Nothing too taxing to solve after a sumptuous Christmas dinner, but a fine set of witty clues.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Intelligent singer on a rock (9) | ||
| REASONING | An anagram (‘rock’) of ‘singer on a’. | ||
| 6. | Pastry from holiday centre in Florence (4) | ||
| FILO | An envelope (in’) of I (‘holIday centre’) in FLO (‘Florence’). | ||
| 8. | Warn an attractive person concealing second name (8) | ||
| ADMONISH | An envelope (‘concealing’) of MO (‘second’) plus N (‘name’) in A DISH (‘an attractive p[erson’). | ||
| 9. | Shed in mud-filled hollow (6) | ||
| SLOUGH | Double definition. | ||
| 10. | Credit for one reporting via dial-up connection (6) | ||
| BYLINE | Definition and literal interpretation. For a while I thought ‘via dial up connection’ might be a novel homophone indicator. | ||
| 11. | Groups again seen in Salinger novel (8) | ||
| REALIGNS | An anagram (‘novel’) of ‘Salinger’. | ||
| 12. | Composer‘s book taken to craft fair (6) | ||
| BARTOK | A charade of B (‘book’) plus ART (‘craft’) plus OK (‘fair’). | ||
| 15. | Craft that’s shipshape Balboa finally scuttled (8) | ||
| TRIMARAN | A charade of TRIM (‘shipshape’) plus A (“BalboA finally’) plus RAN (‘scuttled’). | ||
| 16. | Some Greeks without, some within (8) | ||
| SPARTANS | An envelope (‘winthin’) of PART (‘some’) in SANS (‘without’). I like that one. | ||
| 19. | Japanese city backing an artist (6) | ||
| NAGOYA | A charade of NA, a reversal (‘backing’) of ‘an’ plus GOYA (‘artist’). | ||
| 21. | Going out, they lack an opener (8) | ||
| LATCHKEY | An anagram (‘going out’) of ‘they lack’. | ||
| 22. | Put on Orlando’s leather (6) | ||
| SHAMMY | A charade of SHAM (‘put on’ i.e. fake) plus MY (‘Orlando’s’). | ||
| 24. | Is girl right one who’s put out? (6) | ||
| ISSUER | A charade of ‘is’ plus SUE (‘girl’) plus R (‘right’). The apostrophe s is has. | ||
| 25. | Hungry mutineers heading off up the creek (8) | ||
| ESURIENT | An anagram (‘up the creek’) of ‘[m]utineers’ without its leading character (‘heading off’). | ||
| 26. | Club losing initial advantage (4) | ||
| EDGE | [w]EDGE (golf ‘club’) without its leading character (‘losing initial’). | ||
| 27. | Run down one occupying room with fireplace (9) | ||
| DENIGRATE | An envelope (‘occupying’) of I (‘one’ Roman numeral or the perpendicular pronoun) in DEN (‘room’) plus GRATE (‘fireplace’). | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Blasted red (5) | ||
| RUDDY | Double definition. | ||
| 2. | Oliver Reed debuts in a film one loves (7) | ||
| AMORIST | An envelope (‘in’) of O R (‘Oliver Reed debuts’) in A MIST (‘a film’). | ||
| 3. | Nothing appealing is postponed (2,3) | ||
| ON ICE | A charade of O (‘nothing’) plus NICE (‘appealing’). | ||
| 4. | Be left at home with their mess (7) | ||
| INHERIT | A charade of IN (‘at home’) plus HERIT, an anagram (‘mess’) of ‘their’. | ||
| 5. | Development that’s gutted George and Victoria? (9) | ||
| GESTATION | A charade of GE (‘gutted GeorgE‘) plus STATION (‘Victoria?’). | ||
| 6. | Orlando here revealing 1 down’s answer (7) | ||
| FLORIDA | A charade of FLORID (RUDDY, ‘1 down’) plus A (‘answer’). | ||
| 7. | The policeman in Perpignan releasing me before the end of Absolutely Fabulous (9) | ||
| LEGENDARY | A charade of LE GENDAR[me] (‘the policeman in Perpignan’) without (‘releasing’) ‘me’ plus Y (‘the end of AbsolutelY’). | ||
| 13. | Told about article being valued (9) | ||
| APPRAISED | An envelope (‘about’) of A (indefinite ‘article’) in APPRISED (‘told’). | ||
| 14. | Yard man exhausted, extremely exhausted (9) | ||
| KNACKERED | a charade of KNACKER (‘yard man’) plus ED (‘ExhaudteD, extremely’). | ||
| 17. | Midwest sore about one avoiding others (7) | ||
| RECLUSE | A reversal (‘about’) of ES (‘midwESt’) plus ULCER (‘sore’). | ||
| 18. | Source of protein Spooner’s son spotted (7) | ||
| SOYBEAN | A Spoonerism of BOY SEEN (‘son spotted’). | ||
| 20. | Greek woman providing cold dessert (7) | ||
| GRANITA | A charade of GR (‘greek’) plus ANITA (‘woman’). | ||
| 22. | Chucked from small open space in town? (5) | ||
| SLUNG | A charade of S (‘small’) plus LUNG (‘open space in town’). | ||
| 23. | Some clergyman seen here? (5) | ||
| MANSE | A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘clergyMAN SEeen’), &lit. | ||
Thanks, PeterO – I couldn’t spot the reference to 1d in Florida, but obvious now.
Unusually, I had to do this on-line as our paper shop does not open on Boxing Day; I find it’s very hard to resist the temptation of revealing occasional guesses at letters.
21a LATCHKEY was late to go in in – I thought it was an anagram, but turned out to be a fairly tough one. ON ICE the last in.
Yes, thank-you OrlandO and PeterO (are you two related?)
About the right degree of difficulty for Boxing Day!
A couple of minor stumbles along the way – “they” in 21 suggested plural and I considered Pancakes for a while. 6d I tried to parse “FLOR” 1d A !! until Florid hit me. Adonis? in 8 wouldn’t work and “lung” new to me but obvious enough.
Thanks, Peter. I’d agree about the witty clueing, but I’m not so sure about ‘nothing too taxing’! Perhaps it was your Christmas fare that got you in the zone…
A delightful puzzle, with SLUNG and the nicely misleading FLORIDA my favourites this morning.
I thought this might be a Brummie/Cyclops (Private Eye) puzzle when I came to solve 14d. I took “Yard man” to be a reference to the Eye’s Inspector Knacker of the Yard, a name which derived from the name of Inspector Jack Slipper of Scotland Yard, who spent some years vainly attempting to bring Ronnie Biggs to justice, and which is a term which the Eye uses to refer to the police in general, particularly when there’s a hint of malpractice involved. Only later did I realise that “yard man” was more likely to be intended to refer to a knacker as a disposer of worn out horses, rather than as a would-be dispenser of justice. But, then again, as “Yard” is situated at the beginning of the clue, and is therefore spelt with a capital “y”, it’s possible that Orlando, clever chap, had both meanings in mind when he devised this clue.
ToniL @2
O no.
Martin @4
It’s been a while since I have seen a hard copy of Private Eye, and I had forgotten about Knacker of the Yard. Obviously, I took the clue to be a reference to a knacker’s yard (which surely is the origin of the PI name), but it may well be that Orlando had both in mind.
Thanks all
I thought this was thankfully very tricky.
Last in was ‘amorist’,I had been convinced it was ‘amorini’ (plural loves) but couldn’t fit the ‘film’ in.
This led me to struggle with Bartok.
I didn’t know ‘granita’ and spent a while on glacé derivatives.
A good workout, well done.
Thanks Orlando and PeterO.
I thought this was quite tricky, especially as I didn’t know SLOUGH=mud-filled hollow (so, the name for the town? 😉 ) and LUNG=open space in town. Couldn’t parse TRIMARAN and got caught by the Adonis in 8. My brain must be addled after the Christmas festivities.
Thanks PeterOand Orlando
I only got hold of this late afternoon. I too found it quite tricky in places. I had to check ‘lung’ and did not parse the second half of ‘trimaran’ though the answer itself was clear enough. I particularly liked 12a, 22a, 24a, 6d, and 7d.
Thanks to Orlando and PeterO
After overindulgence I found this hard work – I gave up on ISSUER.
Robi @ 7 – are you familiar with the Betjeman poem that starts “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough”?
“Robi @ 7 – are you familiar with the Betjeman poem that starts “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough”?”
Or, more relevantly, the Slough of Despond in ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slough_of_Despond
Like tupu, I came to this late, owing to family festivities, but couldn’t miss an Orlando. Many thanks to him ,as always, for a witty and entertaining holiday puzzle – and to PeterO for the blog.
All was going well except for the SW corner, where I scuppered myself by putting ‘recounted’ for 13d. It does fit the clue well, but for the surplus ‘article’.
Shammy? Is that acceptable now? Chamois is the word, pronounced “shammy” in English car salesman argot, I know, but surely not in dictionary? O tempora, o mores!
John @12
The OED gives the first appearance of ‘shammie’ in T Baker’s Art of Angling. dated 1651, and spelled with a y in the 1653 edition.
Quite tricky for me too. So much so that I’ve just entered the last 2. ISSUER and SHAMMY. Main delay caused by having APPLAUDED and FLUNG for 13 and 22d!!! (I blame the Champagne!)
Thanks to PeterO and OrlandO 🙂
Thanks Orlando and PeterO
Did finish this late on Boxing Day but have only just checked it after driving Melbourne – Sydney (what we do to visit relos!)
As others, found it challenging in places not helped by lazily writing ESCAPEE in at 17. Had to check up on SHAMMY (spelling) and LUNG as open spaces (closest I could find was a green lung – so happy enough).
Had G – RANITA after finding her as a Hebrew girl’s name.