Great fun from Gurney. Not too challenging and very enjoyable.
Very enjoyable Monday puzzle. This is our first Gurney solve on the blog. Everything was tightly clued. We haven’t come across 9a as a phrase before, but it seemed perfectly logical.
17d was particularly crafty! All part of the fun.
Thanks to Gurney!
Across
9 Better again, miles high? (5,3,7)
ABOVE THE WEATHER
Double definition, as an opposite to “under the weather”
10 Old president recalls a date selectively (5)
SADAT
[recall]S A DAT[e] (selectively)
11 Reference work? That’s bull, fellow’s admitted (9)
THESAURUS
TAURUS (bull) admitting HES (fellow’s)
12 Shocks Spurs playing across slope (9)
SURPRISES
(SPURS)* (*playing) across RISE (slope)
14 Miss is enthusiastic about circular letter (5)
AVOID
AVID (enthusiastic) about O (circular letter)
16 Rural aunt upset with lassie’s game far away? (10,5)
AUSTRALIAN RULES
(RURAL AUNT LASSIE)* (*upset)
19 The really upsetting sticky situation just starting – a bind (5)
TRUSS
T[he] R[eally] U[psetting] S[ticky] S[ituation] (just starting)
21 Way to get TV list included can be freshened up (9)
CLEANABLE
CABLE (way to get TV) with LEAN (list) included
23 Fabric from Turin a pal ordered (9)
TARPAULIN
(TURIN A PAL)* (*ordered)
25 Second showing somewhat poorer unfortunately (5)
RERUN
[poo]RER UN[fortunately] (somewhat)
26 A fix, mental, is one turning to this? (4-11)
SELF-EXAMINATION
(A FIX MENTAL IS ONE)* (*turning) &lit
Down
1 Football body initially lambasts group defending top player’s illegal move (5,5)
FALSE START
FA (football body) + L[ambasts] (initially) + SET (group) defending STAR (top player)
2 Be close to Bishop, fraternity (6)
BORDER
B (bishop) + ORDER (fraternity)
3 Gallery employee maybe referring to shop by river (8)
RESTORER
RE (referring to) + STORE (shop) + R (river)
4 Warbler talk (4)
CHAT
Double definition
5 Form of gambling – son to cry over amount risked (10)
SWEEPSTAKE
S (son) + WEEP (cry) + STAKE (amount risked)
6 Country accountant overlooking nothing? (6)
CANADA
CA (accountant) overlooking NADA (nothing)
7 One cleaning firm with almost all the fuel (8)
CHARCOAL
CHAR (one cleaning) + CO (firm) + AL[l] (almost)
8 God, angry, upset (4)
EROS
(SORE)< (upset)
13 Alert, calls for change in table feature? (10)
SALTCELLAR
(ALERT CALLS)* (*change)
15 Seeing record making money – album’s first to come out (10)
DISCERNING
DISC (record) + E[a]RNING (Album’s first to come out)
17 4 or 9 say disheartened lady? Honestly? (8)
SQUARELY
SQUARE (4 or 9, square numbers) + L[ad]Y (disheartened)
18 Call right over publicity – find way round (4,4)
RING ROAD
RING (call) + R (right) + O (over) + AD (publicity)
20 Decided one fancied at Wimbledon will welcome a learner (6)
SEALED
SEED (one fancied at Wimbledon) will welcome A L (a learner)
22 Stop working after tease over low score (6)
BIRDIE
(RIB)< (tease, over) + DIE (stop working)
23 Request time at first for work to be carried out (4)
TASK
ASK (request) + T (time) at first
24 Seize fastening device (4)
NAIL
Double definition
9a was new to me too. Always thought saltcellar was two words but I was wrong.
Thanks to Gurney and Teacow.
Thanks all. For 9a, I think it may be used in aviation “flying above the weather” is better.
Thanks Gurney and Teacow
Nice level of puzzle to start off the week. I too had not heard of the idiom of ABOVE THE WEATHER and initially had written in ALL instead of THE which made CHAT a bit harder to find than it needed to have been. They were my last two in.
Was surprised to find AUSSIE RULES make an appearance and it was the first of the long across ones to go in.
A number of nice clues that included FALSE START and BIRDIE.
Thanks to Gurney and Teacow. Lots of fun. I enjoyed ABOVE THE WEATHER (even if it’s not a stock phrase) and got through quickly. Last in were CLEANABLE and BIRDIE (which I had trouble spotting earlier).