Mostly a pleasant and gentle Sunday puzzle but with the odd tricky word thrown in here and there to stop me getting complacent. Thank you Peter.
| Across | ||
| 8 | ENGINEER | Mastermind born during troubled reign (8) |
| NEE (born) inside anagram (troubled) of REIGN – definition is a verb | ||
| 9 | LOOSE | Supporters everywhere originally following game for free (5) |
| first letters (originally) of Supporters Everywhere following LOO (an old card game) | ||
| 10 | BUNG | Throw large cork (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 11 | ALPENSTOCK | Climber’s staff‘s new pack stolen (10) |
| anagram (new) of PACK STOLEN | ||
| 12 | PATENT | Communion plate close to priest is easily accessible (6) |
| PATEN (communion plate) ten priesT (closing letter) | ||
| 14 | FAEROESE | Note given to god containing Eastern European language (8) |
| FA (note, music) then EROS (god) contains E (eastern) followed by E (European) | ||
| 15 | DERRIDA | Philosopher dared to differ about spiritual education (7) |
| anagram (to differ) of DARED contains (about) RI (Religious Instruction, spiritual education) | ||
| 17 | STALKER | Obsessive follower of celebrity carrying large sheath for knife (7) |
| STAR (celebrity) contains L (large) KnifE (sheath for, outer letters of) | ||
| 20 | SPIRACLE | Clips are damaged in passage through rock (8) |
| anagram (damaged) of CLIPS ARE | ||
| 22 | ENDIVE | Vegetable dip served after enjoyable starters (6) |
| DIVE (dip) following (served after) ENjoyable (starting letters of) | ||
| 23 | SALMONELLA | Distinguished gathering admitting married woman with bug (10) |
| SALON (distinguished gathering) contains (admitting) M (married) then ELLA (woman) | ||
| 24 | PURL | Twisted gold wire for so-called precious gem (4) |
| sounds like (so called) PEARL (precious gem, something outstanding?) | ||
| 25 | SIEVE | Kitchen utensil is returned by woman finally leaving flat (5) |
| IS reversed (returned) then EVEn (flat) missing womaN (final letter of) | ||
| 26 | CRETONNE | Fabric from Greek island covering central section of colonnade (8) |
| CRETE (Greek island) contains (covering) colONNade (central section of) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | UNGULATE | Gun trained on head of unfortunately dead horse, perhaps (8) |
| anagram (trained) of GUN on Unfortunate (head of, first letter) then LATE (dead) | ||
| 2 | RING | Outfit including new jewellery (4) |
| RIG (outfit) contains N (new) | ||
| 3 | REDACT | Edit radical piece of legislation (6) |
| RED (radical) ACT (piece of legislation) | ||
| 4 | DROP OFF | Decline delivery of goods (4,3) |
| double definition | ||
| 5 | PLANGENT | Good space in factory that’s noisy (8) |
| G (good) EN (space, printing) in PLANT (factory) | ||
| 6 | CONTROLLED | Supervised prisoner was offensive online (10) |
| CON (prisoner) TROLLED (was offensive online) | ||
| 7 | FENCES | North Carolina stopping money for criminals (6) |
| NC (north Carolina) inside (stopping, like a cork) FEES (money) | ||
| 13 | EAR TRUMPET | Electronic facility storing President Eisenhower’s first hearing aid (3,7) |
| E (electronic) ART (facility, ability) contains (storing) TRUMP (president) and Eisenhower (first letter of) | ||
| 16 | DECANTER | Stop saving tin bottle (8) |
| DETER (stop) containing (saving) CAN (tin) | ||
| 18 | ENVIRONS | Goes round Edgbaston’s boundaries with five implements with which to hit ball (8) |
| EdgbastoN (boundaries of, outer letters) with V (five) and IRONS (implements with which to hit the ball, golf) – definition as a verb | ||
| 19 | HEMLOCK | Poison made from wine containing slippery elm (7) |
| HOCK (wine) contains anagram (slippery) of ELM | ||
| 21 | PRAISE | Honour priest with increase in wages (6) |
| P (priest) RAISE (increase in wages) | ||
| 22 | ENAMEL | Speyside’s final label put on litre of the hard stuff (6) |
| speysidE (final letter of) NAME (label) then L (litre) | ||
| 24 | POOL | Accumulate stakes (4) |
| double definition | ||
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.
I learnt that ENVIRONS can be a verb and that PURL has a U, not the ‘e’ I BUNG(ed) in. Talking of BUNG, I didn’t know what ‘large’ was doing, but it apparently can specifically mean ‘a large cork’. We only had FAEROESE in a Phi puzzle about 10 days ago – otherwise I would have been stuck on 14a. I suppose the ‘… finally leaving flat’ in 25a was just there to make things a bit harder, as the clue would work without it.
Sorry, just a minor omission, but 1d should be “anagram (trained) of GUN on Unfortunately (head of, first letter) then LATE (dead)”
For 23a, I liked both the surface and SALON for ‘Distinguished gathering’, which I don’t remember having seen before.
Thanks to Peter and to PeeDee
Thank you for the correction WordPlodder, the missing GUN is now restored.
Whether Jacques Derrida is a philosopher or a phony is a matter of opinion.
We found this quite tough going and eventually had to cheat for 24 – both across and down. That meaning of PURL was totally new to us – we only knew it as the stitch in knitting – but we were just about able to parse POOL.
Thanks, Peter and PeeDee.