Good stuff from Poins. Trickier than the previous IoS puzzle of his that I blogged.
Knowledge of the Bible is not my strong point, but a little knowledge and few guesses got me though. Ironically Benjamin, one of the ones that I was pretty sure was a book of the Bible turned out not to be. Thank you Poins.
| Across | ||
| 1 | INSIGHT | Fashionable to quote aloud what psychoanalysts hope to gain (7) |
| IN (fashionable) and SIGHT sounds like (aloud) “cite” (to quote) | ||
| 5 | IMBIBER | Male, 26, left out being introduced to Irish chap at the bar (7) |
| M (male) BIBlE missing L (left) in (being introduced to) IR (Irish) – definition is ‘chap at the bar’ | ||
| 9 | FLUKE | Fine before 6 of the 26 flounder (5) |
| F (fine) before LUKE (book of bible) – a flatfish | ||
| 10 | UNADORNED | Plain girl getting embarrassed over bit of naughtiness after party (9) |
| UNA (girl) getting RED (embarrassed) containing (over) N (bit of naughtiness) both following DO (party) | ||
| 11 | SEDAN CHAIR | A carrier employing Poles and Danes flying tea to Iran (5,5) |
| DANES* flying=anagram CHA (tea) to IR (Iran) – a chair carried on poles | ||
| 12 | MARK | Target 6 of the 26 (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 14 | EXAMINATION | An article on former favourite hedging at trial (11) |
| A (an article) following (on) EX (former) then MINION (favourite) containing (hedging) AT – definition is ‘trial’ | ||
| 18 | OVEREXPOSED | What Northern Rock was about to reveal at the beginning of December (11) |
| OVER (about, reversed) EXPOSE (to reveal) at (with) D (beginning of December) – Northern Rock is a UK bank that had to be rescued from excess debt | ||
| 21 | SIDE | Arrogance in part (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 22 | DISSENTERS | Records treat with contempt earlier Nonconformists (10) |
| ENTERS (records) with DISS (treat with contempt) in front (earlier) | ||
| 25 | ANARCHISM | Bakunin advocated it in March as revolutionary (9) |
| (IN MARCH AS)* revolutionary=anagram – Mikhail Bakunin was a Russian anarchist | ||
| 26 | BIBLE | An authoritative text from the French on child protection (5) |
| LE (the, French) on BIB (child protection) | ||
| 27 | END USER | The recipient of goods sold as scrap by a junkie (3,4) |
| END (scrap) by USER (a junkie) | ||
| 28 | STERNUM | Hard centre of hump is bone (7) |
| STERN (hard) hUMp (centre of) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | INFEST | Isn’t mistaken about the borders of France being overrun (6) |
| ISN’T* anagram=mistaken containing (about) FrancE (borders of) – definition is ‘overrun’ as a verb | ||
| 2 | SOUNDS | Music society financially secure at first (6) |
| S (society) with SOUND (financially secure) at first – definition is ‘music’ | ||
| 3 | GREEN BERET | Young Bertie, lacking initiative at the outset, surprisingly becomes a soldier (5,5) |
| GREEN (young) BERTiE* (anagram=surprisingly) missing I (start of initiative) – a British commando | ||
| 4 | TRUTH | The first 6 of the 26 are known facts (5) |
| T (first letter of the) RUTH (book of Bible) | ||
| 5 | INANITIES | They’re lacking in ideas at home since holding Northern Ireland to a draw (9) |
| IN (at home) AS (since) holding NI (Northern Ireland) with (to) TIE (a draw) | ||
| 6 | BOOK | Reserve bank’s head allowed to keep nothing (4) |
| B (head of bank) OK (allowed) holding O (nothing) – definition is ‘reserve’ | ||
| 7 | BENJAMIN | Gum resin making 6 of the 26 pointless in an African country (8) |
| JAMes (book of bible) missing SE (point of the compass) in BENIN (African country) – ‘gum benjamin’ is benzoin, a balsamic resin obtained from bark | ||
| 8 | REDSKINS | Fleece in colours of an American football team (8) |
| SKIN (fleece) in REDS (colours) – the Washington Redskins football team | ||
| 13 | PARDONABLE | That may be forgiven in a story involving a Mafia boss (10) |
| PARABLE (a stroy) contains (involves) DON (a Mafia boss) | ||
| 15 | AMPLIFIER | What certain artists need to reach a wider audience? (9) |
| Cryptic definition? The play on words is where ‘wider’ is used metaphorically and literally just about makes it cryptic. | ||
| 16 | JOB-SHARE | Some part-timers do it to participate in supporting 6 of the 26 (3-5) |
| SHARE (participate in) follows (supporting, underneath) JOB (book of Bible) | ||
| 17 | HEADLAND | Bill makes metal body part for Spooner (8) |
| HEAD LAND is a Spoonerism of “lead hand” (metal body part) – definition is ‘bill’, eg Portland Bill or Selsey Bill | ||
| 19 | REUBEN | About to take place inside a French one found in the first 6 of the 26 (6) |
| RE (about) then BE (to take place) inside UN (a, French) – character from Genesis | ||
| 20 | ESTEEM | High regard helping to make Feste embarrassed (6) |
| found in (helping to make) fESTE EMbarrassed | ||
| 23 | SAMOS | 6 of the 26 discovered near South Island (5) |
| AMOS (book of bible) with (discovered near) S (south) – Greek island | ||
| 24 | ACTS | Insists upon taking off without 6 of the 26 (4) |
| exACTS (insists upon) missing (taking of) EX (without) – book of the bible | ||
*anagram
At 1d, surely “being overrun” would be “infested” and not just infest?
Thanks for a great blog, PeeDee – and of course, to Poins for the puzzle!
@Abhay but just overrun is to infest with “being” merely saying “here’s the definition”, got the 6/26 link very quickly but there were still quite a few tricky moments not least REUBEN for some reason.
Thanks PD and Poins
Hi abhay, I took ‘overrun’ to be the definition (as a verb), ‘being’ is there as an instruction to the solver that the first part of the clue gives the second part (being the the definition). I will make the blog a bit clearer.
I agree that this seemed on the trickier side for an IoS puzzle. I needed aids at the end to get REUBEN, although in retrospect I should have been able to see the wordplay. I concur with @2 and @3 about the parsing of 1dn.
Sorry another one for specialists, thumbs down from me.