This delightful puzzle from Median has some quite innovative clues mixed in, to keep us on our toes. The puzzle can be found here: Median
I thought that this was going to be a pangram, but Z is missing.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | JALOPY |
Flyer comes round to cut heap (6)
|
| JAY (flyer) around (comes round) LOP (to cut) | ||
| 9 | HUCKSTER |
Clip wings of throwback? One’s in it for the money … (8)
|
| {[C]HUCK (throw) + STER[N] (back)} conjoined and minus the outside letters (clip wings of) | ||
| 10 | ULTERIOR |
… which could be hidden with such a motive (8)
|
| Cryptic definition, with the ” . . . ” referring to the solution to 9A HUCKSTER, characterizing such a person’s likely motives | ||
| 11 | FERVID |
Passionate fellow adding off-drive (6)
|
| F (fellow) + anagram of (off) DRIVE | ||
| 12 | THISBE |
Greek, lover at his bedside, embraces (6)
|
| Hidden in (embraces) [A]T HIS BE[DSIDE], with an added comma as misdirection | ||
| 13 | EX LIBRIS |
Classical assertion of book’s owner? (2,6)
|
| Cryptic definition, this Latin phrase commonly appearing on bookplates | ||
| 15 | VOGUISH |
Learnt characters quit vaulting horse before bouncing in (7)
|
| Anagram of (bouncing) V[A]U[LT]I[N]G HO[R]S[E] minus (characters [of which] quit) LEARNT | ||
| 17 |
Platform ten, as was? (7)
|
|
| Cryptic definition, TWITTER being the former name (as was) of the social media platform X (ten, in Roman numerals) | ||
| 20 | QUATRAIN |
As a practice, makes verse (8)
|
| QUA (as a) + TRAIN (practice) | ||
| 22 | UMLAUT |
Sign that unpaid modern language assistants usually teach beginners (6)
|
| First letters of (beginners [of]) U[NPAID] M[ODERN] L[ANGUAGE] A[SSISTANTS] U[SUALLY] T[EACH] | ||
| 23 | OSTLER |
Horses he grooms or lets play (6)
|
| Anagram of (play) OR LETS | ||
| 25 | SEMANTIC |
Maybe king blocks reactionary quotes about definitions (8)
|
| MAN (maybe king, in chess) inside (blocks) CITES (quotes) reversed (reactionary) | ||
| 26 | INIMICAL |
Opposed two setters entertaining new dubious claim (8)
|
| {I + I} (two setters) around (entertaining) N (new) + anagram of (dubious) CLAIM | ||
| 27 | SECANT |
Museum centre is unable to function (6)
|
| Inside letters of (centre [of]) [MU]SE[UM] + CAN’T (is unable to) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BALLYHOO |
Robin loses tail after British friend makes a racket (8)
|
| B (British) + ALLY (friend) + HOO[D] (Robin) minus last letter (loses tail) | ||
| 2 | SOMERSAULT |
Revolutionary movement created by seasonal sailor on the phone (10)
|
| Homophones of (on the phone) SUMMER (seasonal) + SALT (sailor) | ||
| 3 | BYLINE |
Nothing taken up in extra credit for writer (6)
|
| NIL (nothing) inverted (taken up) inside (in) BYE (extra, in cricket) | ||
| 4 | WHORLED |
Listened to global circular (7)
|
| Homophone of (listened to) WORLD (global). This was the solution suggested by the setter, but I also think WHIRLED would be a fair alternative here. | ||
| 5 | SCOFFLAW |
American who scorns the rules on eating? (8)
|
| Double/cryptic definition, “the rules on eating” perhaps constituting the body of SCOFF LAW, with “American” indicating the geographic usage | ||
| 6 | USER |
One taking liberties with bum steer occasionally (4)
|
| Every other letters of (occasionally) [B]U[M] S[T]E[E]R | ||
| 7 | GEMINI |
Sign of artist feeding soldier (6)
|
| [Tracey] EMIN inside (feeding) GI (soldier) | ||
| 14 | BOTTLENECK |
Daring exhibited twice where delays can happen (10)
|
| BOTTLE (daring) + NECK (daring), the wordplay hints being “exhibited twice” | ||
| 16 | SHAMROCK |
Plant fake diamond (8)
|
| SHAM (fake) + ROCK (diamond) | ||
| 18 | ESURIENT |
Hungry? Crackers ensure it! (8)
|
| Anagram of (crackers) ENSURE IT | ||
| 19 | ONESELF |
Maybe see this in the mirror: truthful wingless fairy (7)
|
| [H]ONES[T] (truthful) minus outside letters (wingless) + ELF (fairy) | ||
| 21 | URSINE |
Some lemurs in Ethiopia, perhaps, like Paddington (6)
|
| Hidden in (some) [LEM]URS IN E[THIOPIA] | ||
| 22 | UTMOST |
Limit of two seconds tucking into unhealthy treacle tart starters (6)
|
| {MO (second) + S (second), i.e., “two seconds”} inside (tucking into) first letters of (starters [of]) U[NHEALTHY] T[REACLE] T[ART] | ||
| 24 | LAMB |
Small woolly jumper (4)
|
| Cryptic definition |
A most enjoyable puzzle. Some highlights were THISBE, UMLAUT, ESURIENT and URSINE, but there was much more to savour.
Thanks for the blog, Cineraria. Glad you and allan_c enjoyed the puzzle.
I’m afraid I didn’t quite finish this: I was beaten by HUCKSTER and SCOFFLAW. In fact, apart from 12ac THISBE and 13ac EX LIBRIS, which we were given for our first lesson in calligraphy in Art classes at school, the top half was bare for quite a while but once I got going lower down, I enjoyed it a lot.
I particularly liked the rather erudite QUATRAIN, followed by UMLAUT (I loved the surface!), OSTLER, a word I learned from some Victorian novel – another lovely, near-poetic surface, SEMANTIC, INIMICAL, BALLYHOO, ESURIENT, ONESELF, VOGUISH and TWITTER, for various reasons, including ingenuity and surface.
I felt lucky to remember blogging SECANT in a Brummie puzzle a week or so ago.
Altogether, ‘a delightful puzzle’. Thanks to Cineraria for the blog and Median for the puzzle – I enjoyed chatting to you on Saturday, too. 😉
Eileen, thanks very much for taking the time to comment in such detail. Coming from you, the remarks are particularly encouraging for this amateur setter. I enjoyed chatting with you too!