A nicely varied mix. Thank you Chalmie.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ENGAGEMENT RINGS | Green man gets gin cocktail and pieces of jewellery (10,5) |
| anagram (cocktail) of GREEN MAN GETS GIN | ||
| 9 | ENVIOUS | Green unit backs taking flying bomb to America (7) |
| ONE (unit) reversed (backs) contains (takes) VI (V1, flying bomb) then US (America) | ||
| 10 | LIBERIA | Country rejecting doctrinaire bilateralism to some extent (7) |
| found inside (to some extent) doctrinAIRE BILateralism then reversed (rejecting) | ||
| 11 | APPLE | IT company, sometimes green (5) |
| double definition | ||
| 12 | LOOSE TALK | Indiscretions on which toilet grows, so they say? (5,4) |
| sounds like (so they say) “loo stalk” (where a toilet grows, cryptically) | ||
| 13 | EAU DE NIL | Reportedly smell nothing green (3,2,3) |
| EAU DE sounds like (reportedly) “odour” (smell) then NIL (nothing) – Nile green | ||
| 15 | UNRIPE | Makeup in pure green (6) |
| anagram (make up) of IN PURE | ||
| 18 | CREDOS | We believe these are left in lettuce (6) |
| RED (left, socialist) inside COS (lettuce) | ||
| 19 | SECRETES | Oozes confidence and finishes in the medals (8) |
| SECRET (confidence) then last letters (finishes) of thE medalS | ||
| 22 | REALISTIC | Article is surprisingly down- to-earth (9) |
| anagram (surprisingly) of ARTICLE IS | ||
| 24 | TURBO | Headdress loses an ordinary booster (5) |
| TURBan (headdress) missing AN then O (ordinary) | ||
| 25 | INGENUE | Naive girl regularly found in giant green cube (7) |
| every other letter (regularly found) in gIaNt GrEeN cUbE | ||
| 26 | LINCOLN | President Green (7) |
| double definition | ||
| 27 | ROYAL AND ANCIENT | Sort of blue with old greens here (5,3,7) |
| ROYAL (sort of blue) AND (with) ANCIENT (old) – greens on a golf course | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ELEVATE | Raise points about large European tax (7) |
| E E (east, points of the compass) containing L (large) E (European) and VAT (tax) | ||
| 2 | GIVE PAUSE | It’s said hands with elasticity make one think again (4,5) |
| PAUSE sounds like (it’s said) “paws” (hands) following with GIVE (elasticity) | ||
| 3 | GOOSE | Travel round south-eastern Falklands Green (5) |
| GO (travel) O (something round) SE (south-eastern) – Goose Green is an area of the Falkland Islands | ||
| 4 | MUSCLE IN | Make forcible intervention to demolish nice slum (6,2) |
| anagram (to demolish) NICE SLUM | ||
| 5 | NELSON | Grapnels only partially hold (6) |
| found inside (partially) grapNELS ONly – a wrestling hold | ||
| 6 | ROB REINER | Dress out of control beginning to rile film-maker (3,6) |
| ROBE (dress) contains (out of) REIN (control) then Rile (first letter, beginning) | ||
| 7 | NORMA | Woman (and not mother) (5) |
| NOR (and not) MA (mother) | ||
| 8 | SPARKLE | Deer knocks up glitter (7) |
| ELK (deer) RAPS (knocks) all reversed (up) | ||
| 14 | EMOTIONAL | Moving book up with an oil supply (9) |
| TOME (book) reversed (up) with anagram (supply, with letters supplied by) of AN OIL | ||
| 16 | INTERPOSE | 4 admitted to post office, in short (9) |
| IN (admitted to) then PO (post office) in TERSE (short) – definition is “muscle in” | ||
| 17 | MEA CULPA | I’m sorry Paul came out (3,5) |
| anagram (out) of PAUL CAME | ||
| 18 | CARTIER | Jeweller’s erratic fashion (7) |
| anagram (fashion) of ERRATIC | ||
| 20 | SCOT NAT | Politician’s contacts don’t start dancing (4,3) |
| anagram (dancing) of cONTACTS missing first letter (don’t start) – Scottish Nationalist | ||
| 21 | STREWN | Scattered around Turkey in all directions (6) |
| TR (Turkey) inside SEWN (south, east etc, all directions) | ||
| 23 | ANGRY | Old king punches some getting cross (5) |
| GR (George Rex, old king) inside (punctures) ANY (some) | ||
| 24 | TUNIC | Third unit with time to move up top (5) |
| UNIT C (the third unit) moving the letter T (time) to the top | ||
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.
A very colourful offering today from Chalmie, with a varied selection of clues. I’d not come across SCOT NAT in this particular format before, but if it works for Lib Dem….
Thanks to Chalmie and PeeDee.
Quite tough in places but very enjoyable with a nice theme on “green”.
Got stuck in the NW for a bit but finally twigged on EAU DE NIL, which I hadn’t heard of, by guessing the EAU DE/ODOUR part.
Didn’t know GOOSE GREEN but guessed the answer and assumed Falkland’s Green was a type of goose. Didn’t know ROB REINER either so was pleased when I worked that out and googled to check.
A minor point, “girl” is part of the definition in 25a, the male form not having the E at the end.
Thanks to Chalmie and PeeDee.
Thanks Chalmie and PeeDee.
Hovis @2…Goose Green is a settlement on East Falkland Island and was the site of a significant battle in the Falklands War.
Thanks to PeeDee and Chalmie
Good fun 19a and 27a very good.
Thanks to Chalmie and PeeDee. Though I did work out GOOSE GREEN, the SE corner with SCOT NAT and ROYAL AND ANCIENT defeated me.
Thanks Chalmie and PeeDee
Nice puzzle and although frustrated by all of the ‘green’ initially, thought that it was a very cleverly devised theme with all of the variants that were used.
Took just under the hour and had to modify my original EAU DE VIE and LOOSE WAYS to get to the right outcome. Hadn’t seen SCOT NAT nor GOOSE GREEN before but both were able to be worked out from the wordplay.
Finished with iNTERPOSE, SECRETES and ROB REINER (who I also didn’t know).