Straightforward on the whole, but with enough wiliness to keep complacency at bay.
Solid puzzle with a couple of enjoyable tricks. Thanks, Slormgorm.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TRASHY | Shabby tree, attempt to save it? (6) |
| TR.Y contains ASH. | ||
| 4 | ARABIC | A painter and writer from the Middle East? (6) |
| A + RA (‘painter’) + BIC (trademark ball-point ‘writer’). | ||
| 8 | POURERS | Rubbish or super sommeliers, say (7) |
| Anagram (‘rubbish’) of OR SUPER. | ||
| 9 | CONDONE | Prisoner ready for pardon (7) |
| CON + DONE (‘ready’, as in e.g. cooked food). | ||
| 11 | ISRAELITES | Old people realise it’s silly (10) |
| Anagram (‘silly’) of REALISE ITS for the biblical tribe. | ||
| 12 | EROS | Love god is chafed all over (4) |
| SORE (‘chafed’), reversed. | ||
| 13 | ALLEN | Woody perennial Leninist hugs (5) |
| The controversial writer/director, hidden in ‘perenniAL LENinist’. | ||
| 14 | ROUNDERS | Game sour nerd lost (8) |
| Anagram (‘lost’) of SOUR NERD. | ||
| 16 | COLOSSAL | Huge detriment involved in fossil fuel (8) |
| LOSS in CO.AL | ||
| 18 | WHALE | Swimmer’s fit after first of workouts (5) |
| HALE (well, ‘fit’) after 1st of W(orkouts). | ||
| 20 | MATE | One likely to be found on board in China? (4) |
| Double def: a ranking seaman, and “‘China’ plate”, Cockney rhyming slang for ‘mate’ = ‘friend’. I first had this as ‘mate’ as in chess, but I think the sailor’s more probable. | ||
| 21 | RINGLEADER | Call Johnson, say, the cause of all the trouble? (10) |
| RING (‘call’) + e.g. Boris ‘Johnson’ (‘LEADER’) with slightly tendentious def. | ||
| 23 | CORACLE | Boat that’s rounded cape seen by prophet (7) |
| C[ape] + ORACLE. The ’rounded’ is there to deceive. Certainly did me. | ||
| 24 | TOPICAL | Hot now, hot and humid without drop of rain (7) |
| TrOPICAL (‘hot & humid’) minus 1st of Rain. | ||
| 25 | STENCH | Smell comes from small channel, not river (6) |
| S[mall] + TrENCH (‘channel’ without R[iver]). | ||
| 26 | DETEST | Can’t stand exam on despotic English leaders (6) |
| TEST (‘exam’) after 1st letters of ‘Despotic English’. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOOLS | Money raised to get spades and forks? (5) |
| LOOT (‘money’, reversed) + S[pades] w def by example. | ||
| 2 | AIRMAIL | Letters brought over in crates? (7) |
| Cryptic def, ‘crates’ as in ‘aeroplanes’. | ||
| 3 | HARD LINES | Unlucky players might stumble over them (4,5) |
| Double def. Actors might fluff difficult lines. | ||
| 5 | RIOTS | Nothing will stop upcoming prison revolts (5) |
| ST.IR (‘prison’, reversed), contains 0 (‘nothing’). | ||
| 6 | BEDHEAD | Retirement support? (7) |
| Cryptic def. | ||
| 7 | CONCOURSE | Conservative movement is coming together (9) |
| CON[servative] + COURSE (‘movement’, usually forward as ‘in course of time’). | ||
| 10 | STARTLING | Head of Telstar punches singer? Shocking! (9) |
| 1st of ‘Telstar’ in ‘STAR.LING’ (a singer) | ||
| 13 | ANOMALOUS | Unusual moan a soul let loose (9) |
| Anagram (‘let loose’) of MOAN A SOUL. | ||
| 15 | UNWELCOME | Clue women misinterpreted as unpleasant (9) |
| Anagram (‘misinterpreted’) of CLUE WOMEN. | ||
| 17 | OPERATE | Love goddess hosting a function (7) |
| 0 (‘love’) + ATE (Gr. goddess of fun) surround PER (‘a’, as in ‘butter four pounds a pound’). | ||
| 19 | AVARICE | Greed’s a bad trait, a banker finally admitted (7) |
| A VICE (‘a bad trait’) contains A + last of ‘bankeR’. | ||
| 21 | RELIC | Old person in state leaving boozer (5) |
| REpubLIC (a ‘state’) without PUB. | ||
| 22 | EXACT | Force made up of old bill (5) |
| EX (‘old’) + ACT (enacted ‘Bill’ of parliament). | ||
*anagram
Thanks G + S — I actually didn’t see the other MATE (sailor) and decided on checkmate. But you’re probably (more) right. And I stared at RELIC forever but couldn’t figure out the wp…
Yes, certainly kept complacency at bay. Harder than usual for Slormgorm with several answers entered unparsed, including RELIC and another chess MATE. I was taken in by the very good ‘Boat that’s rounded’ and at the end by the ‘Hot now’ definition for the (post-solve) innocuous looking TOPICAL.
Thanks to Slormgorm and Grant
Thanks to Slormgorm and Grant. I’m another who did not parse RELIC and was doubtful about BEDHEAD but I did ger MATE and parse OPERATE.
Thanks Grant for parsing RELIC and OPERATE, two that I got without knowing why. Had not heard of CORACLE before and was unable to figure that one out. Got STARTLING with incorrect parsing — thought the singer was Sting and wondered who this head of Telstar named ArtL was — thanks Slormgorm for a stimulating crossword.
Thanks for the blog, Grant Baynham.
I didn’t enjoy this. Couldn’t get coracle and operate. I guess my mind is on other things right now….
Aircraft = crates is a synonym which is well past its sell-by date!
Didn’t enjoy very much. Not sure why. Maybe because there were several I couldn’t parse or couldn’t convincingly understand.
Bedhead is a good example of the latter. Is that really a support going to sleep? Hmmm.
Missed concourse and topical, giving up early with a sense of “bah” – better things to do.
For once, Harry writes a crossword without drug references and innuendo, and see, some solvers do not like it.
Say no more, say no more.
Like Tony Santucci @4 I failed to explain RELIC and OPERATE, and like Moly I wasn’t convinced by my guess BEDHEAD.
On the whole, however, my verdict was the opposite of the previous poster’s words “bah – better things to do”.
Thanks Slormgorm and Grant
Was able to work through this one over lunch with holdups with the clues already mentioned. Was eventually able to work out the parsing of them all which pleased me.
Dunno whether a SOMMELIER would be particularly pleased to be referred to as just a ‘pourer’. 🙂
Finished in the SE corner with TOPICAL and WHALE (which was much harder to see than it should’ve been).