This felt like a relatively mid-paced week, but a handful took quite some effort to explain. 10ac still has me beaten, so I’ve reproduced the clue in the hope that a passing reader may be able to elucidate.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PANEGYRICON – (RACY OPENING)*. |
| 10 | PROPEL – I’m not quite sure here: Force’s peculiar, shifting right to left. |
| 11 | CURIE – I in CURE. |
| 12 | RESINOID – DERISION*. |
| 13 | INSTALLATION – I + N + (ALL in STATION). |
| 16 | QUART – QU + A + R + T[hree]. |
| 17 | CHIASMAS – CH + I + A + MASS*. |
| 19 | HERMETIC – M in HERETIC. |
| 20 | AREAL – A REAL. A realtone is a snippet of an actual piece of music, as opposed to a cheap polyphonic approximation. |
| 23 | NORMAL SCHOOL – RM in (NO ALCOHOL)*. |
| 24 | BOUTONNE – BOUT + (N in ONE). |
| 25 | SITUS – IT in SUS, with SUS being a shortened form of “suspect”. |
| 26 | FICHES – F + I[t]CHES. |
| 27 | COMSTOCKERY – CO + (ST in MOCKERY). |
| Down | |
| 2 | ARENA – ARE + N.A. |
| 3 | EPITHALAMIUM – (HUMILIATE + A + M + P)*. |
| 4 | GENAL – GEN[i]AL. |
| 5 | RAILCARD – RAIL + CA + RD. |
| 6 | CULTURE SHOCK – [v]ULTURES in CHOCK. |
| 7 | ORGIASTS – G in (RIOTS AS)*. |
| 8 | NIDORS – (ROD in SIN)<. |
| 9 | FERNTICKLES – (R in FEN) + TICKLES. |
| 10 | PRISCIANIST – (IN A CRISIS)* in PT. |
| 14 | LITERATO – LIT + ERATO. |
| 15 | SMELL OUT – M[alice] in SELL OUT. |
| 18 | IRONIC – (OR + I) in NIC[e]. |
| 21 | ICTIC – (C in IT) + I C. |
| 22 | LONER – ONE in LR. |
Hi Simon. A passer-by here. 🙂
10ac is just PROPEr with the R changed to L. I know some would argue that the clue should give a solution of “plopel” but I’m sure this is what is intended: “proper” meaning 3 in Chambers is “peculiar”.