Definitely one of the toughest Punks we have had for a while I thought, but wonderfully inventive clueing as we’ve come to expect. 14/18 is up there with my favourites of 2009!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FORTIFY – IF in FORTY | |
| 10 | DESIGNER STUBBLE – (NEED BRISTLES BUG)* – Lovely anagram, thought it took me a while to get it! | |
| 11 | ONCE – [-b]ONCE | |
| 12 | SUZERAINTY – ER AIN’T in SUZY | |
| 14/18 | HAPPY SLAPPING Charade of HAPPY’S LAPPING – Brilliant! | |
| 15 | FAIR COPY – COP in FAIRY | |
| 19/5 | BROWN WINDSOR – Ref. MP Gordon and The Royal Family | |
| 21/27 | ACCRINGTON STANLEY – C RING in ACTON + STANLEY | |
| 23 | AIRE – AIR + E | |
| 24 | BIBLIOGRAPHICAL – I L B rev. in BIOGRAPHICAL | |
| 26 | POLENTA – OP rev. + LENT + A | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ONE AND ALL – AN + DA in O(ld) NELL | |
| 3 | TOILET PAPER – TOIL + (TAPE)* + PER | |
| 4 | FINISH – FIN[-n]ISH | |
| 6 | INTERMIX – IN TERM IX | |
| 7 | DAB – BAD rev. | |
| 8 | OWLET – O (duck) + L in WET | |
| 9 | PRIZEFIGHTERS – P on (REF + SIZE + GIRTH)* | |
| 13 | INCARNATION – IN CARNATION | |
| 16 | POWER BASE – (WE PROBE AS)* | |
| 17 | SIGNPOST – G in SIN POST | |
| 20 | INKPOT – [-st]INKPOT | |
| 22 | CHINO – CHINO[-ok] | |
| 25 | LIE – Think this is a double def. as in ‘pack of lies’ | |
I found this a bit easier than some Punk puzzles, although it still took a while to finish. There were a few easy ones like Power Base that meant you could get going fairly quickly. It was very inventive stuff, as you say, although I did groan when I realized why lie was the answer to 25 down.
I’d never heard of Brown Windsor soup, which doesn’t seem to be in Chambers, so that made things harder, especially with a minority of checked letters in both words. I can see why it was irresistible to clue though! Good stuff as ever.
Yes, I enjoyed this, which I found quite tough. Some great clueing as I have learned to expect from Punk.