ARTEXLEN kicks off the week…
A very enjoyable and gentle puzzle.
Thanks ARTEXLEN!
ACROSS
1. Comparatively brave to tackle what one observes (8)
BEHOLDER
BOLDER (comparatively brave) to tackle EH (what)
5. We should split sacks (4,2)
LETS GO
9. Chap to incite revolutionary conspiracies (5-3)
COVER-UPS
COVE (chap) + (SPUR)< (to inspire, <revolutionary)
10. Ambassador dined after part of journey (6)
LEGATE
ATE (dined) after LEG (part of journey)
12. Substantial aerodrome a tycoon possesses (5)
MEATY
[aerodro]ME A TY[coon] (possesses)
13. Pilot is US soldier on schedule with vehicle to go west (9)
NAVIGATOR
((GI (US soldier) on ROTA (schedule)) with VAN (vehicle))< (<to go west)
14. Half of boys go mad for edible plant (6)
BORAGE
BO[ys] (half of) + RAGE (go mad)
16. One needing no guidance to be unrefined (7)
NATURAL
18. Station’s unpopular bar (7)
OUTPOST
OUT (unpopular) + POST (bar)
20. Partners of Ant and Rik meeting for some time (6)
DECADE
DEC (partner of Ant, Anthony McPartlin & Declan Donnelly) and ADE (partner of Rik, Rik Mayall & Adrian Edmondson)
22. Abridged novel so: Death of Caesar, The End (9)
SHORTENED
(SO + [caesa]R (death of) + THE END)* (*novel)
23. Supported spy on the radio (5)
BORNE
"Bourne" = BORNE (spy, Jason Bourne, "on the radio")
24. The French newspaper that is socialist (6)
LEFTIE
LE (the, French) + FT (newspaper) + IE (that is)
25. Great performer in group beside Bill (5,3)
CLASS ACT
CLASS (group) beside ACT (bill)
26. Dealt with kind editor (6)
SORTED
SORT (kind) + ED (editor)
27. Relative of asp coming out of snapdragons sinuously (8)
GRANDSON
([s]N[ap]DRAGONS (ASP coming out of))* (*sinuously)
DOWN
1. Got mechanical part inside buzzer (6)
BECAME
CAM (mechanical part) inside BEE (buzzer)
2. Possess many great properties as one contracting auctioneer does (4,1,3,2,5)
HAVE A LOT TO OFFER
Double (cryptic) definition
3. Transport fifty soldiers on railway (5)
LORRY
L (fifty) + OR (soldiers) on RY (railway)
4. Stretch of river blocked by vessels (7)
EXPANSE
EXE (river) blocked by PANS (vessels)
6. Name half-hearted novelist that’s turned dynamic (9)
ENERGETIC
(CITE (name) + GRE[e]NE (novelist, half hearted))< (<that's turned)
7. Unfulfilled aspirations matter, she dreads failing (9,6)
SHATTERED DREAMS
(MATTER SHE DREADS)* (*failing)
8. Reject concerning temptation to change sides (8)
OVERRULE
OVER (concerning) + LURE (temptation, to change sides, i.e. swap the L (left) for the R (right))
11. Odd figure losing head is not odd (4)
EVEN
[s]EVEN (odd figure, losing head)
15. A fight raising issue that took a while (5,4)
ABOUT TIME
A + BOUT (fight) + (EMIT)< (issue, <raising)
17. Cheers on swimmer in competitions on vacation (8)
CONSOLES
(ON + SOLE (swimmer)) in C[ompetition]S (on vacation)
19. Very small loaf last in bakery (4)
TINY
TIN (loaf) + [baker]Y (last in)
20. Con artist puzzled after banks switch locations (7)
DIDDLER
RIDDLED (puzzled, after banks switch location, i.e. swap the first and last letters)
21. Repeatedly struck head getting in the hollow (6)
BEATEN
BEAN (head) getting in T[h]E (hollow)
23. Crew member’s blog’s funny regularly (5)
BOSUN
B[l]O[g]S [f]U[n]N[y] (regularly)
Thanks Artexlen for a nice set of clues with my top picks being LEGATE, BORAGE, LEFTIE, EXPANSE, and CONSOLES. I was beaten by BEATEN and couldn’t fully parse COVER-UPS, not knowing that chap=cove. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
A nice puzzle. Liked BOSUN, LETS GO and LEFTIE
All parsed (after internet research on the rather esoteric Rik & Ant).
I would hate to be in a plane piloted by the NAVIGATOR and I wonder whether “ one observes” is the same as BEHOLDER.
Thank Artexelen and Teacow
Mostly straightforward and enjoyable, although I’d never have been able to parse DECADE, and hadn’t heard of Jason Bourne. Never seen “death” for last letter before. I was beaten by BEATEN, and by tin/loaf.
Much to enjoy. No cheating required. Liked meaty, decade, have a lot to offer, even. Thanks both.
Is “dug seed” an intentional Nina? (Read down from the d of 1a).
I was also beaten by the crossing BORNE & BEATEN. Not convinced by ‘Death of’ as an indicator of the last letter. Great crossword though.
Thanks Artexlen and Teacow
1ac: If you take “one observes” as an explanation of the answer rather than a synonym, then it seems to me to be a perfectly good definition.
Martyn@3: On the other hand, if you were in a large sailing ship you would very much hope that a pilot would navigate you into harbour or through dangerous waters as that was their role, so I think the definition holds water (sorry…).
For the “death of Caesar” the best I can come up with is “that’s the death/end of him” which might be a good enough justification?
I was a bit mislead on occasion by the sentence structure e.g. in “head getting in the hollow” but all absolutely fairly and enjoyed the solving as clues which left me with a feeling of “What?” slowly unravelled with a couple of crossers.
many thanks Artexlen and Teacow.
Enjoyable puzzle, though I needed the blog to understand how to parse several clues. Thanks as usual. I have no problem with “death of…” but wondered vaguely whether it is OK in a double definition (LETS GO) for one of the definitions to require an apostrophe, but not both. I assume it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to me at any rate.
For 2d a possessor of many great properties might have a lot of piles as might an auctioneer contracting.
Lots of fun, thanks to ARTEXLEN and Teacow.
Newbie @11: true, but HAVE A LOT OF PILES is not a set phrase. Only single words and set phrases are fair game in a crossword puzzle. This is the “green paint” rule. We all know what green paint is, but why green as opposed to blue or black? In other words, green paint is a thing, but “green paint” isn’t a Thing, capisce?
As for the puzzle: I agree that this was enjoyable. Favorites included ABOUT TIME for its cleverly hidden definition and GRANDSON for the image of the garden snake, as well as some that have already been mentioned. I’ve heard of Ant and Dec, but not Rik and Ade, but that was the only real holdup. The clue for EVEN is an old trick, but it’ll be the first time for someone, so I’m not going to complain.
Babbler @10: I’ve wondered the same thing on these pages before. The example clue I came up with is:
Is unable to tilt (4)
I think the consensus was that that clue is fine, at least when I asked back then.
Jason Bourne is/was not a spy. He was/is an assassin. Just saying . . .
Mrpenney@11: Capisco. Forgive my puerile sense of humour. Paradoxically I suppose “green paint rule” is an allowable phrase although “green paint” is not.
mrpenny@14: An interesting point and a good example – I suppose the rule being applied is not that the two definitions (or even the definition and wordplay) are equivalent in the clue but once written into the grid, where punctuation, accents and capitalisation don’t matter. So “Head boy (4)” could be “JOHN” even though one is capitalised and one is not. It would also justify the occasions when we see a foreign word used as part of wordplay but the accent has to be ignored (as it would usually be on capital letters). It feels somehow less correct to drop punctuation than capital letters, however, as the latter can be justified by simply insisting the answers are all written in upper case.
Food for thought.
5ac further to comments 10, 14, 17: Compare FT 18,273, in which one of the answers was A STONE’S THROW enumerated (1,6,5). On the same basis, LET’S GO would be enumerated (4,2). Thus, by FT rules, I would count the clue as a double definition.
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2026/01/21/financial-times-18273-by-goliath/
No problem solving this, but in pedant mode can’t help observing that a Bill is not an Act. If a Bill is passed, it becomes an Act, but they are not synonymous. Well, I was a lawyer…
Perplexus@19: While I cannot find any dictionary support for “bill” to define “act”, your argument does not prove that no such definition exists. Both words bill and act have a wide range of meanings. The fact that the specific meanings you cite are clearly distinct – which I accept wholeheartedly – does not preclude the possibility that some other meanings could exist which would allow the clue at 25ac to work. Some of the theatrical meanings of the words come tantalisingly close, but no pairing of them quite gets there in my view. And please do not place any weight on the fact that the clue has “Bill” with a capital B. False capitalisation of clue words has been generally acceptable in crosswords for decades.
Another one beaten by BEATEN. Ha. Fun puzzle otherwise. Thank you all.