A gentle puzzle for a Sunday afternoon. Thank you Loglady.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CATACOMB | A search goes after Tom, perhaps into cave (8) |
| A COMB (search) following (goes after) CAT (a tom perhaps) | ||
| 5 | STREAM | Burn or watch online (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 9 | ROADSIDE | Was transported and heaved breast, say, or shoulder (8) |
| ROAD SIDE sounds like (say) “rode” (was transported) and “sighed” (heaved breast) | ||
| 10 | REACTS | Engineers, takes part in drama, changes chemistry (6) |
| RE (Royal Engineers) then ACTS (takes part in drama) | ||
| 12 | FLAKE | Start to exfoliate after hassle shaving (5) |
| Exfoliate (starting letter of) following FLAK (hassle) | ||
| 13 | MARCH HARE | Animal that finds itself nuts in spring? (5,4) |
| cryptic definition – a mad March hare | ||
| 14 | INDIAN SUMMER | Brave amount of money put towards dream return – no cooling off period (6,6) |
| INDIAN (brave) SUM (amount of money) then (put towards) REM (dream sleep) reversed (returning) | ||
| 18 | CALL THE SHOTS | Command the spirits by name (4,3,5) |
| THE SHOTS (spirits) following (by) CALL (name) | ||
| 21 | ARMADILLO | Chaotic drama and love sheltering sick animal (9) |
| anagram (chaotic) of DRAMA and O (love) contains (sheltering) ILL (sick) | ||
| 23 | RINSE | Siren at sea to finish washing (5) |
| anagram (at sea) of SIREN | ||
| 24 | BOXING | Packing in sport (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 25 | DINOSAUR | One of the oldest animals around is evolving (8) |
| anagram (evolving) of AROUND IS | ||
| 26 | ENDURE | Stand nude sculpture next to religious study (6) |
| anagram (sculpture) of NUDE then RE (religious education, study) | ||
| 27 | RHETORIC | Grand words spoken as Gable’s iconic character or Bogart’s (8) |
| sounds like (spoken as) “Rhett or Rick” (Gable’s iconic character or Bogart’s) – Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind and Rick Blaine from Casablanca | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CARAFE | Bottle in restaurant, catching the sun (6) |
| CAFE (restaurant) contains (catching) RA (the sun, god) | ||
| 2 | TEABAG | Ate a bagel, somewhat in preparation for drink (6) |
| found inside (somewhat) aTE A BAGel | ||
| 3 | CASHEW NUT | Drunken aunt chews snack item (6,3) |
| anagram (drunken) of AUNT CHEWS | ||
| 4 | MADEMOISELLE | Young lady compelled doctor, single, to peddle drug (12) |
| MADE (compelled) MO (medical officer, doctor) I (one, single) SELL (to peddle) E (ecstasy, drug) | ||
| 6 | TEETH | The ‘beat the odds’ projections (5) |
| every other letter (odds) of ThE bEaT tHe | ||
| 7 | EXCLAIMS | Cries at divorce settlement demands? (8) |
| EX CLAIMS (divorce settlement demands) | ||
| 8 | MUSKETRY | Smell shot, catching echo of old-fashioned gunfire (8) |
| MUSK (smell) TRY (shot) contains (catching) E (echo, phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 11 | FRENCH POLISH | Like Marie Curie‘s treatment (6,6) |
| double definition – Marie Curie was born Polish but adopted French nationality later in life | ||
| 15 | UTTERMOST | Extreme talk supported by a majority (9) |
| UTTER (talk) by MOST (a majority) | ||
| 16 | SCRABBLE | Special constable, tailed by mob, in scrape (8) |
| SC (special constable) then (tailed by) RABBLE (mob) | ||
| 17 | CLIMAXED | Increase reported, then cut came (8) |
| CLIM sounds like (reported) “climb” (increase) then AXED (cut) | ||
| 19 | UNFAIR | Discriminatory amusements, excluding female (6) |
| fUNFAIR (amusements) missing F (female) | ||
| 20 | METRIC | System to help lose pounds and inches? (6) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | DINAR | Currency setter invested in rising currency (5) |
| I (the setter) in RAND (currency) reversed (rising) | ||
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.
Yes, good for a pleasant Sunday afternoon solve, but I still managed to be fooled into thinking 21a was an anagram of an unknown word for an animal shelter and I couldn’t parse a few such as ROADSIDE. The “Rhett or Rick” and FRENCH POLISH clues were my favourites.
Thanks to Loglady and to PeeDee
Lovely puzzle, thanks to Loglady and PeeDee. I particularly enjoyed the clues for RHETORIC and MUSKETRY
Very nice puzzle, with the outstanding 11d my favourite.
Thanks to Loglady and PeeDee.
Enjoyed this one – more like the setter whose debut I admired so much.
Top three here were 18a plus 7&11d.
Thanks to Loglady and to PeeDee for the blog.