A puzzle from Serpent – a compiler I am rapidly growing to admire.
And no disappointment here. Very much the usual high standard of clueing with some original/unusual devices in the clue construction 19dn was my pick of the bunch, a lovely twist on the Spoonerism, but 15dn was also sublime. Smooth surface readings too – all it needed was something hidden in the grid.
And it delivered with that as well. Reading down the 3rd and 13th columns there is the author ELIZABETH GASKELL – most famous for her novel NORTH and SOUTH visible in their relevant positions in the grid (4ac and 26ac). 17ac was also her penmanship.
In short a marvellously enjoyable crossword.
Thanks Serpent I look forward to the next one.
Key * anagram; Rev. reverse; DD Double definition; underline definition
Across
1 Perhaps workers take heart from beautiful women (4)
Belles (beautiful women) – ll (heart) = BEES
4 Perverted Right Honourable member in game involving rubber (5)
(rt (right) + Hon (honourable)* = NORTH
7 Cooker draining current from main (4)
Chief (main) – i (current) = CHEF
9 First-class Latin dons pass papers (8)
L (latin) in spend (pass) + id (papers) = SPLENDID
10 Died after legless doctor heaved (6)
Surgeon (doctor) – on (legless) + d (died) = SURGED
11 Smallest member let into toilet that’s out of order (6,3)
let in (toilet)* = LITTLE TOE
13 Labour leader abandons reluctant pledge (4)
Loath (reluctant) – l (labour leader) = OATH
14 Zebra skin stocked by dodgy Arab shop (6)
Za (zebra skin) in (arab)* = BAZAAR
16 One makes ratings broadcast SOS, close to disaster on high seas (8)
(sos + r + seas)* = ASSESSOR
17 Novel published on account of being in digital format (8)
Cd (digital format) around ran (published) + for (on account of) = CRANFORD
19 Soundly beat target in game after suspension (6)
Homonym of conquer (soundly beat) = CONKER
20 One objection about means of producing notes (4)
Rev. a (one) + but (objection) = TUBA
21 Put forward current borders of England (9)
Present(current) + ed (borders of England) = PRESENTED
23 Essential character of Spare Rib is relaxed (2,4)
A (essential character of spare) + tease (rib) = AT EASE
24 Required prescription for ecstasy? (8)
Reversal clue en tailed gives e (ecstasy) = ENTAILED
25 Government expert on cycling skills (4)
Tsar (government expert) cycling = ARTS
26 Point out when it’s quiet outside (5)
Sh (quiet) around out = SOUTH
27 Start to endow higher education institution instead (4)
E (start to endow) + LSE (higher education institution) = ELSE
DOWN
2 Banish text spelt without using cases (5)
Text – tt + pselt – st = EXPEL
3 Distribute fantasy news made for nothing (5,5,5)
(fantasy news made)* = SWEET FANNY ADAMS
4 Knotty problem with our land (7)
(our land)* = NODULAR
5 He had a hand in 24 and 8 down (3)
Hidden in 8 is Rod who had his hand in Emu (Rod Hull) = ROD
6 One entertaining East German Nazi guards (7)
Hess (Nazi) around ost (east german) = HOSTESS
7 A rare condition’s breached this barrier method (6,9)
(a rare condition’s)* = CORDON SANITAIRE
8 Conductor’s chosen right verse (9)
Elect (chosen) + r (right) + ode (verse) = ELECTRODE
12 Loveless couple go off meaningless talk (7)
Two (couple) – o (loveless) + addle (go off) = TWADDLE
15 Instrument for simulating the production of heavy metal (3,6)
Straight clue = AIR GUITAR
18 Top policeman journalists treat harshly (7)
Cop (policeman) – c (top) + press (journalists) = OPPRESS
19 Big cat trainer for Spooner (7)
Teacher (trainer) turned into Tea cher then spoonerised into Chee tah = CHEETAH
22 Compulsion to remove university gown (5)
Duress (compulsion) – u (university) = DRESS
24 Bird releasing doctor’s grip on object (3)
Demur (object) – dr (doctor) = EMU
I saw NORTH SOUTH and CRANFORD was LOI after a false start.
Cant remember if I ever read it but I should have been more on the lookout with the excellent Serpent in charge.
Thanks Serpent and twencelas.
Wonderful, as always. A DNF for me as I failed to get CRANFORD and (annoyingly) failed to parse ENTAILED). Additionally, I cheated and used a word fit to get 7d. I’m sure I’ve met this before but couldn’t remember it. Took me awhile to parse EMU but got there in the end.
Thanks to Serpent and twencelas.
Wonderful challenge today. Thanks Serpent. I’m struggling to parse ENTAILED though, even with twencelas’s solution.
Automatics it’s “en” tailed – ie without its final letter.
Or even autolycus – Damn this autocorrect.
Thanks david. My eyes have now seen the light
Another great puzzle from Serpent. I felt smug at seeing the North South / Cranford connection and missed the Nina completely.
I’m quite chuffed to have spotted the Nina early on without which I wouldn’t have got CRANFORD, I think.
Forgive me for being dim, but in 24 across, I see required=entailed. If the parsing intended by Serpent is that we are to look for a two letter word “en”, which we have to “tail” by removing the n, to get e=ecstasy, then I genuflect in the direction of anybody who got that without reverse engineering it.
Thanks to S&B
baerchen@8 – yes me, I got 24a without reverse engineering – and you may or may not be surprised to learn that I spotted the Nina too
I think this is one the best crosswords I’ve solved for a while, full of entertainment from start to finish, with some wonderful moments such as the splendid 19d to mention just one.
Thanks to Serpent for brightening up my Saturday afternoon no end and also to twencelas for the explanations
We were wrong-footed at one stage putting ‘tsar’ (cycling ‘arts’) for 25ac, but soon realised our mistake once we got 3dn. Couldn’t parse ENTAILED; in fact we weren’t sure it was the right answer until we spotted the nina.
We initially took the reference to 8dn in 5dn as meaning ROD was hidden in ELECTRODE, but latter wondered if it might refer to an electrode possibly being a rod – although it doesn’t have to be.
CoD was CONKER – although we took ages to see it.
Thanks, Serpent and Twencelas
@crypticsue
Fair dos. I did make it clear that I will be attending the Times champs event in the role of fanboy purely for the apres-ski didn’t I?
Many thanks to twencelas for the excellent blog and to everyone who was kind enough to take the time to solve and comment on my puzzle.
See you again in a fortnight.