Another good puzzle from Julius, as always. Not as much wit and political satire as we sometimes get but still very enjoyable regardless. Thank you Julius.
| Across | ||
| 1 | WORKING | Rejecting argument monarch is effective (7) |
| ROW (argument) reversed (rejected) then KING (monarch) | ||
| 5 | DEAD SEA | Desalinated production abandoning troubled int’l waters (4,3) |
| anagram (production) of DESAlinAtED missing LIN and T (anagram, troubled, of int’l) | ||
| 9 | DECAL | Transfer about to be tied up (5) |
| LACED (to be tied up) reversed (about) | ||
| 10 | AU NATUREL | 22 down’s simply-cooked tuna served in bay leaf starter is off the menu (2,7) |
| anagram ( |
||
| 11 | SNOW WHITE | This WWI mess sounds like a grim tale (4,5) |
| ANAGRAM (mess) of THIS WW ONE – grim sounds like Grimm, a Brothers Grimm tale | ||
| 12 | RABBI | Current bishop to exclude retired religious scholar (5) |
| I (current, electrical symbol) B (bishop) BAR (to exclude) all reversed (retired) | ||
| 13 | HENRY THE FOURTH | Bolingbroke contracted HIV (5,3,6) |
| H IV is a contracted version of Henry IV (known as Henry Bolingbroke) | ||
| 18 | EXASPERATINGLY | Egyptians relax at work in an infuriating manner (14) |
| anagram (at work) of EGYPTIANS RELAX | ||
| 20 | SWAMI | Yogi’s morning in Belgravia (5) |
| AM (morning) in SWI (SW1, postcode of Belgravia) | ||
| 22 | BREAKFAST | Meal of lean chicken meat featuring American Kentucky- fried prime cuts (9) |
| BREAST (lean chicken meat) contains (featuring) first letters (prime cuts) of American Kentucky Fried | ||
| 24 | OBBLIGATO | Compulsory exercise for the players (9) |
| cryptic definition – players of music | ||
| 25 | OLIVE | One gets stoned in Napoli, Ventimiglia (5) |
| found inside napOLI VEntimigia | ||
| 26 | SATANIC | Devilish oriental appetiser left unfinished, though mostly agreeable (7) |
| SATAy (oriental appetiser, unfinished) then NICe (agreable, mostly) | ||
| 27 | SLOE GIN | Old Nigel’s retiring, going out for a drink (4,3) |
| O (old) inside (with…going out) NIGEL’S reversed (retiring) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WIDEST | Broad stumped; most difficult for the wicket-keeper? (6) |
| WIDE (broad) and ST (stumped, abbreviation in cricket) | ||
| 2 | ROCK OPERA | Tommy could be playing poker with Cora (4,5) |
| anagram (playing) of POKER with CORA | ||
| 3 | IN-LAW | Find flaws essentially in partner’s mother? (2-3) |
| the middle parts (essentially) of fINd fLAWs | ||
| 4 | GLADIATOR | Small alligator eats boy, one brave fighter (9) |
| GATOR (small alligator) contains (eats) LAD (boy) I (one) | ||
| 5 | DUNCE | Dutch pawnbroker ripped off lecturer; he’s a slow learner! (5) |
| D (Dutch) then UNCLE (pawn broker) missing (ripped off) L (lecturer) | ||
| 6, 17 | AFTERNOON SESSIONS | PM joins the US attorney- general for long liquid lunches (9,8) |
| AFTERNOON (PM) with SESSIONS (Jeff Sessions, US Attorney General) | ||
| 7 | SHRUB | Quiet massage for Rosemary? (5) |
| SH (quiet) RUB (massage) – the question mark indicates definition by example | ||
| 8 | ALL RIGHT | No-one’s left, OK? (3,5) |
| if they are ALL RIGHT then not one of them is left | ||
| 14 | REPTILIAN | Contemptible salesman turning up drunk with Scotsman (9) |
| REP (salesman) LIT (drunk) reversed (turning up) then IAN (Scotsman, traditional Scottish name) | ||
| 15 | ENTRE NOUS | Fumbling encounters taking cocaine in Paris kept between ourselves (5,4) |
| anagram (fumbling) of ENCOUNTERS missing (taking) C (cocaine) | ||
| 16 | RELEASING | It’s liberating, signing a new tenancy agreement! (9) |
| double definition | ||
| 17 | See 6 | |
| 19 | STREWN | Broadcast troubling news about Turkey (6) |
| anagram (troubling) of NEWS containing TR (Turkey) | ||
| 21 | AMBIT | Strategic move leaving government scope (5) |
| gAMBIT (strategic move) missing G (government) | ||
| 22 | BLANC | Mel Brooks’s debut on Network of the Century? (5) |
| first letter (debut) of Brooks on LAN (network) C (of the century) – Mel Blanc, actor and the voice of Bugs Bunny and a host of other cartoon characters | ||
| 23 | KYOTO | 1,000 yen over? Time for old Japanese city! (5) |
| K (1,000) Y (yen) O (over) T (time) O (old) | ||
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.
I did like Bolingbroke!Good stuff as usual-also liked PM and US attorney.
I agree – Bolingbroke is brilliant! And I liked PM and US attorney too, and I enjoyed the construction of AU NATUREL and the neat KYOTO. And lots more.
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
What Eileen said
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee. Enjoyable. I had trouble with the bottom half, largely because I started off with Tokyo rather than KYOTO, so that I took a while getting STREWN, my LOI. I also had trouble at first parsing gAMBIT and the LAN in BLANC.
Thanks Julius, PeeDee
For 10a (no doubt what you meant to say is that) AU NATUREL is ‘Blanc’s simply’, with ‘cooked’ being the anagram indicator.
Also liked AFTERNOON SESSIONS and HENRY IV. I’ve had a good stare, but can’t see if there’s anything going on.
It could also be “22 down’s simply-cooked” with served as the anagram indicator for TUNA.
Fun puzzle thanks Julius. Trying to remember how many b’s in obbligato. And thanks for the 5d namecheck. I like many of the simple ones, strewn, shrub, etc. PM great in 6d.
Many thanks Peedee as usual
@Dutch, that’s better, I was trying to be too clever
Thanks to Dutch and James for the improved parsing for AU NATUREL. James is very kind to imply that is what I meant to write, but not wholly accurate I fear.
A really enjoyable challenge, especially the brilliant Henry IV. Thank you, Julius.
Yes, many pearls….a delight! Thanks Julius and Peedee.
I loved Bolingbroke! Great puzzle. And parsing
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
Late to this after watching a great game in our AFL football grand final yesterday. Whilst this was not quite as enjoyable, it was still pretty good. Like others, I really appreciated 13a after having to look him up to link him to Bolingbroke. A few of them that I had to do that for – Belgravia’s postcode and Jeff SESSIONS.
Missed the parsing of BREAKFAST and finished with REPTILIAN after a very pleasant half hour over a coffee.