A thorough workout from REDSHANK this Friday morning. Not too many write-ins for me so had to diligently work on breaking down most of the clues. Thanks REDSHANK, for a solid challenge.
FF: 9 DD: 9
| Across | ||
| 1 | HABEAS CORPUS | A cop has Rebus diverted in order to appear in court (6,6) |
| A COP HAS REBUS* | ||
| 8 | ROAD MAP | Driver uses it to travel round Germany apparently (4,3) |
| [ ROAM (travel) round D (germany) ] AP (apparently) | ||
| 9 | PLACEBO | Sham dose left expert in lead with zero (7) |
| { [ L (left) ACE (expert) ] in PB (lead, plumbum) } O (zero) | ||
| 11 | PRICKLE | React defensively, placing king in corner (7) |
| K (king) in PICKLE (corner) | ||
| 12 | EPITHET | Label European article found in mine (7) |
| E (european) [ THE (article) in PIT (mine) ] | ||
| 13 | RAYON | Second person briefly smuggled clothing material (5) |
| YOu (second person, briefly) in (indicated by ‘clothing’) RAN (smuggled) | ||
| 14 | REPUGNANT | Horrible theatre worker goes round waving gun (9) |
| REP (theatre) ANT (worker) containing GUN* | ||
| 16 | DIRT CHEAP | Guy pursues scandal about drug at rock-bottom price (4,5) |
| [CHAP (guy) around E (drug)] after DIRT (scandal) | ||
| 19 | SCORE | Cross over a hundred and twenty (5) |
| SORE (cross) over C (hundred) | ||
| 21 | EXECUTE | Top four dismissed from board (7) |
| EXECUTivE (board, without IV – four) | ||
| 23 | ELEGIAC | Lamb catches, say, cold, becoming plaintive (7) |
| [ ELIA (lamb, essayist) containing EG (say) ] C (cold) | ||
| 24 | STEALTH | The last busy cat-burglar’s speciality (7) |
| THE LAST* | ||
| 25 | OUTSIZE | Huge Zulu comes in for daughter in case (7) |
| Z (zulu) replacing D (daughter) in OUTSIDE (case) | ||
| 26 | ARCTIC CIRCLE | Lorry wheel goes round roughly parallel (6,6) |
| [ARTIC (lorry, short for articulated vehicle) CIRCLE (wheel) ] around C (roughly) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HEAVILY | Cure Yankee eating rocket to excess (7) |
| [HEAL (cure) Y (yankee) ] containing VI (rocket – V1) | ||
| 2 | BUMPKIN | Rustic behind shocking pink (7) |
| BUM (behind) PINK* | ||
| 3 | APPLE TREE | Software released without following source of Newton’s theory? (5,4) |
| APP (software) [ LET fREE (released, without F – following) ] | ||
| 4 | COPSE | Bluebottles start to eat wood (5) |
| COPS (bluebottles) E (start to Eat) | ||
| 5 | READING | Solitary pursuit each day in group (7) |
| [ EA (each) D (day) ] in RING (group) | ||
| 6 | URETHRA | Arthur managed to cover end of one waste pipe (7) |
| ARTHUR* containing E (end of onE) | ||
| 7 | PREPAREDNESS | Organised state school with a leftist head (12) |
| PREP (school) A RED (leftist) NESS (head) | ||
| 10 | OUTSTRETCHED | Like hand in greeting, revealed over time (12) |
| OUTED (revealed) over STRETCH (time) | ||
| 15 | PEPPERONI | Zest for each round Ulster sausage (9) |
| PEP (zest) PER (for each) O (round0 NI (ulster) | ||
| 17 | ROE DEER | Game to do with passing round dictionary, I think (3,4) |
| [RE (to do with) around OED (dictionary) ] ER (~ i think) | ||
| 18 | COUPLET | Item at the conclusion of sonnet (7) |
| COUPLE (item) T (aT, conclusion of) | ||
| 19 | SCEPTIC | He has doubts about entering sort of tank (7) |
| C (about) entering SEPTIC (sort of tank) | ||
| 20 | ORIFICE | Opening old cereal that’s out of condition (7) |
| O (old) [ RICE (cereal) around IF (condition) ] | ||
| 22 | ETHIC | Set of values incorporated in The Thick of It (5) |
| hidden in “..thE THICk..” | ||
*anagram
Thanks, Turbolegs.
Another very enjoyable puzzle from Redshank.
I read 4dn as COPS [bluebottles – bluebottle is a slang term for a policeman] + E[at]. This was one of my favourites, along with the clever anagram HABEAS CORPUS, PRICKLE, EXECUTE and PREPAREDNESS – particularly for their surfaces [but they’re all good, as usual].
It seems a long time since we saw ELIA the essayist – he used to crop up pretty frequently when I started doing cryptics.
Many thanks, Redshank.
Hi Eileen,
You are of course right ref 4d. Not sure why I complicated it unnecessarily especially since there was no containment required in the first place.
Regards,
TL
Very pleasant puzzle as always from this chap.Thanks to him, TL and Eileen.
There’s an error in blog for PRICKLE. King is R not K. (Also, a closing bracket in 15d appears as a 0.)
Thanks to all. I agree with all the above comments.
thanks both. Hovis @4 – that’s why I couldn’t parse 11a.
ap = apparently ? that’s new ; when did that appen?
Alan@6. First met this a few months back. According to Chambers, ap. can be short for apothecary, apparent or apparently.
I thought that 19ac was a triple meaning.
Cross is a mark or score
Over a hundred is a big score in cricket and
Twenty
However your parsing is clearly correct.
Thanks for a great puzzle and blog
Thanks Redshank & Turbolegs.
In 18 down I took the definition to be conclusion of sonnet. (In the English or Shakespearian form the last two lines are a rhyming COUPLET). The T was from sonneT with conclusion doing double duty. Alternatively the whole clue could be taken as definition.
I agree that 18dn is a clue as definition.
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
An entertaining puzzle that I was able to continually write in the answers without any great holdup over a coffee yesterday.
Hadn’t seen the AP abbreviation for apparently and couldn’t find it in the online Collins or Oxford – but it was obviously lurking in Chambers. Thought the APPLE TREE clue was quite clever, albeit being a write-in from the definition and also liked OUTSTRETCHED.
Finished with PRICKLE (where I was also trying to fit a K into it initially), STEALTH (not quite sure why it was so late) and COUPLET (which I read as a clever &lit) as the last one in.