A pleasing puzzle from Hypnos in the usual IoS style – not too challenging, but with plenty of good clues to enjoy. This one fell out nicely – it was a solver-friendly grid and there were no particular obscurities (well, maybe one …)
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Judge with unknown theatre director in administrative centre
COUNTY HALL
A charade of COUNT, Y for a mathematical unknown, and Sir Peter HALL gives you the seat of county government.
6 Self-satisfied fool trailing soprano
SMUG
A charade of S and MUG.
9 Old Republican suspect prepared to be source of parliamentary information?
ORDER PAPER
A further charade of O, R and (PREPARED)* ‘Suspect’ is the anagrind. An ORDER PAPER gives MPs a list of proceedings for the day ahead.
10 What keeps those inside in agitation?
STIR
A dd. STIR is a slang word for prison.
12 Two things containing oil by river largely making one grouchy
CANTANKEROUS
A charade of CAN, TANKER and OUS[E]. There are several River OUSES in the UK, so take your pick. It’s derived ultimately from the Celtic word for ‘water’, so River Ouse is a bit of a tautology. The Celtic word has also given us ‘whisky’, derived from uisge beatha, or ‘water of life’.
15 Accommodate unionist in old-fashioned clothes
HOUSE
An insertion of U in HOSE. I thought HOSE referred only to stockings or trousers (as in the American English PANTY-HOSE), but I suppose these items are ‘clothes’.
16 A Greek character with billion invested in Italian city left to go in versatile vehicle
AMPHIBIAN
A followed by an insertion of PHI B in MI[L]AN.
18 Protestors harbouring bullets etc in revolution to confront queen and military authority
COMMANDER
The ‘protesters’, perhaps most active in the 1980s, are CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). Put OMMA, a reversal of AMMO in that, add ER for our current monarch, and you’ve got your answer.
19 Perhaps schooner master deserts attractive ship
GLASS
A charade of GLA[M] and SS for ‘ship’. A schooner is a glass typically used for serving sherry, or Newcastle Brown Ale. Yours for only $4.99.
20 Revival of play in trip around Jersey etc and Wales?
PRINCIPALITY
(PLAY IN TRIP)* around CI for Channel Islands (Jersey, etc).
24 Republican group attracting gadgeteer in state
IRAQ
A charade of IRA for ‘republican group’ and Q, the gadgetmeister from the James Bond films.
25 Inactivity shown in male race?
STAGNATION
A charade of STAG and NATION. Hypnos seems fond of question marks – I don’t think this clue needs one, myself.
26 Drop discussed in rank
TIER
A homophone (‘discussed’) of TEAR
27 A lawyer with work put back in island to announce decision to quit
CALL IT A DAY
Bit complicated: it’s an insertion of TILL (‘work’) reversed and DA for District Attorney or ‘lawyer’ in CAY for the (mainly American English) word for ‘island’.
Down
1 Lecturer in bed getting medical problem
CLOT
An insertion of L in COT.
2 Language stifled by dour duchess
URDU
Hidden in doUR DUchess.
3 Pastry, one obtained in a secure ground as a dish accompaniment?
TARTARE SAUCE
A charade of TART and A inserted into (A SECURE)* ‘Ground’ is the anagrind. Nice with a bit of cod.
4 Vitally important area later developed in consequence of deal?
HEARTLAND
An insertion of (LATER)* in HAND. ‘Developed’ is the anagrind and a HAND, in cards, is the consequence of a ‘deal’.
5 Extended rest that is interrupting short course
LIE-IN
What the French call une grasse matinée (literally ‘a fat morning’) is an insertion of IE for id est, or ‘that is’ in LIN[K]. Referring to golf LINKS, I presume.
7 Orderly hotel maid at work around start of Christmas
METHODICAL
An insertion of C for the first letter of Christmas in (HOTEL MAID)*
8 Showy character with embellishment ignoring new directions
GARISHNESS
A charade of GAR[N]ISH and NESS for four ‘directions’ or points of the compass.
11 European group in Bahamas facing characteristic demarcation between continents?
BERING STRAIT
An insertion of E RING for ‘European group’ in BS, followed by TRAIT. BS is the internet domain suffix for the Bahamas, and the Bering Strait is the narrow gap of water between the Asian and North American continents.
13 European cited purpose in place at frontier?
CHECKPOINT
A homophone of CZECH and POINT.
14 A virtue MD strangely found around middle of slump in pair of leaders
DUUMVIRATE
I guess you could class this as obscure, but it’s an anagram, so fair enough. An insertion of U for the middle letter of slUmp in (A VIRTUE MD)*
17 Assistant in brief, say, having normal drink with a young woman
PARALEGAL
A three part charade: PAR plus ALE plus GAL. ‘Brief’ in its legal sense.
21 Ancient city favoured by artist
PETRA
The Jordanian ancient city and UNESCO world heritage site is a charade of PET and RA. I’m more used to PET as ‘favourite’ as in ‘teacher’s pet’; but I guess you could say that your PET PROJECT was your ‘favoured project’.
22 Turn section of the orchestra
WIND
A dd, relying on the fact that WIND – like a number of other English words – can be pronounced in two different ways.
23 Just power is missing from defective pylon
ONLY
Remove P for ‘power’ from ‘pylon’, make an anagram, and you’ve got the final answer.
Many thanks to Hypnos for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre. I needed your help to parse 24a & 18a.
My favourites in this puzzle were 27, 19a, 8d, 12a & 13d.
New word for me was DUUMVIRATE.
I parsed 5d as IE in LIN(e) (‘line’= ‘course’) but got to the right answer just the same.
Thanks, Michelle. Your explanation of LIE-IN is of ‘course’ what Hypnos had in mind. I was being a Bear of Little Brain when it came to parsing that one.
Well, I thought it was “links” in 5dn.
In that case, Dormouse, it’s 1-1 and going into extra time. I think either works, and it’s better that way round than a setter giving you two ambiguous possibilities. If it were LINKS, then I suppose you’d have to remove the last two letters to explain the wordplay. Is it LINK or LINKS? I’m not a golfer, so can’t say.
I parsed 5d the way Michelle did, but either way works. Because clues that contain a shortened word usually only drop one letter off my guess is that Hypnos meant ‘line’ rather than ‘links’. I needed to change what eventually became DUUMVIRATE a couple of times after checkers from subsequently solved across clues made my first two tries obviously incorrect. If I had been doing this on paper it would have looked very messy indeed. I enjoyed the solve.
I thought it was “line” when I solved it, but now I’m not so sure. Chambers does have “course” as one of the nouns listed as being meanings of “line”. “Links” works pretty well too. We may need penalties to decide this one.
Thanks, Pierre.
LINe scores in extra time! 😉
But the man in black (or green or yellow) hasn’t blown the whistle yet, Neil, and football’s a funny old game …
You’ve left me feeling sick as a parrot, Pierre!
I saw it as LINE. If it was LINKS as someone pointed out you’d have to take two letters off – I think this would be too imprecise from my experience of Hypnos puzzles.
Thanks Pierre!
We had to check 14d but as you say it was easy to work out the letters that were involved.
Unfortunately we also thought it was LINe rather than LINks as you only needed to remove the one letter!
Thanks also to Hypnos!