A puzzle with many nice clues – I especially liked 14ac, 3dn, 8dn, and 19dn. Thanks to Brummie
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PROSIT |
Cheers one who’d expect to be paid to be an MP? (6)
|
| definition: PROSIT and ‘Cheers’ are used as drinking toasts
PRO (professional [not amateur], “one who’d expect to be paid”) + SIT=to take a seat in Parliament=”to be an MP” |
||
| 5 | GOSSAMER |
Light material suffering more snags if not new (8)
|
| anagram/”suffering” of (more snags)* minus the n for “new” | ||
| 9 | HARMLESS |
Safe getting hot as Venus in the Louvre (8)
|
| H (hot) + ARMLESS (the Venus de Milo sculpture in the Louvre is missing its arms) | ||
| 10 | REFUTE |
Official Aussie pick-up counter (6)
|
| REF (referee, an “Official” in a sports match) + UTE=Australian term for a ‘utility vehicle’ i.e. a “pick-up” truck | ||
| 11 | CREPUSCULOUS |
Putting two lots of uranium into affected corpuscles is dim! (12)
|
| definition: like the twilight, dim
anagram/”affected” of (corpuscles)*, with two lots of U (chemical symbol for uranium) inside |
||
| 13 | MARL |
Marine fish in abandoned clay (4)
|
| definition: an earthy material containing clay
MARL-[in]=”Marine fish”, with “in” removed/abandoned |
||
| 14 | ELLIPTIC |
Oval’s pitch initially breaking up till ice melted (8)
|
| initial letter of P-[itch] breaking into anagram/”melted” of (till ice)*
for the surface reading, The Oval is the name of a cricket pitch |
||
| 17 | SCENARIO |
Opera section with city situation (8)
|
| SCENA = a type of scene in an opera; plus RIO=”city” in Brazil | ||
| 18 | SASH |
Frame in which beauty pageant winner appears? (4)
|
| double definition: a sash can be the frame of a type of window; or a winner’s sash may be awarded at a beauty pageant | ||
| 20 | PREFABRICATE |
A fibre carpet used to make flatpack kit, say (12)
|
| anagram/”used” of (a fibre carpet)* | ||
| 23 | CORONA |
Wow, performing with a cigar! (6)
|
| definition: CORONA is used to describe a certain longer size/shape of cigar
COR=exclamation of surprise=”Wow” + ON=”performing” + A (from surface) |
||
| 24 | INVEIGLE |
Very into fancy lingerie but right off sweet-talk (8)
|
| V (very) inside anagram/”fancy” of (lingerie)* minus the r for ‘right’ | ||
| 25 | PERTNESS |
Expert: ‘Nessie is mostly brass’ (8)
|
| definition: “brass” as in ‘cheekiness’
most of the letters from [Ex]-PERT NESS-[ie] |
||
| 26 | LARYNX |
Cat circling a rocking lead vocalist’s equipment (6)
|
| LYNX=”Cat” around: A (from surface) + lead letter from R-[ocking] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | REAM |
Fancy knocking off leader for paper? (4)
|
| [d]-REAM=”Fancy” without its leading letter | ||
| 3 | SEMICOLON |
Mark’s house settlement’s not finished (9)
|
| definition: a punctuation mark
SEMI (semi-detached “house”) + COLON-[y]=”settlement” not finished |
||
| 4 | THEBES |
Lulu’s half escaping depression in the old city (6)
|
| THE B-[LU]-ES=”depression” minus half of LU-lu | ||
| 5 | GESTURE POLITICS |
Cynically proposing futile measures – a ‘two-fingered salute’ way of governing? (7,8)
|
| GESTURE e.g. “a two-fingered salute”; plus POLITICS=”way of governing” | ||
| 6 | STRICTLY |
Lyricist dancing – time for one very popular show (8)
|
| definition: Strictly Come Dancing is a popular UK TV show; “very” might also be an additional definition for STRICTLY
anagram/”dancing” of (Lyricist)*, with T for “time” replacing an I for “one” |
||
| 7 | AWFUL |
Foul’s legal – linesman’s heading off (5)
|
| [L]-AWFUL=”legal” minus the heading of L-[inesman] | ||
| 8 | ENTHUSIASM |
Sushi: meant to be prepared with relish (10)
|
| anagram/”prepared” of (Sushi meant)* | ||
| 12 | MASCARPONE |
End cut off cob stuffed with Parmesan cheese (10)
|
| anagram/”stuffed” of (co-[b] Parmesan)* | ||
| 15 | POSTERIOR |
Notice soldiers pinching one’s bottom (9)
|
| POSTER=”Notice” + OR (other ranks, “soldiers”); around/pinching I=”one” | ||
| 16 | CRIBBAGE |
Church head one books into rave for a game (8)
|
| head letter of C-[hurch]; plus I=”one” plus B and B (for ‘book’, twice) all inside RAGE=”rave” | ||
| 19 | MARVEL |
Wonder if a motorhome’s possessed by a Spice girl? (6)
|
| definition: “Wonder” and MARVEL as nouns (something wondrous)
A (from surface) + RV (recreational vehicle, “motorhome”); contained inside/”possessed by” MEL (Mel C and Mel B were two of the Spice Girls) |
||
| 21 | FLOUT |
US state not allowed to mock (5)
|
| FL (Florida, “US state”) + OUT=”not allowed” | ||
| 22 | FLAN |
Nut-covered Latin dish (4)
|
| FAN (e.g. a sports fan / a sports nut), around L (Latin) |
I thought this was quite benign for Brummie and I really enjoyed the variety of interesting words. I thought MASCARPONE was the pick of the bunch with ticks for HARMLESS, CREPUSCULOUS, SCENARIO, PREFABRICATE and THEBES which I only parsed with a smile as I tried to fall asleep. I did wonder if the nice STRICTLY would travel across the pond and I thought GESTURE POLITICS was typically topical.
Ta Brummie & manehi.
Got the answer – eventually – but did not spot the anagram indicator in 12d; fell into the trap of thinking it meant the letters CO went inside the solution. Thanks for the parsing, manehi, and thanks for the very accomplished (and fiendish in places) crossword, Brummie.
Nice puzzle. Anyone else write in Scoff for 21d until the crossers steered them in the right direction? Thanks all
Favourite: HARMLESS.
I could not parse 3d (I never think of SEMI = semi-detached “house” or 4d and I failed to solve 13ac MARL.
Thank you Brummie and manehi.
It took me an age to see FLAN.
HARMLESS and PROSIT were delightful.
DNF, though no complaints once answers revealed. Wavelength issues! Thanks both.
First one in was GOSSAMER, last one in after quite a bit of head scratching was the MARLin one. In between a thoroughly enjoyable solve. Many thanks today Brummie and Manehi…
Liked HARMLESS, ELLIPTIC, INVEIGLE, STRICTLY and MARVEL.
Thanks Brummie and manehi.