I seem to be landing quite a few Kairos puzzles on Sundays, but no problem with that. This was one was just as enjoyable as the others. A good range of clues on offer here, with 4D my favourite for the very well disguised wordplay
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DISARM – DIS ARM |
| 5 | TRANSACT – ANS(wer) in TRACT |
| 9 | KANGAROO – (ANGORA)* in K.O. |
| 10 | SHOWER – ER on SHOW |
| 11 | TELEVISION – (LINE SOVIET)* |
| 12 | WORD – Hidden in neW ORDer |
| 13 | DERISIVE – DE + IV in RISE |
| 16 | LOITER – IT (vermouth) in LO[-s]ER |
| 17 | COTTER – COTT[-a g(ood)AGER |
| 19 | INCREASE – IN CR(edit) + EASE |
| 21 | JEER EE (drugs) in J(unio)R |
| 22 | EMPIRICISM – (I MIMIC REP’S)* |
| 25 | MANAGE – MAN (crew) + AGE (get on) |
| 26 | STOWAWAY – STOW (transport) + A WAY |
| 27 | GENDARME – ARM in GENDE[-r] |
| 28 | SUNSET – SUN (newspaper) + SET (established) |
| Down | |
| 2 | INANE – Hidden reversal in shENANIgans |
| 3 | ARGUE – R(ector) in AGUE |
| 4 | MARTINI – IN IT (taking part) + RAM (drive), all rev. |
| 5 | TWO-TIME – TIME about W(omen’s) + OT (books) |
| 6 | ARSENAL – A + (LEARNS)* |
| 7 | SNOW WHITE – |
| 8 | CHEERLESS – E (Spain) in CHER LESS! |
| 14 | EXONERATE – E (key) + X (vote) + ON E(nglish) RATE |
| 15 | INTERLAID – INTER (bury) + DIAL rev. |
| 18 | ROE DEER – R (king) on O(ld) E(nglish) DEE + R(iver) |
| 19 | IMPASSE – I’M PASSE |
| 20 | CURIOUS – CURIO + US |
| 23 | CHAIN – A in CHIN |
| 24 | SPADE – PAD in S(outh) E(ast) |
Thanks, Ali. You seem to have omitted the parsing of SNOW WHITE. [SNOW (interference on TV) + WHITE (as in cue ball) to give animated character.]
I enjoyed this puzzle, and marked many clues as favourites: 11a, 25a, 8d, 4d, 19, 21a & 9a.
New definition for me was EMPIRICISM = ‘quackery’.
I failed to solve 17a and I could not parse 7d (thanks NeilW@1) & 1a (DIS = Hades; ARM = ?), and I still don’t fully understand 1a after reading this blog. In 17a, was there any need for the words “type of pin”?
I parsed 26a as TOW (transport) + A inside SWAY (authority).
Thanks for the blog, Ali.
Michelle – the ‘arm’ is the ‘section’ or branch of Hades. As well as a rural worker, a COTTER is also a pin or wedge for tightening or fastening.
I always knew cotter pins from bicycles they keep the pedals on, thanks ali and our relatively new setter
Many thanks to Ali for the blog and to everyone for their comments. Michelle’s parsing of 26a was the intended construction.
In relation to cotter, I thought that cotter pin was more well known than cotter on its own. As I was using a less familiar (OK – maybe unfamiliar/obscure) word for a rural worker, I thought I would compensate with “type of pin” to give solvers a better chance of finding the answer.
crypticsue@3
thanks for the explanations. I guess I should have tried a bit harder and done more research on cotter, cotter pin and cottager: all words with which I am unfamiliar.
Kairos@ 5
Glad to hear I parsed 26a correctly. Thanks for a great puzzle.