The third Sunday Hypnos puzzle I’ve drawn in a row, which is no doubt far more tedious for Hypnos than it is for me. This one provided quite a stiff challenge, requiring two or three sittings, which I find is fairly rare for a Sunday puzzle.
Perhaps that was due to one or two unfamiliar terms cropping up, as at 24 and 26ac, plus the definition at 14dn was quite tricky to spot, as it was well-hidden. No complaints from me, though.
I’ve tried to highlight the definitions in the clues by italicising them. I’ll continue to do that if it proves to be useful for readers.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CRUNCH | Vintage measure I forgot in moment of difficulty (6) |
| CRU + [i]INCH | ||
| 4 | OFFSHOOT | Business subdivision, say, cancelled photographic session (8) |
| OFF + SHOOT | ||
| 9 | MISFIT | Literary genre followed by institute in college, an awkward one? (6) |
| (Sci-Fi + I) in Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||
| 10 | SNOWBALL | News presenter taken with Labour politician shortly for drink (8) |
| Jon SNOW + Ed BALL[s] | ||
| 12 | BROADSHEET | Source of brickbats hard to see possibly in paper (10) |
| B[rickbats] + (HARD TO SEE)* | ||
| 13 | PUMA | Recall a fool dropping favourite cat (4) |
| (A MUP[pet])< | ||
| 15 | CLEAR AS A BELL | Tragic figure, a destructive sort in part of prison that’s distinct (5,2,1,4) |
| (King LEAR + A SABoteur) in CELL | ||
| 18 | ROGER FEDERER | Sign of acknowledgement shortly deferred possibly for court champion (5,7) |
| ROGER + DEFERRE[d]* | ||
| 21 | OOPS | I’m sorry there’s evidence of a lazy surgeon? (4) |
| 0 OPS, as in no operations | ||
| 22 | EFFETENESS | Decadent character seen wandering around fine gala with son (10) |
| (FETE in SEEN*) + Son | ||
| 24 | LORIKEET | Fancy film encapsulating gold bird (8) |
| OR in (LIKE + E.T.) | ||
| 25 | PISTOL | Many with small change returning for pop (6) |
| (LOTS + 1P)<. I hadn’t heard the term “pop” meaning “pistol”, but it seems quite plausible | ||
| 26 | PSALMODY | Way of acting curtailed in exotic plays and devotional songs (8) |
| MOD[e] in PLAYS*. A new term for me, but very much deducible from wordplay | ||
| 27 | IGUANA | Lizard kept in Antiguan arboretum (6) |
| [ant]IGUAN A[rboretum], and quite possibly &lit, as the internet assures me iguanas are quite commonplace in Antigua | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COMEBACK | Firm note in past taken as rejoinder (8) |
| COmpany + ME + BACK | ||
| 2 | UNSPOKEN | Global body certainly beset by a lot of waste – that’s tacit (8) |
| United Nations + (OK in SPEN[t]). At least I think it’s SPEN[t]. Neither “spend” not “spent” quite seem to mean “waste”, but I know the brewing industry talks about leftover “spent grain” so I’ll go with that | ||
| 3 | CHILDPROOF | Rich old fop misread characteristic of a medicine bottle? (10) |
| (RICH OLD FOP)* | ||
| 5 | FINGER BUFFET | Ring is put on this box for sandwiches, say (6,6) |
| FINGER + BUFFET | ||
| 6 | SEWN | What’s embroidered and broadcast on air? (4) |
| homophone of “sown” | ||
| 7 | OPAQUE | Shady work, one that’s found on Costa del Sol (6) |
| OPus + A + QUE | ||
| 8 | TELE-AD | Outsiders from troupe to be first in notice in 12? (4-2) |
| T[roup]E + LEAD | ||
| 11 | CHESTERFIELD | NW city attracting competitors in Midlands town (12) |
| CHESTER + FIELD | ||
| 14 | FLEDGELING | New affair about lecturer getting advantage (10) |
| (Lecturer + EDGE) in FLING. Well-hidden definition | ||
| 16 | GREEN TEA | Healthy drink about to be consumed by chap close to poolside area (5,3) |
| (RE in GENT) + [poolsid]E + Area | ||
| 17 | BRASILIA | Trouble is rising after bar is ransacked in SA capital (8) |
| BAR* + (AIL IS)< | ||
| 19 | DOLLOP | Retired policeman carrying load (not half), a lump (6) |
| LO[ad] in PLOD< | ||
| 20 | SPARTA | Ancient city shown in pictures in resort (6) |
| ART in SPA | ||
| 23 | SKIM | Runner beginning to misrepresent and copy information illegally (4) |
| SKI + M[isrepresent] | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; italics = clue definition
Finally got the last few on Friday night with a lot of e-searches. Curiously, with 14dn, I could see the definition was “new”, but just couldn’t see the wordplay, so I’ve been waiting for someone to explain it here, thanks.
Super blog of a really nice puzzle. I think the italicisation works really well!
OOPS is great, and GREEN TEA fave clue.
I particularly liked 17d, 14d, 22a, 4a, 20d and my favourites were 13 PUMA, 8d TELE-AD & 24a, LORIKEET & 19d DOLLOP.
New words for me were (Jon) SNOW & PSALMODY.
I couldn’t parse 21a ( hmm, very amusing!).
Thanks for the blog, Simon. Re 25a, I also wondered if “POP(gun)” can = “pistol” but that is how I parsed it.
Green seems to be the favourite colour on blogs today – any reason why? And there seem to be fewer posts than usual – I guess it’s because of the cricket……
Simon, the italicisation of the definitions is a good idea.
As far as the puzzle is concerned I agree that it was more difficult than a lot of Indy Sunday puzzles, but I enjoyed it. It took me a while to see FLEDGELING, and MISFIT was my LOI.
21A fooled me – I had OPUS, as in OP + U/S!
I find that Hypos’ puzzles, while challenging, leave me feeling slightly disappointed; rather too many instances where I’m only solving the clue after getting the word rather than vice versa. I’ll keep on doing them, though!