Another fine puzzle from Hypnos, which seemed neither too hard or too easy.
I briefly wondered if a theme was in the offing, centred around the actor at 20ac, who has recently passed away. Beyond the reference at 25ac, though, I could see no obvious further thematic material. Perhaps readers more familiar with the actor’s work will be able to set me straight if I’ve missed anything.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CUTESY | Affectedly attractive hairstyle? Yes after perm (6) |
| CUT + YES* | ||
| 4 | PAMPER | Treat indulgently male appearing in The Independent on Sunday ? (6) |
| Male in PAPER | ||
| 9 | HUMOROUS | Comical element in skeleton for audience (8) |
| homophone of “humerus”, the so-called “funny bone”, though no one who’s given theirs a good whack accidentally would call it that | ||
| 10 | DOGLEG | Worry member in part of golf course? (6) |
| DOG + LEG | ||
| 12 | PERSONALITY CULT | In truce, top ally’s broadcast excessive adulation of a leader (11,4) |
| (IN TRUCE TOP ALLY‘S)* | ||
| 13 | EMPLOYEE | Person in office, English politician, starts to oppose youth in general (8) |
| English + Member of Parliament + ((O[ppose] + Y[outh]) in General Robert E. LEE) | ||
| 14 | EXTRA | Perhaps, a wide stretch of Sussex traversed (5) |
| hidden in [suss]EX TRA[versed] | ||
| 16 | ANNUL | Cancel almanac maybe not showing later answer (5) |
| ANNU[a]L | ||
| 18 | LAPIDARY | Pithy form of daily prayer (not half) (8) |
| (DAILY PRA[yer])* | ||
| 20 | JAMES GANDOLFINI | Actor who was comedic and taking part in sport in island? No, serious actor (5,10) |
| Sid JAMES + (AND in GOLF) + IN + Island | ||
| 23 | NOTATE | Record in bars showing lack of an artistic patron? (6) |
| NO + Henry TATE | ||
| 24 | DIAGNOSE | Identify potential gain in some medicine (8) |
| GAIN* in DOSE | ||
| 25 | THE MOB | Border in future restricted for lot to which 20 in character belonged (3,3) |
| HEM in TO B[e]. I confess I had to resort to a thesaurus for decipher “future restricted”, but it all seems fair. 20ac played a mobster-type character in The Sopranos, I believe | ||
| 26 | KNOTTY | Difficult defence minister once staying in Kentucky (6) |
| John NOTT in KY. Another reference needed to confirm that there had indeed been a defence minister named Nott. In an increasingly rare turns of events, I’m too young to remember him. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CAMERAMAN | Figure recording cold period in ME capital (9) |
| Cold + (ERA in AMMAN) | ||
| 2 | TURMOIL | Rum drunk in work producing commotion (7) |
| RUM* in TOIL | ||
| 3 | SQUEAKY CLEAN | Minimal chance taken by Young Conservatives with director that’s irreproachable (7,5) |
| SQUEAK + Young Conservatives + David LEAN | ||
| 5 | ANODYNE | Harmless woman cut by group rejecting bishop (7) |
| [b]ODY in ANNE | ||
| 6 | PILAU | Dish for all to see with a sauce held up (5) |
| (Universal + A + LIP)< | ||
| 7 | REGATTA | A target that’s disputed? It could involve a lot of rowing (7) |
| (A TARGET)* | ||
| 8 | SHOP | Give away / sales outlet (4) |
| double definition of “give away” and “sales outlet” | ||
| 11 | LIVERPUDLIAN | Black, say, dessert to follow offal loved principally by Scotsman (12) |
| LIVER + PUD + L[oved] + IAN. A reference to the very famous Cilla Black, of course, though she’s well-hidden at the start of the clue there | ||
| 15 | TERRITORY | Retrograde Indian food consumed by footballer in region (9) |
| ROTI< + in John TERRY | ||
| 16 | ADJUNCT | Supplementary day with month taken in a court (7) |
| (Day + JUNe) in (A + CourT) | ||
| 17 | LESOTHO | Country in this way shown in hotel abroad (7) |
| SO in HOTEL* | ||
| 19 | DELIGHT | Key contest with fellow knocked out providing pleasure (7) |
| DELete + [f]IGHT | ||
| 21 | MITRE | Clerical coverage could go wrong by the sound of it (5) |
| homophone of “might err” | ||
| 22 | ITEM | Couple in section of magazine (4) |
| double definition of “couple” and “section of magazine” | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; italics = definition
I liked 5d, 14a, 13a, 24a, 3d and my favourite was 23a NOTATE.
I couldn’t parse the definition of 11d as “black, say” = “liverpudlian” but I have heard of Cilla Black. I also had trouble parsing 19d DEL = key but got the (f)IGHT bit, 20a (the JAMES bit – I never would have thought of Sid).
Thanks Hypnos and Simon.
How does Black = Liverpudlian?
Ah, serves me right for skimming, definition by example…
It took me ages to see JAMES GANDOLFINI despite the fact that I watched every episode of The Sopranos. MITRE was my LOI and I’d love to know in what part of the world it is a homophone for “might err”.
AndyB@4
re MITRE, use your imagination
or michelle shut up?
Michelle, call me old-fashioned, but I like my homophones to at least be in the ballpark. I’m pretty sure the clue wouldn’t have found its way into a Times cryptic, and the looser editorial policies of the Indy and the Guardian occasionally grate.
18a – still can’t see how “lapidary” fits the clue or the solution.
20a – had to resort to a Yahoo search for “James G”, as I’ve never heard of James Gandolfini!
11d – missed the Cilla Black reference . . . I thought “black pudding”.
I can see lapidary = pithy, though it’s perhaps a little loose.
As for “might err”, I hovered over that one as I typed it up, but I’d say it’s at least ballpark. In fact the pronunciation itself is nigh identical in both rhotic and non-rhotic accents, the main difference being stress.