I enjoyed this. A “straightforward” puzzle in the best sense: traditional but not dull. Thanks Peter.
| Across | ||
| 7 | INDIGENT | Pauper getting jab in popular hospital department (8) |
| DIG (jab) in IN (popular) ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat hospital department) | ||
| 9 | AMIGOS | Friends of writer eating game (6) |
| AMIS (writer, Kingsley or Martin) containing (eating) GO (game) | ||
| 10 | VICE | Blemish in crown of Victorian diamonds (4) |
| first letter (crown) of Victorian then ICE (diamonds) | ||
| 11 | BOULDERING | Climbing without ropes in unusual double circle (10) |
| anagram (unusual) of DOUBLE then RING (circle) | ||
| 12 | MINCER | Start of coalface straddled by collier with cutting tool (6) |
| Coalface (start, first letter of)inside (straddled by) MINER (collier) | ||
| 14 | POMANDER | Fellow in Hull getting queen container for perfume (8) |
| MAN (fellow) in POD (hull) then ER (the Queen) | ||
| 15 | GREASY | Like wearing colour that’s flattering (6) |
| AS (like) inside (wearing) GREY (colour) | ||
| 17 | SCALES | Flakes found in special cold drinks (6) |
| S (special) C (cold) ALES (drinks) | ||
| 20 | DUMPLING | Chuck fish into ball of dough (8) |
| DUMP (chuck) LING (a fish) | ||
| 22 | CRAYON | Trick involving light colour (6) |
| CON (trick) contains (involving) RAY (light) | ||
| 23 | RARING TO GO | Keen artist joining band got back to leader of Orchestra (6,2,2) |
| RA (Royal Academician, artist) with (joining) RING (band) then GOT reversed (back) and Orchestra (leading letter of) | ||
| 24 | COTE | Shelter for animals in Ascot enclosure (4) |
| found inside asCOT Enclosure | ||
| 25 | BUTLER | Brother carrying lute playing for servant (6) |
| BR (brother) contains (carrying) anagram (playing) of LUTE | ||
| 26 | EVENSONG | Uniform given to relative before German prayers (8) |
| EVEN (uniform) with SON (relative) before G (German) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ENTICING | Drawing of ten bananas on top of cake? (8) |
| anagram (bananas) of TEN on ICING (top of cake) | ||
| 2 | PIKE | Fish dish containing haddock tail (4) |
| PIE (dish) contains haddocK (tail, last letter of) | ||
| 3 | MEMBER | Setter right to accept award – one with a sense of belonging (6) |
| ME (the setter) R (right) contains (to accept) MBE (award) | ||
| 4 | PANDEMIC | God afflicted medic with common disease (8) |
| PAN (god) then anagram (afflicted) of MEDIC | ||
| 5 | CITRONELLA | Woman holding edges of tender single plant (10) |
| CILLA (a woman) containing (holding) TendeR (edges of) ONE (single) | ||
| 6 | POUNCE | Start to prepare small amount of powder (6) |
| Prepare (starting letter of) then OUNCE (small amount) – a powder used with inks | ||
| 8 | TRUMPS | Politician in charge detailed caps (6) |
| MP (politician) in TRUSt (charge, detailed) | ||
| 13 | CAERPHILLY | Cheese and new pear put in cold storage (10) |
| anagram (new) of PEAR inside (put in…storage) CHILLY (cold) | ||
| 16 | SWINGERS | People prepared to swap partners with women in choir (8) |
| W (women) in SINGERS (choir) | ||
| 18 | STORTING | 50% of Tories entering smart European parliament (8) |
| TORies (50% of) inside STING (smart) – the Norwegian parliament | ||
| 19 | IGNORE | Cut groin badly on end of tightrope (6) |
| anagram (badly) of GROIN on tightropE (end of) | ||
| 21 | URANUS | North American following a sport returned with heavenly body (6) |
| N (north) US (American) following A RU (Rugby Union, sport) reversed (returned) | ||
| 22 | CLOVES | Blokes eating large pieces of garlic (6) |
| COVES (blokes) eating L (large) | ||
| 24 | CUSP | Trophy defining second division? (4) |
| CUP (trophy) contains (defining, as an outline) S (second) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Not too difficult, but even so there were 3 unfamiliar words/terms for me: POUNCE for ‘powder’, BOULDERING and the Norwegian parliament, for which I initially tried in vain to get ‘Stormont’ to fit.
I was sucked in by the misdirection of 1d, thinking of different sorts of pictures before eventually seeing the light. I also liked CAERPHILLY; makes a change from the usual ‘brie’ and ‘edam’ anyway. Never eaten it before, so maybe this has encouraged me to give it a try.
Sorry to be a pain, but one minor correction to the blog. For 9a, the ‘game’ should be GO, not just G.
Thanks to Peter and PeeDee
Not a pain WordPlodder, I am always grateful that people take the time to point out the typos. I only see what I intended to write, no matter how many times I look.
An enjoyable solve and also the gentlest of the week for me.
STORTING sounded right (once I’d ruled out STORMONT which, like WordPlodder @1, I tried hard to make work) but I can’t quite say I knew it. POUNCE as a powder was new to me too.
My favourites are probably the foodie ones: ENTICING and CAERPHILLY. I also liked IGNORE.
“Traditional but not dull” – well said. Lots of smooth surfaces to enjoy and several unusual twists to keep one on one’s toes – such as POUNCE where even after finding the two separate meanings in Chambers we couldn’t quite parse it. Also liked the two different ways of cluing ‘ent’ (in 7ac and 1dn) and ‘ring’ (in 11ac and 23ac).
Favourites were DUMPLING, RARING TO GO, EVENSONG, ENTICING and CAERPHILLY – btw, WordPlodder, if you want to try Caerphilly make sure you get the genuine Welsh article if you can (it’s not made in Caerphilly these days but there are creameries in Wales that produce it).
Thanks, Peter and Peedee.
Nice puzzle.
My rudimentary knowledge of Danish was enough to put STORTING in without looking it up on the assumption that it would do for one of the other Scandinavian Parliaments, though I have no idea how stor the Norwegian ting is, if that is where it is from.
I was also totally fooled by the surface of 1D for a long time, before the øre dropped.
Three new things learned from this one – the potentially ankle-breaking pastime at 11a, the 5d powder and the European parliament. Hope I can remember them for future use!
Enjoyed the solve and laughed over the SWINGERS and the image conjured up by the clue for ENTICING. The 20a DUMPLING was my clue of the day.
Thanks to Peter and to PD for the blog.
Three quarters of this went in very quickly but then I ground to a halt with the top right. Just couldn’t get anything there and had to cheat heavily to finish this.
Found this straightforward but very enjoyable. POUNCE, BOULDERING and STORTING from wordplay. Liked DUMPLING and CAERPHILLY. Thanks Peter and PeeDee.