As the days get longer and longer – Serpent pops up with a puzzle to occupy some of those extended daylight hours.
Always a pleasure and always a challenge. And usually something hidden but missed it completely today.
Favourite clue 23dn – very neatly hidden device. Closely followed by 26ac.
Also liked many others 17dn (so simple), 14dn (amusing surface) and 18ac (neat surface and construction)
Thansk Serpen
Key * anagram, DD double definition; underline definition; Rev. Reversed
Across
1 Denunciation of fighting around capital in Central America (10)
action (fighting) around c(apital in Central) + usa (America) = ACCUSATION
6 Study of Nordic countries overlooks noise pollution of those who fly? (4)
scandinavian (of Nordic countries) – din (noise pollution) – avian (of those who fly) = SCAN
9 Especially popular football player seemingly unprepared (4-2-3-6)
DD SPUR OF THE MOMENT
11 Dignified refusal ignoring every other aspect of belief (5)
no (refusal)n + BeLiEf = NOBLE
12 Subsequent return on investment backed by blogger perhaps (9)
Rev. ROI (return on investment) after poster (blogger perhaps) = POSTERIOR
13 Sustained attack by clerical assistant for auditor? (9)
Homonym of canon aid (clerical assistant) = CANNONADE
16 Tell stories about entertaining old lady’s message (5)
Rev. Lie (tell stories) about ma (old lady) = EMAIL
17 Terminal porter possibly finished early after carrying extra baggage (5)
ale (porter) – e after fat (carrying extra baggage) = FATAL
18 My ring contains gold material (9)
cor (my) + peal (ring) around or (gold) = CORPOREAL
20 Current students of similar ability on display (9)
air (display) + stream (students of similar ability) = AIRSTREAM
22 City hospital treated suffering due to scabies? (5)
(city h)* = ITCHY
24 Cast of no discernment is essential for those in theatre (8,7)
(of no discernment)* = INFORMED CONSENT
25 Passage whose inclusion could create a scandal (4)
DD GATE
26 What XL represents generally speaking (2,3,5)
X(by) and L (Large) = BY AND LARGE
Down
1 As appropriate, king leaves after 12 (7)
nick (appropriate) – k after arse (posterior) = ARSENIC
2 Contemptible individual is short of goodness (5)
DD CRUMB
3 In the end, prefer to alert changes introduced by men (6,2,5)
sooner(prefer) + (alert)* after OR(men) = SOONER OR LATER
4 Trade union splits very good sum (3,2)
TU (Trade union) top (very good) = TOT UP
5 Foreman taking time to respond to guidance more than necessary (9)
overseer(foreman) about t(time) = OVERSTEER
7 Snap judgement ultimately had adjusted price in advance (9)
t(judgement ultimately) + ate (had) after (price)* = CREPITATE
8 Character on staff who clearly has aptitude for job? (7)
DD NATURAL
10 Move into a role possibly seen as melodramatic (13)
(move into a role)* = OVEREMOTIONAL
14 Money made by academic in grid computing technology (3,6)
prof(academic) in net (grid) + IT (computing technology) = NET PROFIT
15 Leader of the Opposition hence organised military patrols (9)
army (military) around (hence)* = ARCHENEMY
17 Bright red tailless bird (7)
flamingo (bird) – o = FLAMING
19 New arrival’s stuff passed round at the same time (7)
late (passed) around yet (at the same time) = LAYETTE
21 What’s bottled up by soldier around commanding officer? (5)
man (soldier) around Co(commanding officer) = MACON
23 Conspicuous group appearing in article more than once (5)
Cryptically hidden artiCLE ARticle = CLEAR
For 2d, I went for CRUMB(S) = “goodness” with ‘short of’ denoting removal of last letter.
Thanks Serpent and twencelas! Nice puzzle and good blog!
Top faves: SCAN, S O T MOMENT, B A LARGE and NET PROFIT
CRUMB
Read it as ‘short of goodness=CRUMB(s)’ Hovis@1 beat me to it!
A couple of very minor points:
CANNONADE
homophone of canon aide, I think.
SOONER OR LATER
prefer to=SOONER
Liked the two long entries esp SPUR OF THE MOMENT, the trick with XL and the FLAMINGo et al. Thanks twencelas and Serpent.
Tough as is to be expected from this setter. A couple of unfamiliar words in CREPITATE and LAYETTE plus some fairly brutal constructions. I did end up blocked and had to reveal CANNONADE which I was nowhere near getting and the phrase INFORMED CONSENT meant nothing to me. All very clever indeed but I am not surprised I needed help to get over the line. SOTM my favourite clue.
Thanks both
Thanks both. I really found this tough-going, but needed only a small amount of assistance to complete, so persistence was the key. I am still unsure on the second (or first) definition in NATURAL, would add the definition for CRUMB as an additional unknown to those listed by PostMark@4, but to prove we live in a world of opinion, SPUR OF THE MOMENT was my least favourite – the football context is clear once you see the answer, but not before, unless someone is to tell me a THFC player can be known as a spur; either way, I remain pleased they had no big moments in midweek.
TFO@5
NATURAL
Character (a symbol) on staff (or stave). A musical notation. Hope I am not wrong.
KVa @6. That was my interpretation of the first definition. The second being as in “He’s (or She’s) a natural at this” for someone with an aptitude.
That was almost a one letter at a time job for me, but no less satisfying for it. Lots of following red herrings along the way. Pleased with myself for spotting the artiCLE ARticle trick for once.
Thanks Serpent and twencelas.
Thanks Serpent for a fantastic crossword. It was slow going but worth the effort. (My only flub was ‘soup’ instead of SPUR; I thought I had stumbled upon a nho Brit saying.) My top picks were CORPOREAL, ITCHY, NATURAL, ARCHENEMY, and FLAMINGO. My only disappointment was not finding a Nina or some other hidden gem. Thanks twencelas for the blog.
As others have said, definitely on the tough side. I did finish, but had to do a couple of word searches and couldn’t parse many.