Independent on Sunday 1286/Kairos

A second IoS Kairos in a row for me to blog. I bigged him up a bit last time.  Twice running?

It was certainly an enjoyable and well-constructed puzzle.  My favourites this morning were OMISSION and ASTONISH.  There are a couple where I am not sure of the parsing, so help appreciated.

Abbreviations

cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagrams
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

8  Speak fondly about boy drowning men in American river
COLORADO
A double insertion: of OR in LAD, all in COO.  OR for ‘other ranks’, soldiers or ‘men’.

9  Brilliance of characters returning in Gilbert & Sullivan
LUSTRE
Hidden reversed in GilbERT SULlivan

10  Carves up small furry animals
SHARES
A charade of S and HARES, which are furry and quite small.  They are larger than rabbits, but smaller than bears, both of whom are also furry animals.  I just think the setter is being generous to us, since he could have left the ‘small’ out.

11  Tone set by report of collier alongside jetty
MINOR KEY
A homophone of ‘miner’ and ‘quay’.  I’m not entirely sure that I’d describe a MINOR KEY as a ‘tone’, so perhaps the definition is ‘tone set’, which would be what music in a MINOR KEY would do.  Minor chords including a flattened third sound sad.  Or that could be cobblers.

12  Presenter‘s piece on weather feature
FRONTMAN
A charade of FRONT and MAN for a chess ‘piece’.

13  Court case involving one in London area
ACTION
An insertion of I in ACTON, which is a West London suburb.

14  Absurd dons dealt badly with hypocrisy
DOUBLE STANDARDS
(ABSURD DONS DEALT)*

18  Chemical shield covers vehicle
BICARB
An insertion of CAR in BIB.  BICARBONATE OF SODA is useful for lots of things.

20  Including drink in court, charge is nonsense
CLAPTRAP
Kairos is inviting you to put LAP inside CT and then add RAP for ‘charge’.

23  A crime involving short insolent killer
ASSASSIN
This seems to come up a lot in cryptics, so it must be a useful set of letters for compilers.  No pair of donkeys in this one: it’s SASS[Y] in A SIN.

24  Presumably cricket practice is cancelled for these groups
NONETS
Well, if it’s hammering it down and outside nets were cancelled, there would be NO NETS, innit?

25  Fuse together light gas in part of reactor
COHERE
An insertion of HE for the element with atomic number 2 in CORE.  There are reports of a future worldwide shortage of helium, because it’s used so widely in things like MRI scanners and for the manufacture of semiconductors. Its price has doubled in the last ten years.  So stop using it for filling party balloons, okay?

26  Musician stuns sailor
ROCK STAR
Really good concise clue.  ROCKS TAR.

Down

1  Genuine stunner’s quite heartless
KOSHER
Once I got some crossers, I was able to guess the answer, but it took a while to parse.  I think, and only think, that it’s KOSH for ‘stunner’; that the apostrophe s should be read as ‘has’ and that ‘quite heartless’ is [V]ER[Y].  If I’m right, then this clue is a bit too intricate for the IoS; if I’m wrong, then some kind soul will no doubt parse it for me.

2  Opener has to hit cross heavenward
DOORKNOB
Since it’s a down clue, ‘heavenward’ is the reversal indicator.  So it’s BONK and ROOD reversed.  BONK (in one of its meanings at least) means ‘hit’ and ROOD is derived from the Old English word for ‘cross’.  As in HOLYROOD, in Edinburgh, which means ‘holy cross’.

3  Chinese people’s award for vehicle
HANSOM
I discovered that the Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group in the country, so it’s HANS plus OM for Order of Merit or ‘award’.

4  Remark about including agreement with clubs in meeting hall?
COMMUNITY CENTRE
Maybe a bit intricate, but it’s UNITY for ‘agreement’ and C for ‘clubs’ in COMMENT for ‘remark’ and RE for ‘about’.

5  Spy a fashionable fruit
PLANTAIN
A charade of PLANT for ‘spy, A and IN for ‘fashionable’.  I refer honourable members to my comments on this word in this recent blog.

6  English icon’s ultimately lacking wit
ESPRIT
I’m not sure about the parsing of this one.  It would have to be E plus SPRIT, and SPRIT is SPRIT[E], but where the ‘icon’ comes in, I can’t explain.

7  Title of letter?
FREEHOLD
A cd: if you own and let a property and are therefore the ‘letter’, then the title deeds would indicate that you had FREEHOLD.

15  Ordinary job in Gap
OMISSION
Another fine, concise clue.  O for ‘Ordinary’ (as in O-LEVELS, for those of a certain age) and MISSION.  For those of a certain age, GAP is a clothing retailer.

16  Standing out with some debs dancing
EMBOSSED
(SOME DEBS)*

17  Stagger from Birmingham area?!
ASTONISH
The double punctuation marks at the end suggest that this is extremely whimsical.  ASTON is an area of Birmingham (it has a university and a football team), so you might say that if you came from ASTON, then you’d be ASTON-ISH.  And ASTONISH means to ‘stagger’.  You didn’t like this one?  Move on.  I thought it was funny, but I did say a bad word when I finally got it.

19  Azerbaijan meadow contains a flower
AZALEA
An insertion of A in AZ LEA.

21  Salve regularly extracted from Aurantiaceae
ARNICA
The odd letters of AuRaNtIaCeAe.  Good for bruises.  From what I can find, Aurantiaceae is a botanical classification.  But it doesn’t really matter.

22  Missing fish found under a stone
ASTRAY
Since it’s a down clue, it’s RAY under A ST.

Bravo, Kairos.  Good puzzle in the IoS style.