eternally) ?
16. HOP SACK (coarse material)
19. [y]OB SCENE (filthy) Homophone for 'seen'
22. DOOR JAMB (part of opening) do + (b major)*
25. DEAR ME. (d'oh) homophone for 'deer' + ME
27. USING (finding a place for) inclusive in octopUS IN Gastronomic
28. BLOW A FUSE (go crazy) Spoonerism for 'flow a buse' (flow abuse)*
29. DE MER. See 3d
30. UNLEASHED (let go [past participle]) (use handle)*
DOWN
1. WINKLE - WIN + ELK rev.
2. AGENCIES (CIA, NCA etc.) with powers = potencies: replace POT (cannabis) with AG (silver)
3, 29. FRUITS DE MER (ferret is mud)*
4. SWEET F A (nothing at all - Sweet Fanny Adams/sweet fuck all) ST must be derived from 'shirt' - as the first and last letters; it holds WEE (small) and fa is a note in the solfa scale; not a very satisfactory clue
5. BISQUE. It's a soup, often made with lobster.. The crypticity of the clue depends on the two meanings of 'pot' - one with soup in it, and one in which you catch lobsters. Not an outstanding clue.
6. SHRIMP. RM, Royal Marines, are not together, so 'dispersed' inside SHIP
11. CRAB. FOI. First letters, indicated by 'heads'
14. EYE. Boatman, the setter, says 'I' - homophone
15. SHE. Incl. Twice!
16. HAD (caught) HAD(dock)
17. PRO. PRO(ofs) - exactly the same type of clue as the previous one
18. CLAM. Alternate letters of CoLdArMs
20. CRAYFISH. Anagram (factory ship)* with the letters in 'pot'
21. ABALONE. This time, the boatman is an AB, able seaman, ALONE, and so 'unequalled'
23. OYSTER.
Anagram (story)* including the first letter of Enigmatist, another Guardian setter
24. RENDER (melt) END (tip) + E(ggplant) inside R[azo]R shell
25. DOWNED (drunk) It's a DOWN clue + ED for the editor
26. MUSSEL. Homophone for 'muscle' = might
to abbreviations which may have been used
(raga man)* = anagram of 'anagram'
cd = cryptic definition
dd = double definition
incl. = inclusive (hidden word) - a simple inclusive has the letters next to one another, tho perhaps rev.; a 'complex inclusive' has the letters are in plain view but not adjacent
def. = definition (synonym, literal)
rev. = reversed
anagind = anagram indicator
homophind = homophone indicator
surface - the apparent meaning of the clue, disguising what's really going on
&lit. - a clue in which the whole clue is the 'definition'
COD = clue of the day (imo); FOI, LOI, first/last one written in
Garry Gillard | New: 6 October, 2018 | Now: 20 December, 2018