My turn coincides again with Anax’s – I’m sure it will bring a few chuckles.
Some lovely stuff here – all very clever, yet nothing that I couldn’t parse.
Of the clues
:
:
:
- 6dn was very neat with the full clue comprising the definition
- 13ac and 23ac by their originality made me chuckle.
- 9ac was a lovely misdirection
- 11ac was the last one I parsed and I initially sensed a misprint in the clue but (thanks to comments below) am happy with it now
The last 3 down clues were all defined by stand-up leading me to think there may be a theme or message of sorts but not one I’ve managed to decipher.
Many thanks Anax another enjoyable solve,
Key:
Rev. Reverse; * Anagram; Underline – definition
ACROSS
1 Cape has to pay for regatta venue (5)
C (cape) + owes (has to pay) = COWES
4 Fine play’s about censor that’s died (7,2)
Rev. F(fine) + fun’s (play’s) + edit (censor) =SNUFFED IT
9 Provide air strike following assembly (3,4)
Fan (provide air) + club (strike) = FAN CLUB
10 Was chicken eaten by a cool retreating carnivore? (7)
Ran (was chicken) in Rev.(a hip(a cool)) = PIRANHA
11 Was poster featuring you and a mean boss (14)
U(you) + per (a) + intend(mean) in sent (Was poster in the same sense as was chicken) = SUPERINTENDENT
13 Like polygamy? Head off to find the best (7)
Multi-mate (Polygamy) – m(head off) = ULTIMATE
14 Consider shortening an event (6)
Discuss (consider) – s = DISCUS
17 Reporting on commercial capital (7)
Homonym re. (concerning) + ad (commercial) = RIYADH
18 Fiddle returned, plus Italian lady (8)
Con (fiddle) + Rev.asset (plus) = CONTESSA
20 Henry hardly turned into 7 actor?(8,6)
Charleston (dance = 7) around Rev.(h (Henry) + not (hardly)) = CHARLTON HESTON
23 Bleak as deserted Celtic landscape?
No Irish (deserted Celtic landscape) = NOIRISH
24 Woodcutter joins a party with a scholar (3,4)
A + lib (party) + a +ba (scholar) =ALI BABA
25 Rock circles by seat put back or forcibly removed (5,4)
Sway (rock) around Rev.(at pew (by seat)) = SWEPT AWAY
26 Beheaded repulsive local character (5)
Ugly (repulsive) – u + ph (local – public house) = GLYPH
DOWN
1 Separate leaves to put in box? (4)
Cut-off (separate) – to = CUFF
2 Plaything to kid? (4,2,3)
Cryptic definition WIND UP TOY
3 Runner-up delivers it – small potty (6, 9)
(delivers it small)* = SILVER MEDALLIST
4 Dirty place retaining old cheese’s dryness (8)
Sty (dirty place) around o (old) + brie (cheese) = SOBRIETY
5 University professor’s first regret, being difficult (6)
U (university) + p (professor’s first) + pity (regret) = UPPITY
6 This potentially is centre of procedure to trap criminal (8, 7)
(is centre of)* + Sting (procedure to trap criminal) = FORENSIC TESTING
7 Ball will be caught with someone like Schmeichel around (5)
Dane (Schmeichel) around c (caught) = DANCE
8 It’s a thawed out fish (6, 4)
(Its’ a thawed)* = TWAITE SHAD
12 Fighter aircraft flies around US jail (10)
Hurries (flies) around can (US jail) = HURRICANES
15 Routine acquisition regularly used by gardener (15)
aCqUiSiTiOn + Mary (gardener from nursery rhyme) = CUSTOMARY
16 Unstable work in the fleet lacking leadership (3-5)
Op (work) in The navy (the fleet) – n(leadership) = TOP HEAVY
19 Boy upset over the way one will stand up (2-4)
Rev son(boy) + how (the way) = NO-SHOW
21 As one is in pain, stand up (5)
I(one) in arse (as in pain in the) = ARISE
22 Used to be hard to stand up (4)
Was (used to be) + h (hard) = WASH
Don’t know what happened here but no less 5 clues (+ 1d) are different in my version generated by Crossword Solver: 4ac, 9ac, 10ac, 25ac and 5d.
But I got it all!
Clever puzzle.
In 1d I had for a long time TELE (hidden, def: Box) but COWES (1ac) made me change my mind.
I found ARISE (21d) but couldn’t explain it. Well, even now I see what Anax meant I cannot be too enthusiastic – not sure whether this clue works well enough for me.
Apart from that – not much too complain about (which is an understatement 🙂 ).
Many thanks twencelas.
I haven’t done much solving lately but I did this and loved it. Superb cluing throughout.
Great blog as well.
Struggled with 11ac – was poster is sender? Then you have intent(?), but that left me up, which I didn’t understand. I also wasn’t a fan of 17ac, which was obvious from 2d, but even so, isn’t the normal form to put something like ‘sounds like’ or ‘says’ in a homonym? I loved 23ac. Anax is always a mix of the weird and the wonderful.
Thanks, twenceslas, especially for the parsing 1dn, which I couldn’t see at all. I had a weird and wonderful reasioning for it, which I won’t bore you with.
I don’t see your problem with 11ac: cf 10ac – ‘was chicken’ = RAN; ‘was poster’ = SENT.
I’ve mislaid my print-out [from Crossword Solver] of this puzzle, so thanks to Sil for pointing out the anomalies – I knew it didn’t feel quite right.
I agree wholeheartedly with Tramp. Many thanks, as ever to Anax.
I swear I typed my comment before seeing Tony G’s – weird. 😉
Thanks to twencelas & Anax,
Just about the right degree of difficulty – no double reverse pikes with triple twisting forward somersaults thank goodness. I also had the alternate Crossword Solver version as described by Sil van den Hoek@1, but there were only minor changes which didn’t really make it any harder. I agree with your query about 11 – ‘posted’ would have seemed to make more sense. Thanks for 1d explanation which frustratingly I couldn’t parse.
A good way to finish the week.
Just about these changes again.
Wordplodder @6 found them minor changes which didn’t make solving harder.
With the latter I agree wholeheartedly (and that’s the main thing) but in all five clues (at least) the definition was changed which I wouldn’t call ‘minor changes’.
4ac: possibly dead // died.
9ac: people gathered following // following assembly
10ac: vulture // carnivore
25ac: destroyed // forcibly removed
5d: being arrogant // being difficult.
While, for example, 4ac became much better I wouldn’t say that about 9ac which had originally a better surface.
But as I said before, despite all this, a great crossword – inventive as ever and one that didn’t need Guardianesque ‘wit’ to convince.
Thanks Anax!
[ps, nobody else who thought of TELE in 1d?]
A very clever crossword that I struggled with but I was delighted to read the solutions to my failed attempts. One question – in 1 down, I see that you take ‘t’ out of ‘cut off’ (seperate) to give you cuff (box) but I don’t see how the clue reads like that. Or is it one of those backward instructions that reads like a Bulgarian phrasebook?
So sorry to have come to this so late – ridiculously busy – but just popping in to say a big Thank You to Twenceslas for a great blog and to all for your comments. Much appreciated as always.