Bonjour! Not quite sure what’s occurring here, because in the online version it was unnumbered and the compiler wasn’t shown. So I hope I’ve blogged the right puzzle on the right day. A curious mixture of the easy stuff we hope for in a Monday Indy and four or five clues that it took me forever to get. Anyone else have the same experience?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Stresses English politician has increases withheld initially
EMPHASISES
A charade of E, MP, HAS and [R]ISES.
7 Artist’s husband, impetuous
RASH
A charade of RA’S and H.
9 Gross stupidity to ignore fellow’s contribution of thanks
GRATUITY
A charade of GR and [F]ATUITY.
10 Looking back, leaders in Yalta after war you noted acted carelessly
ANYWAY
The opening letters, reversed, of words five to ten in the clue.
11 Loathe journalist’s twisted examination
DETEST
A reversal of ED and TEST.
13 One having unrealistic hopes of island timber at first
IDEALIST
A charade of I, DEAL for wood or ‘timber’ and IST for 1st.
14 Distraught ringsider has shock treatment
HAIRDRESSING
(RINGSIDER HAS)* He’s got a huge shock of hair, that Donald Trump, hasn’t he?
17 Great achievements of French town, extremely decisive in support of church
TOURS DE FORCE
A charade of TOURS, DE for the outside letters of ‘decisive’, FOR and CE.
20 Some deride march – encourage diplomatic move
DÉMARCHE
Hidden in deriDE MARCH Encourage. Good job it was hidden, because I’d never heard the word.
22 Implement of Green power, say?
PUTTER
A cd. Not my fave clue, but that’s probs because my views on golf are well-known. Drivers give you power; putters give you finesse.
23 Stars like revolutionary car
GEMINI
A reversal of EG for ‘say’ and the car designed by Alexander Issigonis. The twins.
24 Sail away protected by detective – capital!
DJIBOUTI
An insertion of JIB and OUT in DI for Detective Inspector. The capital of Djibouti, confusingly.
26 Surprise to see crazy coming back
STUN
A reversal of NUTS.
27 Loss of our fee, rift developed
FORFEITURE
(OUR FEE RIFT)*
Down
2 River language this writer’s covering
MERSEY
An insertion of ERSE for the Irish language in MY for ‘this writer’s’.
3 Shelter – haunt regularly visited
HUT
The setter is inviting you to take the odd letters of HaUnT.
4 Not fully settled, Baronet rearing Irish daughter as water lover?
STILTBIRD
As regular readers will know, I like my birds, but this was a new one on me. It’s a bit convoluted: a charade of STIL[L], a reversal of BT for ‘Baronet’, IR and D for ‘daughter’. You’re still getting the obligatory Pierre bird link.
5 Thwarted potential immodesty as method of working’s abandoned
STYMIED
You need to take MO for modus operandi out of IM[MO]DESTY and then make an anagram. The anagrind is ‘potential’.
6 Uninteresting second report
STALE
A charade of S and TALE
7 Flexible notary seals final approval
ROYAL ASSENT
(NOTARY SEALS)* What Brenda, in an entirely ceremonial role, gives.
8 Northern child introduced to stolen goods – it shouldn’t happen again!
SWANSONG
An insertion of N SON in SWAG. You shouldn’t really have a second SWANSONG, should you?
12 Effort to persuade the Ontario Ten to reform?
EXHORTATION
(THE ONTARIO X) using the Roman numeral as part of the anagram fodder.
15 One content with Continent?
EUROPHILE
A cd. David Cameron is a definition by example.
16 Place for the other, entwined, lots even?
LOVE NEST
I’m sure that you’re all consenting adults, so you’ll know that a LOVE NEST is a place for a bit of illicit how’s your father, or a bit of ‘the other’, where you might indeed be ‘entwined’ (although that’s the anagrind rather than a reference to the coitus itself). It’s (LOTS EVEN)*
18 Uncertainty about tree cover perhaps
FIELDER
Ah, some cricket. Bring on the Aussies at Edgbaston because we are going to absolutely destroy them after our embarrassing defeat in the second Test. ‘Cover’ is a cricket FIELDER. It’s a reversal of IF for ‘uncertainty’ and ELDER for the ‘tree’.
19 State of confusion in German world over lady leader
WELTER
A step too far, perhaps, for your Joe Average Monday solver. You’d have to know that DIE WELT was German for ‘the world’, and then add ER for Brenda or Elizabeth Regina (‘lady leader’) to that. It is a German newspaper, I suppose, and you might have heard of UMWELTFREUNDLICH for ‘environmentally friendly’ or ‘world friendly’.
21 Principal criminal using cocaine for time
CHIEF
The setter’s asking you to remove T from [T]HIEF and replace it with C for ‘cocaine’.
25 Frequently ring newspaper
OFT
A charade of O and FT for the pink ‘un, which was sold last week.
Many thanks to whoever you are for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks Pierre for an amusing blog, and mystery setter. This seemed a lovely crossword for a ‘Late Beginner/Improver’ – some extremely easy clues to provide confidence and get some letters in, followed by a few where you had to concentrate, but which gave up their secrets upon application.
Perfect for a Monday, and a step up from Rufus.
Thanks, Pierre, for the blog – and the lovely bird picture. Your preamble was intriguing enough to get me to try this puzzle first today.
I agree with your and Limeni’s assessment. I liked the shock treatment – and it’s quite an achievement to construct a clue for DJIBOUTI.
Thanks to the setter, whoever you are.
The DTV has the setter as Raich
Top half a lot easier than the bottom
22ac – Isn’t it P (power) + UTTER (say)? the answer just being ‘Implement of green’
Yes, the last few clues were frustrating, but light eventually dawned. My last two were 16D Love Nest, for which I misread the anagram, and 19D Welter, for which I forgot the name of the newspaper. I did this in the iOS Crosswords app and that never gives the setter’s name, so I didn’t realise it was missing. The numbering was conventional. The dead tree version has just appeared on the doormat and that says the setter is Raich, and again the numbering is conventional. So, thank you kindly, Raich, and Pierre for sorting it all out.
Paul A, you are of course right – thank you. I did say that golf clues weren’t my forte.
And now that the identity of the setter is revealed I will also say thank you to Raich. Just glad that I did blog the right one.
Thanks Raich and Pierre, grand stuff, not the hardest but if Dac hadn’t got the slot Raich could have taken it, great clues and surfaces, whether Raich would have wanted the monthly slot…