Masterly
Across
1 ARACHNOPHOBE (like Miss Muffet) (CHA CHA OR IN BOP)*
9 ALOOFLY (keeping apart from) LOO (toilet) in A FLY (insect)
10 RAINBOW (array of colours) Royal Academician in Bow
11 TOADY (obsequious type) TODAY inside rearranged
12 PALMISTRY (reading lines on hand) PAL (friend) MIST (obscurity) RY (lines)
13 DRIFT ICE (frozen lumps) RIFT (fissure) in DICE (cubes)
15 GILEAD (Hill of Testimony in Bible) G (good) I (one) LEAD (guide)
18 SENT UP (made fun of) ENT (ear nose & throat) in SUP (drink)
19 SMOKE OUT dd
22 UNETHICAL (immoral) (LUNATIC HE)*
24 PLAIN (clear) CHA (tea) from CHAPLAIN (padre)
25 SLUMBER (repose) [wondrous]S LUMBER (move heavily)
26 CHARISM (spiritual power) IS in CHARM (amulet)
27 PIERRE TRUDEAU (ex PM) (I RUE DEPARTURE)*
Down
1 ADAPTED (accommodated) (PET)* in A DAD
2 ADORATION (worship) A D (day) ORATION (sermon)
3 HEFTY (big) FT (our paper) in HEY (shout of joy)
4 OLYMPICS (games) M[oney] in (POLICYS)*
5 HERALD (announcer) HER (the female) A LD (lord)
6 BAILIWICK (jurisdiction of a bailiff)
BAIL (security) I (one) WICK (Scotland)
7 CABOT (John or Sebastian Italian explorers)
TOBACCO< (leaves to go north) minus CO (company)
8 SWAYED (lacked stability) sounds like SUEDE
14 TOUCHABLE (can be felt) OUCH (cry of pain) in TABLE (furniture)
16 EVOCATIVE (bringing memories) [Mors]E VOCATIVE (case)
17 IMPLICIT (understood) IMP (mischief-maker) LICIT (within the law)
18 SQUASH dd (game played in a court)
20 TINAMOU (bird) hidden in [tha]T IN A MOU[ntain]
21 SCORER (recorder of marks) CORE (heart) in S[i]R
23 EQUIP (outfit) E (eastern) QUIP (sally)
24 PRAHU (boat) U (superior) HARP< (instrument set up)
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit < = reverse dd = double definition
Thanks Don for an excellent crossword and Jed for the blog. My favourite clue was 10ac.
20dn: Slight problem here. I cannot get the cryptic grammar to work. The full clue reads
Bird that in a mountain can be found.
The defintion is “Bird” – no problem, but then the next four words are needed to hide the answer, leaving “can be found” as the hiding indicator, which does not feel right.
Thanks, Jed.
I agree with Pelham’s point about 20dn. As a one-off cryptic clue, however, I think it
is rather ingenious. Apparently there are 47 species of Tinamou and some of them do
indeed inhabit montane forest. Perhaps we’re meant to suspend our normal parsing
methods here, and simply enjoy the clue as a good read. It certainly appealed to me!
Thanks, Don, for the entertainment.
Thanks,Jed.
The answer to 1a is arachnophobic which I am sure you must have had originally.