Thanks to Basilisk for a fantastic puzzle.
I found this slightly easier than usual, but no less enjoyable with some very witty clueing.
Not for the first time with a Basilisk puzzle, I see plus signs in the grid as well as some compound words (horse + radish, elect + orally) which might be today’s theme.
(IS found in HARD* (*ground)) east of HORSE (Hackney?)
A hackney is a type of horse
MP (politician, Member of Parliament) receives A (answer)
LAG[g]ER (he won’t keep up, without a ‘G’ (good))
(RUNS A NICE)* (*criminal)
[nov]EL BARES IM[ages]< (nurses, <about)
[p]IRATE (criminal, loses head)
THE + A (two articles) + T[hem] (first of) + RE (about)
(A (adult) + GOT (understood))< (<revolutionary)
“MORE” (something extra “for audience”)
DEPOT* (*abandoned) sheltering OR (men, Other Ranks)
HUT (shelter) + CH (children)
PAN (severely criticise) + (TOME (book) about I’M (author’s))
(HE’S CARING)* (*busy)
DO [one’s] NUT (get very angry, having lost ONE’S) – EDITED
Double definition
For the second definition, the ‘sewer’ is a needle, i.e. thing that sews
E[ngineering] (head of) + LECTOR (reader) + ALLY (form union)
HATE (dislike) looking after (EL (‘the’, Spanish) + PM (Prime Minister))
Triple definition
[th]E (conclusion of) + (RRR (three R’s) contains O (nothing))
(ELBA (island) having AIM (to level))< (<up)
IN (popular) + (ST (way, street) to retain PEC (muscle))
(BRING HER A)* (*dire)
Cryptic definition
To do something ‘manually’ is to do it ‘by hand’ hence ‘handy’
REF (whistleblower) overwhelmed by PER (a)
For ‘per’, think: it will cost £5 A person / it will cost £5 PER person
TOO (besides) + (TACHE (face fungus) round H[ead] (top of))
REGINA (possibly Victoria) blocked by O (circle) + L (line)
Regina means ‘queen’ in Latin and is an official title: Elizabeth Regina or Victoria Regina
Cryptic/double definition
Coventry is the name of an English city and also means ‘the state of being excluded/ostracised’
REP (salesman) + RISE (subject of wage increase)
In terms of the order of the components, think a RISE FOR THE REP is the same as a REP RISE
“TO KNIGHT” (in honour of lady’s champion, “we hear”)
Think of this as a toast
C (Catholic) + HAS (experiences) + T[itillating] E[motions] (beginnings of)
Cryptic definition: (FASTER)* *could be made
Quadruple definition
For 27a, I think it’s ‘do one’s nut’ without ‘one’s’.
Oops – of course. Thank you Hovis @1 and I have amended the blog.
Very good indeed as Oriel observes. I was held up for quite a while on my last two intersecting clues. Eventually the penny dropped for DONUT and REGIONAL went straight in afterwards – clever to have me searching for a noun when it was an adjectival solution all along. Basilisk is an FT setter I really enjoy and today was no exception: faves include LAGER, INSURANCE, MOOR, HUTCH, SEARCHING, ERROR, HARBINGER, REGIONAL and CHASTE. But everything was pretty god tbh
Thanks Basilisk and Oriel
Very enjoyable though decidedly chewy in parts.
Liked 10a – not sure it needs the question mark! Other picks were DONUT, ORDER, EYE, REGIONAL, TOOTHACHE and COVENTRY.
11a was well concealed.
Couldn’t parse AMIABLE.
Thanks to Basilisk and Oriel.
Thanks for the blog, very enjoyable set of clever clues.
Many are listed above but I do not quite see why MrPostMark has a religious angle.
The plus sign grid has been used a few times recently, there are a number of answers that can be split.
I don’t understand 4 down. I get the ELBA bit, but the rest is IMA reversed, not AIM.
Tom@6 ELBA having AIM so inclusion – ELB (AIM) A . Now reverse .
Ah, I see. Thanks.
[Roz you are a devil! I re-read my post several times to work out what you were on about – because the typo occurred in the last but one word and didn’t flag up as an error. Good cluing for sure; no insult intended to Basilisk but I would use ‘divine’ only on the rarest of occasions]
Thanks Basilisk, that was excellent as usual. INSURANCE alone made this crossword worthwhile and there were many other clues I liked including HORSERADISH, THEATRE, HARBINGER, and PREFER. I couldn’t parse DONUT (unfamiliar with ‘do one’s nut’) and the cleverly hidden MISERABLE. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
[ PM@9 I suspected that it was a deliberate mistake, an admission of mortality like the tilers of the Alhambra Palace in Granada. ]
I thought ERROR clever, EYE cheeky, and liked the quadruple definition for ORDER. I liked INSURANCE too, but unfortunately I came up with NUISANCER at first, which naturally did not work with the crossers.
Not knowing either “face fungus” or “TOUCHE” meant I needed Oriel’s help with TOOTHACHE. I get TONIGHT, but it does not really click with me.
I have known for some time that Basilisk and I are not quite on the same wavelength. It is not that I struggled, but I feel I do not get the same reward from his puzzles as others. No complaints, though
Thanks Basilisk and Oriel
We struggled in the NW corner but completed the grid eventually once we got REGISTER and then saw MISERABLE as a reverse hidden. And in 28ac although we thought of a sewer as a person who sews we didn’t think of a needle – and wondered if the EYE could be a rodding eye associated with the other kind of sewer, not that we were convinced.
Thanks, Basilisk and Oriel.
I thought it was a wonderful puzzle by Basilisk with just the right number of clues that made me ponder a little. As was the case with some others I was unfamiliar with the phrase “Do one’s nut” but knew what the answer had to be from the crosses. Also, I knew that hackney was a horse drawn wagon, but didn’t know (or had forgotten) that it also referred to just a horse. Thank you Basilisk and thank you Oriel for a great blog.
Many thanks to Oriel for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment.