Another very good puzzle in the Everyman style – that is, at the easier end of the cryptic spectrum. It is all clued clearly, so I have given only brief explanations; but if there is any more detail required or I haven’t made anything clear, just say.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Hat I pound during test
TRILBY
An insertion of I and LB in TRY.
4 Poignancy in tracks about love
PATHOS
Another insertion: of O in PATHS.
10 Journalist, eager in cry, managed to catch a cab
HACKNEY CARRIAGE
A charade of HACK and A inserted in (‘to catch’) (EAGER IN CRY)*
11 One receiving income from property on new level
RENTIER
Not a word I’d really heard of, but it’s of French origin and once you had a few crossers it had to be this. A charade of RE, N and TIER.
12 Dealt with temperature produced after release of carbon
TREATED
A charade of T and [C]REATED. Nice surface.
13 Indicator of time previously used
SECOND-HAND
A dd.
15 Revolutionary conflict not refined
RAW
A reversal of WAR for ‘conflict’.
17 Bird preserved by science museum
EMU
Hidden in sciencE MUseum. Here’s the obligatory Pierre bird link. Wouldn’t win any beauty contests, would it? They are flightless, of course, but can reach speeds in excess of 30mph.
18 Device to control temperature that’s hot matters terribly
THERMOSTAT
(HOT MATTERS)*
22 Information in colour chart finally creating different line of thought
TANGENT
An insertion of GEN for ‘information’ in TAN and T for the last letter of ‘chart’. ‘Let’s go off on a tangent/a different line of thought.’
24 Put out alternative after return of manuscript
SMOTHER
MS reversed followed by OTHER.
25 Alert volunteers with instruments going around in resort
BRIGHT AS A BUTTON
An insertion of TA for Territorial Army or ‘volunteers’ and TUBAS reversed in BRIGHTON.
26 Appeal, entirely wholesome, lacking power
ALLURE
A charade of ALL and [P]URE.
27 Reform the law to bring prosperity
WEALTH
(THE LAW)*
Down
1 Top saint rising above king in triumph
T-SHIRT
A reversal of ST (‘rising’, since it’s a down clue) followed by R in HIT.
2 Quaint lines, once translated, having little significance
INCONSEQUENTIAL
(QUAINT LINES ONCE)*
3 Group on island with waterbird and marsupial
BANDICOOT
A charade of BAND, I and COOT.
5 Concede match
AGREE
A dd.
6 List packed with creative work opening with passionate song
HEARTBREAK HOTEL
A typical Everyman multi-part clue: he’s asking you to insert ART, BREAK and HOT in HEEL for ‘list’.
7 Democratic favourites, overthrown, have quit
STEP DOWN
A reversal of D PETS followed by OWN.
8 Cross, upset by hospital, then relieved
HYBRID
A reversal of BY and H followed by RID.
9 Worker perhaps in branch coming up with slogan
MANTRA
An insertion of ANT in ARM reversed.
14 Loose reconstruction of old suites
DISSOLUTE
(OLD SUITES)*
16 Note, in part of speech, artist showing bit of backbone
VERTEBRA
An insertion of TE in VERB followed by RA.
19 Catch man, no good, on strike
ENTRAP
A charade of [G]ENT and RAP.
20 Accident? Plan to keep one quiet
MISHAP
An insertion of I and SH in MAP.
21 Ditch fashion mostly followed by church
TRENCH
A charade of TREN[D] and CH.
23 Liquid necessary to irrigate the region
ETHER
Hidden in irrigatE THE Region.
Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.
I found this very tricky but on looking back, I don’t know why. The clues for HYBRID and HACKNEY CARRIAGE, I found especially tricky although any crossword I suppose is mainly thinking of a word to replace a word in the clue. Like paths=tracks which took me far longer than it should. Good puzzle though as usual.
Many thanks to Pierre (with a name like that you should have known RENTIER) AND Everyman.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
I also found this tricky and now am not sure why – HYBRID was my last in. I liked the clues for TREATED and THERMOSTAT.
Love the emu’s face, he too seems shocked that Pierre did not know RENTIER (luckily for me I live in France).
This is better, Hi, Pierre
A little bit tricky in places I thought – 11ac and 8d in particular held out for longer than expected. 3d sadly was only familiar to me because of the old game Crash Bandicoot. 🙂
For me, the trickiest was TREATED. I got the general idea and the initial T last weekend but couldn’t see cREATED. Instead I wrote down REAcTED with a massive question mark. Looking at it again just before I came here, the correct version seemed obvious, so I don’t understand why I had a problem.
Enjoyable as always. Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
HYBRID and RENTIER proved beyond me too.
Like Jon_S @3, Crash Bandicoot came to mind for me 🙂
I found this harder than usual as well. Can’t really point to anything in particular other than a few unknown words and perhaps not finding any real way into the left hand side of the puzzle.
Found it Tricky too. Didn’t get T shirt, Hackney Carriage, or rentier, though when you see the answers I don’t know why I didn’t get them, as they seem straightforward except for T shirt,. The parsing of T Shirt seems odd to me. I haven’t heard of rentier either.
But overall I thought it was a very good crossword.
I managed to get this out but it did take me a few solid sessions. Enjoyed the HYBRID clue. Guessed RENTIER but can’t see ON being RE.
NW corner undid me, not helped by putting Landing in for the property level clue. Rentier? Really? So that stuffed up 1 and 8 down. Serves me right for crowing about finding the last two weeks easy.
Rats, I think on and re are both ‘about’ or ‘concerning’ or ‘to do with’.
Great puzzle , loved it