Not having been lucky enough to get a crossword to solve for a while I was slightly disappointed that this one was so undemanding. I got through it in under 8 minutes. Still it gave a gentle ending to the week, and it meant I didn’t wear out my brain before Saturday’s, which may well be more challenging!Across
1 S CRIB E – Crib within SE (South East) for Kent.
4 CAR PE T – PE being drill
9 SWAN (K) Swank is an old fashioned word for ostentation, the sort of term that would be used by Jennings, or, possibly, William Brown.
10 HE ELAND TO E E signifying Spain (Espagne)
11 Anagram
12 NEAR MI SS – anagram of marine , ss standing for ship.
13 ALIMENTAL – anagram, indicated by ‘stew’.
16 SECT – select minus le.
17 AN CHOR IT E – ‘it in “an chore”. This was the first clue that I found interesting. It didn’t take long to get it, but it had a higher level of satisfaction in the solving than most of the others. An Anchorite is an early Christian hermit.
21 C OLD FEE T
22 TALL IS – a composer who pops up all the time in crosswords.
24 GRIN D S TONE The second clue to register on the satisfaction meter.
26 ENABLE – hidden in the clue.
27 ADD LED – for a moment I assumed total meant ‘all’ , rather than add.
Down
1 SAW BILL – reminded me of the persecuted man about whom prosecution notices are often seen.
3 B A H RAIN – brain round a H(ospital).
5 A VA TAR – originally the incarnation of a Hindu deity, now to most people it probably means the little icon that internet chatters use as an identifier when babbling messages across cyberspace.
6 PE DOME TER – I liked the definition of one that records the steps. Peter is the Tsar, and the dome is a vault.
7 TROTS KY.
8 REIN CAR NATION.
14 MACEDONIA anagram, the country is a republic in the Balkans.
16 S COURGE – nice definition, “pluck exorcising a” being cour(a)ge.
18 HO THE A D – a hod being a long handled box that bricklayers sling over their shoulder to carry bricks up ladders.
19 T AIL END.
20 W EASEL
23 L APE L ape being to imitate, and L standing for both 50, and Learner.
To be fair only 4 pure anagrams which ain’t too bad. Certainly much less than certain Rufusian puzzles.
So glad you didn’t wear out your brain.
I can only spot 3 pure anagrams, all of which have a well chosen anagrind: 11A ‘A mince pie..”; 13A ‘All meat in stew..’; 14D ‘A comedian broadcast..’
12A is (MARINE)* + SS which gives a very good surface indeed
Probably my quickest ever Guardian cryptic solve: probably more than 8 minutes, but some Quick crosswords have taken me longer. This isn’t a complaint – it was a good solve and left me time for other things!
A great puzzle – I really enjoy Paul’s offerings, more so than the A-person in fact (if that’s not heresy on this site). ‘SQUEAKY BUM TIME’ made me laugh more than I have for ages (I don’t get out much), and ‘Snoo?’ was good fun too. Why=Y was a bit of a stretch, but the rest of it all looked fine to me…