Kairos on duty this week. A sound and tractable puzzle, with a generous grid and clear cluing. One I’m not sure of the parsing for, so if some kind soul could confirm I am on the right track, that would be helpful.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Writer‘s authentic choral composition
TECHNICAL AUTHOR
(AUTHENTIC CHORAL)*
9 Upper class girl embraces New Age leader
GENERAL
An insertion of N and ERA in GEL. If you’ve not come across this before, then GEL is supposed to be the way that upper-class people who have received pronunciation pronouce ‘girl’. I don’t know enough upper-class people to tell you if that is true or not.
10 Report of laddish talk about carrier
MAILBAG
A charade of MAIL for a homophone (‘report of’) of MALE or ‘laddish’ and GAB reversed.
11 Painful sensation expelling a bit of gastric wind
TWINE
TWIN[G]E
12 Satire regularly annoys foreigners
STRANGERS
A charade of STR for the odd letters of ‘satire’ and ANGERS.
13 His escort arranged to get leggy birds
OSTRICHES
(HIS ESCORT)* Good surface, and a chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link. They are indeed leggy, making them capable of speeds of up to 70km/hr. But they don’t bury their heads in the sand. They wouldn’t be able to breathe, would they?
15 Produce problem children
ISSUE
Not a dd, but a td – a triple definition.
16 Corroded part of heat engine
EATEN
Hidden in hEAT ENgine.
18 The quality of The Who’s drummer is a gem
MOONSTONE
If you knew who the drummer in The Who is, then it was a write-in; otherwise you’d have to guess with a few crossers. Keith MOON is the drummer in question and his quality would be MOON’S TONE, although his other qualities were the ability to trash drum kits and blow up toilets. Good drummer though.
20 Gypsum obtained from plant by a research facility
ALABASTER
A charade of A LAB and ASTER gives you a form of gypsum, calcium sulfate, used for carving.
23 Joy catches pair leaving wife in bed
FUTON
Bit racy for the Sabbath. An insertion of T[W]O in FUN.
24 Look around elsewhere for bar
KEEP OUT
A reversal of PEEK and OUT for ‘elsewhere’.
25 Briefly that tribunal cut short aid
SUCCOUR
Kairos is asking you to remove last letters – from SUC[H] and COUR[T] and join them. The removal indicators are ‘briefly’ and ‘cut short’. COURT for ‘tribunal’ is obvious, but I struggled with SUCH and ‘that’, until my SOED gave it as a pronoun, with the following example: Clichés get to be such by being true.
26 Appeal to welcome new student in training
REFRESHER COURSE
An insertion of FRESHER in RECOURSE.
Down
1 Balancing act with pedestrian supporting drunk painter?
TIGHTROPE WALKER
A charade of TIGHT for ‘drunk’, ROPE for ‘painter’ and WALKER. The second definition is nautical, for a rope used to tie a boat to a quay, for example.
2 Criminal beside vicar in court
CONVICT
An insertion of ON and VIC in CT.
3 No one in composition of Wagner is Scandinavian
NORWEGIAN
A charade of NO and I inserted into (WAGNER)*
4 Allegedly betrays terrorist groups
CELLS
A homophone of ‘sells’.
5 Meat company importing Russia’s wine
LAMBRUSCO
An insertion of RUS in LAMB and CO.
6 Alliance‘s growth without leader
UNION
[B]UNION
7 Description of beer maker’s role in book
HEBREWS
Kairos often throws in a biblical reference: here it’s the book of the New Testament, and you’d say HE BREWS to describe what a beer maker does.
8 Made an impression casting runes for carer
REGISTERED NURSE
A charade of REGISTERED and (RUNES)*
14 British ship (small) patrols quarter in border work
HEMSTITCH
I know nothing about embroidery, but this looked a likely word, and so it proved. An insertion of E for one of the four ‘quarters’ in HMS, followed by TITCH for ‘small’.
15 Thereby contributes to sponsorships of actors
IPSO FACTO
Hidden in sponsorhIPS OF ACTOrs.
17 One of many found in bag of East End criminal
TEA LEAF
A dd. TEA LEAF is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘thief’.
19 Beat soldiers in the open air
OUTDOOR
A charade of OUTDO and OR for Other Ranks, or ‘soldiers’.
21 Address of man in the outskirts of Airedale
ABODE
An insertion of BOD in AE for the outside letters of ‘Airedale’.
22 One standing for King and Emperor’s queen
RISER
I struggled to see this, but I think I have it now. A charade of R for ‘king’, I’S for ‘Emperor’s’ and ER for the standard abbreviation for our current monarch. The ‘I’ bit I couldn’t see, but I fancy it comes from the abbreviation for the Latin Imperator for Emperor (or Imperatrix for Empress). Am I right?
Many thanks to Kairos for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Thanks to Kairos & Pierre. I looked and looked before seeing HEBREWS…aargghh!.
RI’s= Rex et Imperator’s + ER
Thanks to Pierre for explaining SUCH=THAT and to Baerchen for RI. Started off badly by writing down the anagram fodder for 1a and deciding that the first word was obviously going to be Charlotte, but not Bronte. Drat! After sorting that out by getting 1d, the rest was plain sailing with the hidden answer at 15d being my favourite.
Glad to see that I wasn’t the only one to struggle with the parsing of 25a&22d – so obvious when you know how!
Thought the lurker in 15d was clever but 7d produced the widest smile.
Thanks to Kairos and to Pierre for the blog.
We made steady progress on this, though the long perimeter entries took a while to deduce; in 1ac we thought we were looking for an actual writer’s name until, like Hovis, we got 1dn (which we at first thought might start with an anagram of an artist’s name, Degas, maybe). But it all came together in the end. Favourites were ALABASTER and IPSO FACTO.
Thanks, Kairos and Pierre.