A much easier outing this week than last, which H did comfortably over his lunch hour. Some very nice touches (16ac and 21ac were our favourites) together with unexotic vocabulary would make this ideal beginners’ fare.
ACROSS
1. BRA ZEN
4. PHYSIC(s)
8. T(O)V A RICH
10. A RABLE ‘half-hearted mob’ is a ‘rabble’ with only one of its middle letters
11. CUCKOO’S PIT
12. LU(c)RE ‘filthy lucre’ is the usual phrase
13. FLURRIED ‘flu’ and then ‘rider’ anagramised
15. SHIRTY ‘shy’ around ‘trip’ reversed without the ‘p’
16. GA(M.B.)OL ‘lark lands doctor behind bars, it seems’ hence doctor in gaol. Probably the smartest clue of the puzzle, and also the last to go in
18. RELIEVED dd
20. J ILL charade and cryptic definition, referencing the nursery rhyme
21. POINTED OUT implied anagram: ‘in depot’ is ‘pointed’ anagramised, hence ‘out’. Nicely done
23. F(A B I)AN
24. S(PILL)WAY
25. E U (NU) CH
26. IGNITE ‘ignore’, with ‘or’ replaced by ‘it’, fire is in verbal form here, which made it a bit harder to get
DOWN
1. BIOFUEL ‘being foul’ anagramised, without ‘ng’ – ‘no good’
2. ALACK hidden backwards inside ‘nick – calamity’
3. EDITORIAL (I tailored)*
5. HE ART
6. SMALL-TIME dd, one cryptic
7. CUL(PR I)T
9. HYPODERMICS (Sophy cried m)*
14. REBELLION cryptic definition, albeit not a terribly misleading one
15. SPLIT RING cryptic definition. Fairly clear that ‘key’ was the important word here, but didn’t get this till late on as I wasn’t familiar with this name for a key ring
17. A NI< MATE
19. EMULATE ’emu’ followed by ‘et al’ reversed
21. PANIC dd, panic is a type of grass
22. DEL(H)I
Thanks for the blog, Handel.
Confirms again that Quixote is an apt setter for relaxing Sundays. Thanks Quixote.
Favourite clues are 8A, and 21A, which I (and maybe others too) would call a reverse anagram, the answer providing anagram fodder and indicator for the wordplay in the clue. Seems to be a favourite of Quixote, as we had one last week.
Also liked 21D, although having got the checked letters, there was little doubt as to the answer: PANIC grass may cause hay fever, and hay fever may cause PANIC attacks, so there is an &lit here as well.
Renewed thanks for the blog — and great to meet the two of you again at AZ2000. Don Q