Pretty much what I and my fellow Everyman bloggers say every Sunday: a well-constructed puzzle with good surface readings, appropriate for the improving solver. Well done, Everyman, for putting out a consistently good crossword every week.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Be quiet in particular after defeat by editor
PIPE DOWN
A charade of PIP, ED and OWN for ‘defeat’, ‘editor’ and ‘particular’, with the surface telling you which way round everything goes.
5 Lawyer not lasting long
BRIEF
A dd.
9 Popular face, not having left country
INDIA
A charade of IN and DIA[L]
10 Variety of smart neon decorations
ORNAMENTS
(SMART NEON)*
11 Bend back with bundle containing very soft fruit
CRAB APPLE
A charade of ARC reversed and PP for the musical ‘very soft’ in BALE.
12 Furious buccaneer deprived of power
IRATE
[P]IRATE
13 Large shock received by spy ring, our team being superior
SELF-RIGHTEOUS
An insertion of L and FRIGHT for ‘large shock’ in SEE for ‘spy’ followed by O for ‘ring’ and US for ‘our team’. Phew.
16 Breaking old rule, bashed bone
SHOULDER BLADE
(OLD RULE BASHED)*
20 Distinctive character in sweet hospitality
ETHOS
Hidden in sweET HOSpitality.
21 Idea getting support with weight in one section of church
BRAINWAVE
A charade of BRA for the setters’ favourite ‘support’ and W in I NAVE.
23 Caught spirit with percussion instrument
SNARE DRUM
A charade of SNARED and RUM.
24 Reported discovery, penalised
FINED
A homophone of FIND, with the homophone indicator (‘reported’) in the perfect place.
25 Aquatic plant from America added to collection
LOTUS
A charade of LOT and US.
26 Talkative type, upset, disrupting public relations
PRATTLER
An insertion of RATTLE in PR.
Down
1 Royal measure endlessly covered by journalists
PRINCESS
An insertion of INC[H] in PRESS.
2 Lengthen article about university city
PADUA
An insertion of U in PAD and A.
3 Silence in broadcast that’s costly, holding start of important commercial up
DEAD AIR
Not a phrase that I knew, but some crossers and the clear wordplay got me there. An insertion of I and AD reversed in DEAR.
4 Film star‘s joyful shout over one element with appeal about right
WHOOPI GOLDBERG
A charade of WHOOP ‘over’ (since it’s a down clue) I, GOLD and R in BEG.
5 Child at home among tall grass, mostly
BAMBINO
An insertion of IN for ‘at home’ in BAMBO[O]
6 Part of Mediterranean island? One’s in a developed area
IONIAN SEA
A charade of I, (ONES IN A)* and A.
7 Lot keeping south and north secure
FASTEN
An insertion of S in FATE followed by N.
8 Being sold rum, three men had made merry
UNDER THE HAMMER
(RUM THREE MEN HAD)* And no, ‘rum’ wasn’t the anagrind, was it?
14 Gather in secret without initial despair
LOSE HEART
Took me a while to see the parsing here. It’s [C]LOSET with HEAR inserted.
15 Guardian‘s purpose restricted by delay
DEFENDER
An insertion of END in DEFER.
17 Shellfish? Yes, sort at sea
OYSTERS
(YES SORT)*
18 Good name retained by worker, for instance, qualified
BENEFIT
An insertion of N in BEE (‘worker, for instance’) plus FIT.
19 Not so much raised to support very English craft
VESSEL
VE ‘supported’ by LESS reversed.
22 Pawn in duel regularly set aside
ANNUL
The even letters of pAwN iN dUeL.
Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks, Pierre. This was another good medium pacer, on a good line and length with a hint of swing and seam in a couple of clues: It took me awhile to parse the complicated charade in SELF RIGHTEOUS and I didn’t know that WHOOPI GOLDBERG spells her first name without an E on the end.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
I got tied up for a while having first entered BELLTOWER at 21a for the ‘section of church’, well, an ‘idea’ might ring a BELL, and a ‘support’ could be a TOWER of strength, but I think it is meant to be two words anyway. I also rushed in with CRANBBERRY at 11a for the ‘soft fruit’, but the answer asked for two words.
My last in was SELF-RIGHTEOUS, not sure that I fully parsed it, but I took the definition as “being superior”.
Nearly two birds there, the OYSTERcatcher and the LOTUSbird, or LOTUS bird, of Australia.
Nice one, Everyman – many thanks.
I needed my daughter to spot WHOOPI GOLDBERG and to tell me not to spell it with a Y but the clue was impeccably constructed.
Another good one from Everyman. I especially liked the surfaces for SNARE DRUM and UNDER THE HAMMER.
Thanks to Pierre and Everyman.
I’m with matrixmania, good line and length.
Snared rum was nice.
Didn’t parse 13 or 21 – they were the last two in (my excuse anyway)
Thought Pad for Lengthen was a bit marginal. Pad out maybe, but just Pad?
Thank goodness Pierre could parse self righteous. It was beyond me. Liked snare drum and Whoopi Goldberg.
Strange one. I couldn’t parse a few but got the answer nonetheless. These aren’t taking much time to complete these days.
Must’ve been an easy one! 🙂 I got it all out, without any computer
assistance, and was able to parse everything.
21 across (“brainwave”) was my LOI.
I thought the clues were great until I got to 13 ac self-righteous – I had no idea why it was the answer and so relied on this to understand it. I mean really? One contrived clue amongst all the other ones which were wonderful. oh well. Agonised over under the hammer for ages, and now see how clever that was.
Well done all you who considered it easy – I never do!
Some nice clues. Can someone please help me with FATE = LOT in 7D.
its ok the penny’s dropped. That’s my lot!
Can a reference to endless (1d) mean the dropping of first and last letters? Or is it specific to the last letter only?
The way I parsed that particular clue was insertion of [P]INC[H] in PRESS – with the measure referred to being what you use for salt or herbs (apparently a good pinch is 1/5th of a teaspoon in NZ but 1/8th in USA).
Nice Puzzle ! ( struggled with prattler and pipe down for some reason ) . Some lovely clues throughout