Back home in the Indy with regular Monday man Quixote, feels rather like Autumn this morning.
Some nice long anagrams in a generally accessable crossword.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HEADSMAN | Fellow to give others the chop (8) |
| Cryptic def for an executioner | ||
| 5 | SCAM | Dubious operation captured by this camera (4) |
| Hidden answer | ||
| 10 | HAVING A GO | Nasty old woman drinking French wine in the past could be trying (6,1,2) |
| VIN in HAG & AGO | ||
| 11 | OWLET | Little bird, duck, getting damp across lake (5) |
| 0 (duck) & L(ake) in WET | ||
| 12 | PSYCHE | Note added by unknown revolutionary shows soul (6) |
| P.S. & Y & CHE | ||
| 13 | VINEGAR | Half a dozen close by imbibing good or bad wine? (7) |
| VI (six) & G(ood) in NEAR | ||
| 14 | WORE THE TROUSERS | See how torturers cruelly dominated (4,3,8) |
| [SEE HOW TORTURERS]* | ||
| 16 | AND SO SAY ALL OF US | Oaf a lass soundly walloped – we wholeheartedly approve too! (3,2,3,3,2,2) |
| [OAF A LASS SOUNDLY]* | ||
| 19 | END USER | The last person something is intended for? (3,4) |
| Cryptic def | ||
| 20 | INBORN | Natural cheat about to enter pub (6) |
| ROB reversed in INN | ||
| 23 | OCEAN | Article written on old church? It’s pretty wet! (5) |
| O & CE & AN | ||
| 24 | LANDSLIDE | I’d end all rambling around sea’s edge? (9) |
| Cryptic def and S(ea) in [ID END ALL]* | ||
| 25 | EONS | Long periods of snooze on Sunday (4) |
| Hidden answer | ||
| 26 | PLANGENT | Mournful-sounding spy gathering information (8) |
| GEN (info) in PLANT | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HA-HA | That’s funny feature of many a country estate (2-2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | ADVISOR | A duke requires a bit of armour, one counsels (7) |
| A D(uke) & VISOR | ||
| 3 | SINIC | Chinese prophet of doom given a hearing (5) |
| Hom of Cynic | ||
| 4 | AS A GENERAL RULE | See a wise pundit learn about game — and learn less than half usually (2,1,7,4) |
| A SAGE & LEARN* & R.U. & LE(arn) (less than half) | ||
| 6 | COLOGNE | German city once possibly holding a record (7) |
| LOG in ONCE* | ||
| 7 | MOTORISTS | More half-cut holiday-makers, not socially acceptable as road-users (9) |
| MO(re) & U removed from TO(u)RISTS | ||
| 8 | CONVERSATIONAL | It’s not formal, in a manner of speaking (14) |
| Almost cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | JOHN BULL | WC stars as a quintessential Englishman (4,4) |
| JOHN (WC) & BULL, Taurus – constellation | ||
| 14 | WHALEBONE | Now she’s able to move, without the restrictions of stays made from this? (9) |
| S(tay)S removed from [NOW SHES ABLE]* | ||
| 15 | THOUSAND | Cardinal you found sitting on beach? (8) |
| THOU & SAND | ||
| 17 | DUDGEON | Person failing has gone off showing indignation (7) |
| DUD & GONE* | ||
| 18 | FURTIVE | Number admitting pain hospital discharged in secret (7) |
| (h)URT in FIVE | ||
| 21 | BISON | No brother or sister should be brought up to be a brute (5) |
| NO SIB(lings) reversed | ||
| 22 | SEAT | Bottom group of pupils collecting top grade (4) |
| A in SET | ||
I enjoyed this one. I had to look up sinic and plangent, not words I am familiar with. I coouldn’t parse 17 but I went back and looked more closely failing not falling, I need to wear my glasses! I liked 16 and 4.
I particularly liked 14a, 16a, 10a and my favourite was 12a PSYCHE.
New words for me were HA-HA = ‘wall or fence’, PLANGENT, JOHN BULL (last in).
Thanks Quixote and flashling.
An enjoyable Monday morning solve. HEADSMAN was my LOI after I dredged SINIC from deep within the memory banks. I thought the clue for WHALEBONE was excellent.
Thanks, flashling. I read 21D as NO SIB (reversed) as SIB = brother or sister.
Sib being a common contraction of sibling.
Another fairly gentle intro to the week, but one or two more difficult clues to keep the grey cells working. CoD for me was DUDGEON – it reminded me the classic zeugma, “he went off in a taxi and a high dudgeon” 🙂
Thanks, Quixote and flashling.
Re sibling, my step daughter gave birth over the weekend. Grandpa flashling indeed, but the ward would only allow sibling children on the ward. Let’s face it there’s no place for children on a maternity ward…
Thanks flashling. I’m glad the rest of you found it easyish; I thought we were in Pasquale territory for a while. Good puzzle which I finished eventually. BISON my favourite today.
All very straightforward as usual with Quixote, until I had HEADSMAN and SINIC to fill in, which defeated me. Very good crossword of course, and WHALEBONE was brilliant. In 1ac the fellow looks like HE, but how the rest of it works I can’t see, so perhaps it is indeed just a straight cryptic definition. If so, is it not a bit below Quixote’s usual standard? And the same goes for 19ac.
Our last ones in were SINIC and HEADSMAN.
We thought it was a fairly typical start to the week. Nothing too stressful but a few to wake up the grey matter after a taxing weekend on the Inquisitor!
Thanks flashling – Good to see you back from the Dark Side!
Thanks Quixote.