An enjoyable puzzle, with, thankfully, nothing too tricky – apart from one bit of parsing, which took me a while – for a busy day.
There are quite a few anagrams, which is always a help. [Rufus included a festive reference in every one one of his clues yesterday: Paul seems to have achieved a similar feat in managing to ignore the season altogether!]
Many thanks, Paul, for the entertainment [disappointed not to see you on Saturday] – and a very Happy Christmas to you and to everyone else! 🙂
Across
1 Give tick to author over the telephone (5,3)
CHECK OFF
Sounds like [over the telephone] Chekhov
5 Large group of classes speaking of what ya should do wiv yer damaged nails? (6)
PHYLUM
Sounds like [speaking of] ‘file ’em’
In biology, a PHYLUM is ‘a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class’.
9 Flight security device said to reassure, regrettably starts malfunctioning (5,3)
STAIR ROD
Anagram [malfunctioning] of SAID TO + first letters of R[eassure] and R[egrettably]
10 A noted wobble? (6)
QUAVER
Cryptic definition – a quaver is a musical note
12 While 18 13, it’s beyond a dream! (11)
ASTONISHING
The answer to 18 13 is NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE, so we have AS [while] + an anagram [impossible] of NOTHING IS – super clue!
15 One taking part in runs (5)
RACER
ACE [one] in RR [runs] – &lit
17 Riotous promenade welcomed so enthusiastically? (4-5)
OPEN-ARMED
Anagram [riotous] of PROMENADE
18,13 Optimistic assertion disproved by a vacuum? (7,2,10)
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE
Cryptic definition
19 Leader of stout heart to achieve goal (5)
SCORE
S[tout] + CORE [heart]
20 Letter saying something sharp (8,3)
CIRCULAR SAW
CIRCULAR [letter] + SAW [saying]
24 Hollywood’s Essex girl? (6)
HARLOW
Double definition – Hollywood star Jean and Essex town
25 Real monster, gorgon finally repelled in legend (8)
TANGIBLE
N [last letter of [gorgo]N] + reversal [repelled] of BIG [monster] in TALE [legend]
26 Disunity is not out of order, messy (6)
UNTIDY
Anagram [out of order] of D[is]UNITY minus is
27 Retired Frenchman into young flesh of the nether regions (8)
VENEREAL
Reversal [retired] of RENE, the crossword Frenchman, in VEAL [young flesh]
Down
1 Lettuce with something sticky, a doughnut perhaps also appearing (2-8)
CO-STARRING
COS [lettuce] + TAR [something sticky] + RING [a doughnut perhaps]
2 Give short pixie a place in Piedmont, a big one? (10)
ELASTICITY
EL[f] [short pixie] + ASTI [a place in Piedmont] + CITY [a big place] – the first time, I think, I’ve seen ASTI clued as a place, rather than its wine
3 With punchy ending, published good book (5)
KORAN
KO [punchy ending] + RAN [published]
4 Marchers, those wielding an axe on behalf of an old Labour leader? (12)
FOOTSLOGGERS
FOOT’S [Michael, old Labour leader] + LOGGERS [those wielding an axe]
6 Sort of rough woman describing a desirable figure (9)
HOURGLASS
Anagram [sort of] of ROUGH + LASS [woman]
7 Together, a more European affection? (4)
LOVE
I thought I was going to have to give up on this one but light finally dawned while I was writing the blog. We have to put ‘together, a more’ to give ‘amore’, Italian for love – simple, really! 😉
8 19, as the second of four booked? (4)
MARK
Double definition: to score is to mark and Mark’s is the second of the four gospels
11 Resident superpower stuffing herb in meat product (5,7)
LIVER SAUSAGE
LIVER [resident?] + USA [superpower] in [stuffing] SAGE [herb]
14 Wretch after wilder kind of transmission mechanism (5,5)
IDLER WHEEL
Anagram [kind of] of WILDER + HEEL [wretch]
16Â Source of water in car, terribly noisy (4,5)
RAIN CLOUD
Anagram [terribly] of IN CAR + LOUD [noisy]
21 Fish‘s perspective (5)
ANGLE
Double definition
22 You 500? (4)
THOU
Half of THOUsand!
23 Abrasive particles in backbone (4)
GRIT
Double definition
Thanks, Eileen.
I had the feeling while doing it that I was lacking many explanations, but it turned out to be only two in the end: LOVE and GRIT. Well spotted on the LOVE. I was looking for TRIG as a bone, but so obvious now.
I liked 15a RACER.
Completed.
Thanks Eileen and Paul
The SW took me far longer than it should have, and I missed a couple of parsings, but very enjoyable. Favourite now (as I didn’t parse it!) is ASTONISHING.
Thanks Eileen, especially for ASTONISHING which I couldn’t parse either. Held up for a bit by rising NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE into 18,13 until that meant an unlikely TOW at the end of 20.
Just the right level for today, having come back from early morning meat sourcing. Mrs Trailman is sitting with the Quick while I explain the beauty of both LOVE and VENEREAL. Not often you can do that.
Thanks Eileen. esp for explaining how LOVE worked. The only other difficulty was spelling PHYLUM, looked it up. All good from Paul. Happy Christmas all.
Thanks, Eileen
A bit of light relief amid festive preparations. (Saturday’s puzzle was an entertaining challenge). Thanks for parsing LOVE and ASTONISHING – both great clues.
My last entries were ANGLE (I was looking for a species of ‘fish’) and TANGIBLE (I spent too long thinking that ‘legend’= FABLE).
Favourites were the little elf in Asti and the &lit at 15.
Seasons greetings to all.
Thanks, Eileen, especially for explaining ASTONISHING. Enjoyable non-Xmas stuff from Paul: I was stuck with thinking about ‘nature abhors a vacuum’ before I twigged NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE, and I also took ages to see GRIT.
Season’s greetings to all.
Thanks for the blog, Eileen. I needed your explanation to understand how LOVE worked — good clue!
Just the right level of difficulty for a busy day. Thanks to Paul and a very happy Christmas to everyone!
Thanks to Paul & Eileen.
I took a while to get into this one and failed to parse LOVE – nice one!
I, too, got a bit stuck with the wrong fable in 25.
When I saw nudity as an anagram solution in 26 and, knowing Paul, I thought it might be possible (although it didn’t parse) until the crossers forbade it.
Season’s Greetings to one and all.
Super stuff indeed – thank you Paul.
Thanks also to the lovely lucky Eileen – great to see you again last Saturday, hope the singing went well.
Seasons Greetings to all from me too.
Thanks Eileen and Paul. Another here who couldn’t parse ‘love’. I reluctantly accepted Aus(tralia) as the super power, missing the need to move down a letter.
Thanks Eileen. I thought that I might have to wait for your blog for the wordplay of 7D LOVE, but it came to me after I had gone to bed – not that I was lying awake fretting over it, it just popped into my head unannounced. As you say, so simple once you have seen it. Thanks to Paul for that and the rest of the entertainment.
And a merry Christmas to all.
Season’s Greetings to Gaufrid and everyone who visits here.
Thanks Eileen and Paul
An enjoyable puzzle – I particularly liked 9a (a definition worthy of Rufus), 18,13, 2d and 4d.
The only parsing I didn’t quite fathom was 26a though (perhaps because) the answer was clear enough.
Season’s greetings to all.
Another very enjoyable Paul puzzle.
LOVE was my LOI with a shrug and it was the only clue I couldn’t parse, so thanks for that Eileen. Count me as another solver who was held up slightly at 25ac by trying to think of a four-letter monster with the “n” removed to fit inside “fable” until the penny dropped.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
Quite straightforward for Paul , which was good for today. Enjoyable as usual. We initially put in “amor” for 7d, and wondered where “together” came in. Then, of course, got stuck with the two cross ones, and realised we needed “love” – but failed to parse it. Everything else was clear. Thanks Paul and Eileen. Happy Christmas
Thanks to Paul and Eileen. STAIR ROD and FOOTSLOGGERS were new terms for me. Tried to make
IMPORTANCE work also. Loved PHYLUM.
Cheers and Merry Christmas to all.
Lovely crossword – thank you, Paul.
Having said that, couldn’t do any of it apart from 23dn but nothing new there!
However, once parsed, all the clues were clever, amusing and logical, so many thanks to Eileen as well.
A nice puzzle from Paul. I personally didn’t find this as easy as some apparently did.
Got there in the end but failed to parse LOVE. I was also in the FABLE camp for 25A which wasted a lot of time.
As already mentioned Paul forbore from mentioning the Christmas season in any clue whereas Rufus chose to mention it in all of his. Paul was also diametrically opposed to Rufus as he chose to give us a cryptic crossword. 😉
Thanks to Eileen and Paul
Thanks, Eileen and Paul. Holidays and illness have left me playing catch-up.
I was going to chime in to express surprise that no one else seemed to have a problem with “impossible” as an anagram indicator in 12a. (Well, I guess I just did.) But I have an idea. I think the actual parsing is AS + “Nothing is possible, it’s.” In other words, AS + “Nothing is impossible; no, it IS possible,” or, briefly, AS + “Nothing is possible.” That could certainly yields ASTONISHING (though Ximeneans might prefer “possibly” as an iindicator).
Upon further review, I don’t think my theory makes sense. (For one thing, I left out the “im-” when quoting the clue.) “Nothing is impossible, it is” does not equal “Nothing is possible.” I’ll blame the cocktail of medication I’m on at the moment. (But this might have worked: “While 18 13, on the contrary, it’s beyond a dream!”)
So I’ll go back to my original reaction: I don’t think “impossible” works as anagram indicator.