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Standard stuff from Cinephile.
Of couse the standard set by Cinephile/Araucaria is very high, so it is unfair to expect something extraordinary all the time. It must be difficult trying to live up to one’s own reputation.
Someone commented here recently that the standard of the FT cryptic has been getting higher and higher in recent months . I agree, merely ‘very good’ just seems normal these days.
Thank you Cinephile.
Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SLEEPYHEAD | LEE (shelter) in SPY (notice) HE (man) with A D (daughter) |
| 6 | KERB | sounds like “curb”, a horse’s bit |
| 9 | MARIE LLOYD | ARIEL (fairy) in (MY OLD)* play=anagram – Marie Lloyd former music hall star |
| 10 | DIVA | AVID (greatly wanting) reversed (comeback) |
| 12 | THE LAST STRAW | STARTS* in WEALTH* (anagrams = ill-gotten and irregular) |
| 15 | RENDITION | double definition – see extraordinary rendition |
| 17 | OCTET | ETC (and so on) in TO all reversed – definition is ‘group’ |
| 18 | SWEAT | WE (the poms) SAT (took place) – definition is ‘trouble in Australia’, more commonly seen negated as “no sweat”? |
| 19 | BOARDROOM | BOAR (pig) meets DOOM (fate) including (taking in) R (royal) |
| 20 | VARIABLENESS | (ABRASIVE LENS)* anagram=operating |
| 24 | RAGE | double definition |
| 25 | UNDER OFFER | (FOUND FREER)* anagram=option |
| 26 | EDAM | MADE (produced) reversed (in recession) |
| 27 | BEHIND HAND | definition/cryptic definition |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SUMP | SUM (all) P (piano, quiet) – a ‘well’ can mean a low place where oil is collected, in a car engine for example |
| 2 | EARL | nEARLy (middle of) |
| 3 | PRECHRISTIAN | anagram (disturbed) of HIS PARTNER I (first, eg Charles I) and C (century) – definition is BC |
| 4 | HALAL | HAL (prince, Henry V) coming before A L (student) – food approved under Islamic law |
| 5 | ABYSSINIA | ABYSS (chasm) IN I (island) follwed by A – former name for Ethiopia |
| 7 | EMIGRATION | (INTO MIRAGE)* anagram=turning |
| 8 | BEAR WITH ME | definition/cryptic definition |
| 11 | AS GOOD AS GOLD | definition/cryptic definition |
| 13 | GRASS VERGE | GRASS (tell) VERGE (rod, staff of office) |
| 14 | INTERREGNA | IN and TERRE (land, foreign=French) maGNAte (some of) – an interregnum is a period between two reigns, temporary government. I am a little dubious about ‘some’ meaning ‘pick an arbitrary group of letters from the middle of a word’ but the objection is more on principal than in practice here. |
| 16 | IMBALANCE | (AN ALEMBIC)* anagram=maybe – definition is ‘lopsidedness’ and also sort of &lit. In case you were wondering (like me) an alembic is an old fashioned type of distilling aperatus |
| 21 | NAEVI | NAE (no, Scots) and VI (six, Roman numeral) – plural of nevus, a pigmented spot on the skin |
| 22 | OFFA | OF FA (footballers) – Offa of Mercia, medieval king |
| 23 | GRID | inGRID (girl) missing in=home |
*anagram
Many thanks PeeDee and Cinephile
This was very enjoyable and I have never been disappointed by this setter whatever pseudonym he uses.
9a had me pondering Peri and Mab before the anagram jumped out at me.
Thanks for decrypting some of the clues which had me stumped.
Re 14D, interregna is of course the plural of interregnum – the clue refers to vacancies plural.
Particularly enjoyed 12A and 11D which caused me to smile.
We had 17A OCTET with a very similar clue in Araucaria No. 25,777 19A two weeks ago, which is a bit of a swizz…
Thanks Michael, fixed now.