Always a pleasure to solve and blog a Kairos puzzle. Lots to like in this one.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Noble duke departs for Big Apple with older lady
GRANNY
A charade of GRAN[D] and NY.
4 Passage read out for Frank
STRAIGHT
A homophone of STRAIT.
10 Explain in detail one’s commute after work?
DRIVE HOME
A dd.
11 Liverpool, for example, welcomes European players
REEDS
Far too much footie in the Indy. An insertion of E in REDS, which is the nickname of Liverpool FC. Musical ‘players’ is what Kairos is intending.
12 Independent news recruit the Prince of Wales?
INN SIGN
A charade of I, NN (two ‘news’) and SIGN.
13 Singers’ part in description of Rossini’s finale!
SECONDI
Clever clue, with a meaningful surface reading and a nice twist. The last I in ‘Rossini’ would be the SECOND I, because there are only two.
14 Watch Saint Vincent, say, helping fallen WWI soldiers
LOST GENERATION
A charade of LO! ST, GENE (Vincent) and RATION. Gene Vincent is well enough known, but LO! for ‘watch!’ is a bit of a stretch, perhaps: normally it’s clued with ‘look’, which is not quite the same as ‘watch’.
Lo! Within the manger lies
He who built the starry skies
The carol’s asking you to look at the Christ child, not to watch him in case he does something naughty. Mebbes I’m being picky.
17 Hideous man ekes out medical complaint
HOUSEMAID’S KNEE
(HIDEOUS MAN EKES)*
21 Hot group of stars seen over zenith in a line
HORIZON
A charade of H and Z inserted into ORION. Kairos is a careful setter, so Z for ‘zenith’ will be referenced somewhere.
22 Illegally transfer articles overseas
LAUNDER
The solution is made up of three articles from foreign languages: LA and UN from French, and DER from German.
24 Boat by lake has a dirty look
SCOWL
A charade of SCOW and L.
25 One caring about lack of awareness
IGNORANCE
(ONE CARING)*
26 Bit of cedar tree some French king made into table
CASH DESK
A charade of C for the first letter of ‘cedar’, ASH, DES for one of the words for ‘some’ in French, and K. An increasingly small number of folk don’t like ‘bit of’ for a first letter indication, but personally I think it’s fine.
27 Lays claim to missing queen’s property
ASSETS
ASSE[R]TS. The R is Regina, or ‘queen’.
Down
1 Albert and Elizabeth briefly follow retreating monster
GODZILLA
A reversal of AL, LIZ and DOG gives you the (originally Japanese) ‘monster’.
2 A Welsh girl from the east
ASIAN
A charade of A and SIAN.
3 Wanting something done by Paul Hollywood, we hear
NEEDING
Even I know that Mr H is famous for baking programmes on the telly, so it’s a homophone of KNEADING.
5 Altered Russian novel – one involving piracy
TREASURE ISLAND
(ALTERED RUSSIAN)* ‘Novel’ is needed as the anagrind and part of the definition.
6 A container contains pruned grass tree
APRICOT
A charade of A and RIC[E] inserted into POT. Rice is botanically a grass, so the clue is fine.
7 Common drinking vessel for inexperienced youth
GREENHORN
A charade of (village) GREEN and HORN.
8 Seed producer featured in latest issue
TESTIS
Hidden in laTEST ISsue. The fact that it is a ‘seed producer’ is confirmed in Genesis 38:9
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
Spoiler alert: this did not turn out to be a good move for Onan (see Genesis 38:10).
9 Man mining with noise irritated complainers
MOANING MINNIES
(MAN MINING NOISE)* with ‘irritated’ as the anagrind.
15 South African women’s expressions of delight mounting in exhibition halls
SHOWROOMS
A reversal (‘mounting’, since it’s a down clue) of S, MOOR, W and OHS. MOOR for ‘African’ is sound, since the MOORS were originally indigenous North African Berbers. You have to take the apostrophe ‘s’ as meaning ‘has’ rather than ‘is’.
16 Questions and removes underwear?
DEBRIEFS
A whimsical dd cum cd.
18 Drunk Australian that is leaving to enter vehicle
SOZZLED
It’s most commonly spelled AUSSIE, but OZZIE is also in dictionaries, so it’s an insertion of OZZ[IE] in SLED.
19 Gentlemen put some paper into empty skips
SQUIRES
An insertion of QUIRE in SS, the outside letters of the last word of the clue: so S[KIP]S
20 Old medicinal lesson cut short
PHYSIC
PHYSIC[S]
23 With level of proficiency chef regularly produces mashed potato?
DANCE
A charade of the (karate) DAN and the odd letters of ChEf give you a dance from the late fifties/early sixties that I had never heard of because I’m far too young.
Thanks to Kairos for the Sunday morning entertainment.
Yes, lots to like and lots to have to think hard about as well. I had no idea about the LOST GENERATION parsing and admit that I’d never heard of the celebrity baker in 3d. I find those reversal clues can be quite hard, 1d and 15d being good examples. Don’t think I’ve seen ‘Prince of Wales?’ as a def for INN SIGN before. I initially had only the first and last letters of the answer and was vainly (and I thought cleverly) trying to fit in ‘ich dien’.
The humble ‘mashed potato’ is a DANCE. Well I never. Thank goodness the dignity acquired by advancing years limits me to the gastronomic variety.
Thanks to Kairos and Pierre.
I looked up Z in my Chambers and, lo and behold (watch and behold?), Zenith was the first entry.
The Indy had given us several really tough crosswords of late and I found this the hardest of the lot and needed a few cheats to finish. I did know the dance at 23d, so this was a write-in for me.
Lots to like here even if it was a bit beyond my ability. REEDS was my LOI, not knowing Liverpool FC were ‘reds’.
Thanks to Kairos and Pierre.
Yes, very enjoyable, and a great way to wind down after a fun day out yesterday.
Thanks Kairos and Pierre.
This was a joy to solve with only 11a giving me pause for thought. As a Cheshire girl, the ‘reds’ implies M/cr United to me!
So many ticks on my sheet – special mention to 10,14&22a plus 16&23d.
Many thanks, Kairos, and thanks to Pierre for the comprehensive blog.
This was very enjoyable. All Kairos’ inventiveness and humour were in evidence. Jane’s list of favourites is good enough for me!
Thanks to Kairos and to Pierre whose help I needed to parse 15d.
My thanks to Pierre for the blog and to all for the comments.