Very much a game of two halves this one: figuratively, in that we completed most of it within twenty minutes, but then spent as long again on the remainder; and also literally, in that the grid was split into right and left hand parts, only connected in two places.
ACROSS
1. S(ELF)-(MAD)E This came to mind very quickly as El has recently read M Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’, which makes an argument against apparently self-made success
5. DEN I RO
8. HOPELESS cryptic definition – can anyone explain why ‘in shorts’?
9. LA(M)(MA)S
10. ALL-INCLUSIVE dd one of the connecting clues, with the double unch making this harder to get
13. ENT RE A T(ask)
15. WHITSUN anagram of ‘with’, then ‘sun’ (‘fine weather’)
16. BUSTARD reverse of ‘drat sub’
18. RE DOUBT The ‘stronghold’ meaning of this word was new to us
20. ENCEPHALITIS (the pelican is)* Wrongly entered ‘elephantitis’ initially, before noticing that something wasn’t quite right
24. DA(PH)NE Probably our favourite of the Eggheads
25. JUVENILE (vile june)*
26. FE(RM)AT
27. MEN TALLY
DOWN
1. SCH WA(s) A new word to us, making this one of the last entered
2. LAPEL reverse of ‘le pal’
3. M(E. LANG)E
4. DESOLATED (old teased)*
5. DOLTISH (sloth I’d)*
6. NUMBER TWO (mob we turn)*
7. READ sounds like ‘red’
11. LANGUR sounds like ‘langour’ Didn’t know this one either
12. MUM BAI(t)
14. FouR OTHER HAMlets
15. WAREHOUSE anagram of ‘we hear’ outside ‘o’ and ‘us’
17. RACI(E)ST
19. DILUENT ‘unlimited’ minus ‘I’m’ anagramised. The last one in, as ‘solvent’ for ‘thinner’ was hard to get out of our heads given that it fits three-quarters of the checking letters
21. T(R)ILL
22. SEEDY cryptic definition
23. BASE dd
Hi Handel
Re 8 across. I’d like to know too. If nobody else tells us, perhaps The Don will provide enlightenment.
I thought it was HIPFLASK with shorts referring to drinks.
In ALL-INCLUSIVE I thought it also referred to ALL being included in gALLimaufry.
Oh yes, we like your answers more than our own! Hipflask is clever.
‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ (from Handel’s Messiah)
I wrote in HIPFLASK without being entirely sure. Similarly SEEDY, which I still don’t quite follow. Can anyone explain the “OT” reference?
Not 100% sure but think it might be a pun “SEED-Y” ie like seed which may refer back to OT text describing children.
I had hipflask at first but thought it hyphenated so put in hopeless which also describes my understanding of the clue.Did right hand side in good time (for me!) but struggle with left hand side esp bottom left.Didn’t know langur could be spelled like that.No chance with 16a or 24.Put Fermat in as it fitted.Happy with the rest though!
P.S.Just discovered langur is a monkey! In that case excellent clue!
HIPFLASK is obviously right. I’d written HOPELESS because it fitted the space, but HIPFLASK also fits the clue – a big plus in a crossword!