BOBCAT starts the week off…
Some great clues with really nice surfaces. The parsing of 12a took me a while.
Thanks BOBCAT!
ACROSS
1. Britain to consider abolishing right to summon (6)
BECKON
B (Britain) + [r]ECKON (to consider, abolishing R (right))
4. Track time being spent in charge of stage (6)
SCENIC
SCEN[t] (track, T (time) being spent) + IC (in charge)
8. News of tense old divisions in Yorkshire originally withheld (7)
TIDINGS
T (tense) + [r]IDINGS (old divisions in Yorkshire, originally withheld)
9. Contribution from branch or subdivision gives firm security (7)
ANCHORS
[br]ANCH OR S[ubdivision] (contribution from)
11. Competitor takes us in with article in French on Nancy’s extreme geographical feature (4,6)
RIFT VALLEY
(RIVAL (competitor) takes FT (us) in) with LE (article in French) on [nanc]Y (extreme)
12. Trick sausage short of ingredients next to its skin (4)
PLOY
P[o]LO[n]Y (sausage, lacking ingredients next to its skin)
13. Rodin’s first sculpture about to explode (5)
BURST
R[odin] (first), BUST (sculpture) about
14. Clergyman omitting canticle’s conclusion in service is correct (8)
ACCURATE
CURAT[e] (clergyman, omitting [canticl]E (conclusion)) in ACE (service)
16. Tips from Pretoria’s drivers’ club about police vehicle (5,3)
PANDA CAR
P AND A (tips from P[retoria]A) + (RAC)< (driver's club, <about)
18. Manx cat and unnamed cat producing something in the flower bed (5)
CALYX
CA[t] (tailless) + LY[n]X (cat, N (name) less)
20. People outwardly lacking go inwardly gaining a stone (4)
OPAL
[pe]OPL[e] (outwardly lacking PEE (go)) inwardly gaining A
21. Court action ruined kebab stall (10)
BASKETBALL
23. Mary and Ted fixed the date to settle? (4,3)
TERM DAY
24. I command military hospital unit accommodating fifty soldiers (7)
WARLORD
WARD (hospital unit) accommodating (L (fifty) + OR (soldiers))
25. Reporter’s wise to squash point that’s insubstantial (6)
YEASTY
"wise" = YY ("reporter's") to squash EAST (point)
26. A case of passion suppressed by silence (6)
SHEATH
HEAT (passion) suppressed by SH (silence)
DOWN
1. Intake of Russians from Baltic regularly identified in uprising (5)
BLINI
B[a]L[t]I[c] (regularly identified) + (IN)< (<uprising)
2. Stricture (non-US, surprisingly) applied to American animal (7)
CRITTER
([s]TRICT[u]RE (non-US))* (*surprisingly)
3. Frenzied dog, having lost head over drink, beginning to champ (9)
ORGIASTIC
[c]ORGI (dog, having lost head) over ASTI (drink) + C[hamp] (beginning to)
5. Weird to disregard UN, but shrewd (5)
CANNY
[un]CANNY (weird, to abandon UN)
6. Two sorts of drama — one incomplete and a lost cause (2-5)
NO-HOPER
NOH OPER[a] (two sorts of drama, one incomplete)
7. 80% of contraband affected by charge imposed on business (6,3)
CARBON TAX
(CONTRABA[nd] (80% of))* (*affected) + X (by)
10. High flier’s very low score on course (9)
ALBATROSS
Double definition
An albatross being 3 stokes less than par in golf.
13. Blame spy recklessly injecting heroin for profane outburst (9)
BLASPHEMY
(BLAME SPY)* (*recklessly) injecting H (heroin)
15. Transport route to go round hospital following strike (9)
CYCLEPATH
CYCLE (to go round) + (H (hospital) following PAT (strike))
17. Raised hat to girl in novel predicament (7)
DILEMMA
(LID)< (hat, <raised) + EMMA (girl in novel)
19. Trouble arising about decoration on floor of industrial plant (7)
LOBELIA
(AIL)< (trouble, <arising) about (OBE (decoration) on [industria]L (floor of))
21. A tube drunk in Oz is excellent (5)
BEAUT
22. Timber manufacturer left a church without lead on roof (5)
LARCH
(L (left) + A + CH (church)) without R[oof] (lead on)
Thanks, Teacow. I had a different take on the parsing of 2D. I think there are two anagram indicators – “surprisingly” is there to cater for the fact that the letters to be removed from STRICTURE appear in the order S, U, which is a rearrangement of US. The rearrangement of TRICTRE is then provided for by “applied”.
“…great clues … nice surfaces” – ditto. The parsing of POLONY took me a while, too.
Liked it, NOH OPERA, CATLYNX, PEOP(A)LE and CORGI ASTI C
Thanks Teacow and Bobcat. Plenty to get your Hampsteads into in this puzzle.
2dn: The suggestion by Rudolf@1 makes sense to me. When the subtracted letters are not in the right order in the clue, and the subtraction comes before the rearrangement, it is logically necessary to have two anagram indicators.
This puzzle was not easy. Some of these constructions were genuine oddballs, including OPAL and PLOY, or, at least, I do not recall seeing those devices before (even though they are, I suppose, variants of common devices). “Something in the flower bed” was one of those definitions, such as “girl” or “book” that every so often I just find exasperating. It is not wrong or unfair, but we could probably list 1,000 things that fit (well, maybe not ending with X).
Mostly went in very quickly and enjoyably, then like others spent a bit of time unravelling OPAL and PLOY. Thanks to Bobcat for an entertaining puzzle and to Teacow for the blog.
Decent puzzle.. romped along to begin with, but slowed down a lot as I separated Transport from route making it a lot tougher.. ah well…
Thanks BOBCAT n Teacow
I was unaware that CRITTER is American. Never heard of TERM DAY, ORGIASTIC or BLINI. Couldn’t parse PLOY, ACCURATE, PANDA CAR. Yeasty/insubstantial was a surprise. I thought 4a was the weakest clue.
Thanks Bobcat for the challenge. I failed with CYCLEPATH and PLOY but everything else eventually came into focus. My top picks were SCENIC, CALYX, WARLORD, BLINI, ORGIASTIC, and CANNY. I enjoyed the variety of devices used. Thanks Teacow for the blog.