Another carefully-crafted puzzle from Everyman with plenty of trademark multi-part clues.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagrind indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Film area held by group back in the news
TOPICAL
An insertion of PIC and A in LOT reversed.
5 Account by bishop in cold fury turning bitter
ACERBIC
A charade of A and B in C IRE reversed.
9 Average young salmon, reportedly
PAR
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of PARR.
10 In command, one man, thinking
INTELLIGENT
A charade of IN, TELL, I and GENT.
11 Troublemakers in hour in gaol so out of order
HOOLIGANS
(H IN GAOL SO)*
12 Some complain anecdote’s fatuous
INANE
Hidden in complaIN ANEcdote.
13 Crude, corrupt rag is read once
COARSE-GRAINED
(RAG IS READ ONCE)*
16 Old man with good name, admitting small swindle, scared
PANIC-STRICKEN
A charade of PA and S TRICK inserted into NICE and N.
20 Run into extremely quiet band
TROOP
An insertion of R in TOO followed by P for the musically ‘quiet’.
21 Indicator of change, portent endlessly disrupting trade
BAROMETER
An insertion of OME[N] in BARTER.
22 Court studies page with nothing about award for loser
WOODEN SPOON
A five-part charade: WOO plus DENS plus P plus O plus ON.
23 Cut and run, missing finish
LOP
LOP[E]
24 House in yard, on reflection, unpleasant
DYNASTY
A charade of YD reversed and NASTY.
25 Day after day seer’s unusually attired
DRESSED
A charade of D, (SEERS)* and another D.
Down
1 Western journalist after time and work getting maximum price
TOP WHACK
A charade of T, OP, W and HACK.
2 Runners on a loop, struggling under pressure? That could be us
PERSONAL PRONOUN
A charade of P and (RUNNERS ON A LOOP)* ‘Us’ is an example of a PERSONAL PRONOUN. In English they are: I/me/he/him/she/her/we/us/they/them/you/it.
3 Attackers? Odd characters in cars in this case
CRITICS
Exactly what it says on the tin: the odd characters of CaRsInThIsCaSe.
4 Sluggish husband getting into scrape left upset and sick at heart
LETHARGIC
An insertion of H in GRATE and L reversed followed by IC for the middle letters (‘at heart’) of sICk.
5 Sadly accepting expert’s conclusion in geographical book
ATLAS
An insertion of T in ALAS.
6 Issue with electronic speech, not constant
EDITION
A charade of E and DI[C]TION.
7 Insects filled in by artist on edges of notepad sketch for fun
BEER AND SKITTLES
An insertion of RA, ND for the outside letters of ‘notepad’ and SKIT in BEETLES.
8 Pretty tentative initially about large portion of meat
CUTLET
An insertion of L in CUTE and T for the first letter of ‘tentative’.
14 Last section of tar we newly put on road
AFTERWORD
(OF TAR WE)* followed by RD.
15 Brave one, not losing heart, clear about record
INTREPID
A charade of I, N[O]T and EP for ‘record’ inserted into RID.
16 Claws of crustaceans, young ones
NIPPERS
A dd.
18 Giant that is guarding thousand people, foremost in story
IMMENSE
An insertion of M, MEN and S for the first letter of ‘story’ in IE for id est, or ‘that is’.
19 Street due to be packed
STOWED
A charade of ST and OWED.
21 Coach perhaps with past item of headgear
BUSBY
A charade of BUS and BY gives you the ‘headgear’ worn by those stern looking soldiers outside Buck Pal. Alternatively, Sir Matt BUSBY is certainly a ‘coach perhaps with past’, so you can score a point as well if you had this down as a dd, although I’m sure that’s not where Everyman was coming from.
Many thanks to him for this morning’s entertainment.
Thank you, Pierre, I needed your help with the parsing of 4d as I hadn’t thought of “grate” for “scrape”. Just one point: I think 5d should be “A charade of AC and B in C IRE reversed”.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
It took me a while to spot the hidden word, one of my favourite clue types. The clue for PERSONAL PRONOUN was fun as is Pierre’s remark re BUSBY!
Another classic Everyman. Looking at it again I realise I didn’t parse BAROMETER. And BEER AND SKITTLES took a while as I assumed the insects were BEES. Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
Thanks both. Like WhiteKing @3 I tried to make BEER AND SKITTLES with bees, before the beetles landed in my mind.
I agree with crosser @1 about ACERBIC, although the clue is 5a
No wonder I couldn’t parse 7D. I had the insects as Bees. I got the answer, but couldn’t see the reason for the life of me.
Thank you Pierre and Everyman.
My favourites were PANIC STRICKEN, BEER AND SKITTLES, WOODEN SPOON
Took a while to think of 3 d. Haven’t heard of Top Whack but it had to be that.
Liked intelligent, dynasty, personal pronoun.
Having trouble posting my comment due to a “gateway error”?
Am so pleased with myself as got everything except one ( Intrepid got me stumped) without any help, except I did have to research young salmon. Been a long time getting so many answers without thesaurus help. I actually thought the film area in 1ac might have been LA backward, so I had it right for the wrong reasons. I guess it doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you get there. Wasn’t 2d clever, I was trying to search my brain for synonyms for rats on a wheel in a cage and then thought there were no synonyms for that
also liked 22ac 16ac even though I pencilled in panic stations before abandoning the second word
All seemed to go pretty smoothly today until the very last when it took me ages to solve the 13ac anagram even though I had every second letter. Thanks Everyman & Pierre and all the regulars. Half the fun is reading this blog at the end.
A pretty straightforward outing. Managed to get this out in one sitting which is rare for me. LOI was BUSBY.
was excited to think I had finished…till I went through here and realised I had left 6d undone. Ah well! Enjoyable though.
Enjoyed this one immensely, but then it was a beautiful weekend to be away adjusting the duck population. The farm where I was has loads of bee hives so add my name to the list of those who queried the surplus letters. Personal Pronoun was nice.