I struggled a bit with this, and not for reasons of personal slow-wittedness, for once.
Curiously un-engaging puzzle from Hamilton this morning. Some nice things – THIEF e.g. clever-if-flawed – but also some near-duplication, thin crypticism and general ho-hummity. Could be just me, of course.
Thanks to Hamilton, whose setting I do usually enjoy.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DEPUTISE | Substitute ill-suited to holding record (8) |
| Anagram (‘ill’) of SUITED surrounds EP (a ‘record’) | ||
| 5 | CHASTE | Pure logic has textbook quality (6) |
| Inclusion in ‘logiC HAS TExtbook. ‘Quality’ is clearly the inclusion indicator, rather a thin one imho. | ||
| 10 | MELISSA | Confused aimless woman? (7) |
| Anagram (‘confused’) of AIMLESS. | ||
| 11 | HERBAGE | Has the time come for Rosemary and the rest of them? (7) |
| It’s the age of the herb, apparently. | ||
| 12 | THIEF | Go in to forage initially; that’s me! (5) |
| HIE (to ‘go’) in initial letters of To and Forage, plus a sort of whole-clue definition. Which is neat but I’m not sure ‘thieve’ is the first meaning of ‘forage’… | ||
| 13 | PACEMAKER | Negotiator to miss final lecture by leading athlete (9) |
| PeACEMAKER (‘negotiator’) without 1st E (final letter of ‘lecturE’). | ||
| 14 | GRIND TO A HALT | Revising Latin got hard, so stop (5,2,1,4) |
| Anag. (‘revising’) of LATIN GOT HARD. | ||
| 18 | WINTERGREENS | Seasonal vegetables and other plants (12) |
| Not over-aggressively cryptic. | ||
| 21 | MOTORBOAT | Cruise liner? Yes – and no! (9) |
| And again. ‘Cruise’ for ‘motor’ and ‘liner’ for boat feel pretty ho-hum. | ||
| 23 | ELAND | Animal can be found in the Netherlands right away (5) |
| Inclusion in ‘nethErLANDs’ without its R[ight]. | ||
| 24 | UNICORN | Cheshire town not the principal home to one wonderful creature (7) |
| rUNCORN (a Cheshire town, without it initial – or ‘principal’ R) surrounds (is ‘home to’) 1 (‘one’). | ||
| 25 | EMANATE | Sounds like spymaster has a number to give out (7) |
| Homophone of M (‘spymaster’) + AN + EIGHT (a ‘number’). | ||
| 26 | TIGGER | Winnie’s pal finds horse in mid-row (6) |
| GG in TIER. | ||
| 27 | ST ALBANS | Almost go after outlaws in English city (2,6) |
| STALk (‘go after’, nearly) + BANS (‘outlaws’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEMOTE | Relegate upwardly mobile young lad clutching book (6) |
| ED is your lad (not Tom, as I bet we all thought for bit); he surrounds TOME, all reversed (‘upwardly mobile’ in this Down clue). | ||
| 2 | PALLID | White cloth covering type of card (6) |
| PALL (‘cloth’) + ID (a ‘type of card’). | ||
| 3 | TASK FORCE | Working party to initially seek influence (4,5) |
| T (= first letter of ‘To’) + ASK (‘seek’) + FORCE (‘influence’). The split infinitive – which I don’t mind much – actively helped in spotting the device. | ||
| 4 | STAMPING GROUND | A politician caught in trap set in the constituency (8,6) |
| A + MP in STING, then GROUND (‘set’, as in ‘the bricks were grounded on concrete’, I suppose). | ||
| 6 | HAREM | It’s only for ladies who are into heavy metal (5) |
| ARE in H[eavy] + M[etal]. | ||
| 7 | SNACK BAR | Refreshment at pub or cafe (5,3) |
| Again, hovering near the banal. | ||
| 8 | EXECRATE | Condemn extra EEC harassment (8) |
| Anag. (‘harrassment’) of EXTRA EEC. Topical stuff. | ||
| 9 | SHOCK TREATMENT | Therapy needed after being fleeced? (5,9) |
| ‘Shock’ of hair needing replacement, presumably. H’mm. | ||
| 15 | ANNIE HALL | Allen, humanist, must not recreate comedy drama (5,4) |
| Anag. (‘recreate’) of ‘ALLEN HumANIst’ minus letters of ‘MUST’. | ||
| 16 | SWIMSUIT | Gearing for pool venture? (8) |
| Whole clue cryptic. | ||
| 17 | ANYTHING | An unknown object, literally (8) |
| AN + Y (‘unknown’ in maths) + THING (‘object’) &lit. | ||
| 19 | BANANA | Fruit that’s boring left out and not available (6) |
| BANAL (‘boring’, without its L[eft] then N[ot] A[vailable]. | ||
| 20 | IDLERS | They do nothing: Bette succeeded without money (6) |
| Shantoosy Bette mIDLER without her M[oney], poor lass, then S[ucceeded], abb. as in e.g. Who’s Who. | ||
| 22 | RHONE | Short time going back to a river (5) |
| HR (‘short’ form of ‘hour’ =’time’) reversed over ONE (= ‘A’). | ||
*anagram
Thanks Grant. I agree with your lukewarm assessment, with 7d not so much hovering as sinking without trace as the worst of the bunch.
In 11a I think the definition must be just “and the rest of them” (i.e. herbs), with “time for Rosemary” as the HERB AGE.
A couple of quibbles:
25a: EMANATE usually means to be given out (which the clue could have said, with perhaps a nod to cricket), not to give out
1d: there’s no reason for ED to be a “young” lad. Small, maybe.
14a is quite nice, if very easy, as is 15d, what with ANNIE HALL being a Woody Allen film.
Thanks Hamilton and Grant
Thought that it was an enjoyable enough puzzle and pretty much agree with your comments about it.
ANNIE HALL was the pick of them for me – like the subtraction anagrams and the hint of Woody Allen in the surface was good.
Needed help to fully parse both of my last ones in – THIEF and PALLID.