It’s always nice to draw a puzzle from our friend and Fifteensquared alumnus Raich.
Having had to blog an Anax on the same weekend, it was a relief that this perhaps wasn’t the hardest puzzle I’ve ever tackled, with answers slotting in smoothly from the start, though it was still very enjoyable.
Many thanks to Raich for a characteristically approachable puzzle with some lovely surfaces.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CASUAL | Informal class run ably on regular basis (6) |
| C[l]A[s]S [r]U[n] A[b]L[y]. | ||
| 4 | SCABBARD | Poet backing blackleg’s case for weapon (8) |
| SCAB + BARD. | ||
| 9 | UKRAINIAN | National from this country, artist in Paisley? (9) |
| UK + RA + IN + IAN Paisley. | ||
| 11 | ANJOU | Norman journal features historic province (5) |
| [norm]AN JOU[rnal]. | ||
| 12 | CONCEIT | Vanity of court entertaining in the past is half-forgotten (7) |
| (ONCE + I[s]) in CT. | ||
| 13 | IMPERIL | Put in danger, empire’s lacking answer (7) |
| IMPERI[a]L. | ||
| 14 | UNEXPURGATED | Unexpectedly urge tax, end up with no cuts? (12) |
| (URGE TAX END UP)*. | ||
| 18 | NEGATIVE SIGN | New Senate giving? Taking away, this suggests (8,4) |
| (SENATE GIVING)*. | ||
| 21 | NOISIER | Like less pleasant neighbours? More prying, I admitted (7) |
| I in NOSIER. | ||
| 22 | TRIBUTE | Group welcomes extremely upbeat words of appreciation (7) |
| U[pbea]T in TRIBE. | ||
| 24 | ADORE | Like very much portion of salad or eggs (5) |
| [sal]AD OR E[ggs]. | ||
| 25 | AUCTIONED | Got rid of lots once audit prepared (9) |
| (ONCE AUDIT)*. | ||
| 26 | DOROTHEA | Rodeo hat redesigned for girl (8) |
| (RODEO HAT)*. I made life difficult for my self by writing in THEODORA at first. | ||
| 27 | DAFYDD | Fellow daddy’s excitedly embraced – from Wales? (6) |
| F in DADDY*. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COUSCOUS | Dish from firm (American) on 8? (8) |
| CO + US, doubled. Perhaps my imagination, but wouldn’t “in double” read better? | ||
| 2 | STRANDED | Unable to move with lengths of thread (8) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 3 | AGILE | Drink traps soldier, nimble (5) |
| GI in ALE. | ||
| 5 | CANNIBALISTIC | Having consuming interests? Abstain: clinic ordered (13) |
| (ABSTAIN CLINIC)*. | ||
| 6 | BLASPHEME | Special chap probing responsibility for curse (9) |
| (SP + HE) in BLAME. | ||
| 7 | ABJURE | Reject seaman over unfinished panel and drug (6) |
| AB + JUR[y] + E. | ||
| 8 | DOUBLE | Payment secures posh British understudy (6) |
| (U + B) in DOLE. | ||
| 10 | INTERMARRIAGE | Rare enigma – endless rite strangely uniting close relations (13) |
| (RARE ENIGMA + RIT[e])*. | ||
| 15 | PRESIDENT | Papers going into gift for head of republic (9) |
| ID in PRESENT. | ||
| 16 | PIQUANCY | Stimulating quality of quip about city in France subject to guillotine? (8) |
| QUIP* + [n]ANCY. | ||
| 17 | INTENDED | At home, looked after fiancée (8) |
| IN + TENDED. | ||
| 19 | INWARD | Popular guardian’s responsibility directed to centre (6) |
| IN + WARD. | ||
| 20 | VIGOUR | Intensity of Spanish port user on vacation (6) |
| VIGO + U[se]R. | ||
| 23 | IBIZA | Informal business in independent top class holiday island (5) |
| BIZ in (I + A). | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
As said, some nice surfaces; and a couple of clunky ones in the sense that the clues would never be used as a sentence except in a cryptic crossword; just an opinion.
“Endless” needs to be removed from the anagram fodder in 10D.
Thanks to Raich and Simon Harris.
And A-Z too
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Simon. Very impressed with the ‘hover’ feature. Thanks also to those who commented on what was a mixed weekend for teams that play in red and white stripes but I’m sure Raich Carter will be looking down approvingly.
Re #3, curiously, in the intervening period, the teams in red and white stripes have totally swapped positions with the one that was then in the third tier of English football now in the top tier (Premier League) with the one then in the top tier, now right down in the third tier.