Guardian Cryptic 27,185 by Chifonie

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A quick, enjoyable solve. Favourites 12ac and 25ac. Thanks, Chifonie.

Across
8 DETONATE Set off for school in time (8)
ETON College=”school”, inside DATE=”time”
9 ENEMA Medical procedure shown in hygiene manual (5)
Hidden inside [hygi]ENE MA[nual]
10 FAIR Just fine (4)
double definition: =impartial=”Just”; =not bad=”fine”
11 AFFORDABLE A car in fabrication is inexpensive (10)
A; plus FORD=”car” in FABLE=”fabrication”
12 AT ODDS Goes on about Tory leaders in disagreement (2,4)
ADDS=says more=”Goes on”; around the leading letters of TO[ry]
14 GRADIENT An inclination to stop working in the allotment (8)
DIE=[of e.g. an engine] “stop working”; inside GRANT=”allotment”
15 TRIVIAL Sextet entering competition that’s inconsequential (7)
VI=Roman numerals for 6=”Sextet”, inside TRIAL=”competition”
17 SHRIVEL Mum’s cooked liver is to dry up (7)
SH=be quiet!=[keep] “Mum”; plus (liver)*
20 PRESERVE Jam Penny set aside (8)
P[enny], plus RESERVE=”set aside”
22 DAMPEN Discourage study about a politician (6)
DEN=”study” room; around A MP=”a politician”
23 INVALIDATE Make it appear false? The patient scoffed! (10)
INVALID=”patient” plus ATE=”scoffed”
24 GOAD Try to get publicity to provoke (4)
GO=”try”, plus AD[vert]=”publicity”
25 IDEAL One understanding perfection (5)
I=”One”; plus DEAL=”understanding” as a noun meaning an agreement
26 GANGSTER Tough German conceals apprehension (8)
GER[man] around ANGST=”apprehension”
Down
1 DECANTER A vessel does when about to tilt (8)
[Female] DEER=”does”, around CANT=slope=”tilt”
2 MOOR Opportunity arises in high-lying country (4)
ROOM=”Opportunity” as in ‘room for growth/improvement’; reversed/”arises”
3 HARASS Isaac’s mum turned up on Sunday to be troublesome (6)
SARAH=”Isaac’s mum” and Abraham’s wife in the Bible [wiki], reversed/”turned up”; plus S[unday]
4 LEAFAGE Have a cigarette in shelter of the greenery (7)
A FAG=”a cigarette”, in LEE=”shelter”
5 REPROACH Admonition for salesman having a bit of a spliff (8)
[a sales] REP[resentative]=”salesman”, plus ROACH=[the butt of a] “spliff” of marijuana
6 NEGATIVISM A sceptical attitude is time-saving, oddly enough (10)
(time-saving)*
7 MARLIN Spoil lake popular for fish (6)
MAR=”Spoil”, plus L[ake], plus IN=”popular”
13 DEVASTATED Dead woman said to be heartbroken (10)
D[ead] plus EVA=”woman” plus STATED=”said”
16 ADROITLY Old tray I renovated with skill (8)
(Old tray I)*
18 ELEVATED Lofty is glad about English victory (8)
ELATED=”glad” around E[nglish] V[ictory]
19 DERANGE Exploding grenade creates disorder (7)
(grenade)*
21 RANCID Drove detectives off (6)
RAN=”Drove” plus C[entral] I[nvestigation] D[epartment]=”detectives”
22 DUENNA Chaperone expected girl to be upset (6)
=a Spanish governess or female chaperone.
DUE=”expected”, plus ANN=”girl” reversed/”upset”
24 GASH Cut free (4)
double definition: =a deep “Cut”; and GASH=Scottish for ‘talkative’=frank and open=”free” Edit thanks to Larry: GASH also =spare, extra=”free”

24 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,185 by Chifonie”

  1. Thanks, Chifonie. I particularly liked 26a.

    Thanks, Manehi. I had failed to parse both parts of 1d, so thank you. (The ‘does” should not be underlined, however). In 24a, Collins gives spare/extra as a definition of gash and I took this as being the second definition ‘free’.

  3. Lots of nice clues. I particularly liked 1 and 6 down. Thanks Chifonie and Manehi.I suspect that I was not alone in being unaware of this meaning of “gash”

  4. I enjoyed this a lot (also hadn’t heard of other meaning of GASH). Favourites were DECANTER, GRADIENT, INVALIDATE and GANGSTER. Many thanks to Chifonie and manehi.

  5. I also enjoyed 23a INVALIDATE and 1d DECANTER, but my favourite was 13d DEVASTATED.

    I agree with Old Tom@3 and drofle@4 regarding not knowing that particular meaning of GASH 24d, which was just a guess as a synonym for “cut”. This was my LOI.

    Thanks to Chifonie and manehi.

  6. Thank you Chifonie and manehi.

    A bright spot in a dull May Day here in France. I got tied up trying to parse DECANTER, the A at the beginning of the clue confused me, and a knight on his horse cantering kept coming to my mind. The second definition of GASH was new to me.

    The clue for GRADIENT was my favourite.

  7. I’m another for whom the second meaning of gash was new. DECANTER with its delightfully misleading ‘does’ was my favourite. Thanks, Chifonie and Manehi.

  10. This was a bit harder than Chifonie usually is. The second meaning of gash was new to me and DUENNA last in.

    Thanks to Chifonie and manehi

  11. No problem with 24dn, as I was familiar with the use of ‘gash’ to describe freebies, as mentioned by Larry@1 (the Scottish word wasn’t known).

  12. This all went in relatively quickly until I got stuck on the SE corner. Couldn’t parse 1d (missed does), 26a (Ger – is this a regular contraction?), 17a (missed Mum being quiet) and 24d of course. Felt that room was stretching opportunity, but it couldn’t be anything else.

    Thanks to Manehi for the clarifications and blog, and to Chifonie for the entertainment?.

  14. Needed some serious thought, this one, not a sustained write-in as Chifonie sometimes is. All the better for it.

    trevor @12, GER is the FIFA and IOC code for Germany, but it’s still a bit limp for use in a cryptic. VI for sextet is a bit of a push too.

  15. We’re glad to know that we are not alone in never having heard of the other meaning of gash. Otherwise a straightforward solve over a sunny lunchtime. Thanks to everyone.

  16. Thanks to Chifonie and manehi. Lots of fun. Like others I paused over the second meaning of GASH and “does” = “deer” in DECANTER – and also “tough” = GANGSTER (my LOI). Question: am I the only one who has come to expect REP/ROACH and P/RESERVE?

  17. Now fortified with my yearly fix of live jazz: I approached this expecting a virtual write-in. But it wasn’t! Quite a bit harder than is usual for this setter, I thought. The NW was particularly slow to yield and HARASS was my LOI. I liked REPROACH and GANGSTER–and I did know that GASH = free. It does in Liverpool anyway!
    Thanks Chifonie.

  18. I wonder if it’s regional or generational – “gash” for spare, leftover, buckshee seems so ordinary to me, a Londoner born in the 50s.
    Fun, anyway, so thanks Chifonie and manehi.

  20. Re GASH – I was going to say regional to Lancashire/the northwest as my dad used to talk about “gash pieces of wood” when bodging shelves up in the garage, but maybe it’s more generational than regional.
    We thought this was a nice puzzle from Chifonie. I’m with swatty in liking 5d. Other favourites were 9a for the word being hidden in a vaguely related phrase, 17a for the use of “sh” instead “ma” or some such, 23a for the temptation to find an anagram ending in “ate” and 21d for the clever definition. Thanks to Chifonie and to manehi, especially for the parsing of 1d.

  21. I love it when a regional word gets in and I’m delighted to learn this meaning of “gash”, although even as Liverpudlian born, I didn’t know it. Perhaps I should have asked my Dad who would surely have known.

  22. My father was in the RAF and to him and his colleagues, any spare or unwanted item was “gash”.

  23. For the most part, I thought this puzzle was an excellent Quiptic for beginners.

    I failed to solve 1d, and the second meaning of gash was new to me

    Thanks Chifonie and blogger

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