(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) Not that hard, as it turned out. Thanks to Pasquale. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Wise man rolling in drink to see stars (7)
PEGASUS : Reversal of(… rolling) SAGE(wise man) contained in(in) reversal of(rolling?, if so, then it’s surface at the expense of misleading wordplay) SUP(to drink).
Defn: Constellation of …
5 Inspired Democrat lagging behind popular Italian dictator? (7)
INDUCED : D(abbrev. for for a member of the Democratic Party) placed after(lagging behind) [ IN(popular;fashionable) + DUCE(Italian title originally equivalent to “duke”, and later used to refer to a dictator, especially to Mussolini, Il Duce) ].
9 People on staff matter to boss (9)
HEADCOUNT : COUNT(to matter, as in “size counts…or maybe not”) placed after(to) HEAD(the boss;the chief).
10 A classical man to you and me represents something harmful (5)
VIRUS : VIR(in classical Latin, a man) plus(to) US(pronoun refering to myself and you or others as a group).
11 Archbishop’s envoy reported delay (4)
WAIT : Homophone of(… reported) “Waite”(Terry, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy).
12 Dodgy shiner not ultimately genuine (10)
RHINESTONE : Anagram of(Dodgy) [SHINER NOT + the last letter of(ultimately) “genuine” ].
Defn: Not a genuine diamond. A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
14 Endure losing a sheep (6)
WETHER : “weather”(to endure, as in “to weather the storm”) minus(losing) “a“.
Defn: …, specifically a castrated ram.
15 Firm‘s contract (7)
COMPACT : Double defn: 1st: Tightly packed, so as to be firm, like a solid; and 2nd: An agreement between parties.
16 North African countries suffering big harm (7)
MAGHRIB : Anagram of(suffering) BIG HARM.
Answer: The NW African region, alternative spelling of “Maghreb”.
18 Row created by the French to fester (6)
RANKLE : RANK(a row of similar things, as in “a taxi rank”) plus(by) LE(French for “the”).
20 Dryden character in a note on work he left (10)
ACHITOPHEL : A + CHIT(an official note giving information or showing an amount of money owed or paid) plus(on) OP(abbrev. for “opus”, a musical work) + HE + L(abbrev. for “left”).
Defn: John … in his poetic political satire “Absalom and Achitophel”
21 Note put about in the morning conveys unwanted message (4)
SPAM : Reversal of(… put about) PS(abbrev. for “postscript”, a note as an afterthought) + AM(abbrev. for “ante meridiem”, the morning period, from midnight to noon).
24 Star inside nebula not entirely detectable (5)
DENEB : Hidden in(… not entirely detectable) “inside nebula“.
Defn: A white supergiant of a star.
25 Home worker engaging nurse and manager (9)
INTENDANT : [ IN(at home) + ANT(a social insect, specifically one who belongs to the worker caste) ] containing(engaging) TEND(to nurse;to care for).
Defn: … or administrator of some public business or an establishment, say, a theatre or opera house.
26 Name of London street hiding a chemical (7)
REAGENT : REGENT(a street in central London) containing(hiding) A.
27 Briefly arrange private office in German city (7)
DRESDEN : “dress”(to arrange or get troops into rows/columns, as for a parade) minus its last letter(Briefly …) + DEN(a private office where one can be undisturbed).
Down
1 Playwright beginning with page that expresses contempt (5)
PSHAW : SHAW(George Bernard, English playwright) placed below(beginning with …, in a down clue) P(abbrev. for “page” in a book, say).
2 Managed to break into holiday home — it’s very hard (7)
GRANITE : RAN(managed, say, a business) contained in(to break into) GITE(a furnished holiday home in France).
3 Little nonentity not in clique (4)
SECT : “insect”(term for an insignificant and contemptible person;a nonentity) minus(not) “in “.
4 Billy Graham type is “OT/NT-basher”, put unfairly (8,7)
SOUTHERN BAPTIST : Anagram of(… unfairly) IS “OT/NT-BASHER”, PUT.
Defn: Yes, put unfairly … more likely to be a -thumper than a -basher.
5 Accident insurer finally sorted out, giving apology for mistake (1,5,9)
I STAND CORRECTED : Anagram of(… out) [ACCIDENT + the last letter of(… finally) “insurer” + SORTED].
6 I mend TV set that’s broken for selling off (10)
DIVESTMENT : Anagram of(… that’s broken) I MEND TV SET.
7 City girl keeping a date that brings new life (7)
CORDOBA : CORA(a girl’s name) containing(keeping) DOB(abbrev. for “date of birth”, the date on which a newborn is brought into the world).
8 Examine and discredit one form of therapy (7)
DISSECT : DISS(a variant of “dis”, slang for “to discredit”;to criticise disrespectfully) + ECT(abbrev. for “electro-convulsive therapy”, for treating certain mental illnesses).
13 Kind to preside over slightly twisted board (10)
CHARITABLE : CHAIR(to preside over, say, a committee or a meeting) with “I” and “R” exchanging positions(slightly twisted) + TABLE(especially one to serve meals on;a board).
16 Put illiterately, Queen and I go walkabout (7)
MEANDER : Reversal of the order of the 1st and 3rd parts of(Put illiterately, or maybe merely impolitely) [ ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, the Queen) + AND + ME(grammatically wrong usage of or Put illiterately? the objective case when it should, maybe, be the subjective case of the first-person pronoun, I) ].
17 Boleyn and husband, say, set up in hellish situation (7)
GEHENNA : Reversal of(…, set up) [ ANNE(Boleyn, one of King Henry VIII’s wives) + H(abbrev. for “husband”, used in genealogy) + EG(abbrev. for “exampli gratia”;for example;say) ].
19 A place bathed in light? Not in the winter (7)
LAPLAND : [ A + PL(abbrev. for “place”) ] contained in()bathed in LAND(to settle on a surface;to light, as in “the bird may or may not light on this branch”).
Defn: A place in the far north with no sun in the winter. Another WIWD clue.
22 Morning — chief time to get stuck in (5)
MATIN : MAIN(chief;principal) containing(… to get stuck in) T(symbol for “time”, used in physics).
23 Inadequacy of computer being set up is concerning (2,2)
IN RE : Reversal of(… being set up) [“Ernie”(the name given to the computer that generates the winning numbers in the Premium Bonds lottery) minus its last letter(Inadequacy of …) ].
Answer: Latin for “in the matter of”;concerning, commonly used in jurisprudence.
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
pic 4 – is INTENDANT another name for Registrar? BTW scchua, pic 3 not loading on iPad or Macbook
pic 2 – Jeff Bridges is currently filming GRANITE mountain
pic 5 – Istanbul, capital of Turkey, link to Christmas, link to LAPLAND???
pic 2 is from TRUE GRIT. Glen Campbell had a hit with RHINESTONE Cowboy
pic 1 – there seems to be a PEGASUS Oil and Gas directory
pic 6 is the logo for Trend Micro, wch includes anti-SPAM software
re Kevin @6, perhaps they deal with computer VIRUSes too?
pic 3 – by an indirect route I have discovered that this is a picture of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Tigger is a computer VIRUS
Shirl @7 They do indeed
Pic 5, the Blue Mosque, MAGHRIB the evening prayer after sunset?
Thanks, Shirl, for finding Pic 3 – by the way, Ankara is the capital of Turkey.
Kevin, yes, Glenn Campbell was in the original True Grit (pic is from the remake), and he had a hit with RHINESTONE Cowboy.
Pic1 Shirl, right answer, but a more direct link
Pic5 It’s a beautiful mosque.
Pic 1 – Mobil oil uses PEGASUS as a logo. (cookie @11 – oops!)
Pic 3, “Tiggers” can be DNA transposon fossils in the human genome from fungi and nematodes, possibly from VIRUSes?
Yes, it is a beautiful mosque, but the gems have been stolen or removed and where replaced might be RHINESTONES.
Yes Shirl, the now-merged Mobil Oil Corp. used to use a Pegasus as its logo.
Pic 4 – I imagine that the same department responsible for births, marriages and deaths registration also runs the census, or HEADCOUNT
Pic 5, there is a famous mosque in CORDOBA, now a Catholic cathedral…
Is #5 alluding to the CORDOBA mosque?
Pic 5 is the Blue Mosque. DRESDEN china has a blue mark on it
Have we done #6 as an anti-VIRUS company?
A bit of light relief…
Why did Tigger jump down the toilet?
He was looking for Pooh!
pic 4 Birth and death certificates are used to modify a HEADCOUNT
In Jersey a Super INTENDANT Registrar is responsible for Birth, Death and Marriages
Pic 5, something to do with HENNA?
Pic 5, Blue Mosque, REAGENT methylene blue for example…
Cookie and Robi, yes, Pic5 does allude to the Mosque-Cathedral of CORDOBA, or the Mezquita, Spanish for “mosque”.
Pic4 Look at just 1 out of 3 (and it is and is not related to Clue 7down)
Pic3 Someone has just mentioned the word.
#4 – Date of Birth?
Robi, Pic4 is linked to an answer, not part of a clue.
Pic 4 – births can be INDUCED
Pic 3 – tiger GRANITE seems to be a popular worktop for kitchens
Well done, Shirl. Your DOB can be brought forward with INDUCED labour.
And that leaves two pics.
Pic 6 – this firm seem to be involved in cloud computing, cloud is a form of WE(a)THER
pic 3 PSHAW! could be considered equivalent to POOH! (Thanks Robi@22 and scchua@27)
Tuesday, February 17, 2015 7:07 am CST
DRESDEN, Germany–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, today announced its 2014 and 2015 software versions of Trend Micro Internet Security have been awarded “Best Protection” by the AV-TEST Institute at the annual award ceremony in DRESDEN, Germany.
Pic 3, Tigger looks as though he has had a HENNA pattern applied.
Yes, Kevin, Pooh! expresses the same sentiment as PSHAW.
And, a bellWETHER(from bell and wether) is a trendsetter.
Thanks scchua
Thanks scchua for the fun.
Thanks scchua
Who would have gotten bellwether? I’d only heard the term used in reference to electoral seats that always go with the government.
Never mind, I’m pleased with myself for getting two of the six. Must be a Personal Best, but probably pales into insignificance compared to others solvers’ PBs.