Medium-hard for Tuesday, with a nice mix of clues.
Enjoyed this. Struggled at the end with 10; that little word ‘for’, indicating a substitution, trips me up every time.
Ah, well, we live and demostrably fail to learn. Thanks to The Falcon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ARCADE | A blighter splitting note in amusement centre (6) |
| A + RE (a ‘note’) contains CAD (‘blighter’). | ||
| 4 | EPHEMERA | Eastern hamper curiously containing English objects of no lasting value (8) |
| E[astern] + anagram (‘curiously’) of HAMPER contains E[nglish]. | ||
| 9 | TINSEL | Listen out for something associated with Christmas? (6) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of LISTEN. | ||
| 10 | VENDETTA | Feud heralds demise for all in Meditteranean capital (8) |
| VallETTA (capital of Malta) with END (‘demise’) replacing ALL. | ||
| 12 | FIELDFARE | Put out food for a type of thrush (9) |
| FIELD (‘put out’ as in to ‘field for discussion’, ‘field a team’ &c) + FARE (‘food’). | ||
| 13 | RALPH | Boy in river, sacred one (5) |
| R[iver] + ALPH (‘sacred river’ in Coleridge’s Kubla Khan). | ||
| 14 | CONSTITUTIONAL | Make-up a student put on for a walk (14) |
| CONSTITUTION (‘make-up’) + A + L[earner], ‘student’. | ||
| 17 | INDETERMINABLE | Indefinite number inhabiting Aberdeen – limit unfortunately cannot be ascertained (14) |
| N (‘indefinite number’) in anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ABERDEEN LIMIT. | ||
| 21 | EXTRA | No ball, perhaps, in over (5) |
| (Not very) cryptic cricketing definition, although the clue does contain 3 misleading Xword chestnuts for ‘O’. | ||
| 22 | RENOVATED | Gave a facelift to a Denver resort (9) |
| Anagram (‘re-sort’) of TO A DENVER. | ||
| 24 | AQUARIUS | Song from Hair stars (8) |
| Double def., from the 60s musical. | ||
| 25 | FULMAR | Oceanic bird saved by resourceful marine (6) |
| Hidden in ‘resourceFUL MARine’. | ||
| 26 | TEESSIDE | Industrial region, seediest, for redevelopment (8) |
| Rather heartless anagram (‘for redevelopment’) of SEEDIEST. | ||
| 27 | STANCE | Example that’s missing in policy (6) |
| IN missing from ‘inSTANCE’, an ‘example’. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ARTIFICE | Trickery in case of diamonds found under craft (8) |
| ART (‘craft’) over IF (‘in case of’) + ICE (‘diamonds’). | ||
| 2 | CONCERN | Interest created by leader of crusade performing church service (7) |
| C (1st letter of ‘Crusade’) + ON (‘performing’) + C(of)E (‘church’) + R[oyal] N[avy], ‘service’. | ||
| 3 | DREAD | Head of department to study fear (5) |
| 1st letter of ‘Departmant’ + READ (to ‘study’ at University). | ||
| 5 | PRESENTIMENT | Foreboding – tense soldiers consumed by it (12) |
| PRESENT (‘tense’) then MEN (‘soldiers’) contained in IT. | ||
| 6 | EIDERDOWN | Denied row involved quilt (9) |
| Anagram (‘invovled’) of DENIED ROW. | ||
| 7 | ESTELLA | Weird tales about the Spanish girl in Great Expectations (7) |
| Anagram (‘weird’) of TALES around EL (Sp. ‘the’), for Pip’s eventual wife. | ||
| 8 | APATHY | Indifference, in a way, over play’s ending (6) |
| A + PATH + last letter of ‘plaY’. | ||
| 11 | BATTLEGROUND | Tablet sadly crushed in field (12) |
| Anagram (‘sadly’) of TABLET + GROUND (‘crushed’). | ||
| 15 | THESAURUS | He’s enthralled by sign in reference book (9) |
| HES in TAURUS (astrological ‘sign’). | ||
| 16 | GENDARME | Member of police force getting info on lady touring centre of Paris (8) |
| GEN (‘info’) + DAME (‘lady’) around R (centre of ‘paRis’). | ||
| 18 | NETSUKE | Carved toggle teens twirled across UK (7) |
| Anagram (‘twirled’) of TEENS surrounds UK, for the Japanese ornament. | ||
| 19 | BATSMAN | Personal attendant pressing whites, finally, for Bradman, say (7) |
| BATMAN (‘personal attendant’) around end of ‘whiteS’. Don Bradman, greatest ever bat, they do say. | ||
| 20 | DEPART | Set off in race holding record (6) |
| DART (to ‘race’) surrounds E[xtended] P[lay] ‘record’. | ||
| 23 | VAULT | Clear crypt (5) |
| Double def. | ||
*anagram
Thanks Falcon and Grant. I found this a speedy solve, so I must have been on the setter’s wavelength. Some of the general knowledge was at the outer limit of my ken (fieldfare, for example). Re 7d, It is not clear at the end of the Dickens novel whether Pip and Estella will actually marry although it is our ‘expectation’ that they will. Originally Dickens had a much less upbeat ending which his friend, Wilkie Collins, advised him to change..
Most of this went in pretty quickly, but I was held up by a few not very hard ones – ARTIFICE and DEPART – at the end. Is the main purpose of the life of a FIELDFARE to provide a cryptic crossword clue somewhere a few times a year? As far as I know it is.
Ah. “When the moon is in the seventh house, And Jupiter aligns with Mars, Then peace will guide the planets…”. Brings back memories.
Thanks to Falcon and to Grant.
I parsed EXTRA as a DD. “No ball, perhaps” and “over”.
To Hovis:
I think you’re right. Certainly more stylish & perhaps an &lit as well. Thanks, & apolgies to Falcon. A better clue than I thought.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant. Enjoyable. An unusually quick solve for me, though I needed help parsing VENDETTA. I did parse TEESSIDE without knowing its existence and also the two cricket items (BATSMAN and EXTRA) without knowing them.
Thanks to Grant and Falcon
Mostly enjoyable but I’m struggling to justify a couple.
1d IN CASE OF for IF, I can come close but there always seems to be another word, or change in part of speech needed.
11d Stalingrad was never much of a field so a “perhaps”, or a ? is surely needed.
To Dansar @6:
I share your concern about ‘if’ but consider the following putative lawyer’s summing up:
“In this trial, there are two possible outcomes: ‘innocenct’ or ‘guilty’. If ‘innocent’, my client walks free…”
Kinda holds together (but I did have to work at it a bit…)
Oh, and e.g. ‘Flodden Field’ works for me.
Thanks Falcon and Grant
Another puzzle from this setter that only went for a short time but still felt as if it had gone for longer ! Some nice clues – GENDARMES one of the best with it’s relevant overall surface.
Finished with the nostalgic AQUARIUS and DEPART (which I found harder than I should’ve for some reason).
Always enjoy Falcon puzzles. Am I the only one to be a little surprised at the spelling of Mediterranean?
Grant@6
I still feel the need for an added word “In THE case of innocent” e.g.
Grant@8
I concede the FIELD def, I hadn’t considered it as a contraction of FIELD OF BATTLE
Alan@6
I am now that you mention it, but at the time it went unnoticed by me (and, it would seem), most others. I think is an example of a phenomenon discussed @ AZED 2437