Not difficult but very nicely done. Thank you Cinephile.
Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CONVEYOR BELT | (LOVE BY CORONET)* possibly=anagram |
| 8 | INSIDER | sounds like “in cider” |
| 9 | COLETTE | COTE (small house for animals) going araound (available without) LET (lease) – Sidone-Gabrielle Colette, French novelist. I am not completely sure on this, I would prefer small house to be COT, but then what about the E? |
| 11 | OFF DUTY | double definition |
| 12 | RADIATE | AID (help) reversed in RATE (speed) |
| 13 | CANED | CAN (is it possible for) ED (editor, jouralist) |
| 14 | ILLEGALLY | ILL (unhealthy) EG (for example, say) ALLY (friend) |
| 16 | CHALCEDON | (LEND COACH)* out=anagram – Chalcedon was town in Asia Minor, the location for the Council of Chalcedon an important council of the early christian church and the mineral chalcedony mising the end letter. |
| 19 | MASON | MA SON (mother and son, two generations) – a mason dresses stone |
| 21 | UNMEANT | an encounter (getting together) of UN (a French), ME (the setter) and ANT (insect) – definition is ‘accidental’ |
| 23 | MILEAGE | MILE (distance) AGE (time) |
| 24 | TARTLET | T (model T Ford) ART (painting) LET (permitted) – definition is ‘a single pastry’ |
| 25 | RIOTOUS | RIO (where the Olympics are going) TO US (the British) |
| 26 | BLASTED HEATH | BL (first letters of Berners Lee) AS TED HEATH (former UK Prime Minister) – scene from Macbeth |
| Down | ||
| 1, 22 | COSI FAN TUTTE | CO’S (company’s, firm’s) InFANT (baby) dropping N (pole) UTTEr (complete, almost) – Mozart Opera |
| 2 | NED LUDD | DEN (retreat) reversed and LUcky (some of) DD (ROman numerals, numbers) – the Luddites, followers (chronologically at least) of Ned Ludd who smashed two knitting machines during the industrial revolution |
| 3 | EARLY BIRD | double/cryptic definition – an early communications satellite and a killer of worms |
| 4 | OSCAR | OS (out size, large) CAR |
| 5 | BULLDOG | double/cryptic definition – a bulldog clip and ‘a dog is a man’s best friend’ |
| 6 | LET FALL | LEFT* ALL (completely) |
| 7 | DIVORCE COURT | (OCT I CURVED OR)* otherwise=anagram and1=I as Roman numeral |
| 10 | EVERYONE ELSE | EVER (always) YON (those) EELS (fish) E (point, of the compass) |
| 15 | LONG MARCH | definition and cryptic definition – a long March would delay the 1st April |
| 17 | ADMIRAL | D (500, Roman numeral) MI (miles) in ARAL (sea) – definition is ‘officer’ |
| 18 | CHABLIS | CHAr (tea, not finished) BLISs (happiness, not finished) |
| 19 | MOLDOVA | M (a thousand, a large number of) OLD (stale) OVA (eggs) |
| 20 | SEA LOCH | SEAL (a beast) with OCH (Scottish expression) – definition is (Scottish water) |
| 22 | See 1 down | |
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee.
Very nicely done, indeed. I particularly liked 26ac [you’ve accidentally left out TED] and 3,19 and 20dn.
RE 18dn: CHA = tea is an alternative spelling [used that way in today’s Guardian Gordius puzzle] so the first ‘less than’ is not strictly necessary, except for the surface.
I didn’t think twice about COTE until I saw your query, thinking that it was a variation of ‘cot’ and was surprised to see that it was in both Collins and Chambers only as an animal shelter. However, my SOED gives it as ‘a cot or cottage, now dialect’. [I’m sure I’ve seen houses called ‘The Cote].]
Not difficult? I beg to differ. Thanks for the blog, though.
Thanks for being an EARLY BIRD with the blog, PeeDee. I’m afraid this was a rather LONG MARCH for me during my time OFF DUTY at lunchtime, so I ILLEGALLY looked at your blog for the answers and consoled myself with a glass of CHABLIS.
Thanks for the pointing out the omission Eileen.