A pleasing puzzle from Phi, with a couple of good arts and literature references. Some very nice, very wry cryptic defs.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | KEEP OFF THE GRASS | Witty cryptic definition. |
| 9 | LEGIT | Double def. |
| 10 | UNCORDIAL | UNCOR(k) (= supply wine incompletely) + DIAL (= face) |
| 17 | SOL(d) | The sol was the Peruvian unit of currency, in use until 1985. They use the neuvo sol now. |
| 18 | PRET A PORTER | PR (= father) + ATE< (= regressed, tucking into) + PORTER (= beer). I think the most contrived, and probably most satisfying clue in the puzzle. |
| 21 | EXPLOITER | EXPLOIT + ER |
| 22 | DELHI | I(H)LED< |
| 24 | ELECTRIC BLANKET | Nice cryptic definition. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | BERG | BE(R)G. Alban Berg was an Austrian composer of the atonal Schoenberg school. |
| 2 | BOTTOM | Very nice double def, with pleasing surface. Alludes to Shakespeare’s character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. |
| 4 | CHICHI | CHIC + HI. I was only vaguely familiar with ‘Chichi’ meaning affectedly trendy. |
| 5 | AGERATUM | AG (= silver) + (MATURE)*. A bit dubious of ‘flourishing’ as an anagram flag. |
| 7 | KILROY WAS HERE | (YORKSHIRE + WAL)* + E Nice & lit. |
| 12 | TEA CLIPPER | Gorgeous surface and really clever cryptic: ‘leaves’ for ‘tea’ and ‘cutter’ for ‘clipper’. |
| 15 | (Barbara) HEPWORTH | HEP + WORTH. ‘Hep’ seems to be a variation on ‘hip’. New to me. |
| 16 | DIATRIBE | AID< (= to support, rising) + TRIBE. Good surface. |
| 19 | ENTAIL | TA in LINE< Nice. The TA here are the volunteers. |
A pleasing puzzle – SOL is also an old French copper or silver coin.