A good puzzle from Armonie. As alwyas, the clues are concise and generally have smooth, natural surface readings. I wasn’t excited about any of the two-word anagrams but I particularly enjoyed 3, 10 and 13 down.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1, 4 | ARTFUL DODGER *(TELFORD GUARD) |
| 8 | SLEIGHT homophone of SLIGHT (insignificant) |
| 9 | PATIENT dd |
| 11 | BY AND LARGE *(DYLAN) in BARGE (boat) |
| 12 | TOUT [s]TOUT (ale) |
| 13 | SPRAT R (royal) in SPAT (argument) |
| 14 | SUBTRACT BUS (transport) reversed + TRACT (area) |
| 16 | IMPAIRED IMP (brat) AIRED (broadcast) |
| 18 | TUMID TUM (spare tyre) I’D |
| 20 | TROT dd |
| 21 | BOWIE KNIFE *(WIFE ON BIKE) |
| 23 | MAJORCA MAJOR (officer) CA (about) |
| 24 | ROMANIA RO[yalist] MANIA (enthusiasm) |
| 25, 26 | DOMINO EFFECT *(ME INFECT FOOD) |
| Down | |
| 1 | ALLEY dd |
| 2 | THINNER INN (pub) inside THE R (bartender finally) |
| 3 | UPHOLSTER UP (top) HOLST (composer) E (direction) R (restricted) |
| 5 | ORATE O (love) RATE (rebuke) |
| 6 | GLITTER G (girl) LITTER (puppies) |
| 7 | RENOUNCED OUNCE (cat) in REND (split) |
| 10 | DRESS DOWN DRESS (trim) DOWN (blue) |
| 13 | SAMARKAND A MARK (spot) in SAND (desert) |
| 15 | BETTER OFF BETTER (gambler) OFF (out) |
| 17 | ART FORM A (American) RT (right) FOR (in favour of) M (market leader) |
| 19 | MANDATE MAN (worker) DATE (time) |
| 21 | BACON CO (firm) in BAN (boycott) |
| 22 | FLIRT R (Romeo) in FLIT (flutter) |
Hi, Agentzero, I am not writing this post to let you feel not thát lonely today.
I’ve just completed this Armonie, and it was indeed a good crossword.
But I feel there’s still not enough variety in his way of clueing [to my taste, that is].
Again, an overdose of “A in B” and charades.
Highlight for me the BOWIE KNIFE of 21ac. Not that I’m a violent person [far from that], but I liked the somewhat more ‘adventurous’ surface.
BTW, the surfaces were – as you said – quite good.
Wasn’t familiar with some abbreviations like ‘R’ for ‘restricted’ and even ‘G’ for ‘girl’.
Anyway, nice friendly puzzle of a setter who’s style seems to be not completely my cup of tea [after solving a few Armonies & Chifonies] – mainly due to the limited number of devices.