Armonie kicks off the week…
Nothing terribly taxing here… a very gentle start to the week indeed.
Thanks ARMONIE!
Across
1 Closure is imminent when project leader goes (6)
ENDING
[p]ENDING (imminent, when P (project leader) goes)
4 Bill’s cast out but protected (6)
SHADED
AD (bill) SHED (cast, out)
8 This sly eccentric is fashionable (7)
STYLISH
(THIS SLY)* (*eccentric)
9 Place in which Callas represented Norma, ultimately (2,5)
LA SCALA
(CALLAS)* (*represented) + [norm]A (ultimately) &lit
11 Fondness for costly staff in hospital department (10)
ENDEARMENT
(DEAR (costly) + MEN (staff)) in ENT (hospital department)
12 Enthusiastic backing for prima donna (4)
DIVA
(AVID (enthusiastic))< (<backing)
13 The tongue can be somewhat titillating (5)
LATIN
[titil]LATIN[g] (somewhat)
14 Effort getting river sample (8)
INDUSTRY
INDUS (river) + TRY (sample)
16 Various ramblers initially planted in the West Country (8)
SOMERSET
SOME (various) + R[amblers] (initially) + SET (planted)
18 Clean river fish (5)
CHARR
CHAR (clean) + R (river)
20 Brother rejected thanks from unruly child (4)
BRAT
BR (brother) + (TA (thanks))< (<rejected)
21 Rich American follows Shakespearean (10)
PROSPEROUS
US (American) follows PROSPERO (Shakespearean)
23 Businessman in drag faces old complaint (7)
LUMBAGO
MBA (businessman) in LUG (drag) faces O (old)
24 Person in support of leader (7)
PIONEER
ONE (person) in PIER (support)
25 Tedious wine type grabbing attention (6)
DREARY
DRY (wine type) grabbing EAR (attention)
26 Actually a river in India (6)
INDEED
DEE (river) in IND (India)
Down
1 Had a meal without beginning to tidy up (5)
EATEN
[n]EATEN (tidy up, without beginning)
2 Slut led out the most boring (7)
DULLEST
(SLUT LED)* (*out)
3 Torn signs repaired without conditions (2,7)
NO STRINGS
(TORN SIGNS)* (*repaired)
5 Pick up tango showing courage (5)
HEART
HEAR (pick up) + T (tango)
6 Children, taken aback, protect rotter for ages (7)
DECADES
(SEED (children))< (<taken aback) protect CAD (rotter)
7 Saviour of animals eating offal (9)
DELIVERER
DEER (animals) eating LIVER (offal)
10 Delivery contains record of picture (9)
DEPICTION
DICTION (delivery) contains EP (record)
13 Inspect butcher’s routine (4,5)
LOOK ROUND
LOOK (butcher’s, rhyming slang) + ROUND (routine)
15 Depict one variety of chicanery (9)
DECEPTION
(DEPICT ONE)* (*variety)
17 It is tasty but can be surpassed without a starter (7)
EATABLE
[b]EATABLE (can be surpassed, without a starter)
19 Score runs in a series (7)
ARRANGE
R (runs) in (A + RANGE (series))
21 Electronic device for priest? About time! (5)
PAGER
PR (priest) about AGE (time)
22 Overturn somewhat stupendously (5)
UPEND
[st]UPEND[ously] (somewhat)
*anagram
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
Not too taxing, as you say. I did think it unfortunate though that in close down clues and solutions we got DELIVERER, DELIVERY, PIC, DEPICTION and DEPICT.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
Same thought crossed my mind as Simon@1 wrt the ‘depicts’. Still found it a gentle but enjoyable entry into the week as I struggled with our top of 11 degrees today.
Liked the neat anagram at 8a. Finished in the SE corner with ARRANGE and PIONEER the last couple in.
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. I too ended with ARRANGE and PIONEER, but I had trouble with the second R in CHARR and had forgot that look = butcher.
Same with me. But how does ‘score’ come to be equivalent to ‘arrange?’ Thanks Armonie and teacow for a pleasant train-journey-filler.
Score as in write musical score, = arrange.
Yes, I thought so … and Armonie always likes to include a musical allusion. But it still seems a bit of a stretch to me. Pace Armonie.
I also wondered about the congruence between scoring and arranging.
Musically I’m a layman, but I see the sequence as composition [jotting down the notes, as it were] > scoring [deciding which instruments are going to play those notes] > arranging [deciding which notes those instruments are going to play, and when].
But for the purposes of a crossword I think the overlap is thoroughly acceptable.