A sound Sunday puzzle from Commoner in the usual IoS style.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Ancient singer’s awkward lack of flexibility
INTRANSIGENCE
(ANCIENT SINGER)* with ‘awkward’ as the anagrind.
8 Old king‘s innards finally cut out
OFFA
OFFA[L] Tripe is not the worst meal you could ever be served. Just the second worst.
9 Burned with desire returning after date, say
CAUTERISED
‘Desire’ reversed gives you the last six letters; the first four are a homophone (‘say’) of COURT, which is to ‘date’. Nice surface.
10 Burning Man’s located east of old city
URGENT
A charade of UR for the favourite old city of setters and GENT. ‘East’ is there as a location indicator because it’s an across clue.
11 British individual had consumed drug – dope
BONEHEAD
A charade of B, ONE and E in HAD.
12 Show-off behind comedy writer
COMPOSER
A charade of COM and POSER.
15 Troop travelling round Iberian city
OPORTO
A charade of (TROOP)* and O for the city in Portugal.
16 All-purpose skimobile carrying Alaskan, perhaps?
ESKIMO
Hidden in all-purposE SKIMObile. I thought that this was now considered inappropriate, the preferred term being INUIT.
18 Band reportedly travelled on bypass
RING ROAD
A charade of RING and ROAD, which is a homophone (‘reportedly’) of RODE or ‘travelled’.
20 Lobster prepared with a smoked herring
BLOATERS
(LOBSTER A)* Not to be confused with your kippers.
21 Shock that’s put on by 80s band in audition in tent
WIGWAM
A charade of WIG for ‘shock’ of hair and WAM for a homophone of WHAM! who were a band in the 1980s.
23 16:51 of a workday?
NINE TO FIVE
Not sure that this is true any more, but the traditional working day was ‘nine to five’. So 16:51 would be exactly that.
24 Get angry following backchat
FLIP
A charade of F and LIP.
25 Tough chap’s snack
HARD-BOILED EGG
A charade of HARD-BOILED for ‘tough’ and EGG for ‘chap’. ‘That George Osborne is a good egg.’
Down
1 Fire, one not likely to engulf plant
INFERNO
I thought originally that this was an anagram, but in fact it’s I followed by FERN in NO!
2 Business in the centre of Monterey is excellent for surfers
TRADE
The ‘centre of Monterey’ is TE; put RAD in the centre of that and you’ve got your answer. RAD for ‘excellent’? Keep up. It’s slang for ‘excellent’ or ‘fantastic’ and it apparently originated among surfers, although I’ve seen it clued recently in other puzzles without that reference. And Monterey is good for surfing, apparently.
3 Spoiled cats fed duck in Berkshire town
ASCOT
I’ve seen ASCOT clued a few ways (usually involving A SCOT) but I liked this version. An insertion of O for a cricket ‘duck’ in (CATS)*
4 Drop off spades and planks
SLUMBER
A charade of S for the card version of ‘spades’ and LUMBER.
5 Environmentalist and old nurse adopting horse – colt
GREENHORN
A charade of GREEN and O RN with an insertion of H for ‘horse’. RN is ‘registered nurse’.
6 Big heron flying around university, one located nearby
NEIGHBOUR
(BIG HERON)* around U.
7 Tasteful short song by a new talent at last
ELEGANT
A charade of ELEG[Y], A, N and T for the last letter of ‘talent’.
13 Sailor at sea, a pervert, pinches yours truly
PRIVATEER
An insertion of I in (A PERVERT)* with ‘at sea’ as the anagrind.
14 Cloud the issue when one is thrown?
SMOKE BOMB
A rather weak cd, unless I’m missing something.
17 Reportedly 2 in 20, say? That’s greedy
SELFISH
Well, TRADE in BLOATERS would be to SELL FISH, and the ‘reportedly’ tells you that it’s a homophone of that.
18 Martin is sorry about taking part in 12
ROSSINI
Hidden reversed in MartIN IS SORry.
19 A master’s animation is stunning
AMAZING
A charade of A MA and ZING.
21 At which point, that woman comes between you and me
WHERE
An insertion of HER in WE.
22 Boss detailed mistake
GAFFE
GAFFE[R]. Most often used in the football world. Commoner is using ‘detailed’ in the de-tail sense: in other words, cut the end off.
Many thanks to the setter for today’s puzzle.
As you say, a sound puzzle. Minor quibbles: CAUT is not an attractive homophone of COURT. I think SLUMBER is what you do after you have dropped off.
Thanks to Commoner and Pierre.
Another nice puzzle by Commoner.
Never heard of ‘rad’ for excellent but it had to be it.
Seems to be something American.
I underlined ‘you and me’ (21d) on my paper copy, which means “?”.
I think ‘you and me’ = US [WE = ‘you and I’].
Thanks Peter.
@2 Sil van den Hoek If we meant “well, between you and me” it would be “between us”, but the clue has to be read as “between [the word for] you and me”, which is “we” ie not modified by a preceding word such as “between”.
Well, that’s how I took it too.
Even so, “you and me”, is that really “we”?
I thought “me” is the objective form of “I”, therefore “you and me” feels like “us” rather than “we” to, um, … me.
But I’m not British so perhaps I’m missing something here.
I agree with Sil @4. Me = object, I = subject. I can’t think of a sentence where you could (correctly) substitute ‘you and me’ for ‘we’.