A pleasant and gentle start to the week from Gurney.
Good mix of clues with some clever anagrams, and longer phrases which weren’t all that easy to solve! CORGI is an old favourite of setters that comes up regularly and EVIAN/NAIVE is another we’ve come across more than once.
GO-FASTER STRIPES was a particularly clever anagram! GUATEMALA and GUINEAN had us thinking for a while and both are very worthy clues. Favourite of the day is probably GREENHOUSE GASES. Many thanks to Gurney!
Across
1 New Fiat progresses over time – these provide fillip? (2-6,7)
GO-FASTER STRIPES
(FIAT PROGRESSES)* (*new) over T (time)
9 European Union attitude not new for this guy (7)
EUSTACE
EU (European Union) + STA[n]CE (attitude, not N (new))
10 Beat dodge, we hear, referring to some teachings (7)
TANTRIC
TAN (beat) + “TRICK” (dodge, we hear)
11 Too trusting spa town recalled (5)
NAIVE
(EVIAN)< (spa town, <recalled)
12 Spider natural at swimming (9)
TARANTULA
(NATURAL AT)* (*swimming)
13 Show too much emotion about poor race, ultimately unimportant (9)
OVERREACT
OVER (about) + (RACE)* (*poor) + [unimportan]T (ultimately)
15 I’m surprised at soldier’s dog (5)
CORGI
COR (I’m surprised) + GI (soldier)
16 Oddly sweet jump that’s arranged beforehand (3-2)
SET-UP
S[w]E[e]T [j]U[m]P (oddly)
18 No flexibility in turning up for these chaps initially – sadly some tire (4,5)
CORE TIMES
C[haps] (initially) + (SOME TIRE)* (*sadly)
20 Country celebration in which posh had meal with magnificent starter? (9)
GUATEMALA
GALA (celebration) in which (U (posh) + ATE (had meal) with M[agnificent] (starter))
23 One unsuccessful, more miserly, losing head (5)
LOSER
[c]LOSER (more miserly, losing head)
24 Being cheeky to seniors and upsetting children is not good at outset (7)
SAUCING
S[eniors] A[nd] U[psetting] C[hildren] I[s] N[ot] G[ood] (at outset)
25 African gets old British coin at auction finally (7)
GUINEAN
GUINEA (old British coin) + [auctio]N (finally)
26 Bucket list advice, Italian style? (3,6,3,3)
SEE NAPLES AND DIE
Cryptic definition
Down
1 Gore’s a huge sense for change – countering these? (10,5)
GREENHOUSE GASES
(GORES A HUGE SENSE)* (*for change) &lit
2 Celebrating quins is in Paris to be entertained? (7)
FESTIVE
FIVE (quins) EST (is, in Paris) to be entertained
3 Hear corps somehow cultivate land (9)
SHARECROP
(HEAR CORPS)* (*somehow)
4 Like two, tense, in pole vault maybe (5)
EVENT
EVEN (like two) + T (tense)
5 Provider of much liquid as art tour moves round (9)
SATURATOR
(AS ART TOUR)* (*moves round)
6 Matches late in season causing quarrel (3-2)
RUN-IN
Double definition
7 One following United introduced to ship’s officer (7)
PURSUER
U (united) introduced to PURSER (ship’s officer, who keeps the accounts)
8 It provides safety net in Council’s areas after redevelopment (6,9)
SOCIAL INSURANCE
(IN COUNCILS AREAS)* (*after redevelopment)
14 In clear change, leave port (9)
ARCHANGEL
[cle]AR CHANGE L[eave] (in)
15 Dance company at start taking in London celebrity (9)
COTILLION
CO (company) + T[aking] I[n] L[ondon] (at start) + LION (celebrity)
17 Speak badly of exchange involving university clubs (7)
TRADUCE
TRADE (exchange) involving (U (university) + C (clubs))
19 Give false information to Military Intelligence: deal’s off (7)
MISLEAD
MI (military intelligence) + (DEALS)* (*off)
21 When I expect to arrive, around six, for musical (5)
EVITA
ETA (when I expect to arrive) around VI (six)
22 Alert watchman from afar, Gustav (5)
ARGUS
[af]AR GUS[tav] (from)
Thanks to both. Although I completed this puzzle, I had no confidence in “go-faster stripes” or “core times” neither of which I had ever heard or seen before.
LOI’s, “saucing/traduce” which finally made me give up on “sassing”.
FOI TRADUCE, LOI COTILLION. COR-GI now a chestnut. COD 21d.
After getting 1ac quite quickly I thought I was going to enjoy this.
I didn’t.
Some of the bottom half wasn’t very good, particularly 15 & 26.
Thanks to Gurney and Teacow. Lots of terms new to me, so I took a while to get the two noted by john@1 but also SATURATOR and SOCIAL INSURANCE, and I took forever to spot SAUCING.
Thanks Gurney and Teacow
Found this a little more challenging than a normal Monday puzzle, but maybe that was more about doing it later in the day with a glass of shiraz rather than in the morning with a cup of coffee !!! The main issue was not getting three of the long perimeter clues until quite late in the piece, after getting SOCIAL INSURANCE quite early on.
It took a while to parse both FESTIVE and RUN-IN.
Finished down the bottom with SEE NAPLES AND DIE (a phrase that I hadn’t seen before), CORE TIMES (a neat clue) and COTILLION (a new term for me which I would never have gotten without a word finder).
A gentle offering from Gurney with nothing too difficult or obscure. Failed to parse COTILLON, my last one in. Must remember Lion for celebrity! COD to SEE NAPLES AND DIE. What a splendid phrase! Thanks Gurney and Teacow.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Teacow, and thanks also to those who commented.
Thanks Gurney@7!
Only our second time blogging you, and both have been very enjoyable. Hope we see you more in the future!