Requires a bit more effort than the usual gentle Sunday puzzle, but still feels more like enjoyment than hard work. Thank you Tees.
I made life hard for myself by accidentally blogging yesterday’s Serpent and then having to start over with the correct puzzle at the last minute. Fortunately I managed to keep the grey matter engaged long enough to solve this and get out the blog in time and not lose the enjoyment.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SCHNABEL | Name first victim after school pianist (8) |
| N (name) and ABEL (first victim, in Bible) all follows SCH (school) – Artur Schnabel | ||
| 6 | THANKS | Gratitude from Oscar-winner Tom? (6) |
| T. HANKS (Oscar winner Tom Hanks) | ||
| 9 | POLITICAL ASYLUM | Right to escape the Westminster madhouse? (9,6) |
| definition and cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | EDGE | Grunge band unconvincing here at last shows bite (4) |
| last letters of grungE banD unconvincinG herE | ||
| 11 | DOUBLE TAKE | Greatly increase receipts: that brings surprised reaction (6,4) |
| DOUBLE (greatly increase) TAKE (receipts) | ||
| 13 | BUMP INTO | Encounter worthless horse (4,4) |
| BUM (worthless) PINTO (horse) | ||
| 15 | BEER | Busy worker recoils at first drink (4) |
| BEE (busy worker) and first letter of Recoils | ||
| 17 | SKUA | Bird or birds migrating west (4) |
| AUKS (birds) read right-to-left (migrating westwards) | ||
| 18 | NATIONAL | Race that generates more than local interest? (8) |
| double definition | ||
| 20 | POSTMASTER | Spar put in advertisement for e-mail manager (10) |
| MAST (spar) inside POSTER (advertisement) | ||
| 21 | ODDS | Price of round and capacious cups? (4) |
| O (something round) and DDS (double Ds, capacious bra cups) | ||
| 22 | PARTHENOGENESIS | Unusual reproduction in earphones gets distorted (15) |
| anagram (distorted) of IN EARPHONES GETS | ||
| 24 | ADVENT | Commercial outlet in run-up to Christmas (6) |
| AD (commercial) VENT (outlet) | ||
| 25 | SUNLIGHT | Natural illumination in view across one French lake (8) |
| SIGHT (view) contains (across) UN (one. French) and L (lake) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | CLOUD-CUCKOO-LAND | Bananas in dull bag coming to fantasy realm (5-6-4) |
| CUCKOO (bananas, mad) inside CLOUD (dull) LAND (bag, a fish perhaps) | ||
| 3 | NOISE | Beak to imprison one creating clamour (5) |
| NOSE (beak) contains (to imprison) I (one) | ||
| 4 | BUILDING | Mike secretly embracing the Italian racket in construction (8) |
| BUG (mike, secretly placed) contains IL (the, Italian) DIN (racket) | ||
| 5 | LEAGUE OF NATIONS | Pacific group about to enter long-distance races (6,2,7) |
| OF (about) inside (to enter) LEAGUE (long distance) NATIONS (races) – a group working for peace | ||
| 6 | TRAILS | Nature walks for dogs (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 7 | ANY | Some always gathered about noon (3) |
| AY (always) contains (gathered about) N (noon) | ||
| 8 | KNUCKLE SANDWICH | Lip-smacking snack? (7,8) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 12 | TABOO | Banned cricketer over his fruitless efforts in match? (5) |
| BAT (cricketer) reversed (over) and O O (a double zero score, his fruitless efforts in match) | ||
| 14 | PLAIT | Interwoven material mine that captivates the French (5) |
| PIT (mine) contains (captivates) LA (the, French) | ||
| 16 | STURGEON | First Minister tense, doctor admits (8) |
| T (tense) inside (that…admits) SURGEON (doctor) – Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland | ||
| 19 | TALENT | 15 fuels explosive ability (6) |
| ALE (beer, 15) inside (fuels) TNT (explosive) | ||
| 21 | OBELI | Bookmarks upside down in Vile Bodies (5) |
| found reversed (upside down) inside vILE BOdies – print marks in a book | ||
| 23 | TOE | Member starts with three old examples (3) |
| first letters (starts with) of Three Old Examples | ||
Thanks for explaining the parsing of LEAGUE OF NATIONS – OF for ‘about’ didn’t occur to me but it makes sense. Off to a good start with this one by being able to recognise the ‘pianist’ at 1a and not too many hold-ups thereafter, apart from 5d. I liked the KNUCKLE SANDWICH surface and the BUM PINTO.
Thanks to Tees and PeeDee
BTW, just a minor problem with 22a – IN should be included in the anagram fodder.
Nice gentle Sunday puzzle, ideal for a return to Crosswordland after a brain-resting holiday. Thanks Tees and PeeDee.
Thanks WordPlodder, fixed now.
I was held up for ages having entered POSTMAILER for 20ac leaving me with an errant ‘L’ in the last word of LEAGUE OF NATIONS. I must confess I’ve never heard of POSTMASTER in an email sense but there it is once I Google it. I also stared at K-U-K-E on the right hand side for some time, thinking I must have made an error. Didn’t think to try an ‘N’ until rather later than I should have done.
cd/dd’s are occasionally criticised but POLITICAL ASYLUM was superb, BUMP INTO is a delightful separation, ODDS is cheeky and brought a smile, BUILDING was nicely assembled, TABOO was a novel idea and STURGEON, whilst I think I’ve seen it before, made me laugh. Thing I learned today: I’ve only ever encountered the word OBELI in crosswords – it’s the only word that fits with the three vowels – and know it to mean ‘dagger’. But I never knew it was in the context of printing and had assumed it was an ancient knife. Advice to self: ALWAYS look up the meanings of new words rather than assume.
Thanks Tees and PeeDee (Whilst I sympathise with your wrong blog experience, at least you got to do the Serpent which was an enjoyable puzzle)
An entertaining and humorous solve. KNUCKLE SANDWICH and Parthenogenesis were among my favourites. Schnabel and Obeli were entries I’ve come across but forgotten but the wordplay was clear enough to get them and look them up. Thanks to Tees and PeeDee
Very enjoyable Sunday morning stuff. I knew the pianist and saw cloud Cuckoo land and it was steady and entertaining progress from there. As others have said Bum Pinto was very cute. Didn’t know obeli but it was clear from the clue and if, as PostMark says, it’s a crossword regular, I’ll know it next time. Thanks Tees and PeeDee
Another enjoyable Sunday puzzle from Tees
Thanks to him and PeeDee
top stuff… i had a headstart as my email account is with postmaster.co.uk! result! the assembly of 1ac was sublime (for me) as usually 4 consonants in a row brings me out in a rash…
Thanks once again Tees for a great puzzle and PeeDee for the blog!
A very enjoyable solve with no real problems. Thanks, Tees and PeeDee.
re 5dn I note nation is listed as a synonym of race, but it is surely now culturally obsolete. Per other comments, found this more trickier than a typical Sunday puzzle, which I welcomed. Thanks all
Big thanks to PeeDee and all who commented. Glad you liked it!
Cheers Ts