Another topical crossword from Knut today.
Across
1 50p? Heads or tails called for match (8)
COINCIDE
COIN (50?) + a homophone (‘called for’) of SIDE (‘heads or tails’)
5 Caught by tracer bullet? That’s bitter (5)
ACERB
Hidden in or ‘caught by’ trACER Bullet
9 At last Vince Cable is sacked following democratic fiasco (7)
DEBACLE
An anagram of E (last letter of Vince) and CABLE (anagrind is ‘sacked’) following D (democratic)
10 Henry longed to be married (7)
HITCHED
H (Henry) ITCHED (longed)
11 Broker runs out of silver (5)
AGENT
ArGENT (silver) without the ‘r’ (runs)
12 Urban plan encounters pitfall, Spooner reports (6,3)
STREET MAP
A spoonerism of MEETS TRAP (‘encounters pitfall’)
13 Mob assembling – it’s a jungle, Elysées evacuated (6,6)
GILETS JAUNES
An anagram of IT’S A JUNGLE and ElyseeS (without the middle letters or ‘evacuated’) – anagrind is ‘assembling’
16 Provided piece FT carried: “May finally shows a way out of EU” (7,5)
ARTICLE FIFTY
IF (provided) in or ‘carried by’ ARTICLE (piece) FT + Y (last or ‘final’ letter of ‘May’)
19 Hired gun running amok round British city (9)
EDINBURGH
An anagram of HIRED GUN (anagrind is ‘running amok’) round B (British)
20 At home, beginning to browse old Times file (5)
INBOX
IN (at home) B (first letter or ‘beginning’ of ‘browse’) O (old) X (times)
21 Building right over frozen land, river having melted (7)
ROTUNDA
R (right) O (over) TUNDrA (frozen land) without the ‘r’ (river)
22 That’s odd; half of Lausanne retired after sun-up, naked (7)
UNUSUAL
LAUS (half of Lausanne) reversed or ‘retired’ after sUN-Up without the first and last letters or ‘naked’
23 Stormy isn’t regularly taken out for a secret lovers’ meeting (5)
TRYST
Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of sToRmY iSn’T
24 Having improved Centre Court, changed winning forecasts (8)
RESEEDED
Double definition
Down
1 Inexperienced medic turned up in maritime conflict (3,3)
COD WAR
RAW (inexperienced) DOC (medic) all reversed or ‘turned up’
2 Between the sheets, cuddling Romeo; too much Montague blood? (6)
INBRED
IN BED (between the sheets) round or ‘cuddling’ R (Romeo in the phonetic alphabet)
3 Possibly old-fashioned senior ministers making a spirited display (8,7)
COCKTAIL CABINET
COCKTAIL (an ‘old-fashioned‘ is a type of cocktail) CABINET (senior ministers)
4 Training session in which the players look the part (5,9)
DRESS REHEARSAL
A cryptic definition
5 Manufacturing that Tesla micro just in time (2,3,4,6)
AT THE LAST MINUTE
An anagram of THAT TESLA – anagrind is ‘manufacturing‘ + MINUTE (micro)
6 Digging up former husband, upper-class member of the Campbell clan (8)
EXHUMING
EX (former) H (husband) U (upper-class) MING (a reference to Menzies (Ming) Campbell – ‘member of the Campbell clan’)
7 University accommodation erected in top capital location (8)
BUDAPEST
U (university) with PAD (accommodation) reversed or ‘erected’ as it is a down clue in BEST (top)
8 He authorises US involvement in espionage work (3,6,5)
THE RUSSIA HOUSE
An anagram of HE AUTHORISES US – anagrind is ‘involvement’
14 Some guffaw at erratic swimmer (5,3)
WATER RAT
Hidden in (‘some’) ‘guffaW AT ERRATic’
15 Reportedly conned Stallone to host glam BBC show (8)
STRICTLY
A homophone of TRICKED (conned) in or ‘hosted by’ SLY (Sylvester ‘Sly’ Stallone)
17 Incredible six-pack seen on Purdy when stripped (6)
ABSURD
ABS (six-pack) + pURDy without the first and last letters or ‘stripped’
18 English team was first to be banished (6)
EXILED
E (English) XI (eleven – ‘team’) LED (was first)
What? No comments (yet)?
In a ‘busy’ week for our beloved setter, this Knut puzzle was just as good as (if not better than) his recent Julius outing. Of course, the latter had two minor mistakes in it but that can happen.
I like it when Knut includes some European (as opposed to Trumpian) politics. In one of those clues Mrs Chambers had to convince me that D can stand for ‘democratic’ – always thought that it was only ‘Democrat’.
The pedant in me didn’t like the past tense of ‘carried’ in 16ac but apart from that I could keep him at a safe distance.
Top-notch crossword.
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce & Knut.
Thanks Knut and BnJ
Sil – think of, inter alia, the Irish DUP or German SDP. I’ll leave on one side whether such abbreviations are permissible as standalones. That’s a different vat of lampreys.
Very much enjoyed this bang up-to-date puzzle.
Thanks, Knut and B and J.
Another super puzzle! Great surfaces throughout, as always – my top favourites were 1, 9, 13 and 16ac and 8dn.
No problem with it, Simon. I was just somewhat surprised. That said, one of your examples is a bit unfortunate (DUP and ‘democratic’ … ?).
Thanks to Bertandjoyce and Knut
I think we should probably leave King Billy and the beneficiaries of his partiality out of this.
Too many great clues to list. Excellent stuff that must have taken a lot of effort.
More like this please.
Enjoyed on a train to London on my way to Big Dave’s blog 10th anniversary celebration
No-one will be at all surprised to learn that Eileen and I agree once again on matters cruciverbal
Great puzzle. We wondered if 17 9 was intended as a comment on 16.
Thanks, Knut and B&J.
Belated comment, but had to pop in to say that I found this a delight. Impossible really to choose a favourite, but I think my biggest laugh – of many – was at INBRED.
Thanks Knut and Bertandjoyce.