I found this very tough indeed. Usually where there is a theme with interlinked answers, it’s slower but I thought this might be different when I found 16 across etc after just 12 mins. But not so. Some very devious, clever, misdirection and very satisfying to finish.
Solving time: 58 mins
* = anagram < =reversed
ACROSS
9 ARCHENEMY Dick CHENE(y) in ARMY!
12 C (Jonathan) ROSS E D = 500 (many). Also thematic – referred to in 16
13 DEISM Hidden – definition ‘reasonable belief’ made me a bit doubtful for a while, however.
14 R (ET) AILERS Duo after lead in Peter = pETer
19 SUMMITEER Favourite clue, with misleading context of a chess board. A meeting of the top 8 countries (not including China, though) and a mountain.
21 SAL(m)ON 3 = MEDIUM (abbrev m) ‘concealed’ used as subtractive indicator.
24 DO RIS ST(OK)ES A medium Do ok in (sisters)*
25 SEDGE WREN Jenny is a wren (green weds)*. New phrase for me that I worked out from the anagram when I’d enough crossing letters.
DOWN
1 CAN DI DATES Surface a bit surreal.
2 S CAR RING Very subtle misdirection. Definition is ‘marks left’
3 MEDIUM Was not fully convinced of this till solving 24 across. “Say television channel” It is a TV channel but ‘say’ puzzled me. “TV channel, say” would be a straight definition. Not sure about medium = say
4 Alvin B ERG Wrote the opera ‘Lulu’ B = letter after a!
5 EYE-CATCHER Holden Caulfield, main character in JD Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.
6 GE (RONIM)O Minor< in Geo (a creek or gully)
7 LASSI E (sails)* Clever use of seagoing context, for the much-filmed dog “Bark’s courageous owner”
14 R (OOT) EDNESS Too< Clever misdirection – was looking for in = both ends of inflammation for quite a while.
15 S (ER ENAD) ING (Dane re)< in sing = grass = inform. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a Dane.
17 T (HICK) EST Fun clue.
18 HE (LIPO) R T
20 MA (I G) RE
Just a minor point: BERG was Alban not Alvin.
I also thought I was going to struggle with this as I had half a dozen answers filled in after 10 minutes and none of ’em were thematic. Then I saw that the long phrase at 16A might end in SIDE and it all fell into place after that.
3D – I think it might be a double def: “Say television” and “channel”. Could a MEDIUM be a channel between the living and dead perhaps? Not sure.
Anyroad, as you say, great puzzle with lots of clever stuff going on.
Neil
Isn’t that what mediums are supposed to do, to channel communication between you and the ‘other side’?
Well, yes – that’s sort of my point. Sorry, didn’t word that very well. Another way of putting might be to ask if we could call Doris Stokes a “channel” as well as a medium. That’s the bit I wasn’t sure about.
Thanks, Neildubya, that’s right, I’m sure, channel = medium (not necessarily “to the other side”) and “say television” (double definition). A slip with Lulu – have to admit, in musical terms, I’m more familiar with a Scottish Eurovision lady. 14 across etc links in with all this.
Sorry, that should be 16 across etc (not 14 across).
My thesauri all give medium=channel (Collins; Rodale; New Penguin; Geddes. It’s where we get media for channels of commuication.
14ac: ‘lead in Peter’ had me totally (wrongly) convinced there was a ‘P’ in the answer, and I couldn’t work out what ‘duo’ was doing so ending up leaving this one blank, along with 14dn (not helped by being unsure over ‘summiteer’ vs ‘summitter’). A win for the setter, I’m afraid – well done.
Yes, Rufus, thanks, that’s exactly right, similar to what’s noted by Neildubya above.
Re Rightback’s point in 7 re 14ac, that was just what I thought before eventually getting the answer from the definition and then seeing how it worked afterwards.