Hello from York! This puzzle is available here.
It was great to see Dalibor at the York event. As blogger, I’d received the puzzle in advance, but teamed up with a York buddy to enjoy it together. It went down well on the day too – and we weren’t alone in struggling with O! That was the one occasion we looked something up to help with solving, but we did also check a couple of other answers constructed from wordplay. The two long answers helped very much with placing the entries in the grid, so the pieces of the jigsaw all fit together smoothly.
I forgot to ask my fellow solver to nominate a favourite clue so I’ll have to make up my own mind. The award for most intricate goes to the treat, VANILLA ICE CEAM – an impressive construction, but I’ll pick out the musical RAILCARD as my favourite. Even if there are no trains running from York today!
Thanks Dalibor, both for the crossword and your presence.
In the grid and clues below I’ve included numbering for ease of reference.
| # | Clue with definitions underlined | |
| ANSWER — Explanation, with most quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | ||
| A | 9a | Bad idea to engage native Africans in prayer (5,3) |
| AGNUS DEI — An anagram of (bad) IDEA taking in (to engage) GNUS (native Africans) | ||
| B | 20d | Viktor Orban is Hungarian but not fully, therefore: expel! (6) |
| BANISH — Contained in (… but not fully) orBAN IS Hungarian | ||
| C | 25a | Appeal of retired teacher having tea with parent outside (8) |
| CHARISMA — Reversed (retired) SIR inside (with … outside) CHA (tea) with MA (parent) | ||
| D | 12a | Nameless piece by Elgar contains the composer’s first revolutionary song (2-2-2) |
| DO-RE-MI — Missing N (nameless) [n]IMROD (piece by Elgar) contains E[lgar] (the composer’s first), all in reverse (revolutionary) | ||
| E | 16d | Mostly fair, not against the law, clear and detailed (8) |
| EXPLICIT — All but the last letter of (mostly) EXPo (fair) + LICIT (not against the law) | ||
| F | 14a | Temporarily cavorting before nighttime (3,3,4,5) |
| FOR THE TIME BEING — An anagram of (cavorting) BEFORE NIGHTTIME | ||
| G | 2d | Awkward United’s in pain after losing in the end (6) |
| GAUCHE — U (United) is in ACHE (pain) after the last letter of (… in the end) losinG | ||
| H | 19d | Missing leading characters in what may be seen as Girl Power’s peak period (6) |
| HEIGHT — Without first letters of (missing leading characters in) sHE mIGHT (what may be seen as Girl Power) | ||
| I | 26a | Flyer starts to react unusually stressed after flying far away from the continent (6) |
| ICARUS — Initial letters of (starts to) React Unusually Stressed after an anagram of (flying) FAR is taken away from [afr]ICA (continent) | ||
| J | 22d | Seaman with a large following, a swindler (6) |
| JACKAL — JACK (seaman) with A and L (large) following | ||
| K | 1d | Good old president goes to the North Korean leader above all for some Japanese food (8) |
| KAMABOKO — OK (good) plus OBAMA (old president) is written upwards (goes to the North), all headed by (… above all) the first letter (leader) of Korean | ||
| L | 13a | What we know about bad weather in and around Nancy (8) |
| LORRAINE — LORE (what we know) around (about) RAIN (bad weather) | ||
| M | 10a | Make-up artist leaves part of the UK being bored by German opera composer (8) |
| MASCAGNI — MASCA[ra] (make-up) in which RA (artist) leaves plus NI (part of the UK) having inserted (being bored by) G (German) | ||
| N | 17d | Jittery about, let me think, giving up victory for a great many (8) |
| NUMEROUS — NER[v]OUS (jittery) around (about) UM (let me think) removing (giving up) V (victory) | ||
| O | 5d | Shakespearean officer dealing with finances, Jan 1 – Dec 31 ,1598 (except middle of May) (6) |
| ONEYER — ONE YE[a]R (Jan 1 – Dec 31 ,1598) except for the middle of mAy | ||
| P | 21a | Polly’s clothes become stuck at first asking for something else to wear (6) |
| PYJAMA — P[oll]Y’s outer letters (clothes) + JAM (become stuck) + the initial letter of (at first) Asking | ||
| Q | 3d | Singers audibly interrupting yearly gathering creating a mess? The opposite (8) |
| QUAGMIRE — QUIRE, a homophone of (… audibly) CHOIR (singers), going outside (interrupting … the opposite) AGM (yearly gathering) | ||
| R | 24a | Timeless track by Queen maybe: Ticket to Ride? (8) |
| RAILCARD — [t]RAIL (track) without T (timeless …) + CARD (queen maybe) | ||
| S | 18a | Male person, needing no introduction and dressed in black is easily influenced by others (8) |
| SHAPABLE — cHAP (male person), without the first letter (needing no introduction) and inside (dressed in) SABLE (black) | ||
| T | 15d | One of Carole King’s most successful records – give it a go! (8) |
| TAPESTRY — TAPES (records) + TRY (give it a go) | ||
| U | 6d | Means to identify initially any mammal caught by American eagle (8) |
| USERNAME — Initially Any Mammal inside (caught by) US (American) and ERNE (eagle) | ||
| V | 4d | Everyone’s up to support terrible Russian leader being brought down – kill ’m in the US, taking special care, a treat! (7,3,5) |
| VANILLA ICE CREAM — ALL (everyone) is reversed (up) going under (to support) IVAN (terrible Russian leader) with its first letter moved to the bottom (being brought down) – this is followed by ICE ’M (kill ’m in the US) taking in an anagram of (special) CARE | ||
| W | 23a | Group of players impressed by victory for British politician (6) |
| WILSON — LSO (London Symphony Orchestra: group of players) inside (impressed by) WIN (victory) | ||
| X | 8a | Idyllic place where Irish singer’s comeback is seen between “wrong” and “acceptable” (6) |
| XANADU — The reversal (comeback) of DANA (Irish singer) is seen between X (wrong) and U (acceptable) | ||
| Y | 11a | Is concerned about keeping a plant (6) |
| YARROW — WORRY (concern) (I think this is what the clue should read rather than “is concerned”) reversed (about) containing (keeping) A | ||
| Z | 7d | Aim for “all out” then? (4,2) |
| ZERO IN — ZERO IN implies ALL OUT |
Yes, ON?YER was my one-letter gap too. KAMABOKO was also new to me, and MASCAGNI had to be dredged up from the deeper recesses. The jigsaw element was easier than expected because the 15 letter lights fell into place early. I couldn’t parse HEIGHT either but that couldn’t be anything else. A very enjoyable puzzle. It was lovely to see Sil/Dalibor again, and to meet so many new faces and see old friends yesterday.
Thanks to Kitty, Dalibor, and thanks as always to John and Jane for organising this wonderful gathering.