A couple of clues with parochial references (see 23 ac, 7 dn) put me off, but otherwise an enjoyable puzzle. I liked 1 ac especially.
Across
1 OTHELLO – THE (the), LL (lines) in O O (old,old)
5 LATE CUT – I know this cricket term from commentaries that I have heard; ‘snick’ gives ‘cut’. The rest is not clear to me. (On edit: See comments below.)
9 A STUDY IN SCARLET – A (a), STUDY (room) + SCAR (Mark) in INLET (bay) – false capitalisation in Mark for the sake of surface reading
10 OPENER – double def. – key/cricketer receiving the first ball; in surface reading ‘key’ is adj. meaning ‘important’
11 SCORNFUL – C (cold) in SORNFU (anag.of ‘of runs’), L (lake).
13 LOOSENED UP – anag. of ‘opened soul’
14 TROY – O (ring) in TRY (attempt)
16 IOTA – hidden in ‘CyprIOT Airport’
17 PEDESTRIAN – double def. commonplace/on foot
20 SVENGALI – anag. of ‘sang live’ – Solved from wordplay. Googling, I find this is a music album. So I don’t know how the def. ‘musician’ fits. (On edit: See comments below)
21 CRISIS – CR(credit), ISIS (Egyptian goddess)
23 CAERNARVONSHIRE – anag. of ‘a version rancher’
24 SATIATE – A(a), T(tenor) in SATIE (French composer)
25 PUNGENT -GEN (dope) in PUNT (speculate)
Down
1 ON A ROLL – The def. is “enjoying continuing success”. I see AR, rev. of RA (soldiers). But the rest of it just eludes me. (On edit: See comments below)
2 HIT BELOW THE BELT – anag. of ‘we tell the hobbit’
3 LADDERED – ADDER (snake) in LED (guided)
4 OMIT – hidden in ‘frOM ITaly’
5 LOST CAUSES – anag. of ‘outclasses’
6 TEA URN – anag. of ‘nature’
7 CALIFORNIA SUITE – California (suburb of Ipswich), SUIT (to please), E (English)
8 TOTALLY – TO (to), TALLY (match)
12 PETER LORRE – R in anag.of ‘rep, ET role’
15 STARTS ON – TARTS(flans) in SON (boy)
16 INSECTS – IN (in), SECTS (groups)
18 NASCENT – N.A. (North America), SCENT (fragrance)
19 AGENDA – GEN ( information) in A (a) DA (American lawyer, abbr. for District Attorney)
22 HOOP – O (round) in HOP (dance)
20A Svengali is a musician in George du Maurier’s ‘Trilby’
1D OR (other ranks) inside LLANO (plain), all reversed
Thanks very much, Everyman.
I’m sure ‘A Study in Scarlet’ was clued recently, but as an anagram
Andrew:
You’re probably having in mind the clue
Satanist crudely drawn in book (1,5,2,7)
which was featured some weeks ago. I am unable to give the Everyman crossword number as I solved it in the Indian avatar of the crossword.
The same anagram fodder might have appeared elsewhere too.
Rishi
5a preceding = late as in former
Achcha. Thanks, Gaufrid.
25a Why does DOPE = GEN?
Thanks
Sam
Samhill
Both mean ‘information’.
Thanks Gaufrid, that’s a new one for me!
Sam:
I have since corrected the careless typing error in my blog.
Please ignore my Comment #10.
There was no error in my blog.
After I saw Sam’s message I scrolled up and looked at 19ac and thought I had written GEN (information) instead of ‘dope’. Only later I realised that Sam was referring to 25ac where we have GEN (dope).
It has been many years since CAERNARVONSHIRE has been the acknowledged spelling of this county. I spent my childhood holidays in NEVIN in CAERNARVONSHIRE, but nowadays it would be NEFYN in CAERNARFONSHIRE.
Can Everyman provide a currently used reference to his spelling?