Morning, everyone. Only time for a rather hasty run through Redshank’s tricksy and very enjoyable puzzle today…
ACROSS
1. SKELETON Anagram of K(ey) lets one – nice &lit
5. EARWIG I(talian) within anagram of wager
9. OLEANDER In myth, Hero might have cried out ‘O Leander!’
10. ISOLDE I [this writer] + sold [traded] + E [Euros]
12. DANES Hidden in suDANESe
13. DRAMATIST Anagram of admits art
14. PLAGUE Reversal of U [posh] + gal [girl] within PE [Physical Education, exercises]
16. TINAMOU Hidden in caughT IN A MOUntain range
18. EARPLUG P [pressure] within ear + lug [listeners]
20. FAR OFF Faro [Iberian city] + FF [leaves, pages (in a citation)]
22. CEASEFIRE Anagram of fierce sea
23. HERBS (T)he + RBS [Royal Bank of Scotland]
24. LOGGER (B)logger [net contributor]
25. IMPLANTS I [one] + MP + L [50] + ants [workers]
26. SIEGES Sites with e.g. [for example, say] replacing t
27. KNEE DEEP Need [demand] within keep [retain]
DOWN
1. SHODDY Odd [not even] within shy [cast, throw]
2. ETERNAL TRIANGLE Anagram of t [time] allen greta erin
3. ENNIS (T)ennis [sport]
4. OVERDUE Dover with the first letter transposed to the end + (f)ue(l)
6. ABSTAINER A + B [black] + stain [mark] + (h)er(e)
7. WILLIAM OF ORANGE Anagram of I am following era – very nice
8. GREAT AUK (A)ppear within Great [G] + UK [Britain]
11. MAST Double definition
15. GOLDENEYE Sounds like goal deny [refuse to allow]
17. HERCULES Her [female’s] + (we)l(sh) within cues [hints]
19. GRIP G [Government] + RIP [Rest In Peace, often written on a gravestone]
20. FREEMAN Freemason [member of closed society] minus so
21. USES UP Anagram of superfluous minus flour
23. HALVE V [very] within hale [healthy]
I too didn’t think I would have time for this one today but managed to sneak it in just before the end of lunch time. Very glad I did so too, as it is very entertaining. Thanks to Redshank and RIngo
I think for 17, it’s Her [female’s] + [heart of](Welsh)L(abour); otherwise Labour has no role in the wordplay.
Good fun, albeit that the pedant in me says that Great Britain and the UK are different things.
Hi Neb. Can’t agree, I’m afraid – I think “Labour man” is the definition of “Hercules”, notable for the 12 labours he carried out (for some king or other – I forget who). Anyone have a different take?
Thanks Redshank for a really enjoyable workout – I missed out on 26ac (no excuse) and 11dn (I simply did not know mast²). Thanks also to Ringo for the blog. Favourite clues: the two long anagrams at 2dn and 7dn.
14ac/27ac/23dn: This structure of [contents] [container] [containment indicator] is not common in daily cryptics, but perfectly reasonable in my book, and having three in the same puzzle helps the solver to get used to the idea. The usual quibble about the verb in 14ac: I do not see how the plural verb is justified cryptically, but it seems to be essential for the surface reading.
2dn: Here I think it must be t contained within the anagram, with “over” as the containment indicator.
3dn: Another quibble of a type I have raised on previous occasions. There is nothing wrong with “top sport” as an indicator for (T)ennis, but for me it does not sit comfortably after a linking “‘s”.
8dn: Further to Neb @2, I would have preferred “Great Britain” in full in the clue. I can accept “Britain” = UK (with some licence), but feel uncomfortable with the two-stage link GB = Great Britain = GREAT UK, although I cannot put my finger on exactly why it feels wrong.
17dn: I agree with Ringo on this, for the reasons given in comment 3.
Because doesn ot ‘say what ity means’?? Very hard to unpikc.
Ah yes, Labour man. Hadn’t seen it that way. Suspect you’re right. My actual original solving process was “her” + “clues” = Hercules, but no indicator of jumbling and what about Welsh Labour? Oh yes, “cues” instead and “l” from Labour, why heart? Oh, because there are 5 letters either side of it. Not the sequence the setter intended, I suspect. I retract.
Very enjoyable – as expected from this setter – in all his guises he never fails to deliver and there’s that quiet achiever feel to it all.
There’s really nothing to quibble about except for one-eyed xims who can’t appreciate any other style of decoding wordplay – surprised to find you (a maths man) in that camp PB. Surely this setter has made it clear enough with various clues over time that he doesn’t subscribe to the finer (= more arbitrary and ridiculous) points of ximeneanism.
@PB #3 – I think post-fixing indicators like that is common enough. Comp anags like 21d we don’t see so often in dailies but they seem to be getting more frequent and “this” gives it away well enough.
8d Britain can mean either the main island of the British Isles or the UK as a whole so why not? Writing it as GB and then a QM sort of hints that there’s something going on. Actually it was my 4th in.
A nice mix of cluing devices overall.
Not trying to be controversial but it seems such a shame to have holes picked in fine puzzles for invalid reasons.
Many thanks also to Ringo for the blog.