Guardian 24,446/Rufus

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A straightforward and enjoyable offering from Rufus to start the week. Some nice clues, and fewer cryptic definitions than usual, I think.

Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse

Across
1 STRIP OFF dd – you can strip off a coat of paint (I suppose) or …
5 VERNAL RN (= Royal Navy) in VEAL
9 ORDINARY The penny-farthing was known as the “ordinary” bicycle. We had “safety bicycle” as the opposite to this in a puzzle recently.
10 CANTAB ANT in CAB – Ah, my clue of local interest. The suffix often added to Cambridge degrees – short for Cantabrigiensis, from Cantabrigia, tha Latin for Cambridge.
13 IDENTICAL I’D + (A CLIENT)*
14 LONG SENTENCE A sort of cd – “life” is a LONG SENTENCE even though it only has one word
18 LONELY HEARTS (ROSALYN, ETHEL)* nice anagram
21 COMEDIANS CO (=Company=Firm) + MEDIANS
23 OUNCE dd – the Ounce or Snow Leopard is a familiar inhabitant of Crosswordland
24 OUTLET OUT (not allowed) + LET (permit, verb)
26 TIDDLY dd
27 REPTILES TILE in REPS
Down
1 SPORTS P in SORTS
2 RIDERS Horses race “under” their riders, and a rider is a condition added to a legal document etc.
3 PUNCHBOWL PUNCH BLOW*. Chambers confirms it’s a dip in the ground in the form of a bowl.
4 FORGING AHEAD dd
7 LABELLED BELLE in LAD
8 NOTICING (GIN, TONIC)*
11 GENERAL STORE GENERAL is a soldier and to STORE is to husband.
15 TATTOOIST A very obvious cd, but I liked “skinny artist”
16 BLACKOUT LACK in BOUT
17 ANIMATED (DIET A MAN)*
20 SEWERS dd
22 DWELL (be)D + WELL

9 comments on “Guardian 24,446/Rufus”

  1. I made a mistake in this one which caused me no end of trouble with 1ac. I wrote in ORDERS for 2dn, reading it as a weak cryptic def., ie horses race under the starter’s orders. This fitted fine with 9ac and 13ac. That’ll teach me to assume every Rufus clue is a Cd until proved otherwise! (Only joking, Rufus.)

  2. This went swiftly, but tarried over 9ac 24 ac, 1, 16 1 and 2 down.

    3d There are lots of Devil’s Punch Bowls around: Hindhead, Surrey, one in Somerset, several in Scotland (Lyn of Dee, and Glen Sannox, Arran, and several in Canada and the USA

  3. Is 3d EXACT?

    I got 27a, but I wasn’t happy with reptiles being described as ‘crawlers’ as I have never seen a snake crawl.

    And of course 10a is why they get nicknamed ‘tabs’ by the dark blues…

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