I blogged Skinny’s debut puzzle in the Indy in July and commented there that I hoped we’d bump into each other again. My wish has been granted, and I enjoyed solving and blogging this one.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
8 Huge deficit in fossil fuel
COLOSSAL
An insertion of LOSS in COAL.
9 Gives way, or up
YIELDS
A dd. You have to read the second part as ‘gives up’.
10 Chops for Ted, so it’s said
HEWS
A homophone of the poet Ted HUGHES.
11 Carpeting bargains he negotiated
EARBASHING
(BARGAINS HE)*
12 Mum’s confused by something in Yorkshire
SUMMAT
A charade of (MUMS)* and AT for a synonym of ‘by’ gives you a Yorkshire dialect word.
14 Setter’s twisted cape covers the ultimate in foul depravity
EVILNESS
An insertion of L for the last letter in ‘foul’ in I’VE reversed and NESS. Strange word: EVIL does just the same job by itself, I fancy.
15 Part of speech in which I ask you to call
PHONEME
A running together of the phrase PHONE ME.
17 Sound of object coming down
DESCENT
A homophone of DISSENT.
20 Troublemaker fell pursuing one with unusual gait
AGITATOR
A charade of (GAIT)*, A and TOR.
22 You might do this to a terrible book stand
PULPIT
Another running together, this time of PULP IT, which is what you might do to a bad book.
23 One overseeing dirty old man is admitted to our small organisation
SUPERVISOR
An insertion of PERV and IS in (OUR S)*
24 Fleece overcoats?
SCAM
You have to lift and separate ‘overcoats’ to give you the instruction over coats, in which case you’ve got MACS reversed, which gives you your solution.
25 One coming out of titanic struggles unscathed
INTACT
A subtractive anagram: (TITAN[I]C)*
26 Settle in amongst citizens, conceivably
ENSCONCE
Hidden in citizENS CONCEivably.
Down
1 A perfect example of unchosen manoeuvres
NONESUCH
(UNCHOSEN)*
2 Scheme announced to supply jumpers
ROOS
A homophone of RUSE.
3 A bouquet 17 turned up
ASCENT
A charade of A and SCENT is the opposite of DESCENT at 17ac.
4 Uneasy about a student with guns
ALARMED
A charade of A, L and ARMED.
5 One seeks pleasure in a tattered bestiary
SYBARITE
(BESTIARY)*
6 Automated machine fabricated with carbon and aluminium
MECHANICAL
A charade of (MACHINE)*, C and AL.
7 Who’s handsome? Who’s lecturing?
ADONIS
Who is lecturing? If it’s the top banana, A DON IS.
13 Beware of taking Telegraph on vacation – turn page to reveal transport advice
MIND THE GAP
A charade of MIND, TH for the outside letters of ‘Telegraph’ and PAGE reversed.
16 Initially, many orators talk in vague, ambiguous terms, expecting to inspire
MOTIVATE
The initial letters of the second to eighth words of the clue.
18 It’s a pain having insurance arranged right away
NUISANCE
Another subtractive anagram: (INSU[R]ANCE)*
19 Final course served up with hair
TRESSED
A reversal of DESSERT.
21 Sticking at home, tucking into drink
GLUING
An insertion of IN in GLUG.
22 Certain to return during gym study
PERUSE
An insertion of SURE reversed in PE.
24 Schooled regularly in Oxford?
SHOE
The odd letters of ScHoOlEd.
Many thanks to Skinny for this weekend’s puzzle.
I wasn’t keen on SUMMAT (but to be fair the setter has at least clearly indicated it is a dialect word) and DESCENT is not a homophone of DISSENT where I come from. Those very minor niggles apart, I enjoyed this a lot and appreciated the nice brief cluing and smooth surfaces.
Many thanks to Skinny and to Pierre.
” … I hoped we’d bump into each other again ...”
Well, Pierre, you were in York last Saturday as was Skinny.
So, who knows, you might indeed have bumped into each other.
I hadn’t heard of SUMMAT (12ac) and, without any logic, put ‘summit’ there.
Perhaps, that would have been the more preferred choice for a crossword clue?
I know some Teds but didn’t think of ‘Hughes’.
It only came to me after I decided that 10ac had to be HEWS.
But, yes, this puzzle was great fun, nicely pitched for a Sunday too.
I do agree, however, with the first speaker about ‘descent’/’dissent’. But I left it there.
And I am also not really keen on having a reversal indicator in the middle (in 19d) but, true, there’s nothing wrong with it.
Finally, I wondered whether ‘about’ is part of the definition for ALARMED (4d) or not?
But then, what else can you do with ‘about’ in this clue?
Many thanks to Pierre & Skinny.
Well, having said dissent and descent to myself several times I can’t tell any difference. I didn’t see ‘a don is’ and was trying to work out how Lord Adonis might come into it. Thoroughly enjoyed this one, so thanks Skinny and Pierre.
I was quite happy with SUMMAT but not with the 17a homophone. My favourite has to be Adonis – not that I ever met a university namesake who lived up to the description!
Nice to see our setter in the Indy again. Thanks to him and to Pierre for the review.
Thanks for the comments folks, very much appreciated.
Living in industrial West Yorkshire has perhaps skewed my ear for the finer points of pronunciation – the Bradford accent with which I grew up can be quite stark and angular at times. That said, bearing in mind the DESCENT/DISSENT comments, I went and looked at various sources, and I’ve not found one yet where the pronunciation is not given as the same. That said, my wife, from London, says that there’s a very slight difference for her, so this might be one occasion where regionality and not lexicography holds sway, and that being the case, I’ll pay more attention in future.
Thanks again.
I have recently been made aware of the addition of sumfin, sumthin, summink, and sumptin to the dictionaries:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/oxford-english-dictionary-adds-sumfin-sumthin-sumptin-and-summink-as-its-new-words-to-its-latest-a4261806.html
I hadn’t realised summat was already there (chambers). I too entered summit.
Many thanks Skinny for a most enjoyable puzzle and great seeing you in York.
Thanks to Pierre and Skinny
All right-thinking people pronounce DESCENT and DISSENT identically so I don’t think the setter need worry about that.
In 4d though I wasn’t sure whether to ignore the “about” or the “a”.
10a held me up the longest, Emlyn or Nerys would have done it for me, but you can’t please everybody.
Reading the blog without having solved, fleece overcoats really made me warm to this Setter