Hello, from an overcast North London.
Struggled with this one on the Sunday itself, which in retrospect I put down to a hangover: when I came back to it there didn’t seem to be too much to alarm.
Some nice surfaces, and non-obvious definitions.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SIBILANT | Hissing bird turned and left insect (8) |
| IBIS (bird) turned, L (left), ANT (insect) | ||
| 5 | ESTEEM | Gathers energy to return prize (6) |
| MEETS (gathers, like at a meeting) E (energy) reversed (to return) | ||
| 9 | CEREMONY | Mercy one ordered in ritual (8) |
| Anag (ordered) of MERCYONE | ||
| 10 | CRATER | Hollow case, prosecutor’s last (6) |
| CRATE (case) R (last letter of prosecutoR) | ||
| 12 | NAIL | Fix article, breaking nothing (4) |
| A (article) breaking NIL (nothing) | ||
| 13 | HYPODERMIC | Cry, dim hope renewed, for syringe (10) |
| Anag (renewed) of CRYDIMHOPE | ||
| 16 | TUNBRIDGE WELLS | Time poorly occupied by game, second in town (9,5) |
| T (time) UNWELL (poorly) around (occupied by) BRIDGE (game) S (second) | ||
| 17 | CHARM OFFENSIVE | Conservative hurt by insulting campaign to win support (5,9) |
| C (conservative) HARM (hurt) OFFENSIVE (insulting). Nice surface | ||
| 19 | GREG NORMAN | Golfer modified range, retaining good standard (4,6) |
| Anag (modified) of RANGE, around G (good) NORM (standard). Another nice surface, although not very reminiscent of poor Greg’s 1996 Masters |
||
| 20 | ALTO | Singer back in Scotland (4) |
| Hidden, reversed, in scOTLAnd | ||
| 22 | NEARBY | Close attention applied to book set in New York (6) |
| EAR (attention) B (book) in NY. Couldn’t get my mind away from NEARLY for a while, so got held up here for a bit. |
||
| 24 | WINNINGS | Money from gambling factions divided by pub (8) |
| WINGS (factions) around INN (pub) | ||
| 25 | YATTER | Changing treaty, talk incessantly (6) |
| Anag of treaty | ||
| 26 | INTEREST | Appeal to share (8) |
| Double def | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SECOND | Instant alternative (6) |
| Double def | ||
| 2 | BARBITURATE | Exclude piece on universal merit in sedative (11) |
| BAR (exclude) BIT (piece) U (universal) RATE (merit) | ||
| 3 | LIME | Caustic substance in tree (4) |
| Double def | ||
| 4 | NANCY MITFORD | Novelist showing dynamic front, unusually (5,7) |
| Anag (unusually) of DYNAMICFRONT | ||
| 6 | STREETWISE | Were tests designed to keep one familiar with urban life? (10) |
| Anag (designed) of WERETESTS around I (one) | ||
| 7 | EAT | Put away in the attic (3) |
| hidden in thEATtic | ||
| 8 | MARACAS | Damage airman starts to appraise, slowly rattling instruments (7) |
| MAR (damage) AC (airman) then the first letters (starts to) of Appraise, Slowly | ||
| 11 | CONGREGATION | Prisoner in rage got out of order in assembly (12) |
| CON (prisoner), anag (out of order) of INRAGEGOT | ||
| 14 | MALEVOLENCE | Hate man with brutality dispatching one (11) |
| MALE (man), ViOLENCE (brutality, dispatching one) | ||
| 15 | ABOMINABLE | Appalling prohibition I’m lifting, filling a trunk (10) |
| A BOLE (trunk) around BAN (prohibition) IM reversed (lifting) | ||
| 17 | COGENCY | Firm information about year in power (7) |
| CO (firm) GEN (information) C (about) Y (year) | ||
| 18 | DORSET | Staff brought up and established in county (6) |
| ROD (staff) reversed (brought up) SET (established) | ||
| 21 | ONCE | Formerly working with church (4) |
| ON (working) CE (church of England) | ||
| 23 | ACT | Routine agreement, no pressure (3) |
| pACT (agreement, without the p (pressure)) | ||
*anagram
Slow and steady solve. Held up by MALVOLENCE and COGENCY if I remember rightly.
Thanks Everyman and Matt.
I found this quite hard going and ended up with REGENCY at 17d and REARM OFFENSIVE at 17a, hopeless.
Thanks Everyman and Matt.
The ‘hollow case’ wasn’t ‘ce’ after all! I seem to remember this one went in fairly steadily, having got SIBILANT & BARBITURATE early on. I didn’t know bole=trunk though, which held up the SW corner somewhat.
I thought this was quite well-pitched. I don’t remember having any particular problems with anything. CONGREGATION was my favourite for its nice surface, but I agree that CHARM OFFENSIVE is nice too. Thanks, Everyman and Matt.
Robi, I too was expecting C-E for “hollow case”.
Apart from 4d (who?!?!), this was for the most part pretty straightforward, exactly what we want from Everyman.
Nothing too taxing for an Eastern Weekend at Hokio beach with the family
I meant ‘Easter’ – damn autocorrect!
Had to check Sibilant and the novelist, everything else slotted in nicely. Thought 3D a bit lame and unconvinced about interest = share, but liked Crater and Maracas.
Thanks Matt and Everyman.
Learnt a new word today, yatter. This might be one which actually may be useful in future.
I always find it curious how much better I do the less I use the laptop…maybe I am learning from this setter or learning about this setter quicker than I thought.
like 14d and 1ac best today
I solved this all right with some help from the Internet. I knew of Unity Mitford (one of Adolf Hitler’s admirers, who was Nancy’s sister). Another sister Diane married Oswald Mosely. Now I learned a little about Nancy Mitford.
I liked the oxymoron ‘Charm Offensive’. Last one in was 23d Act, like a theatrical routine.
A pleasant and relaxed Easter Holiday in NZ celebrating that we are keeping the Union Jack in the NZ flag.
Struggled with this one, if you only learnt one new word Vanessa, you are a more learned person than I. Sad about not setting ourselves apart with a new flag, will drown my sorrows in chocolate!
Played bowls all day.yesterday and was brassed off to find the crossword had been thrown out with the paper when I came to do it, but thanks to the Internet I found a copy to print off. Finished all this again for the second week in a row. Never heard of ‘yatter’ , but ‘natter’ is widely used. Like Barrie, I’m not convinced with interest for share.
I, too, am one who is disappointed that we haven’t got rid of the Union Jack in our flag, ( however much I love England).
Thanks Matt, and Everyman.
Got held up a bit because I was sure (!!!) that word for a soporific drug was “barbituate” r.t. “barbiturate” — finally looked it up. Duh! Some Googling revealed that I was not alone in my mis-spelling of this word. One item said it is “common in the US”. It was also pointed out that the mis-spelt version makes no sense, since these drugs are salts of barbituric acid, the “uric” coming from “urea”. So leaving out the second “r” is just silly. Learned something. Thanks Everyman! 🙂
Would have had problems with Tunbridge Wells if I were not a fan of “Beyond the Fringe”. (See — or rather listen to — “Aftermyth of War”.)
Managed to complete a downloaded version on my phone on the way back from Queenstown after a “walk in the woods” New Zealand style. Very pleased that I filled in the last clue with Nancy Timford just as we were landing. Oops, wrong again! Yes, pity about the flag; the $26 million dollars spent seemed to be a large factor in the result. I wish those voters had realised that it was only a waste of money if we stuck with the status quo – which we did. Anyway…. Thanks to all.