I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure before, so this was the first time Skinny has had me, although he has appeared several times in The Indy. It was a very pleasant crossword, with good clues that were straightforward enough in their construction but often not at all easy to solve.
Definitions in gray (yes, the software that enables me to colour things is evidently American, and of course this is given as gray (see 15dn)), underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
There must be something going on [yes there is — see NeiW@1. I’d never have got that. not anyway just by looking at it.] The obvious place to look was the checkers round the outside. But apart from YES SIR along the bottom I can see nothing. Is it something to do with The Smiths? The Escort and the Mini both appear, but that seems to be the end of it.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | OPPONENT | Zero pressure working in the midst of confined enemy (8) |
| 0 P p(on)ent | ||
| 9 | STUBBY | Small and fat (6) |
| s tubby, &lit. | ||
| 10 | RAZE | Flatten flatfish, so it’s said (4) |
| “rays” | ||
| 11 | PATHOGENIC | Eating chop unfortunately causing illness (10) |
| (eating chop)* | ||
| 12 | RETINA | It’s essential for seeing part of minaret in Alhambra (6) |
| Hidden in minaRET IN Alhambra | ||
| 14 | INTRIGUE | Popular US soldier sent back in genuine conspiracy (8) |
| in, then (GI)rev. in true | ||
| 15 | SOVIET | Socialist struggle inspired by boozer (6) |
| so(vie)t — a soviet is an elected government council in the former Soviet Union, so the link with socialism is there | ||
| 16 | ESPIES | Notices filling of best 17D (6) |
| {b}es{t} pies — 17dn being STRUDELS = pies | ||
| 19 | RINGWORM | Doctor wrong to get involved in lip disorder (8) |
| *(wrong) in rim | ||
| 21 | RHYTHM | Relinquish yacht helm altogether on vacation time (6) |
| r{elinquis}h y{ach}t h{el}m | ||
| 23 | AGGREGATED | Collected a horse barrier in crimson (10) |
| a GG re(gate)d | ||
| 24 | MEMO | Reminder – the writer of this puzzle takes a little time (4) |
| me mo — ‘me’ is the writer of this puzzle, mo = moment | ||
| 25 | MARTIN | Alien ignoring second appearance of a bird (6) |
| marti{a}n — Skinny is nicely precise here: lots of setters would be sloppy and say ‘Martian ignoring a bird’, which leads arguably to Mrtin | ||
| 26 | SALINGER | Author‘s one to stick around after show starts (8) |
| s{how} a linger — J.D. Salinger. celebrated for The Catcher in the Rye | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | UPDATE | Latest news on University head adopting daughter (6) |
| u p(d)ate — on? | ||
| 2 | ROBE | Dress in York lifted up (4) |
| (Ebor)rev. — ‘Ebor’ is the abbreviation of the Latin Eboracum and indicates the Archbishop of York | ||
| 3 | KEEPSAKE | A reminder to carry on with wine (8) |
| keep sake — OK sake is the (Japanese) wine, but how keep = carry on I’m not quite sure: keep on = carry on I should have thought | ||
| 4 | ESCORT | A guide is key to crossing river from the South (6) |
| esc (t(r)o)rev. — esc is escape on your keyboard, although it seems that whenever I press it I don’t escape from anything | ||
| 5 | JUVENILITY | Rocking ‘n’ rolling, jive until the start of your adolescence (10) |
| *(jive until) y{our} | ||
| 6 | OBLIQUES | Slashes blouse fashioned to include measure of brilliance (8) |
| IQ in (blouse)* — slashes a noun | ||
| 8 | TATTIE | Couple eating a dry Scots vegetable (6) |
| t(a TT)ie — one has neeps and tatties on Burns night — turnips and potatoes, pretty revolting but no doubt there are nice ways to prepare them | ||
| 13 | INVIGORATE | Perk up in Spanish city, and tear off (10) |
| in Vigo rate — to rate someone is to tear them off a strip | ||
| 15 | STINGRAY | Servant’s opening can of silvery American fish (8) |
| s{ervant} tin gray — gray is the American spelling of grey — what is ‘of’ doing in the wordplay? It looks to me as if it gets in the way, but maybe Skinny has a reason for it | ||
| 17 | STRUDELS | Rinds of sweet lemons covering basic pastries (8) |
| s(wee}t rude l{emon}s | ||
| 18 | SMITHS | Band of forgers (6) |
| 2 defs — the rock band, and blacksmiths | ||
| 20 | ORGANS | Newspapers‘ eyes and ears? (6) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 22 | HAMPER | Box of fizz unwrapped (6) |
| {c}hamper{s} | ||
| 24 | MINI | Piece of trim in Italian car (4) |
| Hidden in triM IN Italian | ||
Thanks, John. All four members of the SMITHS appear on the perimeter: MORRISSEY, MARR, ROURKE and JOYCE.
Thanks John and Neil. In reference to 3d, I thought something like “keep working” = “carry on working”?
Thought it may be a pangram but F & X are missing. Thanks also to Skinny.
This was very good fun. It was nicely challenging with brief accurate cluing and generally smooth surfaces.
Are strudels really pies?
Also I don’t think “altogether” is quite right in 21a. Shouldn’t it be “all together” (or perhaps even omitted)?
I missed the Nina even though I knew Marr and Morrissey but not the other two. Well spotted NeilW.
Many thanks to Skinny and John.
Thanks John
Re 3d, I think it’s ‘to carry on with’ as in ‘I’ll carry on with this computer for the time being, but if it crashes again I’ll buy a new one.’
Not a very elegant explanation I’m afraid.
Loved it. Started filling the NE corner then SE and wondered who Joyce Morris was. Got Smiths before Morrissey appeared then the penny dropped. I did find it tricky to get started on some of the clues, so the Nina really helped.
A DNF for me as I couldn’t see the crossing 11A/2D, though obvious now. Otherwise much enjoyed. Wasn’t sure about a strudel being a pie but I suppose it could be thus described. Thanks Skinny and John.
This took me a lot of work, with the innocuous looking pair ROBE and RAZE the last to go in. I saw elements of the Nina but couldn’t put it all together. The parsing all made sense (once solved of course!) but I think ORGANS would qualify as a triple def.
STUBBY was very economical and was my favourite.
Thanks to Skinny and John
Enjoyed this one but extremely grateful that no knowledge of The Smiths was required to solve it – needless to say the Nina passed me by!
Think I’ll go along with WordPloddder and nominate STUBBY as my favourite with a nod to SALINGER.
Thanks to Skinny and to John – I can promise you that neeps, tatties and haggis make a delicious meal at a New Year’s Eve celebration in bonnie Scotland!
On 13d I went for an anagram of tear (off) on the end of in Vigo.
Quite a number that I completely failed to parse.
3 or 4 cheats too. Oh well. Good fun none the less.
Thanks Skinny and John.
Enjoyed this.
Aren’t both ‘raze’ and ‘rase’ viable at 10?
Hello all, and thanks to those taking the time to comment – very much appreciated.
Couple of points raised above – KEEP was indeed meant in the sense of “continue to…”, for example “keep digging”
Also, Rocket @9 has my intention right on INVIGORATE
Many years ago, I appeared on Mastermind with The Smiths as my specialist subject. I won, but got knocked out in the semi-finals. The band will always be special to me, despite the singer’s bizarre opinions these days.
Thanks again to all.
Thanks to John and Skinny
Very nice, but three devices I don’t like (not exclusive to Skinny):
19a Using the imperative “doctor” followed by “fodder to get involved“, seems both ungrammatical and wordy.
“Involved” is itself often used to signal an anagram: “Wrong to get involved in border complaint”
21a The magical, leapfrogging (in this case backwards) operand operator.
15d “of”, a surface word which has to pretend not to exist in the cryptic reading.