Solving time: 45’
I actually fell asleep solving this – not because the puzzle was boring, simply due to jet-lag (or as my aunt would say, let-jag). Probably unintended but a couple of Irish clues and cricket clues might be a way of suggesting that Ireland is doing surprisingly well at the World Cup.
Across
| 1 | DASH – two meanings: the second as in “I’m running the 60 yard DASH”. |
| 3 | STAGE,CRAFT – “put on” is STAGE. |
| 9 | W(R)EN – my last clue: R (“king”) in rev(new=original). And WRENs were (are?) women who served in the Royal Navy |
| 11 | COMMONPLACE BOOK – straightforward charade for COMMONPLACE BOOK which I wasn’t familiar with. |
| 13 | S,URGE,ON – Not a bad clue: good surface and surprising definition: “one used to working in the theatre”. Hands up if you thought it was the other kind of theatre. |
| 14 | SAT(I)E –ref. Erik SATIE, French composer. |
| 17 | A,C,CLAIM – requisite apposite cricket clue given the World Cup. |
| 20 | CONGRATULATIONS – two meanings: embarrassingly I can actually hum this Cliff Richard song that almost won a Eurovision contest. |
| 23 | MYRA – hidden in “pygMY RAttlesnake”. But does “feeding” indicate containment (even if a snake’s involved)? |
| 25 | R,ELY – ELY must be a city if it’s got a cathedral I suppose (population 15,000!). |
Down
| 1 | DOWN,CAST – ref. County DOWN – good idea to review your Irish counties since they tend to crop up cryptically quite often (e.g. Mayo, Sligo…). |
| 2 | STEAMER – must be two meanings: the second being “vessel” not sure about the first? ”Wetsuit in vessel”. |
| 4 | TIN-OPENER – rev(nit=stupid person) followed by OPENER for “key”. But why is “small” needed to qualify “kitchen tool”? There are, after all, smaller kitchen gadgets (teaspoons, toothpicks, salt cellars…). |
| 7 | ATHLONE – (an hotel)*. I already mentioned the need to review your Irish geography. |
| 8 | T(OP)EKA – OP in Kate. Capital of Kansas I think. A point of honor not to check this. |
| 12 | OPEN, VERDI,CT – Wasn’t familiar with OPEN VERDICT beforehand but the wordplay was quite clear. |
| 14 | SMALL BEER – two meanings &lit: nice clue worth repeating: ”A trifle in glass?” |
| 16 | CANDID,E – “unrehearsed” produces CANDID and E is produced by “ending to thE”. The book’s by Voltaire but the operetta by Leonard Bernstein. |
| 18 | A,CO,LYTE=”light” |
| 19 | A,CROSS – another cricket allusion. |