A fast Tuesday solve, although not without style and Hamilton’s (occasional) trademark buccanneer way with The Rules.
Soon done, as said, and my few minor quibbles can be found below. But, once more with Hamilton, I enjoyed this in a perverse sort of way, so thanks to him for the fun.
| Across | ||
| 1, 5 | MUDDY THE WATERS | Complicate things after bluesman gets hold of article (5,3,6) |
| THE (‘article’) in ‘bluesman’ MUDDY WATERS (d.1983). | ||
| 9 | LETHARGY | Husband greatly put out by lack of drive (8) |
| Anagram (‘put out’) of H[usband] + GREATLY. | ||
| 10 | TRIVIA | Almost stumble through unimportant stuff (6) |
| TRIp (‘stumble’, shortened’) + VIA (by way of, ‘through’). | ||
| 11 | IGNITION | What drivers need to get fired up? (8) |
| Cryptic def. | ||
| 12 | AMUSED | In these days, consider being tickled (6) |
| MUSE (‘consider’) in AD (‘these days’). | ||
| 14 | MACHINE GUN | Guy grasps most of crockery, say, starting to unload American piece (7,3) |
| MAN contains CHINa + EG (‘say’) + U (1st letter of ‘Unload’), ‘piece’ being US slang for ‘firearm’. | ||
| 18 | HIGH STREET | Off-road business hub? (4,6) |
| HIGH (rotten, ‘off’) + STREET (‘road’). | ||
| 22 | MEAGRE | Almost stingy, almost dismal, always inadequate (6) |
| MEAn + GREy, both shortened. | ||
| 23 | DIAMETER | London police have a bumpy ride around Circle Line (8) |
| MET[ropolitan ‘police’) in anagram (‘bumpy’) of RIDE + cryptic def. | ||
| 24 | UNIONS | Alliances for college working by 1st September (6) |
| UNI (‘college’) + ON (‘working’) + 1st letter of September. | ||
| 25 | OBSOLETE | Ancient honour accepted just one time (8) |
| OBE (‘honour’) includes SOLE (‘just one’) + T[ime]. | ||
| 26, 27 | HENLEY-ON-THAMES | Where we discover healthy men’s one weakness (6-2-6) |
| Anagram (‘discover’?, ‘weakness?’) of HEALTHY MENS ONE &lit, sort of. I’m assuming that ‘rowing’ & specifically a fondness for the sometimes drunk-and-disorderly Henley Regatta is the ‘one weakness’ in question but it’s a bit of a stretch. Other ideas welcome. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1, 15 | MELT IN THE MOUTH | Delicious chocolate does if savoured for too long (4,2,3,5) |
| Double def, though surely melting in the mouth is rather the point of chocolate. | ||
| 2 | DATING | Introducing Dave, about to interest new girlfriend in romance (6) |
| 1st letters of words 2-7 in the clue. | ||
| 3 | YEASTY | Certainly, pen is insubstantial (6) |
| YEA (‘certainly’) + STY (pig’s ‘pen’). Chambers gives ‘insubstantial’ at def 3. | ||
| 4 | HAGIOLATRY | Old woman has instrument, conceding victory over attempt to worship the saints (10) |
| HAG (‘old woman’) + vIOLA (‘instrument’ without ‘V[ictory]’ + TRY (‘attempt’). | ||
| 6 | ACRIMONY | Resentment at settlement, getting credit for pound (8) |
| A{L}IMONY, its ‘L’ (‘pound’) replaced by ‘CR[edit]’. | ||
| 7 | ENVISAGE | Said to begrudge guru’s picture (8) |
| Intended homophone (‘said’) of ENVY – although the stresses & ‘ee’/’i’ sounds are different – + SAGE (‘guru’). | ||
| 8, 21 | STANDING ORDERS | Grandsons tried changing authorised payments (8,6) |
| Anagram (‘changing’) of GRANDSONS TRIED. | ||
| 13 | WHEELIE BIN | Refuse place to circle that’s come to backward point (7,3) |
| WHEEL (‘circle’) + IE (‘that’s’) + reversal of NIB (‘point’), w nice cryptic def. | ||
| 15 | See 1 down | |
| 16 | AGRARIAN | It’s about land Indian city managed, including island (8) |
| AGRA (‘Indian city’) + RAN (‘managed’) around I[sland]. | ||
| 17 | ESTRANGE | Gent’s ear bent about divorce (8) |
| Anagram (‘bent about’) of GENTS EAR. | ||
| 19 | SMOOTH | Facilitate low temperature within Slough’s environs (6) |
| MOO (to ‘low’) + T[emperature] in outskirts of ‘SlougH’). | ||
| 20 | STREAM | Rebellious master will divide the school (6) |
| Anagram (‘rebellious’) of MASTER. Do state schools ‘stream’ anymore? | ||
| 21 | See 8 | |
*anagram
Didn’t take too long to solve but I was hoping the blogger would explain 26/27. I agree about the non-homophone in 7d and yes, schools do still stream, well they do round here anyway
Thanks to Hamilton and Grant
Also agree on the poor homophone in 7d. I would also add that DIAMETER does not quite work for me. The answer has an anagram of A + RIDE around MET. The clue suggests the A should be at the start.
I felt IGNITION was barely cryptic but I rarely enjoy cryptic definitions.
I’m not sure if there is anything deep in 26,27 but would like to be proved wrong. I just read the initial ‘Where we discover” to indicate the answer is a place with “weakness” denoting the anagram.
Not my favourite setter by a long shot but I thought this was better than his usual fare and quite enjoyed it. So thanks to Hamilton and Grant.
Knowing how hard Hamilton can be, this was quite gentle. LOI 19d.
Thanks to Hamilton and Grant. I parsed the HENLEY clue but did not understand it and failed with WHEELIE BIN.
Yes, I thought Hamilton was stretching the boundaries too far. I completed, though, except for 6dn. Thanks, Hamilton, thanks GB.
I did think that the Henley thing might have had something to to with the many peccadilloes of our Prime Minister designate, who is of course MP for that town. But I couldn’t make that go either. It’s just Hamilton being Hamilton, I guess. Btw, I agree with and could have mentioned all the above reservations about the puzzle: I just didn’t want to be that negative because, despite myself, I’m starting to like him…
Since nobody has said anything more on my comment about the missing A in the blog for DIAMETER, I shall add that my understanding is that we are supposed to take “London police have a” to give AMET with an anagram of RIDE around it. Not mad on it but it works.
Thanks Hamilton and Grant
Found this one a little easier than normal from this setter and was able to deal with his little idiosyncrasies that were thrown into the mix. Could never understand what the real definition of the bottom across one was … so just went with some place that was probably going to be in England and that was an anagram of ‘healthy men’s one’. Also YEASTY as ‘insubstantial’ was new to me.
Finished in the SW corner with the clever MEAGRE and HIGH STREET (which I thought was just an iffy cd, but see was a quite clever charade that I missed) as the last couple in.