An entertaining puzzle from Pan, with some delightful surfaces and a variety of resources.
ACROSS
1. ARMISTICE
Charade of AR(ab) + I(n) C(harge) in an anagram of *TIMES
6. CREAM
Charade of E(xtasis)=’drug’ in CRAM=’pack’
9. CARER
Charade of CARE(e)R – the last letter (‘end’) of life, for a nurse as a carer.
10. PUTREFIED
Charade of PUT = ‘place’ + REF = ‘arbitrator’ + anagram of *DIE, indicated by ‘horribly’
11. TRAMPOLINE
Anagram of *ARM+TOE+LIP around N(oon)
12. DELI
Homophone of Delhi (=’city’)
14. CLANGER
Charade of C(ardina)L – ‘disembowelled’ – + ANGER =one of the seven deadly sins
15. APOSTLE
Charade of POST = ‘office’ in ALE =’beer’. The definition ‘supporter of new system’ is somewhat unusual, I think
17. ELEVATE
Charade of E(astern)+LEVE around AT, indicated by ‘scoffed’. I presume ‘leve’ is some form of currency, though my Chambers gives ‘lev’ as a Bulgarian unit of currency, and I can find no other reference. Thanks to Big Dave for pointing out that this is in fact ATE = ‘scoffed’ after (indicated by ‘at’) E(astern) + LEV.
19. SCENERY
Charade of (Mo)SC(ow) – ‘central characters’ + ENER(g)Y (=power) minus ‘g’ for ‘government
20. NAAN
Charade of NAN = ‘relative’ around (indicated by ‘swallows) A, for this Indian bread:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naan
22. WOOLWORTHS
Charade of WOO = ‘court’ + L(iquidate), indicated by ‘beginning to’ + anagram of *THROWS, indicated by ‘out’. I didn’t know this chain store was ‘defunct’.
25. BLADDERED
Charade of BED = ‘resting place’ around LADDER = ‘something to climb’, giving us an adjective which I’ve never heard, but with obvious meaning, although ‘drunk’ is more often used in crosswords to indicate anagram fodder.
26. IDEAL
Charade of I = ‘one’ + DEAL = ‘portion’
27. LEDGE
Charade of L = ‘Flintoff’s second (letter)’ + EDGE = ‘boundary’
28. PREVENTED
Charade of PR(ince) + EVEN = ‘stable’ + TED = boy’s name (‘lad’)
DOWN
1. ASCOT
Hidden in ‘NovA SCOTia’
2. MARMALADE
Anagram of *LAME DRAMA, in a lovely surface which made me smile
3. STRIPOGRAM
Charade of S(econd) + TRIP = ‘outing’ + O(utgoin)G, indicated by ‘extremely’ + RAM = ‘male animal
4. IMPALER
Charade of I’M = ‘setter’s’ + PALER = ‘not as ruddy’, and &lit for Vlad the Impaler, the infamous ruler who inspired the Dracula myth
5. ESTONIA
Charade of E(uro) + anagram of *AIN’T SO, indicated by ‘bothered’
6. CREW
Charade of CR(edit) + E(ast) + W(est) = ‘two (compass) points’, a common device, along with ‘bridge partners’
7. ELITE
Hidden in ‘caramEL ITEm, indicated by ‘contains’. The defintion is ‘6 across’, as in ‘la crème de la crème’
8. MIDWIFERY
Anagram of *I DEFY MR with WI (= ‘Women’s Institute’). Another nice surface.
13. POPEMOBILE
Charade of PILE = ‘mass’ around anagram of *POEM + O(ld) B(oy), for yet another
14. CHERNOBYL
Charade of CHERYL = ‘girl'(‘s name) around NOB = ‘bigwig’, indicated by ‘takes’
16. TREATMENT
CCharade of (River) TRENT around anagram of *MATE
18. EGO TRIP
Anagram of *GOT PIER, indicated by ‘redeveloped’
19. SPLODGE
Last letter of ‘ignoramuS’ plus the first of ‘Philosophy’ + LODGE = stick
21. AWARD
Chrade of A + <DRAW reversed, indicated by ‘rejected’
23. SALAD
Charade of LAD = ‘boy’ after S(alvation) A(rmy)
24. IDLE
Hidden in ‘horrID LEeds’, which didn’t please me too much, Leeds being my English ‘alma mater’ 🙂
Thanks for the review Stella
17a is ATE (scoffed) at (by / after) E(astern) and LEV (currency of Bulgaria) – I don’t like hyphens being added just to improve the surface reading
4d I didn’t think this was &Lit (definition described by the whole clue)
Also I think some of your charades are better inicated as insertions of deletions.
Thanks for that, Dave. I’m still learning.
Thank you for an informative blog, Stella.
I liked POPEMOBILE and STRIPOGRAM, but there were other good clues to enjoy. WOOLWORTHS is one you wouldn’t appreciate if you haven’t lived in Blighty for a bit.
PREVENTED is pretty obvious once you’ve got some crossing letters, but I’m not a big fan of the ‘boy’ = ‘ted’ device to indicate an abbreviation of a man’s name. I know some big people that are called Ted.
Overall, a good puzzle for less experienced solvers, I thought.
Sorry no comments recently, been doing that chemo I mentioned. But I’m back! Did you have to all groan?
Well, I didn’t finish this by about 20%. For me to say that, who has been working his way through the archives with a sub 30 minute expectation, means this clearly was not a Quiptic. Having said that, I might have done better if my brain didn’t feel quite so fuzzy still. Having looked at the blog though, I’m not sure a clear mind would have helped.
Who, for example, ever says BLADDERED? Which little social clique does this come from?
Interesting comment, Derek. Certainly it’s not an adjective that would ever have occurred to me, but one of the things about crosswords is that you use, and learn, a far wider vocabulary than you need in everyday life.
In fact, as we language teachers know, most people don’t use more than 500 words actively, ie. in speech, independently of how many they understand
Hello Derek
Good to have you back. BLADDERED is in my active vocabulary, sadly. Round here it’s a pretty common slang word for ‘drunk’ – along with MULLERED, RAT-ARSED and about a million others, of course. In my native north-east, STOTTED or STOTTING were the adjectives of choice when I was young, but I haven’t heard them for a bit.
Keep well.
I thought bladdered was a fairly common expression; at least to dipsos. See: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Bladdered?r=66
Slang Dictionary
bladdered definition
1.mod.
drunk, especially with a full bladder. : I’m really bladdered! Somebody drive me home?
As one who was once the sort of dissolute student who was more dissolute than student and consequently got ratted with examples of all social origins, I can safely say, never heard of it!