Italicus returns to round off our week
A pleasant Sunday solve, can’t see any themes or Ninas. Thanks Italicus
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MALIGN |
Badmouth country gent on a regular basis (6)
|
| Country MALI &GeNt regularly | ||
| 4 | ABJECT |
Wretched sailor given hollow justice by court (6)
|
| AB – a sailor & a hollowed out J(ustic)E & C(our)T | ||
| 8 | WARTHOG |
Throw a wobbly meeting German swine (7)
|
| [THROW A]* wobbly & G(erman) | ||
| 9 | PERHAPS |
American criminals smuggling heroin back from Alaska, possibly (7)
|
| H(eroin) & end of (alask)A in PERPS – American criminals. Sneaky definition | ||
| 11 | STARSTRUCK |
Impressed by celebrity side’s lead in opening phase of rugby match (10)
|
| S(ide) in START & RUCK a part of a rugby game | ||
| 12 | DIET |
Food and drink conference (4)
|
| Double definition most notably the Diet of Worms | ||
| 13 | SALVO |
Hail of projectiles from colossal volcano (5)
|
| Hidden in collasSAL VOlcano | ||
| 14 | IDOLATRY |
Setter does note attempt to show great reverence (8)
|
| I DO – setter does & LA – note & TRY – attempt | ||
| 16 | DRIFT NET |
Tinder craftily engages female model as trap (5,3)
|
| F(emale) & T – car model both in a crafty TINDER* | ||
| 18 | EXACT |
Demand former partner do something (5)
|
| EX & ACT | ||
| 20 | ZEAL |
Central characters in Bizet opera share violent passion (4)
|
| Middle letters of biZet opEra shAre vioLent | ||
| 21 | WASHBOARDS |
Instruments quiet, cold-blooded type installed in hospital departments (10)
|
| Not exactly the most common of instruments SH – quiet & BOA cold blooded snake all in WARDS | ||
| 23 | WITNESS |
See simple-minded Nationalist ousting Liberal (7)
|
| N(ationalist) replacing L(iberal) in WITLESS – simple minded | ||
| 24 | MODICUM |
Relative presses old investigators about scrap (7)
|
| O(ld) & CID reversed all in MUM | ||
| 25 | GOSPEL |
Leave detailed incantation in sacred text (6)
|
| GO – leave & SPEL(l) de-tailed | ||
| 26 | ENMESH |
Involve Norway in carbon-free recycling scheme (6)
|
| N(orway) replacing C(arbon) in a recycled SCHEME* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MEANT |
Implied temperature is below average (5)
|
| MEAN – type of average & T(emperature) | ||
| 2 | LITERAL |
Unadorned parts of wall are tiled over (7)
|
| Hidden reversed in walL ARE TILed | ||
| 3 | GHOST TOWN |
Two-tone classic brown robe for Spooner (5,4)
|
| Song by The Specials. Spoonerism of Toast Gown | ||
| 5 | BLEAK |
Judge sequesters large Dickensian house? (5)
|
| L(arge) in BEAK – magistrate | ||
| 6 | ECHIDNA |
Chained wild animal (7)
|
| CHAINED* wild | ||
| 7 | TOP-SECRET |
Very sensitive street cop is rattled (3-6)
|
| A rattled [STREET COP]* | ||
| 10 | QUAINTEST |
Most picturesque island crossed by soldier partaking in mission (9)
|
| I(sland) in ANT for soldier all in QUEST – mission | ||
| 13 | SHRIEKING |
Ogre rings Independent in middle of night, screaming (9)
|
| I(ndependent) in the cartoon ogre SHREK & IN & middle of niGht | ||
| 15 | OVERBLOWN |
Pretentious maiden, say, hit on knight (9)
|
| OVER – maiden by example & BLOW – hit & kNight in chess notation | ||
| 17 | FELINES |
Fellow in his dotage raised cats (7)
|
| F(ellow) & SENILE reversed | ||
| 19 | AVARICE |
Greed is a moral weakness consuming upstanding artist (7)
|
| RA – artist reversed inside A VICE | ||
| 21 | WASTE |
Used to be extremely talkative? Rubbish! (5)
|
| WAS & extremes of T(alkativ)E | ||
| 22 | DOUGH |
Picked up bunny girl’s cash (5)
|
| Sounds like DOE – female rabbit |
It is a pangram.
Liked STARSTRUCK and GHOST TOWN.
Thanks Italicus and flashling.
ABJECT
Read it as J(ustic)E by CT (short for court).
Saw the pangram but didn’t help.
All fell in pretty quickly, except WASHBOARDS, WITNESS & QUAINTEST which took a bit of thought. Nicely constructed clues throughout leading to a pleasant, if not too taxing, workout.
Thanks Italicus and flashling. Got to like a clue about a Special’s song and the misdirection of Perhaps.
A fun pangram. GHOST TOWN is a very good Spoonerism but I am puzzled by the definition. I know the answer is one of their songs, but where do The Specials come into it? STARSTRUCK was my favourite.
Many thanks to Italicus and to flashling.
Not sure I understand your question, Rabbit Dave. The Specials were pioneers of two-tone music here in Coventry (where I live). The Hope & Anchor pub, where they used to perform, sadly no longer exists. Coventry City Centre looks more and more like a ghost town these days.
RD – I don’t think the Specials do come into it, other than having written the song which is a classic of the oeuvre. Like Stairway to Heaven might be a rock classic?
Apart from not spotting the pangram, my comment would be almost word for word the same as Hovis today. Same three tricky ones – WASHBOARD comes a long way down my list of ‘think of an instrument’ answers – in an approachable Sunday morning puzzle. I would also agree with Matthew @4 on the sneakiness of PERHAPS.
Thanks Italicus and flashling
My musical taste obviously lower brow than many.. washboards being part of my early listening at least, always wanted to play in a jug band! Just seems like so much fun! So that raised a smile.. obviously also had to listen to Ghost Town.. what a great song!!
All in all, a very pleasant Sunday morning, including breakfast outside.. what more could you ask for..
Thanks Italicus n impeccable blog from flashling
The subject of GHOST TOWN was lost on me and I suspect many others as well. I thought it might refer to a black and white film – there was indeed a film of that name but not B/W. Apart from that much enjoyed so thanks Italicus and Flashling.
Thanks both. Pretty sure GHOST TOWN would have been on the Two-Tone record label – heard it this week on the radio, which is rare as we’re nowhere close to Halloween. Like the band, but my favourite of theirs is Do Nothing, perhaps a recommendation for a Bank Holiday Sunday.
Thanks for all the explanations regarding GHOST TOWN. I had never heard of “Two-Tone” music before today.
GHOST TOWN and two-tone very good. Back when bands had something to say that wasn’t about their egos, wealth or sex life.
Doe for DOUGH was a bit of a doh! moment. I spent too long wondering how to make dosh into a five letter word.
Thanks Italicus and flashling.
Pleased to see that I wasn’t alone in being unfamiliar with two-tone music, no wonder the Spoonerism was lost on me. Biggest smiles here came from QUAINTEST, SHRIEKING & OVERBLOWN with a nod to WARTHOG simply because the phrase ‘throw a wobbly’ always makes me laugh.
Thanks to Italicus and to flashling for the review.