This is our first blog of a Serpent puzzle. Although he has been around setting daily cryptics for the Independent for a while, we remember him more for the excellent Inquisitor puzzles that he has set for the Indy and i.
We thoroughly enjoyed this one so many thanks to Serpent for the challenge. Too many great misdirections and ways of removing letters to mention! We must however mention 14d – we don’t get enough mathematically based clues in our opinion.
It’s also a long time since we’ve seen a triple definition in a clue (24d) , let alone a quadruple one (5d)
| ACROSS | ||
| 6 | Implore guard to take coat off and have some food (7) | |
| ENTREAT | ||
| 7 | Blubber covers the sides of thickset animal (7) | |
| CRITTER | CRIER (blubber) around or ‘covering’ TT (first and last letter or ‘sides’ of thickset) | |
| 9 | Process of assimilating something that’s charged on summary account (9) | |
| DIGESTION | ION (something that’s charged) on DIGEST (summary account) | |
| 10 | Singer interrupted by introduction of reed instruments (5) | |
| BRASS | BASS (singer) around or ‘interrupted by’ R the first letter or ‘introduction’ to reed | |
| 11 | Papers published externally reflected worst possible position (5) | |
| NADIR | ID (papers) with RAN (published) outside or ‘externally’ all reversed or ‘reflected’ | |
| 12 | Obnoxious youth hit throttle of jet propellant (6,3) | |
| SQUIRT GUN | SQUIRT (obnoxious youth) GUN (hit throttle of) | |
| 13 | Negotiated deal cutting extra deductions (6) | |
| TRADED | Hidden in, or ‘cutting’ exTRA DEDuctions | |
| 16 | Summon to appear in court after former partner’s move (6) | |
| EXCITE | CITE (summon to appear in court) after EX (former partner) | |
| 20 | Most sensitive way of sorting out ethics (9) | |
| TOUCHIEST | An anagram of OUT ETHICS –anagrind is ‘sorting’ | |
| 23 | Passage writer will read out (5) | |
| AISLE | Sounds like or ‘read out’ I’LL (writer will) | |
| 25 | When do we wrap present? (5) | |
| ENDOW | Hidden or ‘wrapped’ in whEN DO We | |
| 26 | Killing Joke may release this on Spotify initially (9) | |
| SLAUGHTER | LAUGHTER (joke may release this) on S (first or ‘initial’ letter of Spotify) | |
| 27 | Diminuendo conveys what changes by taking something away (7) | |
| MINUEND | Hidden or ‘conveyed’ in diMINUENDo – a new one for us and only solved when we had some checking letters | |
| 28 | Aroused having read e-book? (7) | |
| KINDLED | A play on the fact that KINDLES are used for reading e-books | |
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | Presented complaint caused by union consuming lots of time (6) | |
| STAGED | STD (complaint caused by union!) around or ‘consuming’ AGE (lots of time) | |
| 2 | Made sure lunatic is restrained (8) | |
| MEASURED | An anagram of MADE SURE – anagrind is ‘lunatic’ | |
| 3 | Sequence of steps looks hard to the audience (6) | |
| STAIRS | Sounds like or ‘to the audience’ STARES (looks hard) | |
| 4 | Agile mountaineer overlooking summit (6) | |
| LIMBER | ||
| 5 | Honourable heterosexual owing nothing directly (8) | |
| STRAIGHT | A quadruple defintion (!) | |
| 6 | Finish revising, but not before noon (6) | |
| ENDING | ||
| 7 | Summon figure about assessment panel failing to reach conclusion (7) | |
| CONJURE | CONE (figure) about JUR |
|
| 8 | Revolution daring to depose king (6) | |
| RISING | RIS |
|
| 14 | Teasing dog in run is one way to lose digits (8) | |
| ROUNDING | An anagram of DOG IN RUN –anagrind is ‘teasing’ | |
| 15 | Got ready to be upset having left first (7) | |
| DRESSED | D |
|
| 17 | Reforming state beginning to condemn capital punishment (8) | |
| CHANGING | C (first letter or ‘beginning’ to condemn) HANGING (capital punishment) | |
| 18 | Harrow Master put pupils into groups (6) | |
| STREAM | An anagram of MASTER – anagrind is ‘harrow’ | |
| 19 | Agreed reforms with method of transmitting motion (6) | |
| GEARED | An anagram of GEARED –anagrind is ‘reforms’ | |
| 21 | Shouted out who was in front (6) | |
| HOWLED | An anagram of HOW – anagrind is ‘out’ + LED (‘was in front’) | |
| 22 | Follows wheel-less stock car losing front end round bend (6) | |
| TRACKS | It’s an anagram of ST |
|
| 24 | Occupy town square (6) | |
| SETTLE | Triple definition | |
Great crossword and blog. Failed to get 7d or 12a, so thanks for the explanations. I’m not sure what ‘state’ is doing in 17d, perhaps part of definition? For 24d, I wondered whether we are meant to take the front end off both st(o)ck and car before doing the anagram, anagrind ’round’, with S referring to s-bend?
Rethinking 24d, I now think ’round bend’ is the anagrind, which works better than either word separately, I think.
Really great stuff. Having not completed a Serpent in a while, I was thrilled to manage all of this in 40mins and thought the setter had given the solver a real in throughout without sacrificing his trademark misdirection. My honours today go to the very funny and nicely deffed 14d and the well-done theme/gimmick so thanks to The Snake for an excellent and accessible crossie and to B&J for the blog.
Agree with above that definition in 17D is “changing state” and that the anagrind in 22D is “round bend”.
Not as difficult as some previous Serpent offerings, but some tricky ones nonetheless and enjoyable.
Thanks to Serpent and Bertandjoyce.