Excellent. A Raich falls on my blogging day, which hasn’t happened for a bit.
Raich is one of the reasons that you’re reading this blog now. When I first got back into cryptics, well over a decade ago now, the Indy was my paper of choice, so I started doing the puzzles there. I discovered (and I can’t now remember how) Fifteensquared and Raich (as nmsindy) was one of the early bloggers. I remember mithering him regularly with ‘How does this work?’, ‘What’s that doing there?’ and a plaintive ‘How does anyone ever get good at this?’ He was generous with his help, and it turns out the answer to the last question is ‘practice’. So here I am, all this time later, blogging another of his crosswords. And it’s my pleasure, as was the puzzle.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 In unfortunate impulse, papa’s ignored healthy food?
MUESLI
(IM[P]ULSE)* The anagrind is ‘unfortunate’; the removal indicator is ‘ignored’. The P for ‘papa’ correspondence is from the phonetic alphabet.
4 Second small beverage source of pleasure inside plant
SWEET PEA
A charade of S, WEE and P for the first letter of ‘pleasure’ in TEA.
9 Annoyance over horrible mess, botch, ultimately result of PM’s decision?
RESHUFFLE
An insertion of E, S and H for the last letters of the third, fourth and fifth words of the clue in RUFFLE.
11 Cook taking breather? About right
GRILL
An insertion (‘taking’) of R in GILL.
12 Chaps feature this article penned by King
LEATHER
An insertion (‘penned by’) of THE in LEAR. The ‘chaps’ are the protective leather trousers worn by cowboys.
13 Sign that’s annoying about exercise wear
LEOTARD
A charade of LEO for the zodiacal ‘sign’ and DRAT reversed.
14 Special ceremony is featured in writer’s activity (of medium interest?)
SPIRITUALISM
A charade of SP and RITUAL inserted into I for ‘writer’ and ISM for ‘activity’. I was at a seance the other night. The spiritualist suddenly burst out laughing, and straight away the chap next to me punched her. ‘What did you do that for?’ I asked. ‘I always like to strike a happy medium,’ he replied.
Edit: passerby has a much better parsing: SP followed by RITUAL IS inside I’M (‘writer is’). Then the last four words are the definition.
18 Trainee I’d met – confused between extremes
INTERMEDIATE
(TRAINEE ID MET)*
21 Top quality gallery material used in plastics
ACETATE
A charade of ACE and TATE gives you a plastic often used for film (more correctly known as cellulose acetate).
22 Thurible’s contents anger
INCENSE
A thurible, as any altar boy will tell you, is the metal device suspended from chains in which INCENSE is burned during Mass. The word has its stress in a different place, depending on whether its a noun (first definition) or a verb (second definition). Whichever way it’s pronounced, the clue is a dd.
24 Class bright guy I snubbed
GENUS
GEN[I]US
25 Prescribe line, for example, given one’s behind time
LEGISLATE
A charade of L, EG, I’S for ‘one’s’ and LATE.
26 Sources of words given by new user – a hit
THESAURI
(USER A HIT)*
27 Small opening indeed – reportedly permitted
EYELET
A homophone (‘reported’) of AYE, and LET. ‘He’s a top setter, that Raich, isn’t he?’ ‘Aye.’
Down
1 Perhaps preacher’s examination marginalised by lack of clarity?
MORALIST
An insertion (‘marginalised’) of ORAL in MIST.
2 Very happy, City, with figure in charge
ECSTATIC
A charade of EC, STAT and IC. EC is crosswordspeak for ‘city’ because it’s the London postcode in which the City of London is found.
3 Joke that’s disgusting – beneath the French
LAUGH
A charade of LA for one of the words for ‘the’ in French and UGH. ‘Beneath’ works because it’s a down clue.
5 Immobilised by this, calming help we arranged
WHEEL-CLAMPING
(CALMING HELP WE)*
6 Lacking refinement, energy – in finish lost
ENGROSSED
An insertion of GROSS and E in END. ‘She was lost/engrossed in the puzzle.’
7 Formal answer length most important
PRIMAL
A charade of PRIM, A for ‘answer’ and L.
8 Refer everything upwards delaying entry initially
ALLUDE
A charade of ALL and UDE for the first letters of the third, fourth and fifth words of the clue.
10 Keep a French bank official, one looking ahead
FORTUNE-TELLER
A charade of FORT, UNE for one of the French words for ‘a’ and TELLER.
15 Drink one in Asia? Wrong
IONIAN SEA
(ONE IN ASIA)* but with an extended definition also, since the IONIAN SEA (‘drink’) is certainly not in Asia.
16 Drops artist during US season
RAINFALL
A charade of RA, IN and FALL.
17 Forceful English edge into opening
VEHEMENT
An insertion (‘into’) of E and HEM in VENT.
19 After good promotion buy appliance
GADGET
A charade of G, AD and GET.
20 He’s small-minded, average, extremely irksome
MEANIE
A charade of MEAN and IE for the outside letters of ‘irksome’.
23 Easy copper, retiring
CUSHY
A charade of CU and SHY.
Many thanks to Mr Carter for the start to the Indy week.
More charades than at a 1980’s dinner party – but they were pretty much all enjoyable. As I type, for example, four of the last five down clues are visible – all charades – and all are economical, fair, and smooth. One of them – RAINFALL – is one of my favourites today. I needed the blog to parse RESHUFFLE and SPIRITUALISM – I certainly wasn’t looking for an ISM. There are few if any altar boys in my acquaintance – I solved INCENSE before remembering what a thurible is/was. Thanks, Pierre, for the medium quality joke – if you get my drift. Not sure where you were imagining your ‘AYE’ exchange to take place? Sounds a little like urban sophisticate meets country yokel.
Thanks Raich and Pierre
Fair point, Postmark. Here’s my improved exchange without the clash of registers:
‘He’s a reet good setter, that Raich youth, int he?’ ‘Aye.’
I specially liked RAINFALL too.
Sounds born and bred, Pierre. A true Yorkshireman would probably be able to identify which Riding!
For 14a I parsed it as SP (“special”) then RITUAL IS inside I’M (“writer’s”).
I’m sorry to say, Pierre, but I think passerby @4 may have gone one better than either you or I. That looks bang on. And the definition element includes the word ‘activity’ which would make sense.
That’s a much better explanation, passerby. Thank you.
An excellent crossword for beginners and improvers – but not to be sneezed at by experienced solvers. We enjoyed this and it was all good so we can’t really nominate a CoD.
We also parsed 14ac as did passerby.
Thanks, Raich and Pierre.
All very pleasant and satisfactory. Nothing much to say really, like a good wicketkeeper who is efficient but doesn’t do anything flamboyant.
Many thanks, Pierre, for the excellent blog and thanks also to those who commented – the explanation of 14A given by passerby was what was intended.