Another well-crafted puzzle from Dac today. We’d never come across 4ac before but once we had a few crossing letters it fell into place.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Thinking comic has forgotten introduction (6) | |
| MUSING | ||
| 4 | Roman soldiers take position, namely round Poland (7) | |
| MANIPLE | MAN (take position, as in ‘man the lifeboats’) IE (namely) round PL (Poland) | |
| 9 | Formal attire ultimately associated with Socrates? Wrong (5,4) | |
| DRESS COAT | D (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of ‘associated’) + an anagram of SOCRATES – anagrind is ‘wrong’ | |
| 10 | Class, say, backed by student group (5) | |
| GENUS | EG (say) reversed or ‘backed’ + NUS (National Union of Students) | |
| 11 | Exclusive set of Biblical books the Virgin queen stored in church (7) | |
| COTERIE | OT (Old Testament – Biblical books) ER I (Elizabeth 1 – ‘the Virgin queen’) in CE (church) | |
| 12 | Issue of film about US general swallowing arsenic (7) | |
| RELEASE | RE (about) LEE (US general) round or ‘swallowing’ AS (arsenic) | |
| 13 | Enthusiastic amateur met with American and Arabs, avoiding one museum (6,8) | |
| MADAME TUSSAUDS | MAD (enthusiastic) A (amateur) MET US (American) SAUD |
|
| 15 | Brother I sense buys rubbish: such suspicious behaviour (6,8) | |
| MONKEY BUSINESS | MONK (brother) + an anagram of I SENSE BUYS – anagrind is ‘rubbish’ | |
| 20 | Examine fashionable glasses, half-complete (7) | |
| INSPECT | IN (fashionable) + half of SPECT |
|
| 21 | Class should be entered in new exam, I shout (7) | |
| EXCLAIM | CL (class) ‘entered’ in an anagram of EXAM I – anagrind is ‘new’ | |
| 23 | Silver coins, round, sloven tossed back (5) | |
| OBOLS | O (round) + SLOB (sloven) reversed or ‘tossed back’ | |
| 24 | Wife no longer has stress, finding extra house room? (9) | |
| EXTENSION | EX (wife no longer) TENSION (stress) | |
| 25 | Surreptitiously tape most of film in old cinema (7) | |
| FLEAPIT | An anagram of TAPE and FIL |
|
| 26 | Second of reviews penned by great art critic (6) | |
| SEWELL | E (second letter of ‘reviews’) in or ‘penned by’ SWELL (great) – a reference to Brian Sewell | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Suggestion mother should ring old detectives up (7) | |
| MODICUM | MUM (mother) round or ‘ringing’ O (old) CID (detectives) reversed or ‘up’ | |
| 2 | Shelter in extremes of severest winter weather (5) | |
| SLEET | LEE (shelter) in S and T (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of ‘severest’) | |
| 3 | No way alcoholic drink is a remedy against ills (7) | |
| NOSTRUM | NO ST (street – way) RUM (alcoholic drink) | |
| 4 | Undergraduates mustn’t read set works without introduction from university (6,8) | |
| MATURE STUDENTS | An anagram of MUSTN’T READ SET (anagrind is ‘works’) round or ‘without’ U (first letter or ‘introduction’ of ‘university’) | |
| 5 | So-called TV cook claiming turnover not good ultimately (7) | |
| NIGELLA | ALLEGIN |
|
| 6 | Beg new worker to fill post (9) | |
| PANHANDLE | N (new) HAND (worker) in or ‘filling’ PALE (post) | |
| 7 | To begin with, eggs are somewhat traditional, eaten regularly now? (6) | |
| EASTER | First letters or ‘beginnings’ of Eggs Are Somewhat Traditional Eaten Regularly | |
| 8 | Group of witches meeting round wood somewhere in London (8,6) | |
| COVENTRY STREET | COVEN (group of witches) + TRYST (meeting) round TREE (wood) | |
| 14 | Chocolate sweets, ice cream and a hot cake? (4,5) | |
| DROP SCONE | DROPS (chocolate treats) CONE (ice cream) | |
| 16 | On a high after joints in party? (5-2) | |
| KNEES-UP | UP (on a high) after KNEES (joints) | |
| 17 | How to cause anger – smoke in church (7) | |
| INCENSE | Double definition | |
| 18 | Major roads going north, crossing motorway (7) | |
| SEMINAL | LANES (roads) reversed or ‘going north’ round or ‘crossing MI (motorway) | |
| 19 | Warning – snooker cue’s useless with this (3-3) | |
| TIP-OFF | A snooker cue would be useless if its TIP were to come OFF | |
| 22 | Burning a tree on 4th of November (5) | |
| AFIRE | A FIR (tree) E (fourth letter in ‘November’) | |
I guessed MANIPOLE and SEWELL- I was rewarded for looking up the latter-his programme was shown in the 90s I think-and i wasnt in the UK. He sounds quite a character.
There were a few here that I found obscure actually, MANIPLE, OBOLS, NOSTRUM & COVENTRY STREET, which I think is unusual for Dac. It’s more a Quixote thing, all that. But just as with Quixote, all the clues were very good, very clever.
Thanks Bert, Joyce, Dac.
I didn’t find anything really obscure here; PANHANDLE and OBOLS, perhaps, but I had heard of them before. COVENTRY STREET should be familiar to anyone who’s played Monopoly (the original UK version, anyway).
A MANIPLE was a company of Roman foot-soldiers but interestingly I recall encountering the word in another crossword some time ago with its other meaning of a clerical vestment. The two meanings seem totally unrelated but Chambers gives both the same derivation from the Latin for ‘hand’ and ‘to fill’.
Nice misdirection, I thought, in 25ac – my first thought was ‘bughouse’ (surreptitiously tape = bug) except that there were too many letters and I couldn’t parse the ‘house’ bit.
Thanks, Dac and B&J
As for 24 most of us know an ex can cause stress. ’nuff said.
Thanks b and j embarrassed by not parsing 25a. Got stuck with pi(c) in fleat. D’oh!. Cheers dac.
Been out most of the day, so I’ve only just completed this – with not too much difficulty. My only complaint was with 12ac. General Lee was never a US general. He left the US army with the rank of colonel, only becoming a general in the CS army.