Good morning from Philadelphia. This is Braze (a zebra with two twists) filling in for Eileen. Thanks to Brendan and also to the hosts for giving me an opportunity to crossword blog (and digress) again!
Phew! I was anticipating a very hard puzzle but the editors saved this one for today because this Friday is the 13th. Brendan found lots of ways to reference 13 in this puzzle, which was lots of fun. My favorites were 4d, 21d, and 15d for the misdirection.
I was also pleased to see Rodin make an appearance, so I could call out the Rodin Museum here on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which is our avenue of museums. It’s the only museum outside France dedicated to his works. Philly is underappreciated as an art town: everyone thinks it’s just the Rocky statue, but besides the Philadelphia Museum of Art (and its annex) we also have the legendary Barnes Institute, which is the most concentrated collection of masterworks you’ll ever see. Be sure to make time for it if you come to Philadelphia.
On to today’s clues and solutions!
Across
| 1a | ALPHABETISING | Way to produce order using 26 characters helping a bit as arranged (13)
*HELPING A BIT (anagram indicated by “as arranged”) |
| 10a | OUTBACK | Both parts of return trip in remote region (7)
OUT + BACK (two legs of a return trip) |
| 11a | TWELFTH | Some flight flew there, returning before 13th (7)
<fligh_T FLEW T_here< (hidden word indicated by “some,” reversal indicated by “returning”) |
| 12a | THEFT | Taking one of London’s papers (5)
THE + FT (Financial Times, a paper familiar to solvers!) |
| 13a | RE-ENACTOR | Person taking part in historical pageants? Not to be confused with career (2-7)
*NOT + CAREER (anagram indicated by “to be confused”) |
| 14a | CHILD | French cookery expert, one of 13, possibly (5)
Julia Child, famous TV chef (and wartime intelligence analyst too) |
| 16a | SLIDE RULE | Line written in regret after another splits party – that can speed up division (5,4)
S(L)IDE RU(L)E (L [line] inserted in SIDE [party] + RUE [regret]) |
| 18a | REGROWING | For instance, din in arena is on the rise again (9)
R(EG + ROW)ING EG (“for instance”) + ROW (“din”) contained in (“in”) RING (“arena) |
| 19a | RODIN | Frenchman who sculpted river god (5)
R (“river”) + ODIN (“God”) |
| 20a | LORDLIEST | I strolled haphazardly, like most aristocratic types (9)
*ISTROLLED (anagram indicated by haphazardly) |
| 23a | VIRUS | Cause for complaint from man in Latin America (5)
VIR (man in Latin) + US (America) |
| 24a | NAMABLE | Mediterranean islander backed as OK for nomination (7)
<ELBA + MAN< (reversal indicated by “backed”) |
| 25a | RED CARD | Punishment for player, one of 26 (3,4)
Double definition, reference to a deck of cards |
| 26a | ROUGH DIAMONDS | Trump listened to group of 13 unsophisticated types (5,8)
RUFF (homophone indicated by “listened to”) + DIAMONDS (also a reference to cards) |
Down
| 2d | LETTERING | Allowing to capture queen – writing on wall, perhaps (9)
LETTING (“allowing”) containing (“to capture”) ER (“queen”) |
| 3d | HEART | Middle one of 13 (5)
Double definition, and another playing card reference |
| 4d | BAKER | One of three sea-going tradesmen who understates 13? (5)
Nursery rhyme reference: three men in a tub: the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. The 13 is a reference to a “baker’s dozen.” |
| 5d | TETHERING | Securing 13 at sixes and sevens? Good (9)
*THIRTEEN + G (anagram indicated by “at sixes and sevens”) |
| 6d | SHED A TEAR | Apparently was moved from hut over a rent (4,1,4)
SHED (hut) + A (†) + TEAR (rent) |
| 7d | NO-FAT | Kind of diet contributing to reduction of a tummy (2-3)
reductio_N OF A T_ummy |
| 8d | SOUTH CAROLINA | Shout out and sing in a part of US – one of 13 colonies (5,8)
*SHOUT (anagram indicated by “out”) + CAROL (“sing”) + IN A (†) |
| 9d | THIRTEEN A SIDE | Like some Rugby matches I attend here, is mishandled (8-1-4)
*I ATTEND HERE IS (anagram indicated by “mishandled”) |
| 15d | DOODLEBUG | Setter, for example, including double anagram for old weapon (9)
DOG (“setter, for example”) containing *DOUBLE (anagram indicated directly!) The weapon referred to was the V1 “buzz bomb” |
| 16d | SWINEHERD | Farm worker has drink in piece of pottery (9)
WINE (“drink”) contained in (“in”) SHERD (“piece of pottery”) |
| 17d | UNDERHAND | Less than 13 given to bidder? That’s dishonest (9)
Cryptic definition: I parse this as a reference to bridge, where each player is dealt 13 cards. |
| 21d | ROMEO | One of 26 on radio, partnered with one of 13 (5)
NATO phonetic alphabet, the partner is Juliet |
| 22d | TERRA | Land part of Peter Rabbit (5)
peTER RAbbit (hidden word indicated by “part of”) |
| 23d | VIDEO | Record second half for South American city (5)
monteVIDEO (capital of Uruguay, omission of first five letters indicated by “second half”) |