*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Picket: Picket[t]. This was the last one I got and it took quite a lot of research. Wilson is Wilson Pickett and picket can be used to mean a detachment of troops. |
| 4 | Squaddie: I’m not completely sure on this one. “Square bashing did for a rule for him”. It looks like it might be something to do with die = “did for”. It’s did* replacing r in square. |
| 9 | Agreed: A greed. |
| 10 | Caryatid: Cary + aid around t. |
| 11 | Sweet spot: (Two steps + E)*. |
| 13 | Ulcer: Hidden, reversed in “obscure clue”. |
| 14 | First Degree: DD. |
| 18 | Philatelist: Excellent &lit. Phi + late + list. |
| 21 | Liege: DD. |
| 22 | Rusticate: Rust + IE around cat. |
| 24 | Demarche: Dee around march. |
| 25 | Palate: Plate around a. Relish for palate doesn’t seem like an obvious synonym, but I suppose they’re both to do with taste. |
| 26 | Start-ups: Star + tups. I think the usage of tup meant here is “A heavy metal body, especially the head of a power hammer.” |
| 27 | Coleus: Cole + US. | Down |
| 1 | Play Safe: Plays + a FE. |
| 2 | Corsetry: Corse (which is French for Corsica, so a French island resort in both senses) + try. |
| 3 | Exert: (T-Rex + e)<. |
| 5 | Quarter days: DD. |
| 6 | As you were: (See our way)*. |
| 7 | Detect: Defect with T replacing F. |
| 8 | Endure: End + Ure. |
| 12 | Premiership: Premier + shi[rt] p. |
| 15 | Top secret: To + spectre*. |
| 16 | Vicarage: a rag in vice. |
| 17 | St Helens: &lit. S[omewhere] + the + lens. Checking wikipedia shows that St Helens is indeed associated with glassmaking. |
| 19 | Gladys ?: “Emmanuel perhaps denied homeless woman’s 14”. I think the Emmanuel refers to Gladys Emmanuel from the sitcom “Open All Hours”, but I don’t follow the wordplay in the rest. |
| 20 | Hermia ?: “Shakespearean girl having really hot body – not half”. |
| 23 | Idaho: I DA + ho. |
I got stuck on quite a few of these.
Might 19D be [Ba]g lady’s – Bag lady being a homeless woman and BA a first degree ?
4a is *(DID) replacing R (rule) in SQUARE
I’d just worked that out and was about to update the blog !
Does anyone know what’s going on with the website? Eimi? Anyone?
Is it a way of forcing us to go out and buy the paper?
Quite a tough puzzle, but very satisfying. Really liked PHILATELIST – Agree with RayFolwell re GLADYS.
Nmsindy, doncha know philately will get you nowhere?
I think HERMIA is half of hypertHERMIA, which I presume must be the opposite of hypothermia.
Very tough indeed for a Monday, but good.
It’s taken a while since Gaufrid tipped me off about the online problem this morning, but Merlin seems to be available online at last.
A long-overdue airing for my old chum Merlin, and I greatly enjoyed this one (as I expected to). Many clever clues. That said, I feel that asking a lot of people (not me!) to remember the buxom friend of the stuttering storeman on TV several years ago may be going a step too far in terms of popular culture! Where (if anywhere) is a line to be drawn?
I see Open All Hours was voted No. 8 in the BBC’s 2004 poll of Britain’s greatest sitcoms, so presumably lots of people still remember it.
Nice puzzle with some lovely & lits. Oh and Mick, I think the expression is: Flatulence will get you nowhere, unless you use it as a fuel.
I was all right with Gladys Emmanuel, but I’m afraid Wilson Pickett was completely lost on me. The only Wilsons I could think of were Harold and Woodrow.
I bought Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” when it first came out in 1965, so no problem there understanding the clue, at least for a baby boomer.
Thought “(hypert)Hermia” was a bit OTT, though, for a daily (or any other) crossword.
You’re right – I didn’t understand it, even though the solution was obvious.
Otherwise, a superb non-Nina cryptic.