Guardian, 24334 (Puck)

by
Across
1 HEATER: (t)HEATER
4 SCOWLING: COW in SLING
9 GOYAS: GOY (gentile) + AS
10 CASANOVAS:A NOVA in CASS. Giovanni Jacopo is Casanova but not sure if I have the decode right
11 JOHN DONNE:HND (higher national diploma) in JOON (sounds like JUNE) and NE (new English)
13 MONOCHROMIST: anagram of M CHOIR ON TOMS
17,22,2 YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING: As in police caution and mum’s the word.
21 CHESTNUTS: anagram of STENCH and STU (shortened stud)
23 RED DEVILS: anagram of ELVIS DED (dead with the article ‘a’1) and R (right). Refers to the display unit that is Manchester United.
24 SCALD: anagram of AL S (Stewart’s first) CD
26 ONE BY ONE: as in 11 (eleven) is one alongside one. Spent some time wondering how this clue related to John Donne!
26 WYVERN: WY (heartless way) + VERN (does this relate to Jules Verne and if so how do we lose the final e?)
 
Down
3 EASED: EASE(l) with L (50) multiplied by 10 to make D (500)
5 COSTERMONGERS: anagram of SORT ME in CONGERS
6 WONDERS AT: anagram of TOWERS AND
8 GUSHER: G (good) + USHER
10 CONTRADICTION: DI in CONTRACTION
14 CROTCHETY: CROTCHET (note) + Y (end of day)
15 SATURATE: TUR (half turtle) in anagram of AT SEA
18 HAIRDO: H (hospital) + anagram of RADIO
19 STODGE: S (seconds) + TODGE (todger without the r)

13 comments on “Guardian, 24334 (Puck)”

  5. 7D Can anyone tell us why this is Irving? We got Washington and Berlin, but what has it to do with Graves?
    Thanks

  6. Was he (diagacht) not referring to the fact that the display team (he called it a ‘display unit’) shares a nickname with Man U?

  7. For once I’ve got to answer a query before anyone else! 7D. DIRGE less D&E with VIN in the middle. Grave is a ‘vin’.

  8. Sure ManU are also called the Red Devils but the clue is presumably just referring to the skydivers and not the football team.

  9. Is it just me or is the whole willy = todger thing a bit too risque? I was very shocked when I got it.

  10. I have no problems with the willy, todger, whatever. Why is that shocking?

    I thought that the references to 11 were very cleverly misleading, for example in 20 (9 by 11!) = IC rather than poem by John Donne, and in 26.

    But taking the last letter of a word, interpreting it as a roman numeral, multiplying it by ten, re-interpreting the result as a character, to replace the letter you first thought of — I found this a few too many levels of indirection.

  11. And so (re Red Devils) was not diagacht making that connection for fun? Sorry, but I can’t see how he is mistaken, or wrong, in this regard.

  13. Coming to this way too late, having just solved it – but the clue “Old Bill’s mum’s OK” is a classic. I also had no problem with changing EASEL to EASED. That shows I’ve been doing this sort of thing far too long!
    I seem to remember sticking up for Puck ags ago when his first puzzle drew a lot of criticism – I feel vindicated now 🙂

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