Madcap rounds off the week.
And, seeing as this is a setter I’m not very familiar with, I didn’t entirely know what to expect. However, I found a well-constructed puzzle with some enjoyable surfaces, particularly MARLENE DIETRICH making real men cry, the witty CARGOES and the nicely disguised definition for PARDON, but my favourite has to be the Rev Spooner’s tetchy GF, who certainly made me laugh.
Thanks to Madcap for an enjoyable romp.
Moh’s fairly unreliable cruciverbial hardness scale rating: Calcite
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | NOT AS MUCH |
Small amount wasted – order less! (3,2,4)
|
| Anagram (wasted) of S AMOUNT + CH (member of the Order of Companions of Honour) | ||
| 10 | EVADE |
TV channel once held back final part of Daphne Duck (5)
|
| Reversal (held back) of DAVE (TV channel now rebranded as U&Dave) + E (final part of Daphne) | ||
| 11 | ENTRIES |
Guards opening exits and access points (7)
|
| [s]ENTRIES (guards) without its first letter (opening exits) | ||
| 12 | OVERDUE |
Public performance by couple out of time throughout and late (7)
|
| OVER[t] (public) + DUE[t] (performance by couple) both without T (out of time throughout) | ||
| 13 | OCHRE |
Yellow aggregate containing clay and hematite primarily (5)
|
| ORE (aggregate) around (containing) first letters (primarily) of C[lay] and H[ematite] | ||
| 14 | EASTERNER |
One well ahead of our time with new style of serene art (9)
|
| Anagram (new style of) SERENE ART | ||
| 16 | MARLENE DIETRICH |
Old singer broadcast hit and real men cried (7,8)
|
| Anagram (broadcast) of HIT REAL MEN CRIED | ||
| 19 | DISSIPATE |
Break up with Spooner’s tetchy American girlfriend (9)
|
| Spoonerism of ‘pissy’ (American slang for tetchy) ‘date’ | ||
| 21 | FLORA |
Italian brother boxes leftover plants (5)
|
| FRA (Italian abbreviation for a monk or friar, so ‘brother’) around (boxes) L + O (left + over) | ||
| 22 | CHENNAI |
Cannabis regularly taken eating chicken Madras! (7)
|
| Envelope (eating) of CNAI (alternate letters – regularly taken – of ‘cannabis’) around HEN | ||
| 23 | CARGOES |
Loads of ‘brrm brrm’ when this happens? (7)
|
| Brrm brrm being the noise made when one’s CAR GOES | ||
| 24 | LOTUS |
Fortune laid out by American for prestigious car (5)
|
| LOT (fortune) + US | ||
| 25 | NO BIG DEAL |
Trifling Ig Nobel award – extremely funny (2,3,4)
|
| Anagram (funny) of IG NOBEL A[war]D (award extremely) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | UNREFORMED |
University nurses oddly in favour of master’s degree remaining the same (10)
|
| U (university) + NRE (odd letters of ‘nurse’) + FOR (in favour of) + MED (M.Ed., master’s degree) | ||
| 2 | STITCHER |
Sewer in street’s an irritating thing? (8)
|
| ST + ITCHER (an irritating thing) | ||
| 3 | ASPIRE |
Head lost in despair abandoned hope (6)
|
| Anagram (abandoned) of [d]ESPAIR (head lost in despair) | ||
| 4 | GUNS |
Arsenal reserves warm up (4)
|
| Reversal (up, in a down clue) of SNUG (warm) | ||
| 5 | SHROPSHIRE |
County has address centrally within mall perhaps to let (10)
|
| Insertion of R (central letter of ‘address’) inside SHOPS (mall perhaps) + HIRE | ||
| 6 | TENEMENT |
People accommodated in principle here? (8)
|
| MEN (people) inside (accommodated in) TENET (principle) | ||
| 7 | PARDON |
What’s on is below standard today essentially (6)
|
| ON (from surface) below (in a down clue) PAR (standard) + D (central letter – essentially – of ‘today’) | ||
| 8 | WERE |
One is or used to be (4)
|
| A play on ‘we’re’ (we are/one is) and ‘were’, past tense of the verb to be | ||
| 14 | ELEVATIONS |
Promotions delight some at first with envy occasionally admitted (10)
|
| Envelope (admitted) of ELATION (delight) + S (some at first) around EnVy (envy occasionally) | ||
| 15 | REHEARSALS |
Al Shearer’s injured in practice sessions (10)
|
| Anagram (injured) of AL SHEARERS | ||
| 17 | EVILNESS |
Sinister force existing to the North where the monster lurks (8)
|
| Reversal (to the North, in a down clue) of LIVE (existing) + NESS (Loch Ness, where the monster lurks). Hard to believe that ‘evilness’ is really a word, when ‘evil’ does the same job, but it is | ||
| 18 | ISOTOPES |
Variations in chemical make-up established by organisation that standardises drinks (8)
|
| ISO (the body that issues international standards for all sorts of things, the International Organization for Standardization. There’s an interesting note on why it’s ISO, not IOS, on Wikipedia) + TOPES (drinks) | ||
| 20 | SIESTA |
It’s mostly easy relaxing (6)
|
| Anagram (relaxing) of ITS EAS[y] with the whole clue as definition | ||
| 21 | FORAGE |
Hunt‘s changing of gear (6)
|
| Anagram (changing) of OF GEAR | ||
| 22 | COLD |
One hundred, worn-out and stiff (4)
|
| C + OLD | ||
| 23 | CUBE |
Copper on beat missing half of block (4)
|
| CU (copper) + BE[at] |
Comment #1
OCHRE is also pretty much a clue as definition as it is a mix of clay and ferric oxide/hematite – though the more of the latter there is, the redder the resulting compound rather than yellow as per the def. SIESTA is similarly neat though the positioning of ‘mostly’ meant my first attempt at an anagram was IT + EASY which got me nowhere.
Thanks both