Always a pleasure to get a Raich puzzle to solve and blog. Only a couple that held me up here, and those were down to my muppetry rather than the quality of the setter’s cluing. And there’s a footie reference, natch.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Dog from Alabama rested near Paisley perhaps
ALSATIAN
A charade of AL for the abbreviation for ‘Alabama’, SAT and IAN, for the Northern Ireland politician IAN PAISLEY.
5 Ready money graduate’s banked in African city quarter
CASBAH
An insertion of BA in CASH. You can spell it with a K as well, since it’s a transliteration of the Arabic word, which starts with a Q.
9 Philanthropist has worry about Geordie soldier
CARNEGIE
A ‘Geordie soldier’ would be a NE GI. Put that in CARE for ‘worry’ and you’ve got Andrew CARNEGIE, one of the most generous and best-known philanthropists. And he was Scottish, I’ll have you know.
10 Fruit appliance Jack used at first with reserve and resistance
JUICER
A charade of J, U for the first letter of ‘used’, ICE and R.
12 Musical form welcomed by matron, dowager
RONDO
Hidden in matRON DOwager.
13 Church record about left-wing American
NOTRE DAME
An insertion of RED and AM in NOTE. If Raich is referring to la Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, then strictly it’s a cathedral. But all cathedrals are churches; whereas not all churches are cathedrals. We’ll move on.
14 Showing care to be in legal position in box
CONSIDERATE
The beautiful game makes its appearance: this is ONSIDE in CRATE. If the foremost forward is ONSIDE, he’s in a ‘legal position’, even if he’s outside the box. I can get some salt and pepper pots out to explain this to those who hate football. Although even I have lost the plot with what ‘not interfering with play’ means.
18 Taking on current time when travelling
RECRUITMENT
(CURRENT TIME)*
21 Very many – fifty, received by titled lady
COUNTLESS
An insertion of L in COUNTESS.
23 Relationship in troika disturbed after Kelvin leaves
RATIO
(TROI[K]A)* Referring to William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin. A temperature scale was named after him and zero degrees Kelvin corresponds to 0 K or -273.15°C. That’s about as cold as you can get.
24 Listen in every afternoon – radio (wireless) is good to begin with
EARWIG
The first letters of Every Afternoon Radio Wireless Is Good. A slang word for eavesdropping, or ‘listening in’.
25 Nice bird swapping tips on hotel
PLEASANT
This was my favourite today. The ‘tips on hotel’ are H and L. Raich is asking you to take the H out of ‘pheasant’ and replace it with an L to give you PLEASANT.
26 Emphasis is very French aboard vessel
STRESS
An insertion of TRÈS for the French ‘very’ in SS. The setters’ standard way of telling you to insert something in SS is ‘aboard ship’, or in this case ‘aboard vessel’. SS is the abbreviation for ‘steamship’.
27 He chooses reader following directions
SELECTOR
A charade of SE for south-east, or ‘directions’, followed by LECTOR for ‘reader’.
Down
1 Bill firm over road agreement
ACCORD
A charade of AC for account or ‘bill’, CO and RD.
2 Air outside a Queen’s garment
SARONG
An insertion of A and R for ‘Regina’ in SONG.
3 Bloc (no outsiders) with euro cents in circulation?
THE LOW COUNTRIES
I especially liked this one as well, although it took me ages to see it. It’s ([B]LO[C] WITH EURO CENTS)* and ‘in circulation’ as the anagrind. The definition is ‘bloc’, since informally THE LOW COUNTRIES refers to Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. All those three countries use the Euro. Is this &lit? You tell me. Confusingly, in French the Netherlands alone is referred to as les Pays-Bas, THE LOW COUNTRIES. Or La Hollande. But despite the fact that we (and indeed many Dutch people) call The Netherlands ‘Holland’, only two of the twelve provinces of Le Royaume des Pays-Bas are actually Holland. Confusing, innit? Sil van den Hoek is your man to explain it, if he drops in.
4 Strange story covered by article
ALIEN
An insertion of LIE in AN.
6 Rue, as mama (decent) playing here?
AMUSEMENT ARCADE
(RUE AS MAMA DECENT)*
7 Card game in vehicle going North over California desert
BACCARAT
A reversal (‘going north’ since it’s a down clue) of CAB, followed by CA for ‘California’ and RAT for ‘desert’ in its verbal sense.
8 Being experienced, ran across lair
HARDENED
An insertion of DEN in HARED.
11 Hit small three-wheeler
STRIKE
A charade of S and TRIKE.
15 Smarter to ignore current idle talk
NATTER
You need to think ‘smarter’ in its ‘dress’ sense (which I didn’t for a long time). It’s NATT[I]ER. I is the symbol for ‘current’.
16 Crazy joke – Cockney woman’s
CRACKERS
A charade of CRACK and ERS, which is – allegedly – what Eastenders would say for ‘hers’.
17 He gets top quality college paper at end of year
ACQUIRER
My last one, and despite having all the crossers, I couldn’t see it. A for ‘top quality’ followed by C, QUIRE and R for the last letter of ‘year’.
19 Passage of water, not curved, we’re told
STRAIT
A homophone of ‘straight’.
20 Promote development of forest after replanting
FOSTER
(FOREST)*
22 Find the answer, the one and only – very impressed!
SOLVE
We’ve been finding the answers for the whole puzzle, so appropriate that this is our last chance to do so. An insertion of V in SOLE.
Many thanks to Raich for compiling this one.
Will pass on the salt pots, thanks!
C for college?
Otherwise all good. My FOI 23ac so started in SE corner, finished in NE. LOI 7d but steady progress. I liked ph/leas ant too.
Thx both
Salt and pepper pots demonstration of the offside rule could subsequently allow you to indulge in hours of fascinating conversation in the pub, almw3.
And, if UCL is University College London …
Thanks Pierre. Agree with C for College, but will still forego the pepper pots, thx
A pleasant Sunday morning solve that I found towards the easier end of the IoS spectrum, but it was definitely none the worse for it. THE LOW COUNTRIES was my LOI and I agree that it was an excellent clue.
Quite an easy solve, particularly for Raich, whose puzzles I often find challenging.
Pierre, re THE LOW COUNTRIES, just to muddy the waters further, there’s a province of Belgium called Luxembourg.
Anyway, thanks to both.
Well, Pierre, since you asked I can perhaps say something about 3d.
The word ‘bloc’ suggests that we are talking about the Benelux here. But I am not sure whether one should call the three the low countries as especially Luxemburg (and also the east of Belgium (the rolling hills of the Ardennes) is/are not really that flat.
In Holland (I am fine with it for The Netherlands as most Dutch are) we/they ( 🙂 ) have the same expression: ‘de lage landen’. Also plural but I don’t think it refers to the Benelux, more to Holland as a whole plus the western part of Belgium (Flanders).
One more poignant detail:
in Holland euro cents are perhaps in circulation but not accepted in shops – prices are rounded to the nearest 5 cent.
It is tempting to call this clue an &lit. From a cryptic point of view it is but the surface does not do fully justice to the actual situation.
As to the rest of this puzzle, I found this very easy, as Allan C says easier than usual but enjoyable enough.