A very nice puzzle from a compiler who is fairly new to the Indy. It was quite accessible but had some neat bits of misdirection and some well-hidden definitions, 11 down being my favourite with an almost invisible definition.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Possibly paint again in about a month or at the end of June(10) | ||
| Redecorate | Re + Dec + or at + [Jun]e | ||
| 6. | Rip off bits of clothing aggressively during kinky sex(4) | ||
| Scam | C[lothing] a[ggressively] in S&M | ||
| 9. | Brash newcomer put off entertaining celebrity(7) | ||
| Upstart | Star in put* | ||
| 10. | Infected relative with a touch of norovirus(7) | ||
| Unclean | Uncle + a + n[orovirus] | ||
| 12. | Supply nothing to hotel over the hill?(4,2,3,5) | ||
| Long in the tooth | (Nothing to hotel)* | ||
| 14. | Flower seller on the Internet(6) | ||
| Amazon | DD, flower being a flow-er i.e. river | ||
| 15. | The slurs about being callous(8) | ||
| Ruthless | (The slurs)* | ||
| 18. | I’ll never forget retired footballer and knight wearing cap(8) | ||
| Elephant | Pele< hat around N | ||
| 19. | Setter’s stuck with English attribute(6) | ||
| Impute | I’m + put + E(nglish) | ||
| 21. | Typical daily routine before TV show is a nervous habit(14) | ||
| Characteristic | Char + act + ER + is + tic | ||
| 24. | Allow Bernstein to lie regularly(7) | ||
| Entitle | Even letters of Bernstein to lie | ||
| 25. | Gossip about City’s coach(7) | ||
| Chariot | Chat around Rio | ||
| 26. | Island heaven, it’s said(4) | ||
| Skye | Hom of sky | ||
| 27. | Live for nothing in ostentatious place at the top(10) | ||
| Presidency | Substitute reside for o in poncy | ||
Down |
|||
| 1. | Short road to defeat(4) | ||
| Rout | Rout[e] | ||
| 2. | Rick is upset with cold tea(9) | ||
| Dislocate | (Is cold tea)* | ||
| 3. | Chief exec has to swing wavering father in rethink(6,2,5) | ||
| Change of heart | CEO around hang + (father)* | ||
| 4. | Salt level(6) | ||
| Rating | DD | ||
| 5. | Trinidad’s first 15? Wrong! Right!(8) | ||
| Truthful | T[rinidad] + ruthful, the opposite of ruthless at 15 | ||
| 7. | Wine company carries conviction(5) | ||
| Credo | Co around red | ||
| 8. | New revolutionary leader surrounds city(10) | ||
| Manchester | N + Che in master | ||
| 11. | Do you start to toss them in sweet sauce?(3,3,7) | ||
| Cut the mustard | U + t[oss] + them in custard | ||
| 13. | Irrigate large area, harvesting a small salad plant(10) | ||
| Watercress | Water + [a]cres + s(mall) | ||
| 16. | Issue about sport being widely read(9) | ||
| Erudition | Edition around RU | ||
| 17. | Mix ink and water in Jersey etc …(8) | ||
| Knitwear | (Ink water)* | ||
| 20. | … seen here in president’s resumé(6) | ||
| Precis | CI (channel island i.e. Jersey in its other meaning) in Pres. Resumé usually refers to a CV these days but properly can be any abridged text. | ||
| 22. | Part sympathetic part pretentious(5) | ||
| Artsy | Hidden in “pART SYmpathetic | ||
| 23. | Wander right off – or not(4) | ||
| Stay | St[r]ay | ||
Thanks for blogging, Neal.
I’ve been a bit lukewarm about some of this setter’s previous offerings, but I thought that this was a delightful puzzle. Some lovely surface readings, generally concise clueing, and a bit of humour thrown in. Favourites were LONG IN THE TOOTH for a clever anagram, and AMAZON.
Well done, Daedalus.
Very nice but it actually took me longer to get the page to display the puzzle than it did to solve it! PLEASE can we have a site that works? Yes I know it’s free and we should be grateful etc. but still…
Mostly straightforward but with a few twists I didn’t see. For example, before I had a few crossing letters I thought 12ac might be a CD starting “give no …” – not that I could think how to complete it. And in 5dn I took the RU to come from “15” so when I got the complete word I couldn’t parse it. I wasn’t too sure about stuck = put in 19ac, either, but I see it now, as in “stick it there” = “put it there”.
My CoD was ELEPHANT – the answer was obvious but the surface conjured up such a delightful mental image.
Thanks, Daedalus and NealH.
Nice indeed, with plenty of misdirection but nothing obscure. I liked 5d and 11d the best. Thanks, Daedalus and NealH.
Enjoyed doing this puzzle, only niggle is 25ac, is a chariot really a coach?
Chariot
Definition 2.
historical
a four-wheeled carriage with back seats and a coachman’s seat.