Guardian 25,087 – Brummie

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I always feel a little nervous when I see Brummie’s name on a puzzle, and indeed it took me a while to get going with it, but it was not too hard overall, with the downs seeming a little easier than the acrosses. There seems to be a bit of a theme going on – to avoid giving the game away I’ll mention it at the end of the blog.

 
 
 
Across
1. TRAFFIC Double definition
5. LIFT-OFF LIF[E] + TOFF
9. GUCCI Homophone of “Goochie“
10. COMPETENT COMPETE + N[ational] T[rust] – a “preserving body”
11. TOOTH FAIRY I think this is just a cryptic definition, the “discarded item of dinner equipment” being a child’s lost tooth.
12. BLUR [shou]L[ders] in RUB<
14. DIRE STRAITS I in (TAR STRIDES)*
18. THE SCAFFOLD (SCOFF AT DELHI)* less I[ndependent]
21. PULP L in PUP
22. BLACKTHORN LACK + T + H in BORN (given a life)
25. ACETYLENE E[nergy] in (L + EYE CANT)*
26. ARIES Hidden in mARIE Stopes
27. DETROIT O in DETRIT[US] – so the definition is just “city”
28. MADNESS DAN* in MESS
 
Down
1. TIGHTS TIGHT (drnk, legless) + S
2. ANCHOR AN + CHOR[E}
3. FLIGHT DECK L in FIGHT + DECK (which may be cut, as in a deck of cards)
4. COCOA CO[mpany] twice + A (top grade)
5. LAMBRUSCO LAMB + SCOUR*
6. FREE R[oof] in FEE
7. OVERLAID Double definition
8. FUTURIST (TUTU FIRST)* less one of the Ts
13. CREDIT CARD DIRECT* + CARD (comedian)
15. REFULGENT FUL[L] in REGENT
16. STOPPARD D RAP POTS) all reversed
17. HELLBENT HELL (underworld) + BENT (criminal). A bit weak, as HELL has the same meaning in answer and wordplay.
19. POLICE PO (river) + LICE – I presume rats=lice in the figurative sense of bad people
20. GNOSIS SONG< + IS
23. CREAM C (100) REAM(s) is 50,000 sheets. A ream is now 500 sheets, but was formerly 480, hence “in miodern terms”
24. GYRO Y[ea]R in GO (work)
 
The theme I mentioned above is that many of the answers are the names of well-known (what I call) pop groups. I can see ten, but there may well be others I’m not familiar with.

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