Independent on Sunday 1417/Raich

Raich always gives us sound puzzles, and this is no exception.  I found it tough, though.  Could just be brain fade on my part.  Happy St George’s Day.

 

 

 

 

Abbreviations
cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

1  Give retrospective validity to second appointment
BACKDATE
A charade of BACK and DATE.

5  Film extremely prudish, cosy?  Wrong
PSYCHO
An anagram of PH for the outside letters of ‘prudish’ and COSY.  The anagrind is ‘wrong’, and it’s Hitchcock’s famous thriller with lots of tomato sauce.

9  Pro‘s small instrument
STRUMPET
A charade of S and TRUMPET. ‘Pro’ in the sense of ‘prostitute’.  STRUMPET is another word for that.

10  Boss welcomes training group
HEPTAD
An insertion of PT in HEAD.  A group of seven, and a word I’m sure I’ve come across before but had completely forgotten.

12  Decorate a sleeping area, new, for married
ADORN
Raich is asking you to take out the M from A DORM and replace it with N for ‘new’.

13  Academic with answer: inform old sculptor
DONATELLO
A charade of DON, A, TELL and O for the Italian sculptor.

14  Unlikely American has regularly visited scene in capital
TALLAHASSEE
Once I had a few crossers, I thought it was this, but couldn’t remember how to spell it.  The wordplay got me there in the end.  TALL for ‘unlikely’ (as in TALL TALES) followed by A for ‘American’, HAS and the regular letters from ScEnE.  It’s the capital of Florida.  There are lots of ‘capitals’ in the world, but I suppose that the ‘American’ part of the clue might have pointed you in the right direction.

18  Relevant to include retrospective business article – “North Sea in past“?
GERMAN OCEAN
An insertion of CO reversed in GERMANE followed by AN for the ‘article’.  I’d never known this, so had to have a flirt on the internet to see if it was the right
answer.  And I found this:

The German Ocean is whit is nou mair aften kent as the North Sea

I love the internet.  Sometimes.

21  Commodious state – son is more relaxed
ROOMINESS
(SON IS MORE)*

23  Not for first time opposed to abandoning street?
AGAIN
AGAIN[ST]

24  Tree, large, next to popular animal home
LINDEN
A charade of L, IN and DEN.  UNDER THE LINDEN TREE is a traditional folk song, if I remember well.

25  Ritual greeting interrupted by a painter with drink
HARA-KIRI
An insertion of A, RA and KIR for the French ‘drink’ in HI.  A cocktail, apparently.

Edit: thanks to Paul A for explaining this – the definition is of course ‘ritual’.

26  In Sargasso Sea at first carrier drifts off course
STRAYS
An insertion of TRAY in SS for the first two letters of ‘Sargasso Sea’.

27  Gregory’s reckoning Yeltsin not in maybe?
NEW STYLE
Goodness.  Couldn’t see this for ages, and it’s not really Raich’s usual style.  But it’s a reverse anagram thingy: the setter is asking you to take out the ‘in’ from ‘Yeltsin’, which leaves you with YELTS, and if you use ‘maybe’ as the anagrind, you get your answer. So NEW STYLE would be (YELTS)*  I think.  It’s referring to the Gregorian Calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory, which is also referred to as NEW STYLE.

Down

1  Perform again on island – it’s off France
BISCAY
A charade of BIS for the musical direction to ‘perform again’ and CAY for a mainly American English word for ‘island’.  Shipping forecast aficionados will have got it quickly, no doubt.

2  Box heavyweight after initially cutting and running
CARTON
The first three letters of the last three words of the clue followed by TON.

3  Fabulous figure?  About right – four see without doubt
DEMONSTRATIVELY
Goodness again.  A charade of DEMON for ‘fabulous’, an insertion of R for ‘right’ in STAT for ‘figure’, IV for ‘four’ and ELY for the setters’ favourite ‘see’.

4  Tyre part ultimately deficient, not fully prepared
TREAD
The last letter of ‘deficient’ followed by READ[Y]

6  Adapting ways and means, not initially deft, for love?
SWEET FANNY ADAMS
(WAYS AND MEANS [D]EFT)*  ‘Love’ can mean nothing in tennis, and I’m sure that we all know what the solution is a euphemism for.

7  About time a series of items is mentioned – that should expedite things
CATALYST
A charade of CA for circa or ‘about’, T for ‘time’ and A, then LYST for a homophone (‘is mentioned’) of LIST.  Think chemical reactions.

8  In cold fog, eyeless, he fusses
OLD FOGEY
Hidden in cOLD FOG EYeless.

11  Natural drinking place at bottom of terrace
INNATE
A charade of INN, AT and E for the last letter of ‘terrace’.

15  John, King, brought over Queen – she’s worth seeing
LOOKER
Since it’s a down clue, it’s LOO for another slang word for toilet, or ‘John’, K and ER.

16  Dishes, say, good, associated with luxury transport
EGG ROLLS
I’m not sure that I’d say EGG ROLLS are ‘dishes’ as such, but it’s a charade of EG, G and ROLLS.

17  Tolerate for most part emperor’s writer
BROOKNER
BROOK for ‘tolerate’ (mainly as in ‘I will brook no argument’) and NER[O] gives you Anita BROOKNER, who has written lots of stuff, but perhaps is best known for Hotel du Lac.

19  Move quickly about foreign pal’s kinsfolk
FAMILY
An insertion of AMI for the French word for ‘friend’ or ‘pal’ in FLY.

20  Not showing judgment EU wins after review
UNWISE
(EU WINS)*

22  Freedom to develop resort supported by church
SPACE
A charade of SPA above CE.

Many thanks to Raich for this Sunday’s puzzle.