I’m not sure what to say about this one. Whilst solving I felt that a number of clues had a rather loose definition, indicator or association in the wordplay but on reflection, whilst writing the analysis, I can see that most of them do (just about) work, though I still have a few reservations as noted below.
Across
1 THREE MEN IN A BOAT *(BRIAN MATE THE ONE) – the Jerome K Jerome novel.
9 MACHETE *(THE) in MACE (spice)
10 EQUATOR EQUA[l] (line avoids same) TOR (peak)
11 LOUGH [s]LOUGH (Berkshire comunity initially ignored)
12 TWO-STROKE *(SET TO WORK)
13 OKEY-DOKEY O[bserve) KEY (main) DO[n]KEY (beast of burden not bearing)
15 SANTA ANT (one marches) in SA (army)
16 AGNEW G (government) in ANEW (again) – Spiro Agnew, former US Vice President.
18 A MUG’S GAME MUGS (cups) in AGA (cooker) ME (this person)
20 TITHE BARN TIT (bird) BAR (watering-hole) in HEN (female)
23 UNTIE [mo]UNTIE (Canadian police loosened doctor) – I would have thought that ‘Canadian police’ would give ‘Mounties’ so perhaps ‘police’ should have been ‘policeman’. I assume that ‘loosened’ as a removal indicator is being used in the sense of relieved or emptied (usually the bowels).
24 MOSELLE MO (flash) SELLE[r] (trader squanders last)
25 UPTIGHT U (university) PT (training) [e]IGHT (0800 when lacking energy)
26 SCARBOROUGH FAIR SCAR (mark) B[usking] O[utlet] ROUGH (difficult) FAIR (market) – a Simon and Garfunkel tune.
Down
1 TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS [dec]EM[ber] in *(IF MALTESE PORT) – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
2 RECLUSE RE (on) CLUES (part of crossword) with the E moved to the end (taking minimum of effort to finish)
3 EYE SHADOW ADO (bother) in *(SEE WHY)
4 ELECT hidden in ‘thE LECTure’
5 I BEG OF YOU BE (remain) *(FOGY) in IOU (financial promise)
6 ADULT AD (trailer) [s]U[b]L[e]T
7 OUTWORN OU (in France where) TWO (pair) RN (navy)
8 THREE-DAY EVENTER d&cd – a reference to the actress Doris Day – I’ve heard of a ‘three-day event’ and of ‘three-day eventing’ but not ‘three-day eventer’. Surely the latter would be someone participating in the event rather than the event itself?
14 KOALA BEAR KO (punch) A homophone of ‘Labour’ (party) – I assume this is the intended parsing but I have difficulty with the homophone LAB (party) EAR (one hears) Edited due to a better explanation. Thanks Sil.
15 SASQUATCH SQUAT (dodgy building) in *(CASH) – another name for Bigfoot – a building occupied by squatters is not necessarily ‘dodgy’, it could be in good repair (at least initially).
17 NATASHA TAN (colour) reversed AS (when) HA (laughing)
19 ANTIGUA ANT (social worker) I (one) AUG (month) reversed – an island in the West Indies.
21 EX LIB X (unknown person) in BILE (humour) reversed – an abbreviation of ‘ex libris’
22 NAURU N[atural] A[ttire] U[nadvisedly] R[un] U[phill] – an island in Micronesia.
Thanks Gaufrid.
I started this crossword just after midnight [in the UK] and found most of the NE so quickly that I thought: well, this is easy. However, I had some trouble to finish it.
The last one to go in was THREE-DAY EVENTER, and just like you I wasn’t sure about the last part. Bit strange.
I couldn’t fully explain RECLUSE, as I was thinking of CLUE as ‘part of crossword’ and therefore looking for the S.
Not completely unreasonable, because CLUES is plural and ‘part of crossword’ isn’t.
A pity that in the clue of 10ac the word ‘line’ wasn’t capitalised.
Could have been my Clue of the Day.
13ac (OKEY DOKEY) was another candidate – nice construction & surface.
I liked 14d (KOALA BEAR) but I parsed it slightly different from you: KO + A LAB[our] + EAR (one hears).
And in 17d the part HA [just once] is not really ‘laughing’ yet, I think.
Enjoyable, but a mixed bag.
Hi Sil
I had a similar reservation regarding 2dn, thinking that ‘part of crossword’ would lead to ‘clue’ (singular), but then decided that a crossword is made up from a grid and [a set of] clues.
I’m sure your parsing of 14dn is correct. I had the mental equivalent of tunnel vision when considering ‘one hears’, which would normally be a homophone indicator but here it is part of the wordplay. I will amend the post accordingly.
The parts of a crossword are grid and clues. There cannot be a ‘crossword’ with just one clue. So I think it’s fair to expect us to derive CLUES from ‘part of a crossword’.
Of course, you’re right, Rishi.
There is no crossword with just one clue.
But a singular ‘clue’ is surely a ‘part of a crossword’ as are all the others.
But let’s not discuss this further.
I was only explaining my thoughts while solving.
And I have no problems with it at all.
A little gripe with 8D apart from the lack of only hearing of a Three Day Eventer in respect of a horse taking part in a Three Day Event?
Doris Day was born Doris Kappelhoff…..so surely her siblings would have this as a surname – perhaps a Three Kappelhoff Eventer makes about as much sense?
No prob’s on solving – it was all logical – even if rough in some places.
Setter, or Editor to blame ???
Nice one though Aardvark, a pleasure.
J.
Thanks Gaufrid.
I found this pretty tough,maybe because I tackled it in the pub with one eye on the cricket.
I usually only work part time,so do most of my “puzzling” at home with far fewer distractions.
Like you, I had many reservations about this until I had a proper think about it,but have eventually decided that,8 down,excepted all is fair.In fact it is really a pretty good puzzle,just wish I’d had more time to do it justice!