Interesting, but one clue I found much harder than the others. Thank you Tees.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GIRD | Steel ring (4) |
| double definition – brace oneself and to surround | ||
| 3 | UPROARIOUS | Pour out port down under? That’s hysterical! (10) |
| anagram (out) of POUR then RIO (port) inside AUS (Australia) – a port down under = a port in Australia | ||
| 10 | ELYSIUM | See one in total bliss (7) |
| ELY (see, diocese in Cambridgeshire) then I (one) inside SUM (total) | ||
| 11 | SUBTEXT | Something implied, but sex ultimately felt wrong (7) |
| anagram (wrong) of BUT SEX and felT (last letter, ultimately) | ||
| 12 | RANCH | Cattle farm managed by church (5) |
| RAN (managed) then CH (church) | ||
| 13 | ERRAND BOY | Young assistant smashed in yonder bar (6,3) |
| anagram (smashed in) of YONDER BAR | ||
| 14 | LIMOUSINE | Large car minus oil — engine’s head cracked (9) |
| anagram (cracked) of MINUS OIL and Engine (first letter, head) | ||
| 16 | ON AIR | Radio show might be playing song (2,3) |
| ON (playing) AIR (song) | ||
| 18 | AGNES | Grey governess of Acton (5) |
| cryptic definition – Agnes Grey is a book about a governess written by Anne Bronte under the pen name of Acton Bell. I had to cheat to get this one. | ||
| 19 | HOMICIDAL | Lethal acid thrown in endless sermon (9) |
| anagram (thrown) of ACID inside HOMILy (sermon) | ||
| 21 | CHAGRINED | Niger unexpectedly invading 27 was vexing (9) |
| anagram (unexpectedly) inside CHAD (27 across) | ||
| 22 | USING | Grass taken at university becomes addiction (5) |
| SING (grass) follows (taken at) U (university) – I don’t understand the definition, I expected addicted rather than addiction | ||
| 24 | RETINOL | Relation sickens without a certain vitamin (7) |
| anagrm (sickens) of RELaTION missing A | ||
| 25 | EGOTIST | Say too much about singles one promotes oneself (7) |
| EG (for example, say) then OTT (too much) containing (about) IS (1s, singles) | ||
| 26 | SONGSTRESS | Lad with good accent as performer (10) |
| SON (lad) with G (good) STRESS (accent) | ||
| 27 | CHAD | Land conservationists initially owned (4) |
| Conservationists (first letter, initially) then HAD (owned) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GUERRILLA | Irregular for the most part involved with Left? (9) |
| anagram (involved) of IRREGULAr (for the most part, missing last letter) with L (left) | ||
| 2 | RAYON | Material in drawer Conservative ignored (5) |
| cRAYON (drawer) missing C (Conservative) | ||
| 4 | POMPEII | City buried English couple after ceremony (7) |
| E (English) and I I (two ones, a couple) following POMP (ceremony) | ||
| 5 | OBSERVE | Notice work not starting to be of use (7) |
| jOB (work, not starting) then SERVE (to be of use) | ||
| 6 | ROBINSON CRUSOE | Hero in book, maybe Hood succeeded on tortuous course (8,6) |
| ROBIN (Robin Hood maybe) S (succeeded) ON then anagram (tortuous) of COURSE | ||
| 7 | OVERBOARD | Needing rescue after hitting the drink? (9) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 8 | SATAY | What waiter must do when carrying a Malaysian dish (5) |
| STAY (what waiter must do) containing A | ||
| 9 | WITHOUT STRINGS | In the absence of horses, this is unrestricted (7,7) |
| WITHOUT (in the absence of) STRINGS (horses) | ||
| 15 | MANHATTAN | Guy Busby-Brown makes cocktail (9) |
| MAN (guy) HAT (busby) TAN (brown) | ||
| 17 | RELEGATED | Cardinal imprisoning papal envoy is demoted (9) |
| RED (cardinal) contains (imprisoning) LEGATE (papal envoy) | ||
| 19 | HANDLER | Dogged policeman? (7) |
| cryptic definition – a police dog handler | ||
| 20 | MADNESS | Aim the wrong way in complete lunacy (7) |
| END (aim) reversed (the wrong way) inside MASS (complete) | ||
| 21 | CORPS | Old Bill suppressing resistance in ballet group (5) |
| COPS (Old Bill, police) contains (suppressing) R (resistance) | ||
| 23 | IRISH | One Murdoch hailed originally from Dublin (5) |
| IRIS (Iris Murdoch, novelist) then Hailed (first letter, originally) | ||
*anagram
I had to guess AGNES, vaguely remembering having heard the name ‘Agnes Grey’ in a literary context, but having no idea of the connection with Anne Bronte. This was one of the reasons I was stuck in the NW corner, as I didn’t find GIRD obvious and despite having seen it before, I took a while to get GUERRILLA.
I’m not convinced myself but ? def for 22a is ‘becomes addiction’.
Good for a Sunday with a few at the end to make it more than just a pleasant stroll. Favourite was UPROARIOUS.
Thanks to Tees and PeeDee
Drug using = drug addiction?
Hovis @ 2 – I agree that’s what’s meant, but it’s inaccurate usage, as plenty of people use drugs without becoming addicted.
I thought there were too many cases when examples were used to indicate the definition without being clued as such. For example, 15D “Busb”y on its own cannot correctly indicate HAT without a “perhaps” or something similar, whereas “Brown” is fine as a indicator for TAN
Entertaining solve; thanks Tees and PeeDee.
I didn’t know AGNES but particularly liked UPROARIOUS, GUERRILLA, OVERBOARD and HANDLER.
As someone who likes the crosswords of this setter in all his guises very much – not sure about The Times, though, but how can I be? – there are a few things that made me have a think.
Tees’s output increased significantly, perhaps even doubled, in, say, the last six months or so.
First thought was “he probably needs the money”, now I know it was clearly more driven by what he likes to do most.
As a result of it (?), I felt that he was becoming less Ximenean, slightly more relaxed about things.
Last Tuesday, in the FT we had “Go” for GROUND. Today there was “singles” for IS (25ac).
So, I think our beloved setter has moved the goal posts. No problem for me whatsoever.
As long as they are still on the pitch.
Also, there seems to be a tendency to write more cryptic definitions. We had three today.
I did find 9dn but.
Last week’s Neo (FT) showed something similar.
Sometimes they are very good, sometimes they are just so-so.
Clues like 1ac (a two-word clue for a double definition) are also not my forte.
Again, sometimes they are very good, sometimes they are just so-so.
Very enjoyable crossword altogether, even if I found ‘One’ in 23dn both justifiable and confusing.
But perhaps that’s what it is all about in cryptic crosswords.
Many thanks PeeDee for another fine blog & Tees for the entertainment.
Noun innit.
Well, we got this without help although we missed the obvious use of ‘ring’ as a verb and went for the Scots GIRD as a noun meaning a hoop in 1ac. And we bunged in ‘ritalin’ at first for 24ac before we took a closer look at the clue.
Lots to like here, favourites included ELYSIUM, POMPEII and HANDLER.
Thanks, Tees and PeeDee.
I found this very difficult but Guy Busby-Brown was magnificent.