The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3501.
A couple of very minor quibbles, but overall another excellent Everyman. I particularly liked 14A and 3D.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Stronghold, one sacked in former kingdom (6) | ||
| CASTLE | A subtraction: CAST[i]LE (‘former kingdom’, now a region in Spain) without the I (‘one sacked’). | ||
| 4. | Sit down, weak, and tape broadcast (4,1,3) | ||
| TAKE A PEW | An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘weak’ plus ‘tape’. | ||
| 9. | Husband presented with new Omega out of respect (6) | ||
| HOMAGE | A charade of H (‘husband’) plus OMAGE, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘Omega’. ‘out of’ fits with the surface, but in the cryptic reinterpretation of the clue, it seems a little isolated: it does not belong with the definition, and while ‘out’ may be an anagrind, there is ‘new’ to serve that function. |
||
| 10. | Mean to pen article on river fish (8) | ||
| STINGRAY | An envelope (‘to pen’) of R (‘river’) plus A (‘article’; ‘on’ more commonly indicates this order in s down light) in STINGY (‘mean’). | ||
| 12. | Sleep-inducing if caught by tailless scorpion abroad (9) | ||
| SOPORIFIC | An envelope (‘caught by’) of ‘if’ in SOPORIC, an anagram (‘abroad’) of ‘scorpio[n]’ without its last letter (‘tailless’). | ||
| 13. | Colour always sported by chanteuse – Piaf? (5) | ||
| SEPIA | A hidden answer (‘always sported by’) in ‘chanteuSE PIAf’. | ||
| 14. | Medal winner, one on the other side (8,5) | ||
| VISTORIA CROSS | A charade of VICTOR (‘winner’) plus I (‘one’) plus ACROSS (‘on the other side’). | ||
| 18. | Blue equatorial waters here (2,3,8) | ||
| IN THE DOLDRUMS | Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 20. | Knock over raised object (5) | ||
| UPEND | A charade of UP (‘raised’) plus END (‘object’). | ||
| 22. | Poverty – end is seen after a struggle (9) | ||
| NEEDINESS | An anagram (‘after a struggle’) of ‘end is seen’. | ||
| 24. | Aunt Sally, for example, a legitimate target for ridicule? (4,4) | ||
| FAIR GAME | Double definition; ‘Aunt Sally’ is a traditional fairground (or pub) game. | ||
| 25. | Pollute narrow pass (6) | ||
| DEFILE | Double definition. | ||
| 26. | Extracting pounds from sport (8) | ||
| WRESTING | A subtraction: WREST[l]ING (‘sport’) without the L (‘pounds’). The subtraction is indicated by ‘from’, so that ‘extracted’ does not have to do double duty. |
||
| 27. | Climb a trail (6) | ||
| ASCENT | A charade of ‘a’ plus SCENT (‘trail’). | ||
| … Down |
|||
| 1. | Tending to stick together – unnaturally, he voices (8) | ||
| COHESIVE | An anagram (‘unnaturally’) of ‘he voices’. | ||
| 2. | What a judge may do with number appearing for trial (3,2) | ||
| SUM UP | A charade of SUM (‘number’) plus UP (‘appearing for trial’). | ||
| 3. | Aggressive young drunk shot a lot with Luger (5,4) | ||
| LAGER LOUT | An anagram (‘shot’) of ‘a lot’ plus ‘Luger’. | ||
| 5. | Cynical notes about highs (12) | ||
| ANTICYCLONES | An anagram (‘about’) of ‘cynical notes’. | ||
| 6. | Game failing to start in county town (5) | ||
| ENNIS | A subtraction: [t]ENNIS (‘game’) without its first letter (‘failing to start’), for the county town of County Clare in Ireland. | ||
| 7. | Father in French capital wants us raised together (4,5) | ||
| PARI PASSU | An envelope (‘in’) of PA (the second such, ‘father’) in PARIS (‘French capital’) plus SU (‘us raised’ in a down light). | ||
| 8. | Approach place to get buttonhole (6) | ||
| WAYLAY | A charade of WAY (‘approach’ as a noun) plus LAY (‘place’ as a verb). | ||
| 11. | Commend a fine novel turned into a film (2,4,3,3) | ||
| OF MICE AND MEN | An anagram (‘novel’) of ‘commend a fine’, for the novella by John Steinbeck, which according to imdb has been filmed twice for the big screen, twice for television. Surely the extended definition is intended. | ||
| 15. | Greek character sheltered outside place with a monkey puzzle (5,4) | ||
| CHILE PINE | An envelope (‘outside’) of PIN (‘place’ as a verb) in CHI (‘Greek character’) plus LEE (‘sheltered’). It is well known in crosswordland that the setter John Graham takes his Guardian nickname Araucaria from the botanical name of the monkey puzzle tree, and in the Financial Times he is Cinephile, which is an anagram of CHILE PINE, another name for the tree. | ||
| 16. | Sundials? They’ve been around for years! (3-6) | ||
| OLD TIMERS | Definition and literal interpretation. As chance would have it, there was a similar clue for the singular in the Gordius this last Wednesday. | ||
| 17. | Easiest (I suspect) in my opinion (2,1,3,2) | ||
| AS I SEE IT | An anagram (‘suspect’) if ‘easiest I’. | ||
| 19. | Ridiculous talk over a wife makes one laugh loudly (6) | ||
| GUFFAW | A charade of GUFF (‘ridiculous talk’) plus ‘a’ plus W (‘wife’). | ||
| 21. | Poke one with end of first finger, perhaps (5) | ||
| DIGIT | A charade of DIG (‘poke’) plus I (‘one’) plus T (‘end of firsT‘). | ||
| 23. | Pick of Renaissance literature (5) | ||
| ELITE | A hidden answer (‘of’) in ‘RenaissancE LITErature’. | ||
Many thanks, PeterO. Very enjoyable puzzle.
I agree about 9a – I thought “out of” was there just to make the clue read better, which is not a very good reason!
In 13a I couldn’t see any real justification for “always”.
I liked 11d very much.
Another enjoyable Everyman puzzle. I needed the wordplay to be sure of PARI PASSU because for some reason I had it in the back of my mind that it was “pari parsu”.