Back to normal after a weekend away in the sunny East Midlands.
Pretty easy even for a Quixote without the expected one or two words from some of the lesser charted parts of the dictionary.
Definitions underlined where appropriate. Thanks Q
Across
1 Panic of feeder? What you’ll see here in these short times of refreshment! (6,6)
COFFEE BREAKS
COFFEE is hidden in paniC OF FEEder, so COFFEE BREAKS into the clue.
8 Nation needing a leader to make a surge before everyone else (4,5)
RACE AHEAD
RACE nation & A & HEAD leader
9 Clean search (5)
SCOUR
Double definition
11 Warnings — drinks may contain odd bits of rot (6)
ALERTS
odd letters of RoT in ALES
12 Perhaps maidens will conceal everything in loose clothing? (8)
OVERALLS
OVERS maidens in cricket perhaps aound ALL.
14 One politician joining board wanting to include men that can be brought in (10)
IMPORTABLE
1 M.P. & TABLE with O(ther) R(anks) (men) inserted
16 The rejection of strange Eastern food — something starchy (4)
EDDO
ODD & E(astern) all reversed, a starchy root vegetable of the Pacific.
18 Fool needs a message not to give up (4)
GOON
GO ON!
19 About to join fast requiring not so much? Tharsh (10)
RELENTLESS
RE about & LENT fasting period & LESS
21 Facing work, poet is confused (8)
OPPOSITE
OP(us) work & [POET IS]*
22 Suffer defeat in court where accommodation for people is very limited (6)
CLOSET
LOST inside C(our)T.
25 Well-ordered hospital somewhere in the Principality (5)
NEATH
NEAT & H(ospital)
26 Spanning a limited period that school-haters would welcome? (5-4)
SHORT-TERM
Cryptic ish definition
27 Area shouldn’t change completely (5,3,4)
HEART AND SOUL
[AREA SHOULDN’T]*
Down
1 Store cold — that’s a pain (5)
CACHE
C(old) & ACHE
2 Fawning female embarks on second year (8)
FLATTERY
F(emale) & LATTER the second of two things & Y(ear)
3 Sheep exercise from what we hear (4)
EWES
Sounds like USE
4 Afflicted in place of rest, bad, getting taken in hand (10)
BEDEVILLED
BED & EVIL & LED
5 Criticism when leader’s not given guarantee (6)
ENSURE
(c)ENSURE without its leader
6 Book’s ending on shelf, currently retained for learning (9)
KNOWLEDGE
(boo)K & LEDGE (shelf) around NOW (currently)
7 Separating and losing emotional control? (8,4)
BREAKING DOWN
Double definition, not sure why the question mark was necessary.
10 Sentries mope about — how long before call is answered? (8,4)
RESPONSE TIME
[SENTRIES MOPE]*
13 Fissures in foundation built on a large volume of water (7,3)
BARENTS SEA
RENTS (fissures) in BASE (foundation) & A
15 Chemical bringing a measure of acidity into teashop unfortunately (9)
PHOSPHATE
pH – the measure of acidity in TEASHOP*
17 Toes tilt awkwardly — in such a shoe? (8)
STILETTO
[TOES TILT]* I’ve never actually worn stilettos but I get they would…
20 Girl is French, this female in book (6)
ESTHER
Two defintions, GIRL and BOOK. is in french is EST & HER female
23 Bargain? Something hard to be forged reportedly (5)
STEAL
Sounds like STEEL
24 Adventurous womaniser’s relationship (4)
BOND
james BOND is an adverturous womaniser certainly.
*anagram
Easy, elegant, enjoyable. Thank you, Quixote – and flashling, too.
25a had me foxed for a while – I had never heard of Neath, and “somewhere in the Principality” seemed to suggest a hidden word. I discovered that there was actually a clinic (in Kenya) called IPALI! Luckily, the crosses didn’t let me go down that path.
Yes, I agree that this was on the easy side for one of the Don’s puzzles but it was an enjoyable solve. BOND was my LOI.
Thanks, flashling.
Not much more to say, really. Another sound and enjoyable Monday offering from Quixote. Thank you to him too.
Thanks, Quixote, for a nice gentle start to the week. With the possible exception of 16ac this would make an excellent introduction to cryptic crosswords for a beginner.
And thanks, flashling, for the blog. It was good to meet you at the S&B on Saturday – and thanks too to Kathryn’s Dad for the organisation.
Thanks Allan, ditto. Hmm a few tyops i see, will fix them later.
Thought I’d give the Indy a go since today’s Guardian didn’t detain me for long. It took longer to get Java working on my laptop than to finish this crossword, which was less taxing than the Pasquales I’ve seen recently. I think EDDO was the least familiar word, and BOND was my LOI too.
Thanks to Quixote and flashling – I echo Allan’s comments on Saturday’s entertainment – it was well worth staying on for the Nepali meal too…
Hi beery welcome to our world. The on line puzzle has been a pain to put it mildly. Look in the discussions and feedback on how to get it on line.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks to Quixote and flashling. A fairly quick solve tonight – don’t normally time ourselves but we were on Crossword Solver. It took us the same number of minutes as the miles we’ve walked today – 17!
Thanks to all the commenters too. Berry Hiker may like to know that someone fell off the stepping stones today in Bolton Abbey – thankfully it wasn’t one of our group!!
Thank you Quixote a very enjoyable crossword, well balanced, a crossword for everyone.