- *=anagram
- [] = removed e.g. char[m]=char
- ()=abbreviation e.g. A(mpere)=a
- <=reversed
- Hom. = homophone
The usual entertaining fare from Punk with some inventive cluing devices. As a beer fan, I quite liked 16. 24/8 must have been written at a time when there was still hope that the man in question might be making headlines.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Supportive smile? (4) | ||
| Beam | DD | ||
| 4. | God securing victory finally, safe as a great Olympian (4,6) | ||
| Mary Peters | Mars around [victor]y + peter, which is a term for a safe that I can’t recall ever having heard, despite watching countless crime films. | ||
| 9. | Does it have a purring engine? (6) | ||
| Jaguar | CD, although I’ve never been close enough to a jaguar cat to know if it purrs or not. | ||
| 10. | High time to box ears, perhaps? Don’t ask me why! (2,6) | ||
| No reason | Noon around ears* | ||
| 11. | Hooker, one making a difference smuggling grass (4,6) | ||
| Coat hanger | Changer around oat | ||
| 12. | Horse drooling over attractive donkey tails (4) | ||
| Grey | Last letters of droolinG oveR attractivE donkeY. | ||
| 14. | Brief novel penned by witness (6) | ||
| Skimpy | Kim (Kipling novel) in spy. | ||
| 17. | Dover to Calais journey? Give it everything! (3,3) | ||
| Let Rip | Le trip (Franglais) | ||
| 19. | Ring put to one side, male in bed for holiday (6) | ||
| Crimbo | M(ale) in Crib + o | ||
| 22. | French taps around a gas cooker (4) | ||
| Chef | C and F (which in French would be Chaud and Froid) around He (Helium). | ||
| 24. | Bow tie lent out – red in it, perhaps? (4,6) | ||
| Wine bottle | (Bow tie lent)* | ||
| 25. | Boring Middle Eastern city a let-down by the way? (4,4) | ||
| Flat Tyre | Flat(=boring) + Tyre(city in Lebanon). | ||
| 26. | Old Egyptian airline boarding next (6) | ||
| Theban | Then(=next) around B(ritish) A(irways) | ||
| 27. | Fear contained by underground employee – I know what you’re thinking!(4-6) | ||
| Mind reader | Miner around dread | ||
| 28. | Unpleasant type having a pop (4) | ||
| Soda | Sod + a | ||
Down |
|||
| 2. | Delight to see country amid regret, lifted (7) | ||
| Enamour | (Oman in rue)< | ||
| 3. | Growth faced is surely painful, having zero investment (9) | ||
| Moustache | Must ache around o | ||
| 4. | Duck joining act to bind a partnership (9) | ||
| Merganser | Merger around a NS (North-South, which is a partnership in bridge) | ||
| 5. | Chickens out in runs seen wandering around say (7) | ||
| Reneges | R(uns) + seen* around e.g. | ||
| 6. | One shaving part of Pre-Raphaelite, starting at the bottom (5) | ||
| Parer | Hidden, rev in pRE RAPhaelite | ||
| 7. | Texas item hooked by 11 (5) | ||
| Thang | Hidden in coaT HANGer | ||
| 15. | Enclosed apparatus for an infant, air not circulating around baby (9) | ||
| Incubator | Air not* around cub | ||
| 16. | A waste of time when short of beer to get round in? (9) | ||
| Pointless | Pintless around o | ||
| 18. | P for plonker? (7) | ||
| Pinhead | DD/CD – pinhead = first letter of pin. | ||
| 20/13. | Entering last bend juddering, two for double the security? (4,3,6) | ||
| Belt and braces | Brace in (last bend)* | ||
| 21. | Burner, cold one (6) | ||
| Chilli | Chill + I | ||
| 23. | Offensive note hidden by G-man(5) | ||
| Fetid | Ti in Fed (G man is short for Government Man, a slang term for a federal agent) | ||
| 24/8. | Attacking force stopping tearaway Nero, one yielding (5,6) | ||
| Wayne Rooney | Hidden in tearaWAY NERO ONE Yielding | ||
Now that’s a good crossword! Really enjoyed it. Made me think hard. So many good clues but I liked 10ac and 25 ac particularly.
Thanks very much.
Btw an old term for a safecracker is a ‘peterman’.
Good stuff. Lots of lovely clues but I thought 24/8 was impressively disguised. Thanks to Punk and blogger both.
I agree that this was an enjoyable puzzle. The hidden 24/8 was indeed an excellent spot by the setter. SKIMPY was my LOI after the INCUBATOR/CRIMBO crossers. Until I started doing crosswords I had no idea that a safe could be called a “peter”.
Great to have challenging crossword on a Monday. Very enjoyable too. Thanks to Punk and Neal.
I don’t know about attacking force, more like spent force. An excellent puzzle in my opinion, with only 4d a new word for me. I’ve never really warmed to Crimbo, which seems a 16d contraction, and I couldn’t parse it.
Thanks to Punk and NealH
Thanks, Neal. Certainly a challenge; perhaps the ‘easy Monday’ idea has run its course. Some good stuff, but the cds and dds were hard to crack, for this solver at least.
When your first name is Peter, then you tend to remember that it means ‘safe’. But I only learnt that through crosswords as well.
Bravo, Punk.
Thanks Neal and Punk, misled myself by suspecting 7d might be twang which made coat hanger a tad tricky
Yes, definitely on the hard side for a Monday (but didn’t we say that last week?). Got there in the end but I was struggling for a while. My first guess for 9ac was PANZER as I’d been watching something set in WWII last night. And I’m surprised how long it took me to get 26ac, as I’d seen an opera called Thebans not that long ago. 19ac was my LOI – really had to dredge that up from my memory.
I found this pretty tough but ultimately very rewarding and highly enjoyable. Absolutely no gripes about any of the clues, some grins along the way. Ten out of ten then!
Thanks Punk and NealH
I have a long-held theory that Punks are Pauls that have been rejected by the Guardian crossword editor. This puzzle tends to confirm that theory although that does not necessarily imply that the rejection would be on the grounds of quality. The one really weak cd for me today was for Jaguar, my LOI. I’m sure someone will assure me that they have personally tickled a jaguar under the chin that and it has purred.
LOI was 19ac which needed an electronic search – it was getting late! It’s not a word we use and although we had thought of CRIB, that was as far as we could get.
We weren’t too happy about 9ac but were impressed by 24/8 – at least as far as the clue was concerned – not the definition!
3d brought a smile to Bert’s face when he solved it – he used to sport one for about 30 years!
Thanks to NealH and Punk.