Serpent has been around for a year or two now, but I don’t think I have had the pleasure before. It seems that most people have found him on the hard side, but it looks as if I’ve had a fairly gentle introduction to him.
More &lits or near-&lits than I remember in a daily crossword. Clever of Serpent to get so many in.
The rather oddly-shaped grid suggests something. But as usual …
| Across | ||
| 1 | COUNTERBALANCES | Compensates for tellers stealing what’s left in account (15) |
| counter(balance)s | ||
| 9 | BLINK | You might miss fast train because of this second connection (5) |
| B-link — presumably referring to the phrase “blink and you’ll miss it”, but what has the train to do with it? | ||
| 10 | DEATHTRAP | Net curtains must be foremost source of risk (9) |
| trap [= net] with death [= curtains] before it | ||
| 11 | CROSSWORD SOLVER | Tiff with lover upset you (9,6) |
| cross words (lover)* | ||
| 12 | MAMMOTH | Huge insect covering a short distance (7) |
| m(a mm)oth | ||
| 14 | NOMINEE | Dodgy successor embraces explosive candidate (7) |
| no(mine)e — but how is ‘noe’ arrived at?: it looks like an anagram [dodgy] of something, perhaps ‘one’, but how ‘one’ is a successor I can’t see and in any case this is an indirect anagram — ah! Look at the next answer. But I think it’s still an indirect anagram, and isn’t ‘successor’ a rather loose way of indicating the next answer? | ||
| 16 | ONE | United by something greater than love (3) |
| 1 is greater than 0, so one is something greater than love | ||
| 17 | LAMBKIN | Pet name for children‘s 9am broadcast (7) |
| 9 being 9ac, BLINK, this is (blink am)* | ||
| 19 | DURABLE | Enduring corruption of bad rule (7) |
| (bad rule)* | ||
| 21 | DESTROYING ANGEL | Way to glean poisonous mushroom (10,5) |
| a way of getting ‘glean’ is to destroy — ie to make an anagram of — ‘angel’ | ||
| 25 | ABOLITION | Origins of anti-slavery bill will, if not initially, lead to this (9) |
| A{nti-slavery} b{ill} {v}olition — at first I thought it was an &lit. but it isn’t a full &lit., just has &littish characteristics | ||
| 26 | INNER | Private case dropped by bad people … (5) |
| {s}inner{s} | ||
| 27 | ANDROMEDA GALAXY | … with city prosecutor happy to arrest negligent stars (9,6) |
| and Rome DA ga(lax)y | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CUBIC | Line in speech writer related to power (5) |
| “queue” Bic — Bic pens — cubic is related to cubed, to the power three | ||
| 2 | UNIFORM | Regular habit of many schoolchildren (7) |
| 2 defs — many schoolchildren wear uniform | ||
| 3 | TAKE STOCK | Perform appraisal of course describing Stoke’s refurbishment (4,5) |
| ta(kesto)ck, the kesto being (Stoke)* | ||
| 4 | RADIO | Recurrence of rheumatoid arthritis restricts broadcaster (5) |
| Hidden reversed in rheumatOID ARthritis | ||
| 5 | ABANDONED | Left without any reservations at all (9) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 6 | ACHOO | Symptom of a cold nose? Not half! (5) |
| a c hoo{ter} — as in 25ac I initially thought this was a full &lit. but not quite: the word ‘Symptom’ has no place in the wordplay, so again only &littish | ||
| 7 | CARAVAN | A vehicle towed by another (7) |
| But here we do we have a full &lit,: a car a van | ||
| 8 | SUPERSEDE | Take over from peers used to reform (9) |
| (peers used)* | ||
| 12 | MELODRAMA | Cast made moral sentiment a central element of this production (9) |
| (made moral)* | ||
| 13 | HONEY MICE | Perfect spy’s ultimate computer accessories for nosey creatures (5,4) |
| hone {sp}y mice [the plural, presumably of mouse, the computer accessory] — these creatures | ||
| 15 | MARGARITA | Pulse raised by uneducated woman drinking a cocktail (9) |
| ((gram)rev. (a) Rita) [ref the film Educating Rita] | ||
| 18 | MISTOLD | Film veteran played role of unreliable narrator (7) |
| Mist old (quite simply: nothing about a feature film, as I originally said) | ||
| 20 | BEGONIA | Occupant of bed begs Sonia to untuck edges of sheets (7) |
| beg{s S}onia, the s S being s{heet}s | ||
| 22 | RHINO | Awkward one with horn? (5) |
| Another nice &lit.: (1 horn)* | ||
| 23 | NINJA | Something of an assassin in Japan (5) |
| Hidden in assassiN IN JApan — yet another &lit. | ||
| 24 | LURGY | Vague complaint demanding sex be removed from church service (5) |
| l{it}urgy | ||
*anagram
Although on the gentler side for Serpent, this still had his hallmark of quality and wit. Thanks for parsing of LAMBKIN. I was unfamiliar with HONEY MICE.
Another classy crossword from Serpent.
And another one that I couldn’t finish.
I didn’t see the trick in 17ac (LAMBKIN).
Just like the last time I commented on a Serpent puzzle, I’ll have to admit to have been fooled by and excellent (and original) piece of crossword setting.
Because of this I could not find MISTOLD (18d) but I should have no other excuse for that – clearly gettable.
I don’t think it’s about the movie The Mist but ‘mist’ as in coating or outer layer of something.
Many thanks to S & B.
Good stuff from Serpent today. Certainly at the easy end of his Indy spectrum thus far and I fancy I might’ve almost completed had I not made a mammoth clanger by putting ‘titanic’ (don’t ask!) in at 12a and so kiboshing myself for four key clues that would’ve helped elsewhere. Lots of nice setting here with my CODs being 16a, 25a & 2d so thanks to The Snake for a great puzzle and to The John for the blog.
A reasonably quick solve. I agree with Sil@2, for parsing 18d. Perhaps the train in 9a is included both for surface and the idea of link trains? Never heard of 21a or 13d but easily gettable from the clue.
Good workout. Would have preferred return in place of recurrence in 4d. Defeated by the honey mice. Thanks to John and Serpent.
I found this fairly straightforward for a relaxing solve over a pub lunch, just a few left in the SW corner which were easily found after DESTROYING ANGEL occurred to me on the stroll home. I got ABOLITION on my first pass, though couldn’t parse it as I didn’t twig the will/volition bit. Like sil@2 I just thought film = mist in 18dn. And I didn’t see the significance of ‘9am’ in 17ac till after I’d got it from crossing letters.
I think the fast train in 9ac, apart from being needed for the surface, might refer to seeing a fast train (e.g. a French TGV at 200 mph) come past, rather than failing to catch one.
I did think, having solved this one without much difficulty that I’d now got the measure of Serpent and could call myself an ophidiologist – but as others found it easier than previous examples I’m not so sure now.
Thanks, Serpent and John
Yes of course mist simply = film in 18dn. Blog corrected.
Many thanks, John, for the excellent blog. Thanks also to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment on my puzzle.
Cheers
Jason