I simply cannot get on this setter’s wavelength, which must be frustrating for him because I seem to end up blogging the majority of his puzzles. It took me three goes to finish this one, and the IoS crossword is supposed to be an accessible one.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Shakespeare actor reveals plot
AREA
Hidden in ShakespeARE Actor.
3 Peculiar nun dancing in river
UNNATURAL
A charade of (NUN)* AT and URAL. Does AT equal ‘in’?
10 Reorganise first half of meal, including fish
SHAKE UP
An insertion of HAKE for ‘fish’ in SUP[PER]
11 Two kings and I board plane perhaps: I like adventures among stars
TREKKIE
An insertion of KK and I in TREE, of which ‘plane’ is an example. Referencing Star Trek fans.
12 E.g. copper joined with aluminium
METAL
‘Copper’ is an example of a metal. It’s a charade of MET and AL for the chemical symbol for ‘aluminium’.
13 As a person maybe driving north had lunch?
INCARNATE
A charade of IN CAR, N and ATE.
14 Chatty note I put in message
SOCIABLE
A charade of SO for the ‘note’ and I in CABLE.
15 Scientist recording artist B conceals result
MENDEL
An insertion of END for ‘result’ in MEL, as in MEL B.
17 Shouted ‘Free Jack’ all over the place?
UNTIDY
According to a very helpful fellow blogger, this is a homophone of UNTIE DEE, with Jack DEE being the Jack in question. There are of course very many Jacks in the world, so the clue is not exactly a write-in.
19 Pipe, variable length, covered in ash
CYLINDER
An insertion of Y for ‘variable’ and L for ‘length’ in CINDER for ‘ash’.
22 Brahmin with no money was ordered to convert
BRAINWASH
(BRAH[M]IN WAS)*
23 Men use it to send money
CHAPS
A dd. CHAPS stands for Clearing House Automated Payments System.
25 Managed to fire rifle
RANSACK
A charade of RAN and SACK.
26 Send up light satellite missing a bit of machinery
LAMPOON
A charade of LAMP and [M]OON.
27 Top up liquid left in sphere
REPLENISH
(L IN SPHERE)*
28 Beginning to grow pale over worry
GNAW
A charade of G for the first letter of ‘grow’ and WAN reversed.
Down
1 A lot’s served up for tea
ASSAM
A charade of A and MASS reversed.
2 Bouncy setter in bouncy castle
ELASTIC
An insertion of I in (CASTLE)*
4 In pulpit, miracles alternating with weddings
NUPTIALS
The alternate letters of iN pUlPiT mIrAcLeS.
5 Try to get fit
ATTACK
A dd.
6 A French composer with little money capturing e.g. sergeant’s interest?
UNEARNED INCOME
A charade of UNE, (Thomas) ARNE and NCO inserted into DIME.
7 Embarrassed to give hugs with bit of kissing
AWKWARD
An insertion of W and K in AWARD.
8 Twice laden with ball, running for ultimate goal
BE-ALL AND END-ALL
(LADEN LADEN BALL)*
9 Daedalus in Paris with Dickensian humorist and artisan
JEWELLER
A charade of JE for the French word for ‘I’ and WELLER, referencing the character from The Pickwick Papers. I did have to look him up, since you ask.
14 Firm butt’s natural
STUBBORN
A charade of STUB and BORN for ‘natural'(?)
16 Look, look here – look about – up here’s where to look
EYEHOLES
I presume that this is the solution, but I can’t parse it. EYE is ‘look’; OL is LO! reversed; but I can’t see the whole thing.
18 I might drop into start of course
TRAINEE
An insertion of RAIN in TEE, and &lit.
20 Almost get lost arresting tabloid press
DRAGOON
An insertion of RAG in DO ON[E]
21 Kip with nan possibly? Kip with nan possibly? You’ll get some linen perhaps
NAPKIN
(KIP NAN)* Why there is repetition in the clue, I have no idea.
24 Might offend partners playing bridge
SINEW
A charade of SIN and EW.
Many thanks to Daedalus for this IoS offering.
I found this a combination of straightforward, entertainingly clever and frustratingly obscure.
Favourites were TREKKIE, MENDEL, BRAINWASH and AWKWARD, all the more rewarding because the wordplay was not immediately obvious.
Solutions too obscure for parsing (for me) included CHAPS and DRAGOON (how does ‘do one’ = get lost?).
I thought at first the repetition in 21 down might have been a mistake, but then I spotted two readings of “Kip with nan possibly?”, viz.
1. anagram of ‘kip nan’
2. nap (=kip) + kin (=family member, e.g. nan)
Thanks Pierre and Daedalus.
16D is (<HEY + <LO) in <SEE.
Also don't get DRAGOON and had similar query about UNNATURAL. 21D ingenious might be another description, but it was lost on me at the time. LOI was MENDEL, though not sure why now
Liked JEWELLER and INCARNATE. Don't mind IoS being more difficult than hitherto.
Thanks to Daedalus and Pierre.
swatty, DO ONE is urban slang for GET LOST, GO AWAY, VAMOOSE and so on. It’s not commonly used these days, I don’t think. Or perhaps it’s recent.
Enjoyed this over breakfast. What time do you guys get up on a Sunday? The Guardian Fiver uses do one regularly when referring to football managers shortlived tenures. Thanks to everyone.
A nice leisurely hour before Sunday dinner should about do this I thought. No such luck! I found this v. difficult, and took ages before finally getting it out, though with quite a few unparsed, eg 16 and DO ON(E) for ‘get lost’ and CHAPS, my last two in. For me a real challenge, with my favourites being the complicated UNEARNED INCOME and the &lit TRAINEE. I missed it of course, but the double ‘Kip with nan possibly?’ wordplay was particularly clever.
Thanks to Pierre and Daedalus
Enjoyable,well-crafted puzzle.Can’t see any problem getting on setter’s wave-length. Of course some clues are going to be tricky, it IS a cryptic! Liked TREKKIE, JEWELLER, INCARNATE,DRAGOON and NAPKIN. Thanks to Daedalus and Pierre.
Thanks all, especially to Pierre for persevering three times. I guess you are a bit of a Sunday regular, and since that’s when the Editor seems most inclined to put my puzzles in, I’m sure we’re destined to meet again.
I convinced myself that ‘in’ for ‘at’ was all right (‘We’re at Reading, having lunch’), and I liked the image of the dotty nun in the river, but perhaps I should have played it safe with ‘by’.
Thanks Daedalus and Pierre. I thought this was a super puzzle. Tricky certainly, but all there to be found once you know where to look. Once upon a time it was the case that the IoS was a gentle puzzle, but in the last few months there has been a variety of difficulty.
I particularly liked the repeated NAPKIN and the image of people chanting for Jack Dee to be untied.
Pierre, thanks for the definition of ‘do one’.
Tenerife Miller, I’m not an early riser on Sundays as a rule, it’s just that my Sunday morning is your Saturday evening. That probably also explains why I’m not au fait with all the current (or past) British slang.