The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29843.
A typically amusing offering from Brummie.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | BALLROOM |
Couples go around it, vegetation covering the lot (8)
|
| An envelope (‘covering’) of ALL (‘the lot’) in BROOM (‘vegetation’ – a vague definition for the shrub). | ||
| 9 | CREDOS |
Business’s crushing bloody beliefs! (6)
|
| An envelope (‘crushing’) of RED (‘bloody’) in CO’S (‘business’s’). | ||
| 10 | ALLY |
Colleague (clot!) dumps wife (4)
|
| A subtraction: [w]ALLY (‘clot’) minus the W (‘dumps wife’). | ||
| 11 | CAMOUFLAGE |
Variant of ‘Mao flu’ carried by US composer in disguise (10)
|
| An envelope (‘carried by’) of AMOUFL, an anagram (‘variant of’) og ‘Mao flu’ in CAGE (John, ‘US composer’, best known for the piece 4’33”, in which the performing musicians do nothing in particular for the indicated period of time). | ||
| 12 | HANG-UP |
How to end a verbal communication problem (4-2)
|
| Double definition,the first not requiring the hyphen. | ||
| 14 | STARSHIP |
Enterprise, say, of burglars finally breaking into celebrity joint (8)
|
| An envelope (‘breaking into’) of S (‘burglarS finally’) in STAR (‘celebrity’) plus HIP (‘joint’), for the craft in Star Trek. | ||
| 15 | SKILLET |
Pan’s range of talents (not sex primarily!) (7)
|
| A subtraction: SKILL [s]ET (‘range of talents’) minus an S (‘not Sex primarily’). | ||
| 17 | SYRINGE |
Ecstasy ring encouraged to carry injector (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘to carry’) in ‘ecstaSY RING Encouraged’. | ||
| 20 | UNFENCED |
Organisation with criminal department initially open to access (8)
|
| A charade of UN (‘organisation’) plus FENCE (‘criminal’) plus D (‘Department initially’). | ||
| 22 | MAYFLY |
Insect might escape (6)
|
| A charade of MAY (‘might’) plus FLY (‘escape’). | ||
| 23 | TROMBONIST |
Player isn’t playing with broom? End of concert! (10)
|
| An anagram (‘playing’) of ‘isnt’ plus ‘broom’ plus T (‘end of concerT‘). | ||
| 24 | HAIR |
Musical refrain led by Henry (4)
|
| A charade of H (‘Henry’) plus AIR (‘refrain’). | ||
| 25 | MOSAIC |
Short period before southern agency turns over decorative piece (6)
|
| A charade of MO (‘short period’) plus S (‘southern’) plus AIC, a reversal (‘turns over’) of CIA (‘agency’). | ||
| 26 | GANGSTER |
One of the Krays, possibly Reg, retired full of dread (8)
|
| An envelope (‘full of’) of ANGST (‘dread’) in GER, a reversal (‘retired’) of ‘Reg’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HALLMARK |
Distinctive feature of hot finale from Diana Krall improvised around Miles (8)
|
| A charade of H (‘hot’) plus A (‘finale from DianA‘) plus LLAMRK, an envlope (‘around’) of M (‘miles’) in LLARK, an anagram (‘improvised’) of ‘Krall’. | ||
| 2, 24 | PLAY HOST |
Compere’s toy army (4,4)
|
| A charade of PLAY (‘toy’) plus HOST (‘army’). | ||
| 3 | MOB CAP |
Criminal group takes cover – that’s old hat! (3,3)
|
| A charade of MOB (‘criminal group’) plus CAP (‘cover’). | ||
| 4 | ACCURACY |
True quality of a cold copper blue (8)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus C (‘cold’) plus CU (chemical symbol, ‘copper’) plus RACY (‘blue’). | ||
| 5 | DECLASSIFY |
Schoolkids in worship – remove from security list? (10)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of CLASS (‘schoolkids’ – ‘kids’ is really an indication by example) in DEIFY (‘worship’). | ||
| 6 | MOWGLI |
Trim foreign girl, not right for wild boy (6)
|
| A charade of MOW (‘trim’ – cut grass) plus GLI, an anagram (‘foreign’) of ‘gi[r]l’ minus the R (‘not right’). | ||
| 8 | MIMOSA |
Bush maligned Maoism (6)
|
| An anagram (‘maligned’) of ‘Maoism’. | ||
| 13 | GOLDEN MEAN |
Lemonade drunk in gallon containers, the moderate way! (6,4)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of OLDENMEA, an anagram (‘drunk’) of ‘lemonade’ in GN (‘GalloN containers’). | ||
| 16 | ENCROACH |
The lead on Eddie Cochran’s arrangement for Trespass (8)
|
| An anagram (‘arrangement’) of E (‘the lead from Eddie’) plus ‘Cochran’. | ||
| 18 | GULLIVER |
Traveller wants to carry back organ (8)
|
| A charade of GUL, a reversal (‘back’) of LUG (‘carry’) plus LIVER (‘organ’). | ||
| 19 | EDGING |
Creating a border, don’t start being non-committal (6)
|
| A subtraction: [h]EDGING (‘being non-committal’)nminus its first letter (‘don’t start’). | ||
| 21 | NARROW |
Mean to get slimmer (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 22 | MUTINY |
Greek character leading pocket uprising (6)
|
| A charade of MU (‘Greek character’) plus TINY (‘pocket’ as in pocket battleship) | ||
| 24 |
See 2
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A couple of times I thought my general knowledge may be stretched by people who turned out to be anagram fodder. NARROW was my biggest hold up in a swiftish solve.
This was enjoyable and quite a lot easier than yesterday, I liked DECLASSIFY, TROMBONIST and SKILLSET.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
I can’t put it better than Martin@1
That includes the likes.
And the thanks.
Liked SKILLET and DECLASSIFY.
Two very minor points:
TROMBONIST
Took the last T to be outside the anagram fodder.
ENCROACH
Took the E to be outside the anagram fodder.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Two sittings four hours apart and a rare occurrence of having parsed everything.
Very enjoyable.
Thanks PeterO and Brummie.
And so back to bed.
Nice puzzle.
I interpreted the wordplay for TROMBONIST and ENCROACH just as KVa@3. I think leaving alone letters that are already in the right position is a more minimalist approach, and so is to be preferred.
Tx B&P
Good fun today, plenty of smiles. I had MUTANT for 22d — no wonder I couldn’t parse it. New to me MOWGLI, MOB CAP & the Krays.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Lots of lovely clues. Favourites STARSHIP, GOLDEN MEAN, and GANGSTER. MOWGLI was a great clue as well, but might be a bit difficult if you didn’t have the GK.
I can’t see how “wants” fits in the clue for GULLIVER.
My vocabulary was being stretched, but the abundance of anagrams helped. I didn’t get MOB CAP; SKILLET was my jorum. I liked the combination of words containing ALL in NW; GANGSTER brought to mind the great Tom Hardy in “Legend”. Thanks Brummie and PeterO!
GDU @6: I’m surprised you have never heard of The Krays. They are probably the most notorious gangsters ever to pollute the streets of London. The movie Legend, starring Tom Hardy as both Ronnie & Reggie, would be a great introduction to their story.
Pretty straightforward for this setter, with lots of witty clues. I really liked HANG-UP, STARSHIP, SKILLET and ENCROACH but there were other ticks. Hadn’t heard of MOB CAP but easy enough from the wordplay. I noticed a lot of double LL clues with BALLROOM, ALLY, HALLMARK, SKILLET and GULLIVER, although probably nothing in it. I wonder if HAIR will ever disappear from these crosswords?
Layman @8, I’ve just seen your comments, great minds and all that 😉
Ta Brummie & PeterO.
muffin@7
GULLIVER
The ‘wants’ in the clue seems redundant as you say. Maybe someone has an explanation.
Fun, but over too quickly! I liked SKILLET
Thanks Brummie and PeterO