A smart, moderately challenging puzzle, this. Good fun.
There were some very nice surfaces and some zingy wordplay, with nothing really to grumble about. One of those where more often than not the solutions slotted in and the parsing came after (quite a while after, in the case of 4dn. – never knew that a male goat could be called a “buck” rather than a “billy”). Thank-you, Artexlen.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TRANSEPT | A month to finish new painting around church structure (8) |
| Reversal of art [painting] n [new] Sept [month] | ||
| 5 | SORT OF | Rather soft bananas with yellow filling (4,2) |
| Or [gold, yellow] within anagram of soft | ||
| 10 | VISCOUS | Pasty noblemen shunning National Trust (7) |
| Viscounts [noblemen] minus NT [National Trust] | ||
| 11 | HOSTILE | Repellent drunk in tube’s unfriendly (7) |
| Reversal of lit [drunk] in hose [tube] | ||
| 12 | RECAP | Briefly summarise informal talk about international body (5) |
| EC [European Community, international body] within rap [informal talk] | ||
| 13 | IMPATIENT | Restless, as one waiting for doctor might describe himself (9) |
| I’m patient [as one waiting for doctor might describe himself] | ||
| 14 | HEDGE SPARROW | Bird moves gradually and quietly in London borough (5,7) |
| Edges [moves gradually] p [piano, quietly] within Harrow [London borough] | ||
| 18 | NONTECHNICAL | Innocent remix covering Hotel California is basic (12) |
| H [hotel] within anagram of innocent Cal [California] | ||
| 21 | REINHABIT | Curb addiction and return to occupation (9) |
| Rein [curb] habit [addiction] | ||
| 23 | EXTOL | Glorify sample of Artex to librarian (5) |
| Hidden in artEX TO Librarian | ||
| 24 | SHELLAC | Finish casing air-conditioning (7) |
| Shell [casing] AC [air-conditioning] | ||
| 25 | NANKEEN | Older relative eager for fabric (7) |
| Nan [older relative] keen [eager] | ||
| 26 | SPRAYS | Bouquets received after reports about promotion (6) |
| PR [Public Relations, promotion] within says [bouquets] | ||
| 27 | TSUNAMIS | First of trilogy by star author delivers tragic events (8) |
| T(rilogy) sun [star] Amis [author Kingsley (or Martin)] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TAVERN | Local function entertaining upstanding clergyman (6) |
| Reversal of rev [reverend, clergyman] within tan [geometrical function] | ||
| 2 | ALSACE | Like to go round lake, excellent wine-making region (6) |
| L [lake] within as [like] ace [excellent] | ||
| 3 | SHOWPIECE | Institute invested in sculpture of cow and sheep for main exhibit (9) |
| I [institute] within anagram of sheep cow | ||
| 4 | PASSING THE BUCK | Going by goat, say, giving burden to another (7,3,4) |
| Passing [going by] the buck [(male) goat] | ||
| 6 | ONSET | Start working with firm (5) |
| On [working] set [firm] | ||
| 7 | TOILETRY | Thin material put on crack is cosmetic, maybe (8) |
| Toile [thin material] try [crack] | ||
| 8 | FREETOWN | African city’s topless event beset by display of disapproval (8) |
| (M)eet [event] within frown [display of disapproval] | ||
| 9 | SHOP ASSISTANTS | Those who serve exotic Spanish toast aboard ship (4,10) |
| Anagram of spanish toast within SS [ship] | ||
| 15 | AGAMEMNON | Mythical king’s frolic with maiden penned by unknown author (9) |
| Game [frolic] m [maiden] within anon [by unknown author] | ||
| 16 | ENTRUSTS | Charges bungling nutters with abduction of son (8) |
| S [son] within anagram of nutters | ||
| 17 | ENGINEER | Imprisoned by monarch, North American soldier once called Ford, among others (8) |
| N [north] GI [American soldier] nee [once called] within ER [Elizabeth Regina, monarch] | ||
| 19 | STREAM | Energy, harnessing river flow (6) |
| R [river] within steam [energy] | ||
| 20 | PLANKS | Boards tailless jet with case of kiwis (6) |
| Plan(e) [jet] k(iwi)s | ||
| 22 | HOLLY | Double-length, sacred plant (5) |
| Holy [sacred] with l [length] doubled | ||
Couldnt agree with you more Ringo, this was indeed great fun. Thanks Artexlen.
26ac requires a minor correction for the parsing.
4dn caught my fancy, as did 18ac.
Cheers.
Agreed, Ringo and Turbolegs, I enjoyed it a lot. It was 14ac that I especially enjoyed. Thanks, Artexlen.
Good puzzle by one of the better ‘dicoveries’ of the last twelve months or so.
Technically sound, nice surfaces too.
Now this is the second puzzle by this setter that I solved this week after last Saturday’s Indy prize puzzle (as eXternal).
On both occasions a certain feeling came over me.
A feeling that I’d wish he would write more clues like 18ac, clues with a bit of name dropping.
In my opinion, it would lift the unmistakeable quality that’s already there to an even higher level.
Sometimes I miss the things that I specifically like in puzzles by Donk, Rorschach, Crosophile and Qaos, to name a few.
I know, all setters are different and they all have their individual style.
Perhaps, it’s just me who thinks that Artexlen is one who’s perfectly capable of adding a bit more contemporary references to the surfaces.
Perhaps, he’s not like that.
But he is a good-un, no doubt about that.
Enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Artexlen and Ringo
Agree with you all … this was a very entertaining puzzle when I finally got around to doing it! The beauty for me was that he was able to use very straight forward words and still be able to create clues that made you think hard about before one was able to solve them.
Finished in the NE corner with FREETOWN, SORT OF and TOILETRY the last few in.