This is my first outing as a blogger with Dutch, and a most enjoyable experience it was too!
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, with a good few write-ins (mainly anagrams) to get me started and yet a few teasers that got me scratching my head at the end. Eventually, I was left with 8 and 12 and had to search Chambers to find 8 (“dish” being a fairly vague definition), whereupon I realised what 12 had to be. The entry at 20 was surprising in its use of “her” as opposed to “one’s”.
My favourites overall were 6 and especially 21, both for their topicality; and 15 and 17, both for their surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TRENCH COAT | Dodgy contract he shows private eye outfit?
*(CONTRACT HE); “dodgy” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | THEM | Opening of Trump’s border for those people
T<rump> (“opening of” means first letter only) + HEM (=border) |
| 09 | ACHING FEET | Pronouncement of a royal act leads to a pedestrian complaint
Homophone (“pronouncement”) of “a king (=royal) + feat (=act)”; the “pedestrian” of the definition is “someone on foot”, rather than “mundane” |
| 10 | STUN | Way peacekeepers use tasers, for example
ST (=way, i.e. street) + UN (=peacekeepers, i.e. United Nations) |
| 12 | MIXING DRINKS | Cocktail bar speciality that one might regret in the morning?
Cryptically, a person with a hangover might regret “mixing (his) drinks” the morning after! |
| 15 | ARMPITS | Indentations under the shoulder strap I’m adjusting
*(STRAP I’M); “adjusting” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | DRUMMER | Dutch stranger is one to beat
D (=Dutch) + RUMMER (=stranger, odder) |
| 17 | AMOUNTS | Unlimited cash to cover rising quantities
MOUNT (=rising, hill, as noun) in <c>AS<h> (“unlimited” means first and last letter are dropped) |
| 19 | CRIMSON | Colour seen in metallic rims once
Hidden (“seen in”) in “metalliC RIMS ONce” |
| 20 | AT HER WITS END | Utterly perplexed as she may be, he treats wind casually
*(HE TREATS WIND); “casually” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | KCAL | Need to return small energy unit
LACK (=need); “to return” indicates reversal; “small” indicates an abbreviation, i.e. of “kilocalorie” |
| 24 | TITILLATES | Bird I left behind has singular interests
TIT (=bird) + I + L (=left) + LATE (=behind) + S (=singular) |
| 25 | NUKE | Northern base harbouring our country’s weapon
UK (=our country) in [N (=northern) + E (=base, of natural system of logarithms)] |
| 26 | GRAND PIANO | GP developed instrument
G (=grand, i.e. £1000) + P (=piano, in music); “developed” suggests writing out the abbreviations in full |
| Down | ||
| 01 | THAI | National Trust homes are investments, primarily
T<rust> H<omes> A<re> I<nvestments; “primarily” means first letters only are used |
| 02 | ECHO | City pro’s sound return
EC (=City, i.e. East Central) + HO (=pro, i.e. prostitute colloquially); an echo is when sound is “returned”, reflected, hence “sound return” |
| 03 | CONDITIONERS | Salon offers massage – no discretion!
*(NO DISCRETION); “massage” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | COFFINS | Very loudly filling money boxes
FF (=fortissimo, in music) in COINS (=money) |
| 05 | AVENGED | Requited – adult volume by English journalist
A (=adult) + V (=volume) + ENG (=English) + ED (=journalist, i.e. editor) |
| 07 | HIT-AND-MISS | Irregular success with young lady
HIT (=success) + AND (=with) + MISS (=young lady) |
| 08 | MINESTRONE | Store endlessly potent drug in dish
MINE (=store, fund) + STRON<g> (=potent; “endlessly” means last letter dropped) + E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) |
| 11 | FREUDIAN SLIP | Revealing fault if liar ends up wavering
*(IF LIAR ENDS UP); “wavering” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | BANANA SKIN | Crazy family is a recipe for disaster
BANANAS (=crazy) + KIN (=family) |
| 14 | SMOOTH-TALK | Even gossip is flattery
SMOOTH (=even, flat) + TALK (=gossip, rumours) |
| 18 | SPICIER | One punching presenter of alternative facts would be more exciting
I (=one) in SPICER (=presenter of alternative facts, i.e. the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer!) |
| 19 | CUSHION | American welcome in Tory pad
[US (=American) + HI (=welcome)] in CON (=Tory) |
| 21 | ETNA | Oddly missing seat in May’s unstable summit
<s>E<a>T<i>N<m>A<y>; “oddly missing” means odd letters are dropped; cryptically, as a volcano, Mount Etna could be described as an “unstable summit”!! |
| 22 | ASBO | Short order could be part of smorgasbord
Hidden in (“part of”) “smorgASBOrd”; an ASBO is an anti-social behaviour order, abbreviated (“short”) as ASBO |
Another superb puzzle from Dutch; not especially hard, but very well written.
18d SPICIER is I think a reference to the POTUS’ currently “resting” press officer Sean Spicer. However, I believe the person who originally used the expression “we will present alternative facts” was the gorgeous, pouting Kellyanne Conway.
Thanks to Dutch and RR
What strikes me most in Dutch’s style is its smoothness and natural flow.
Nothing contrived or overconstructed.
Very precise, too.
I failed on 12ac but then, I am not very familiar with cocktail bars and other trolleys (unlike … 🙂 ).
I don’t know which one was my favourite today but surely 3d and 26ac come close.
Many thanks for the blog, RR.
And to Dutch for a crossword that was every inch as good as the previous two.
Another thumbs up from me – very enjoyable. I particularly liked the interesting 24a, the money boxes of 4d, the 7d success with the lady and the revealing fault of 11d. The 13d crazy family (aren’t they all?) made me smile too.
Many thanks to Dutch – who isn’t a stranger but certainly is one to beat (cf 16a) – and to RR.
What Kitty said – exactly.
A compiler who writes well, i.e. in English using English grammar properly. It’s very good!
@baerchen – I have changed the parsing of 18 to reflect what must have been the compilation’s intention. I knew that there was something that I had missed in that clue! Many thanks for setting things straight.
Enjoyed this one – mostly straightforward but SPICIER, TITILLATES and KCAL held out for longer. All very pleasant and neat.
Thanks to Dutch and RR
Not quite there – couldn’t see KCAL, and had SPIKIER for 18dn (thinking someone who presented alternative facts might ‘spike’ the real ones).
Apart from that a satisfying solve, challenging in places, with some inventive cluing, e.g. 1,9, 12 and 20 across.
RatkojaRiku, I won’t go so far as to suggest you’ve made a 11dn or slipped on a 13dn, but the anagram in 3dn is (NO DISCRETION)*.
Thanks, Dutch and RR
What is small doing in 23ac? It doesn’t seem to be part of the wordplay and kilo-calorie is hardly a small energy unit. It’s the amount of energy to raise the temperature of a litre of water by one kelvin. Or, to put it another way, the heat put out by a one-bar electric fire in 4 seconds. But then, when I was involved in physics, we measured energy in electron volts, and 1ev is 3.8e-23
Many thanks all for the very kind comments.
Yes, 18d was intended to refer to Sean Spicer. The original clue was “One punching Press Secretary…” (which felt strangely satisfying to me) but his role as Press Secretary was under question.
I’d like to thank RatkoyaRiku for a splendid review. And my test-solvers, as always
Dormouse@9
It was intended to indicate an abbreviation – sorry if it was confusing
Ah, I see now.
Re 23ac I took ‘small’ to refer to the size of the unit in that raising the temperature of a litre of water by one kelvin is hardly noticeable and running a one-bar electric fire for 4 seconds is hardly going to register on the meter. But it’s all relative, of course; I was thinking in terms of megawatt-hours rather than electron volts. So maybe it’s better to stick with Dutch’s intended meaning.
Late to the party but just wanted to say I liked this one very much. Failed on KCAL, but hey ho …
Thanks to S&B (and for the explanation of Spicer).
As above by all, excellent crossword, with amusing anagrams, 12A also my last one in.
15A “under the shoulder” is part of the definition.
Thanks to Dutch, great stuff, and RatkojaRiku.
I have tweaked the blog following input from allan_c, gwep and the compiler himself. Many thanks for bringing these points to my attention.
Great puzzle. As you say, easy to get in, but challenging to finish. Loved all the topical stuff, including the sly reference in 1d, THAI, to potential homes being treated as “investments”. Expecting many more good ones from Dutch.
Just back from hols but didn’t want to miss out on this one from our own Dutch.
Had to resort to looking up 23a but no other problems that giving it a bit of thought couldn’t solve.
Top two for me were 9a&13d.
Many thanks, Dutch – keep ’em coming!
Oops – forgot to thank RR for the blog. Many apologies.