Looks like the Serpent is back to woo us today.
A bit of a mixed bag, some of these weren’t too easy to be honest in places it felt like the snake man was biting and crushing.
The Serpent however looks to be in a romantic mood judging by today’s grid.
Thanks Serpent
Across
1 Faculty is objective about lecturer (5)
FLAIR
FAIR meaning not biased, objective with L(ecturer) inserted
4 39 winks, according to Spooner, is way to get woman into bed (9)
COURTSHIP
A spoonerism for a short kip which could whimsically be 39 rather than the full 40 winks
9 One captivating female singer carries gun (7)
CHARMER
ARM for GUN inside the singer CHER. The Serpent as in a snake is a charmer too.
10 Fought against introduction of extras in short series (7)
STRIVEN
[V for against and the start of E(xtras)] inside a short STRIN(g) for series
11 Feeling transported about New Age (9)
SENTIMENT
N(ew) & TIME for age inserted inside SENT for transported
12 Temper’s beginning to be ignored regularly (5)
OFTEN
Start of (s)OFTEN removed
13 Conducted 4 across square (5)
DATED
4A is courtship so this is a slyly done double defintion
14 Aggressive corporations turning tail after company’s intervention (9)
BELLICOSE
CO(mpany) inside BELLIES (corporations, stomachs) with the last two letters or tail turned
16 Safe to lose time and ride around without rushing (9)
UNHURRIED
T(ime) removed from UNHUR(t) for safe & RIDE* around
17 Cook luncheon meat with leaves for old man (5)
STEAM
TEA for leaves replacing PA for old-man in SPAM – luncheon meat
19 Cube not displaying face in elevation (5)
EIGHT
Eight is 2x2x2 or cubed and the face removed from (h)EIGHT
21 Controlled note reproduced round home (9)
DOMINATED
DO (a deer, a female deer – sing along children) & IN for home inside MATED for reproduced
23 Way dictator primarily augments ability to maintain power (7)
STAMINA
ST(reet) & (idi) AMIN & primarily A(ugments)
24 Nurse gets into revolutionary drug and becomes more intense (7)
DEEPENS
E(nrolled) N(urse) inside a revolutionary SPEED for drug
25 Librettist loses heart to complete stories, having minimal support from friends (9)
LONELIEST
Complete meaning whole means ONE & LIES for stories inside a disheartened L(ibrettis)T
26 Record work extracted from disorder (5)
ENTRY
OP(us) removed from ENTR(op)Y for disorder
Down
1 Single-minded law enforcement agent keeps leaders of organised crime under surveillance (7)
FOCUSED
FED(eral agent) with leading letters of O(ganised) C(rime) U(nder) S(urveillance) inserted
2 Realignment of earth in gas giant is contrary to nature (7,3,5)
AGAINST THE GRAIN
[EARTH IN GAS GIANT]* realigned.
3 Memorandum about account’s opening balance (9)
REMAINDER
Opening of A(ccount) inserted in REMINDER
4 Saint steps in to heal plague (5)
CURSE
S(aint) inside CURE
5 Anxious, having not yet been paid (9)
UNSETTLED
Double defintion
6 Trunk with hollow rings within rings supporting treetop (5)
TORSO
The top of T(ree) & a hollowed out R(ing)S inside two Os (rings)
7 Did couple go some distance to be awkward? (4,3,4,4)
HAVE TWO LEFT FEET
Well if the couple have feet left to go then they’ve gone some distance. A bit weak really unless there’s more to this.
8 This punishment requires retraction of vacuous action to make change (7)
PENANCE
If you take a vacuated A(ctio)N out of PEN(an)CE you get PENCE for change. Don’t really like this type of clue much, sorry.
14 One might precede 4 across land? I’d be there first surprisingly (5,4)
BLIND DATE
Surprisingly [LAND ID BE T(here)]* A blind date could well lead to courtship
15 Deceitful villains in ceremonial guards (9)
INSINCERE
The answer is guarded by villaINS IN CEREmonial
16 Implement silent reforms to support university (7)
UTENSIL
U(niversity) & a reformed SILENT*
18 Dome-shaped enclosure for animal reserve (7)
MODESTY
a shaped DOME* & a (pig) STY
20 Hearing test (5)
TRIAL
A fairly routine Double Def
22 Thick fog envelops easternmost part of England (5)
MIDST
Easternmost part of (englan)D inside MIST for FOG
Tough stuff for a Monday morning.
I parsed HAVE TWO LEFT FEET as just ‘Have two left?’ (= ‘did couple go?) + FEET (‘some distance’) but was my last in and the last of many struggles this a.m.
And I don’t like Spoonerisms much – I had both ‘dependents’ long before the penny dropped – so to have a mini-theme dependent on one was irksome but that’s just personal prejudice.
Much to enjoy, however, and some stiff parsing even for obvious answers.
Thanks to the snake and the flasher.
A really nice surprise to see Serpent on a Monday and what with Don in the G there are bound to be letters.
Very good puzzle with lots of variety. Many thanks to Serpent and flashling
In 21 I think you’ll fInd that note=DO.
This took some unravelling especially the LHS.
The usual class we expect from Serpent.
Having Knut, Monk and him on consecutive days seems like all yer birthdays come at once!
Many thanks Flashling and Serpent
Copmus I was rather trying to get the impression that DO was the note from the song 🙂
Definitely not a traditional Monday ‘easy’. We made nothing of the acrosses at first, and struggled, as yesterday, in the SE corner when we did eventually get going. We too parsed 7dn – one of our last few in – like Grant@1, and only got COURTSHIP long after DATED and BLIND DATE. And we also saw DO in 24ac as the note ‘doh’ represented as ‘doe’ (a female deer, btw).
Lots to like, though, particularly ENTRY and TORSO.
Thanks, Serpent and flashling.
Mediumish and enjoyable stuff, I thought. Pretty constant solve for me (which is what I likes), until the last five or six, but I managed to complete. My fave clue was the Spooner (got after dated, but before ‘blind date’, which was me LOI) so thanks to The Snake for the puzzle and The Flash for the usual amusing blog.
This all went in swimmingly until the SW corner, where I got stuck and had to come back for a second go. In my defence, the definition of LONELIEST is a bit vague. I didn’t really understand HAVE TWO LEFT FEET, but Grant’s explanation must be right. Otherwise a good Monday puzzle, if a bit on the hard side.
Thanks to S&B.
I found this really quite tough but enjoyable enough to, a) persevere and, b) deem it time well spent.
(It’s fortunate I did it earlier, because after a day dealing with difficult customers – and in real life, not online for a change! – I wouldn’t have coped this evening.)
I’m one of those who had the BLIND DATE before COURTSHIP, but the Spooner clue actually kept me interested because I wanted to know what it was. This reminded me of recent discussions in Macclesfield: a clue that you *want* to solve is a great asset to a puzzle. So while I blow hot and cold with spoonerisms, this one was a success in my book.
Many thanks to (to borrow from Grant @1) the flasher and the snake.
Kitty has already said it; 4a is an alluring clue, on reading it you just want to solve it. Any compiler who writes such a clue is to be congratulated. brilliant stuff.
well done serpent and thanks my friend flashling