A straightforward and not too difficult puzzle without it being bland or boring. Having blogged a lot of puzzles of all types over the years I am coming to appreciate how hard it is for a setter to get both of these elements right at the same time. Thank you Hypnos.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DESCRIBE | Supply account of beers I’d drunk around clubs (8) |
| anagram (drunk) of BEERS I’D containing (around) C (clubs) | ||
| 5 | TIMBER | Piece of wood male found in river (6) |
| M (male) in TIBER (river) | ||
| 9 | FLIP CHART | Become excited by daily end to broadcast – part of a presentation? (4,5) |
| FLIP (become excited) by CHAR (daily, a housekeeper) and broadcasT (end letter of) | ||
| 11 | SYNOD | Church body straightaway after vacation to show approval (5) |
| StraightawaY (after vacation, having the middle letters vacated) then NOD (show approval) | ||
| 12 | MONGREL | It’s mixed among relation’s sandwiches (7) |
| found inside (sanwiched by) aMONG RELations | ||
| 13 | ADMIRAL | Revolutionary car retaining part of wheel, one that’s top in fleet? (7) |
| LADA (car) contains (retaining) RIM (part of wheel) all reversed (revolutionary) | ||
| 14 | LADY’S SLIPPER | Large spidery petal’s not alien possibly in an orchid (5,7) |
| anagram (possibly) of L (large) SPIDERY PetAL missing ET (an alien) | ||
| 18 | BRIGHTON ROCK | Book by absolutely correct and sure type, a classic thriller (8,4) |
| B (book) by RIGHT ON (absolutely correct) with ROCK (sure type) – book by Graham Greene | ||
| 21 | DAY TRIP | Duke meets party I arranged for short excursion (3,4) |
| D (duke) with anagram (arranged) of PARTY I | ||
| 22 | SUPREME | Very powerful backing for soul singer (7) |
| double definition – Diana Ross and the Supremes | ||
| 24 | AGATE | A jar right off for semiprecious stone (5) |
| A GrATE (jar) missing R (right) | ||
| 25 | RAISE HELL | Commend oil company removing leaders – and cause a lot of trouble (5,4) |
| pRAISE sHELL (commend oil company) removing leading letters | ||
| 26 | INLETS | Fashionable rental properties in coastal features (6) |
| IN (fashionable) LETS (rental properties) | ||
| 27 | MEGAFLOP | Flag poem reviewed as a huge failure (8) |
| anagram (reviewed) of FLAG POEM | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEFAME | Damage reputation of French musical (6) |
| DE (of, French) then FAME (musical) | ||
| 2 | SKINNY | Short of muscle and short of money having spent time by US city (6) |
| SKINt (short of money) missing (having spent) T (time) then NY (New York, US city) | ||
| 3 | RACER | Speedy driver, one in luxury car (5) |
| ACE (one) in RR (Rolls Royce, luxury car) | ||
| 4 | BRADLEY COOPER | After being cast, replace broody actor (7,6) |
| anagram (after being cast) of REPLACE BROODY | ||
| 6 | INSOMNIAC | One that’s unable to be out? (9) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | BANKRUPT | Diverting prank but devoid of substance (8) |
| anagram (diverting) of PRANK BUT | ||
| 8 | RED ALERT | Auditor’s studied skill about the French in a crisis situation (3,5) |
| RED sounds like (for the auditor) “read” (studied) then ART (skill) containing (about) LE (the, French) | ||
| 10 | TRANSGRESSIVE | Gangsters without good right vie furiously about end of heists – typical of them? (13) |
| anagram (furiously) of gANGSTErS missing G (good) with R (right) and VIE containing heistS (end letter of) | ||
| 15 | ABHORRENT | A criminal besetting men within hour is loathsome (9) |
| A BENT (criminal) containing (besetting) OR (other ranks, men) inside HR (hour) | ||
| 16 | ABU DHABI | Rating given to hotel in resort of Dubai – or Dubai’s neighbour (3,5) |
| AB (able seaman, rating) with H (hotel) inside anagram (resort) of DUBAI | ||
| 17 | CITY HALL | Financial district with pull, we hear, in local US administration (4,4) |
| CITY (financial district) with HALL sounds like (we hear) “haul” (pull) | ||
| 19 | REVEAL | Show noted tennis player getting up infused with energy (6) |
| LAVER (Rod Laver, noted tennis player) reversed (getting up) containing (infused with) E (energy) | ||
| 20 | SELL UP | Outsiders in some level at college to cancel debt (4,2) |
| outside letters of SomE LeveL then UP (at college) | ||
| 23 | PIETA | Two Greek characters in religious depiction (5) |
| PI and ETA (two Greek characters) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Just what I needed after the usual wrestle with Nimrod which I attempted (unsuccessfully of course) immediately before this.
Nothing too contentious or tricky, but several needed a bit of figuring out including SUPREME, TRANSGRESSIVE and the ‘orchid’ which I had to enter from the anagram fodder. Good to see some blasts from the past in Diana Ross and Rod LAVER as the cultural references.
Er…, sorry again but 18 a should be: B (book) by RIGHT ON (absolutely correct) with ROCK (sure type) and there’s a little typo in 17d as well.
Thanks to Hypnos and PeeDee
Thanks for highlighting the typos WordPlodder. I just can’t see them myself.
I thought the definitions for sell up and bankrupt were not good.
Thanks Hypnos and PeeDee
David @ 3: a wealthy person is a person of substance, so a bankrupt could quite accurately be described as devoid of substance.
Usual interesting and pleasant offering from Hypnos. Last few for me were in the SE corner.
Parsing for 13A misses that RIM is also reversed inside the reversed LADA.
Thanks to Hypnos and PeeDee.
Yes, we completed this rather more quickly than we did yesterday’s Nimrod. Another blast from the past with the Lada in 13ac – we had one in the late 80s/early 90s; they ceased to be imported soon after due to the cost of meeting emission regulations. But we’d never heard of Bradley Cooper; where have we been all this time?
Favourites were (ironically, Hypnos being the god of sleep) INSOMNIAC and (when we remembered how to spell it) ABU DHABI.
Thanks, Hypnos and PeeDee.
@6 allan – don’t worry, I not only had to verify Mr Cooper but thought Brighton Rock was just something sold at the seaside and that megaflop was a non-existent word. Thank goodness for Rod Laver and The Supremes!
Enjoyed solving this one nonetheless, I like this particular setter’s style. The powerful backer was probably my favourite.
Thanks to Hypnos and to PD for the blog.
I completely agree with PeeDee’s introduction. Thanks to him and to Hypnos.