Plenty of charades, anagrams and insertions. Everyman is in town.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
abbreviations are underlined
Across
1 Job with club for instance providing communication
POSTCARD
A charade of POST for ‘job’ and CARD, which together with its friends diamond, spade and heart, is what a ‘club’ is.
5 Thrust cable into place
PROPEL
An insertion of ROPE in PL.
9 Inspire some vigorous exercise
ROUSE
Hidden in vigoROUS Exercise.
10 Inhabitants are found, right away? Rubbish
OCCUPANTS
A charade of OCCU[R] and PANTS. ‘Trump is going to survive the full four years? That’s pants!’
12 Sensitive novel varies in power
CONTROVERSIAL
An insertion of (VARIES)* in CONTROL.
14 Oppressed in US city before retreat
LADEN
A charade of LA for Los Angeles and DEN.
16 Musician with universal appeal, revolutionary artist in essence
GUITARIST
Multi-part clues are a big part of the Everyman style: this is U for ‘universal’, IT for (sex) ‘appeal’, AR for ‘artist’ reversed, all in GIST for ‘essence’.
17 Examiner, one with new part accepting pressure
INSPECTOR
A charade of I, N and P inserted into SECTOR.
19 Saint in denial? Not nice
NASTY
An insertion of ST in NAY.
20 People in battle hiss corrupted institution
ESTABLISHMENT
An insertion of MEN in (BATTLE HISS)* with ‘corrupted’ as the anagrind.
23 Anger, apprehending name as false
INSINCERE
An insertion of N and SINCE for ‘as’ in IRE.
24 Paved area with odd parts for plants I love
PATIO
Most of the odd letters of PlAnTsIlOve.
25 Sense of taste? Mate scoffed
PALATE
A charade of PAL and ATE.
26 Extend popular line
INCREASE
A charade of IN and CREASE.
Down
1 Grating remark added to letter about criminal court badly set up
PORTCULLIS
An insertion of (COURT)* and ILL reversed in PS for Post Scriptum. The anagrind is ‘criminal’; the reversal indicator, since it’s a down clue, is ‘set up’; the insertion indicator is ‘about’.
2 Incentive none initially reject
SPURN
A charade of SPUR and N for the first letter of ‘none’.
3 V-shaped mark? There’s one in tail of exotic bird
CHEVRON
An insertion of V in CHERON, which is made up of the last letter of ‘exotic’ and the ‘bird’, a HERON. The ‘V’ is used twice in a way, but the clue works fine for me.
4 Swede perhaps in love with Greta to be confounded
ROOT VEGETABLE
(LOVE GRETA TO BE)*
6 Agent left in charge with author’s first copy
REPLICA
A charade of REP, L, IC and A for the first letter of ‘author’.
7 Write a line on obligations and sanctions
PENALTIES
A charade of PEN, A, L and TIES.
8 Survive after all others
LAST
A dd.
11 Creature with message in horror film, quietly breaking equipment over time
CARRIER PIGEON
A charade of CARRIE for this horror film and P for musically ‘quietly’ inserted into RIG for equipment and EON. The insertion indicator is ‘breaking’. Does this really deserve an obligatory Pierre bird link? Oh, go on then.
13 Unadventurous treatment of hot meat, say
STAY-AT-HOME
(HOT MEAT SAY)*
15 Distribution, rapid, less organised
DISPERSAL
(RAPID LESS)*
18 Alien clutching unknown metal, cold and dead
EXTINCT
An insertion of X for ‘unknown’, TIN for ‘metal’ and C for ‘cold’ in ET for the setters’ favourite (only?) ‘alien’.
19 Drama, musical drama, mostly unsuccessful type
NO-HOPER
A charade of NOH for the Japanese ‘drama’ and OPER[A] for the mostly western musical drama. If NOH is new to you, it’s worth remembering, because it does crop up from time to time. It can also be spelled NO.
21 More taking part in next rally
EXTRA
Hidden in nEXT RAlly.
22 Without firmness proceed unsteadily
LIMP
A dd.
Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.
Thanks both. Usual high quality Everyman. Liked 4d particularly.
Your comments at 10a are surely Fey Gnus
It took a while to get going with this one – 14ac was my first in – but progress was pretty rapid following on from that. I suspect it just took me that long to wake up, because nothing is that difficult in retrospect. Last in the far SW corner mostly because the synonym for anger was the very last one that sprang to mind.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
13d made me smile, my cousin’s husband is known as STAY-AT-HOME Philipps, when asked by my mother if he had been abroad he replied “Yes, to the Isle of Wight”.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
I had 24 as P A T (odd parts of PlAnTs + I + O (0 = love), which gets around the awkwardness of ‘Most of the odd letters’ of the last three words.
You are right, Simon – a much better parsing. Thank you.
My favourites were PORTCULLIS, CHEVRON + CARRIER PIGEON (loi).
Thank you Everyman and Pierre
A little easier than some of late. About right for me, although I missed the parsing of the C in Chevron. Doh!
I don’t think there was any double duty in that clue.
Thanks Pierre and EM
Didn’t get portcullis or laden, but managed the rest OK and managed to parse most which is unusual for me.
Audrey you and I must have the same style, as Portcullis and Laden were by last two in. It’s interesting to read up in the comments 14ac was one contributor’s first one and it was my last. wasnt at all obvious until I had the three letters.
I spent ages trying to think of a word for a grating comment but the penny dropped just in time. I was very proud of myself for solving this without any thesaurus other than for one clue
no wonder everyone else gave it the tick for lower difficulty
clues weren’t so weird this week although I have never heard of ‘pants’ as a common term for rubbish
Didn’t get 3d. Went for CHERRON thinking heron was spelt with two Ns. Guard portcullis but could not parse it. Rest were simple enough.
Ouch that hurt! Hadn’t heard of ‘portcullis’ so as seems common these days, that made the NW corner the last ones in. Anyway it’s done now so can enjoy the rest of the wet weekend. Thanks to all.
Probably not surprising that we kiwis didn’t think of portcullis. We don’t have any castles here. A portcullis is a kind of drawbridge isn’t it? No wonder I didn’t think of it as a grating.
I’ve just checked and a portcullis is the gate to the castle which could be lifted up and down.