Usual good puzzle from Dac, this one I found extremely easy, solving time, 12 mins.
* = anagram
ACROSS
1 SPARTA SPAR(fight) TA(volunteers) City in ancient Greece
8 FLETCHER Double definition. This would have taken me ages in earlier times, but I have learnt from doing crosswords for quite a bit that a fletcher is a person who makes arrows and that Fletcher Christian is the main character in ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’.
9 HOOP O (nothing) in HOP (dance) This was my last entry.
10 UNTRAINED (United ran)* Hope Sir Alex Ferguson is not tackling this puzzle, after Man United’s late season disappointments…
11 COMPLETE L (line) in COMPETE ‘Finished’ is an adj here.
13 THEORY HE (His or Her Excellency = Ambassador) in TORY (right-wing)
14 WET ONE’S WHISTLE have a drink (informal) (loth sweet wines)*
16 COUNTERBALANCE Definition: offset COUNTER BALANCE bank statement given to you at the counter by the teller
18 RANGER RAN (organised) GER (Germany)
20 ROTHESAY THE SA in ROY
21 IN TROUBLE INT (international) ROUBLE (currency)
22 PIKE Hidden reversal in somE KIPpers
23 TRESPASS TRES (very in French) PASS(é) – outdated, mostly
24 SQUARE Double definition Not in = unfashionable
DOWN
2 PROVOKE Seamless divide at ‘Get to /top of plateau’ Plateau and OK in ROVE. Definition: get to. My favourite clue today.
3 RAP par (standard) reversed
4 AMUSEMENT (men’s team u)* u = initially unprepared (first letter)
5 FITTED WARDROBES (Waterford bedsit)* A big help to get this on first run through, seeing wardrobes might be in it.
6 EXACT (AXE) reversed C (cold) T (first letter of turkey)
7 CONCENTRATE (act on recent)*
8 ENDORSE END (back) ‘ORSE Definition: OK (vb)
12 PROMULGATES PROM UnusuaL GATES
15 INAPTNESS NAP in IT NESS (head)
16 CRAZIER CRIER around AZ (extremists literally ie first and last letters of the alphabet)
17 CRACKER Double definition. Christmas cracker and a TV series I vaguely remembered the title of – Wikipedia tells me it’s a crime series from the 1990s.
19 RIOJA RIO (port) JA(r)
22 PAU A in UP reversed
Looks like he made it a Pangram this time.
I wouldn’t say I found it extremely easy, but as usual from Dac, clearly clued and gettable with some perseverance.
8dn was the smiley moment and 18ac was an elegant surface. Just a couple of queries if someone could help – if in 15dn the definition is ‘ill-fitting’ (an adjective), how can the answer be INAPTNESS (a noun)? And in 6dn, how is EXACT a synonym for ‘nice’?
Thanks for blogging, nms.
I think the sense is EXACT = precise = nice. Did not notice the pangram, must start looking for them.
In INAPTNESS, the ‘It’ indicates the noun, I think.
I think nice can actually mean exact. Great puzzle today from Dac.
Thanks nms.
Caffeine at the ready but found it a relative doddle. About the same degree od difficulty as this mornings Arachne in the Ugnadiar.
Like K’s D I baulked at Nice/Exact but there it is in Chambers. ‘Done with care and exactness’
That apart, Dac is always reliable. So it was here.
26′
Thanks nms.
Caffeine at the ready but found it a relative doddle. About the same degree of difficulty as this mornings Arachne in the Ugnadiar.
Like K’s D I baulked at Nice/Exact but there it is in Chambers. ‘Done with care and exactness’
That apart, Dac is always reliable. So it was here.
26′
Thanks all – Collins doesn’t have that definition, but has ‘precise’ as nms indicated. It’s a nice fit = it’s an exact/precise fit.
Yup a quick solve except trespass for some reason. Expected there to a nina not a pangram although with q j and z I should have seen that. Anyway thanks Dac.
Doddle is a word that never comes to mind with these crosswords.2d,23a and 19d didn’t get.Pleased with the rest