An enjoyable and nicely-judged start to the cryptic week.
| Across | ||
| 7 | LEVERET | Animal allowed to eat at any time (7) |
| LET (allowed) containing (to eat) EVER (at any time) | ||
| 8 | SCANDAL | After investigation, boy returned in disgrace (7) |
| SCAN (investigation) followed by (after) a reversal (returned) of LAD (boy) | ||
| 9 | GIFT | Present is good fit, after adjustment (4) |
| An anagram (after adjustment) of G (good) and FIT | ||
| 10 | COMBATANT | Fighter‘s not able to conceal decapitated marsupial (9) |
| CANT (not able to) containing (conceal) WOMBAT (marsupial) minus its first letter (decapitated) | ||
| 12 | ROGUE | Debauchee providing shelter for German conman (5) |
| ROUE (debauchee) containing (providing shelter for) G (German) | ||
| 13 | NEPOTISM | Wicked postmen covering up setter’s favouritism (8) |
| An anagram (wicked) of POSTMEN containing (covering up) I (setter) | ||
| 15 | ETON | English teacher principally working in school (4) |
| ET (the first letters – primarily – of English and teacher) ON (working) | ||
| 16 | PLAID | Quietly put down cloth (5) |
| P (quietly) LAID (put down) | ||
| 17 | DOWN | Blue filling for duvet (4) |
| A double definition. Blue = DOWN. Filling for duvet = DOWN | ||
| 18 | POISONED | Prepared to take delivery of oxygen and nitrogen that’s contaminated (8) |
| POISED (prepared) containing (to take delivery of) O (oxygen) and N (nitrogen) | ||
| 20 | LAIRD | Ring round to get hold of right landowner (5) |
| A reversal (round) of DIAL (ring) containing (to get hold of) R (right) | ||
| 21 | ATONEMENT | In agreement with chaps getting time for reparation (9) |
| AT ONE (in agreement) plus (with) MEN (chaps) plus (getting) T (time) | ||
| 22 | PILL | Medication injected into capillaries (4) |
| An answer hidden in (injected into) caPILLaries | ||
| 24 | SLOE GIN | Caesar’s fourth legion’s ill making booze (4,3) |
| S (the fourth letter of Caesar) plus an anagran (ill) of LEGION | ||
| 25 | OLD NICK | Prince of Darkness seen in the Bastille? (3,4) |
| A double definition, the second of them cryptic. Prince of Darkness = OLD NICK. The Bastille = an example of an OLD NICK (prison) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | KEPI | Take Pierre’s cover for his service cap (4) |
| An answer hidden in (is cover for) taKE PIerre | ||
| 2 | PENTAGON | Write graffiti artist’s signature on US government building (8) |
| PEN (write) TAG (graffiti artist’s signature) ON (on) | ||
| 3 | RESCUE | Secure revolutionary’s liberation (6) |
| An anagram (revolutionary) of SECURE | ||
| 4 | SCRAPPED | Fought to be made redundant (8) |
| A double definition. Fought = SCRAPPED. Made redundant = SCRAPPED | ||
| 5 | IN FACT | Popular energy source contains drug, actually (2,4) |
| IN (popular) FAT (energy source) containing (contains) C (drug, i.e. cocaine) | ||
| 6 | RAFT | Conveyance getting service before start of trip (4) |
| RAF (service) before (before) T (first letter, i.e. start, of trip) | ||
| 11 | MANHANDLE | Be rough with Guy, say? (9) |
| A double definition, the second of them cryptic. Be rough with = MANHANDLE. Guy, say = MANHANDLE (i.e. a name – handle – for a man) | ||
| 12 | RATIO | Relation providing central part of speech (5) |
| ORATION (speech) with its first and last letters removed (central part of) | ||
| 14 | SAWED | Watched editor getting cut (5) |
| SAW (watched) ED (editor) | ||
| 16 | PANDEMIC | Initially, parasites and mice spread a deadly disease (8) |
| P (first letter – primarily – of parasites) plus an anagram (spread) of AND MICE | ||
| 17 | DRIPPING | Fat daughter’s renting (8) |
| D (daughter) plus (‘s = has) RIPPING (renting). Not sure ‘renting’ is right. The present participle of rend (rip) is rending. Rent is the past participle. | ||
| 19 | SHOVEL | Tool found in small shed (6) |
| S (small) HOVEL (shed) | ||
| 20 | LATELY | A telly broken not long ago (6) |
| An anagram (broken) of A TELLY | ||
| 21 | AXLE | Chop round large part of motor vehicle (4) |
| AXE (chop) containing L (large) | ||
| 23 | LOCK | Secure strand of hair (4) |
| A double definition. Secure = LOCK. Strand of hair = LOCK | ||
Thanks Pan and nms
Harder than Rufus, with some oddities. 24a the “Caesar’s fourth” is superfluous, as SLOE GIN is an anagram of “legion’s”; “motor” isn’t needed in 21d, “implement” would be better than “tool” in 19d; a LOCK is several strands of hair, not one.
I’ve never come across C for “drug”, or “tag” as a graffiti-artist’s signature.
I did like ATONEMENT and PANDEMIC
Thanks both. Good stuff. Anybody else try to shoehorn in CHE at the end of 3d?
I share your doubts on 17D; I don’t think it works.
I found this easier than Rufus today. My favourite was OLD NICK.
muffin@1 – I needed Caesar’s fourth (=s) as fodder for the anagram because I always disregard what comes after an apostrophe. I agree with the parsing provided by nms. C for Cocaine is often used in clues – I never heard it used in real life, only in crosswords. I found tag = “a nickname or other identifying mark written as the signature of a graffiti artist” in my online dictionary.
Thanks Pan and nms.
michelle @4
The ‘s is frequently included in the anagram fodder.
…in fact one can argue that, as the anagram indicator comes after the ‘s, the ‘s should be in the anagram fodder!
muffin @1, tagging is a common term (and pastime) where I live.
And yes, Shirl @2, RESCUE was my LOI because I kept trying to fit in CHE.
Thank you Pan and newmarketsausage.
Unlike muffin @1, I found this easier than Rufus; incidentally, for ‘strand’ the COED gives “a LOCK of hair”, and for SHOVEL “a spadelike tool for shifting quantities of coal, earth etc.”
I was another who tried to put CHE on the end of 2d.
MANHANDLE was great.
Jason @3
Chambers gives rent as a variant of rend, albeit obsolete or dialect.
muffin @6
How about ‘[i]s ill’ as the anagrind?
I’m not happy with 16D. “Pandemic” is not a disease; it is a particular (terrible) version of any number of diseases.
Thanks to all.