The puzzle can be found here.
Nothing terribly challenging here – a good puzzle for beginners. The only one that gave me pause was 10dn, as I had never come across the English rendering of eminence gris before. It was obvious from the word play and crossing letters, however.
My favourites were 15dn and 19ac.
Thanks, Gurney.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CARICATURIST | Amusingly he exaggerates strange trait associated with a circus (12) |
| *(trait a circus) | ||
| 8 | A-LISTER | Celebrity is blocking change (1- 6) |
| IS blocking ALTER (“change”) | ||
| 9 | RANKING | Called about family position (7) |
| RANG (“called”) about KIN (“family”) | ||
| 11 | EXPENSE | Former writer’s ultimately futile outlay (7) |
| EX (“former”) + PEN’S (“writer’s”) + (futil)E | ||
| 12 | TROUNCE | Part of intro, uncertain beat (7) |
| Hidden in (part of) “inTRO UNCErtain” | ||
| 13 | HORDE | Mob in store reportedly (5) |
| Homophone (reportedly) of HOARD | ||
| 14 | TO A DEGREE | Somewhat loathsome person for example always coming back (2,1,6) |
| TOAD (“loathsome person”) + E.G. (“for example”) + <=E’ER (“always, coming back) | ||
| 16 | MAELSTROM | Revised alerts received by parent causing confusion (9) |
| *(alerts) received by MOM (“parent” in the US) | ||
| 19 | SUSHI | Supper’s beginning – our group welcome eastern dish (5) |
| S(upper) + US (“our group”) + HI (“welcome”) | ||
| 21 | SPLURGE | Sudden increase overwhelming place – leading to extravagance (7) |
| SURGE (“sudden increase”) overwhelming P(lace) | ||
| 23 | SEA LANE | Close a north-eastern passage (3,4) |
| SEAL (“close”) + A N(orth) E(astern) | ||
| 24 | CORRECT | Uncovered Scot having slip on return before court? Right (7) |
| (s)CO(t) + <=ERR (“slip”, on return) before Ct. (“court”) | ||
| 25 | IDIOTIC | Initially impolite, discourteous in referring to listener? Senseless (7) |
| Initial letters of Impolite Discourteous In + OTIC (“referring to listener”) | ||
| 26 | PENNY-PINCHER | Girl with thief, one not willing to spend (5-7) |
| PENNY (“girl”) with PINCHER (“thief”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHIPPER | Lively golfer producing lofted shot? (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | RETINUE | Group held up by rogue unit, erratic (7) |
| Hidden backwards (held up by) “roguE UNIT ERratic” | ||
| 3 | CARPENTER | Find fault with record wood expert revealed? (9) |
| CARP (“find fault”) with ENTER (“record”) | ||
| 4 | TAROT | Cutting about old pack (5) |
| TART about O(ld) | ||
| 5 | RANSOME | Author Arthur’s payment for liberation picked up (7) |
| Homophone (picked up) of RANSOM (“payment for liberation”)
Refers to Arthur Ransome, author of Swallows and Amazons. |
||
| 6 | SPINNER | Transgressor nicks soft bowler (7) |
| SINNER (“transgressor”) nicks P(iano) (“soft” in music) | ||
| 7 | FACE THE MUSIC | Dial those people, posh (so!) – confront consequences (4,3,5) |
| FACE (“dial”) + THEM (“those people”) + U (“posh”) + SIC (“so”) | ||
| 10 | GREY EMINENCE | Influential figure in emergency broadcast by English (4,8) |
| *(in emergency) + E(nglish) | ||
| 15 | ADMISSION | Poster girl, one working to make entry fee (9) |
| AD (“poster”) + MISS (“girl”) + I (“one”) + ON (“working”) | ||
| 17 | ENLARGE | Unexpectedly general increase (7) |
| *(general) | ||
| 18 | SURGEON | Doctor’s child suppressing desire (7) |
| SON (“child”) suppressing URGE (“desire”) | ||
| 19 | SPANISH | Language as relative clutches vessel, hot? (7) |
| SIS (“relative”) clutches PAN (“vessel”) + H(ot) | ||
| 20 | STARTER | Time to interrupt one looking rudely – race official (7) |
| T(ime) to interrupt STARER (“one looking rudely”) | ||
| 22 | EAT UP | Entirely consume “repast” – gulp regularly? (3,2) |
| Regular letters from “rEpAsT gUlP“ | ||
*anagram
Agree fully with your comments loonapick. Also not met 10d in its English form. Minor typo in 21a – should be PL(ace).
Thanks, Hovis
I think we should have a “spot the typo” competition, as I seem to make one on every blog entry!
A clever mis direction in clue for 2d had me trying to do something with RAT (rogue) and *UNIT (erratic) . Thanks to all.
Add me to the list of people who didn’t find this particularly challenging – it would have been even less challenging if I hadn’t written the solution to 16a in the lights for 14a. Interesting that we all think of 10d as the French version
Thanks to Gurney and Loonapick
Thanks to Gurney and loonapick. Easy but fun. General-ENLARGE seems very familiar.
Thanks Gurney and Loonapick.
At least you were not unduly delayed before going to work.
Thanks Loonapick.
Like you, I’d never come across the English rendering of éminence grise.
I enjoyed solving this, but did put my head in my hands in despair at the sight of the sad archaic overused ‘U’ = posh cliché.
A chip is “a lofted shot” only as compared to a putt. A lofted approach shot is called a pitch.
Agree an easy puzzle. Not only finished it without having to use Chambers Word Wizard (usually need this for 2-3 answers), but understand parsing of all. Liked the 2 crossing clues using “surge.”
Thanks Gurney and loonapick
Agree that this was quite straightforward and it didn’t last too far into the lunch break. Still enjoyable though!
Had not seen GREY EMINENCE (nor its French version). Finished with TO A DEGREE quite a lot earlier than I expected to.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, loonapick, and to all who commented. I must admit that, re#9, I did not notice the two “surges” but I think there was no repetition in cryptic build-up. Re#7, I think U is still with us if perhaps a little old-fashioned, but remember it was coined only in the 1950s.