*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
The usual high-quality Friday puzzle, as we tend to expect these days. I got through this pretty quickly, though with a slight diversion in the middle while I tried to work out what on earth Bob Dylan was singing about all those years ago.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SCRAP MERCHANT – SCRAP + (CH in (ME + RANT)). |
| 9 | LAPEL – L + APE + L. |
| 10 | IGNORAMUS – ROAMING + US*. |
| 11 | PROVERB – ROVER in PB. |
| 12 | REPLICA – (P in RELICA) + A. |
| 13 | IOTA – (A TOI[l])<. |
| 14 | FROLICSOME – (FOOLS CRIME)*. |
| 17 | MOBILE HOME – MOBILE + (M[otor] in HOE). Bob Dylan was famously “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again“. |
| 19 | WASH – WAS + H. |
| 22 | CELESTA – LEST in CE + A[rtist]. |
| 23 | REALISM – IS in REALM. |
| 24 | CHROMATIC – CH + ROMA[n]TIC. |
| 25 | ORDER – [b]ORDER. |
| 26 | CONDEMNED CELL – cd. |
| Down | |
| 1 | SOLIPSISM – SPOIL* + MISS*. |
| 2 | RAPPORT – REP + PORT. |
| 3 | POLLEN – POLL + EN[d]. |
| 4 | EDINBURGH CASTLE – (DURABLE ETCHINGS)*. Much to my surprise, in five years studying at Edinburgh I never once visited the castle. Nor spotted this anagram! |
| 5 | CENTRAL AMERICAN – (CARMEN + A CLARINET)*. |
| 6 | AIRSPACE – IR’S in APACE. |
| 7 | TAMPICO – (MP + 1) in TACO. Not somewhere I’d heard of, but it was eminently gettable from the wordplay. |
| 8 | ASIA – A SI[v]A. Alt. spelling of Shiva. |
| 15 | EPHEMERAL – EP + HEM + ERA + L. |
| 17 | FLASHMAN – (ASH + M) in FLAN. |
| 18 | BALDRIC – BALD + RIC[h]. |
| 20 | ARIADNE – ARIA + END<. I wonder if I was the only one who spent a moment wondering who ANIFARE was. |
| 21 | HAROLD – HAR[d] + OLD. |
| 22 | COCK – C[r]OCK. |
Thought this was going to be one of the easiest Indy puzzles ever for a little while, then I ran to ground in the SE corner before working it out – and, yes, I had pencilled in ANIFARE too. In AIRSPACE, I think it’s the US revenue people IRS.
Thank you, Simon.
I did manage this one, but couldn’t understand why a couple of the answers were what they were, so the blog once again was helpful. Good to see Mr Zimmerman getting a mention.