An unusually restrained puzzle from Punk, surprisingly free of any salacious references (even with an open goal like 24d). There was however the usual range of pop culture references, including some football and cinema. Nothing was very 4dn and the whole was a very pleasant puzzle to solve.
| Across | |||
| 8/16. | Machine run by dynamic team (6,6) | ||
| Bayern Munich | (Machine run by)* | ||
| 9. | Appear friendly hugging British loafer by the sea (5,3) | ||
| Beach Bum | Be a chum around B(ritish) | ||
| 10. | Dog, perhaps, describing cairn as strangely feline (7,3) | ||
| Persian Cat | Pet around (cairn as)* | ||
| 11. | Hives, say, where worker ultimately remains (4) | ||
| Rash | [Worke]r + ash | ||
| 12. | Pedestrian accommodation (4) | ||
| Flat | DD | ||
| 13. | Imprisoned in northern Italian city, gastronome finally getting thinner(10) | ||
| Turpentine | Pent in Turin +[gastronom]e | ||
| 19. | Yellow ladder in farmyard enclosure (7,3) | ||
| Chicken run | Chicken(=yellow) + run(ladder in stocking) | ||
| 21/7. | Produce hounds for an old actor? (4,6) | ||
| Rock Hudson | Answer implies anag of Hudson to produce hounds. | ||
| 22. | Boss at the New York Times, say, taken advantage of(4) | ||
| Used | US ed(itor) | ||
| 23. | Realistic chance, albeit tiny, to explode (10) | ||
| Tenability | (Albeit tiny)* | ||
| 25. | Father protecting private life officially starts an online file (8) | ||
| Download | Dad around (own(=private) + l[ife] o[fficially]) | ||
| 26/14. | Model hot on red wine, a brief success (3-3,6) | ||
| One-hit wonder | (Hot on red wine)* | ||
Down |
|||
| 1. | Number in battle (8) | ||
| Waterloo | DD, referring to the ABBA song | ||
| 2. | Kid brother’s heart in China (3,3) | ||
| Tea set | Tease + [bro]t[her] | ||
| 3. | Trailer once interrupting curtain call (4) | ||
| Inca | Hidden in curtaIN CAll. Before it was given over to tourists, the Inca trail would presumably have been used by the Incas themselves. | ||
| 4. | Hidden qualification in The Independent’s editorial, initially (7) | ||
| Obscure | BSc in our e[ditorial] | ||
| 5. | Manager set out from an old country (4,6) | ||
| East German | (Manager set)* | ||
| 6/20. | Old player in London team, sort of honest (8,6) | ||
| Charlton Heston | Charlton (Athletic) + honest* | ||
| 13. | Wrong to do a backflip after failure in dance (6,4) | ||
| Turkey trot | Tort< after Turkey(=failure, as in this film's a turkey) | ||
| 15. | A few years not without love, depraved (8) | ||
| Decadent | Decade + n[o]t | ||
| 17. | Set for tripping over dog, it’s the drink (8) | ||
| Cocktail | Seems to be a definition to with camera shutters, cock = set for tripping + tail(=dog in the sense of follow). | ||
| 18. | Death almost claimed by standard bomb (7) | ||
| Grenade | En[d] in grade | ||
| 21. | Car wheel (6) | ||
| Roller | DD in the sense of a Rolls Royce and something which rolls | ||
| 24. | Error that may come up? (4) | ||
| Boob | CD referring to the palindromic property of the word | ||
Thanks Punk and Neal
17dn: I took the COCK part here as relating to guns, not cameras.
The definition I found was “to set (a camera shutter or other mechanism) for tripping”. However, it may well apply to guns as well.
Punk’s clues may have been “free of any salacious references” – but we did get a BUM and a BOOB in the grid. In fact I’m inclined to nominate BEACH BUM as my CoD. Needed the blog to parse 17dn and 18dn.
Thanks, Punk and NealH
Thanks for parsing 1D for me NealH. It couldn’t be anything but Waterloo, but I couldn’t parse it. A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an hour this morning, with my favourite being 9A, also my FOI.
Many thanks to Punk and NealH.
This is a puzzle written by someone who understands clue-writing well, I think, even if ‘dynamic’ and ‘describing’ are words that are used somewhat questionably. Very good and enjoyable.
3dn was my last one in as I seem not to be aware of the Inca Trail. I’d seen INCA hiding in the clue but couldn’t see why that was the answer. It was only after getting 8/16 that I tentatively entered it and came here to see if I was right. And 8/16 I’d identified the anagram almost from the start but needed a number of crossing letters to get it. Ironically, I’d been talking to my nephew last week who’d been working in Munich last year.