A straightforward Tuesday solve from a new setter to me.
Neat and accurately clued in the tradition of FT Tuesdays. Thanks, Zamorca.
| Across | ||
| 1 | STENCH | Starter of smoked fish has strong smell . . . . (6) |
| S (1st of ‘Smoked’) + TENCH (‘fish’). | ||
| 4 | STURGEON | . . . . it’s Scotland’s premier fish (8) |
| Double definition. Nicola & another fish. | ||
| 9 | CHILLY | West of country’s undulating and cold (6) |
| C (left-most, ‘west’ of ‘Country’) + HILLY (‘undulating’). | ||
| 10 | SKYLIGHT | Island’s briefly illuminated from high window (8) |
| SKYe (abbreviated ‘island’) + LIGHT (‘illuminated’). | ||
| 12 | JUDO | Judge duo performing martial art (4) |
| J[udge] + anagram (‘performing’) of DUO. | ||
| 13 | ABSTINENCE | Leave money invested showing self-restraint (10) |
| ABSENCE (‘leave’) contains TIN (‘money’). | ||
| 15 | KEEP AN EYE OUT | Watch for and exclude one viewer interrupting (4,2,3,3) |
| KEEP OUT (‘exclude’) contains AN EYE (‘one viewer’). | ||
| 18 | WHATS HIS NAME | A new smash hit medley from somebody or other (5-3-4) |
| Anagram (‘medley’) of A NEW SMASH HIT. | ||
| 21 | TAXIDRIVER | Cabbie volunteers with club to carry team (4,6) |
| T[errtitorial] A[rmy] (former ‘volunteers’) + DRIVER (golf ‘club’) includes XI (a sports ‘team’). | ||
| 22 | LEAP | Each filled album’s bound (4) |
| EA[ch] fills L.P (‘album’). | ||
| 24 | DIEHARDS | Pass on meeting solid Brexiteers; ultimately they won’t change their minds (8) |
| DIE (‘pass on’) + HARD (‘solid’) + last letter of ‘brexiteerS’. | ||
| 25 | APPEAR | Look! Man Friday’s coming back with fruit (6) |
| P[ersonal] A[ssistant] (‘Man Friday’), reversed, + PEAR. | ||
| 26 | SET ASIDE | Reserve central hotel in Margate perhaps (3,5) |
| Central letter of ‘hoTel’ in SEASIDE (‘Margate’ perhaps). | ||
| 27 | GROTTY | Briefly become oddly tatty and unpleasant (6) |
| GROw (‘become’, curtailed) + odd-numbered letters of TaTtY. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SICK JOKE | Black humour, taken poorly by Japan’s fine with English (4,4) |
| SICK (‘taken poorly’) + J[apan] + OK (‘fine’) + E[nglish]. | ||
| 2 | EVILDOER | Be upstanding to execute Queen’s offender (8) |
| LIVE (to ‘be’, reversed, so ‘upstanding’ in a Down clue) + DO (to ‘execute’) + ER (‘er Maj). | ||
| 3 | CALM | Serenity found amid diabolical mayhem (4) |
| Inclusion in ‘diaboliCAL Mayhem’. | ||
| 5 | TAKE THE WHEEL | That week angrily heard man will get to drive (4,3,5) |
| Anagram (‘angrily’) of THAT WEEK + HEEL, homophone (‘heard’) of ‘he’ll’ (‘that man will’). | ||
| 6 | RELINQUISH | Left in check by Queen, takes his turn to resign (10) |
| L[eft] in REIN (‘check’) + QU[een] + anagram (‘turn’) of HIS. | ||
| 7 | ENGINE | Machine has some benign effects arising (6) |
| Reversed inclusion in ‘beNIGN Effects’. | ||
| 8 | NUTMEG | Put up stone vessel for spice (6) |
| GEM + TUN, reversed. | ||
| 11 | ABSENT-MINDED | Distracted sailor’s shipped home having beginnings of dementia caught by doctor (6-6) |
| AB[le Seaman] + SENT, then IN (‘home’) + 1st 2 letters od ‘DEmentia’, surrounded by MD (‘doctor’). | ||
| 14 | CATHEDRALS | Cathars led building of big churches (10) |
| Anagram (‘building’) of CATHARS LED. | ||
| 16 | PAVEMENT | Old man’s strong – he’s out making a footpath! (8) |
| PA (‘old man’) + VEheMENT (‘strong’ without HE). | ||
| 17 | HEN PARTY | Get together before union’s hard on pay and rent chaos (3,5) |
| H[ard + anagram (‘chaos’) of RENT & PAY, w cryptic def. | ||
| 19 | AT ODDS | Quarrelling adds to confusion (2,4) |
| Anagram (‘confusion’) of ADDS TO. | ||
| 20 | EXPERT | Used to be cheeky with master (6) |
| EX (‘used to be’) + PERT (‘cheeky’). | ||
| 23 | SPUR | Cats purr a bit with encouragement (4) |
| Inclusion in ‘catS PURr’. | ||
*anagram
Thanks to Zamorca and Grant. A quick but enjoyable solve. I needed all the crossers to get EVILDOER and wondered about the absent-absence repetition.
I agree a neat puzzle. My only gripe is that taxi driver is a bit too obvious when the clue starts with cabbie
A quick solve — many of the surfaces themselves led to the answers without me needing to fully parse the clues. Nonetheless, there was a lot to like in this crossword. Thanks Zamorca, and Grant for filling in the parsing details I didn’t catch like TAXI in TAXIDRIVER and the double definition for STURGEON.
Thanks Zamorca and Grant
Straightforward puzzle that was mostly done over a lunch time with a couple to be polished off afterwards. No real holdups and finished with the two long ‘ABSENCE’ clues at 13a and 11d.