Good fun Monday morning puzzle from Armonie.
Nice well-paced puzzle with a few interesting challenges but overall good fun! Pancho Villa was a new character to discover. Some witty clueing from Armonie, such as in FOSTERLING, ERNEST, SLEEPY, WAGTAIL to name a few.
Many thanks to Armonie!
Across
1 Agent commandeers shelter for dwarf (6)
SLEEPY
SPY (agent) commandeers LEE (shelter)
One of the seven dwarves in Snow White
4 Visual display of yellow in the atmosphere (6)
AURORA
OR (yellow, gold) in AURA (atmosphere)
8 Quality controller eats duck found in the kitchen (7)
TOASTER
TASTER (quality controller) eats O (duck)
9 Footballers’ birds to stalk another bird (7)
WAGTAIL
WAG (footballers’ birds, wives and girlfriends) + TAIL (to stalk)
11 One included in censure is to lose value (10)
DEPRECIATE
I (one) included in DEPRECATE (censure)
12 Club for men originally getting a hole in one (4)
MACE
M[en] (originally) getting ACE (hole in one)
13 Powerful Venetian imprisons copper for scheme (5)
DODGE
DOGE (powerful Venetian) imprisons D (copper, detective)
14 Learn to collect note for restorer (4-2-2)
PICK-ME-UP
PICK UP (learn) to collect ME (note, do re me)
16 Lift to reveal assembly (8)
ELEVATOR
( TO REVEAL)* (*assembly)
18 Where film star performs in the beginning (5)
ONSET
Double definition
20 Pass on purpose (4)
WILL
Double definition
21 Foreign Office has money for charge (10)
FOSTERLING
FO (Foreign Office) has STERLING (money)
23 Anon produced mundane novel (7)
UNNAMED
(MUNDANE)* (*novel)
24 Call for worker in show (7)
PAGEANT
PAGE (call) + ANT (worker)
25 Resent potentially important chap? (6)
ERNEST
(RESENT)* (*potentially)
As in: The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
26 Watch shows minute and seconds to start with (6)
SENTRY
ENTRY (minute, business sense) + S[econds] (to start with, i.e. at the start)
Down
1 Stay beside the sea (5)
SHORE
Double definition
2 Monarch’s followed round to be protected (7)
ENSURED
R (monarch) with ENSUED (followed) round
3 101 going into show that’s telling the future (9)
PRESCIENT
CI (101 in Roman numerals) in PRESENT (show)
5 Wise man supports university convention (5)
USAGE
SAGE (wise man) supports U (university)
6 Pick one parent – the most favourable (7)
OPTIMUM
OPT (pick) + I (one) + MUM (parent)
7 Battle for a drink on the bar (9)
AGINCOURT
A GIN (a drink) + COURT (bar, legal sense)
10 Exploit Lily over Frenchman’s occult belief (9)
VAMPIRISM
VAMP (exploit) + IRIS (lily) + M (Frenchman, monsieur)
13 Flirting gets Penny a relationship (9)
DALLIANCE
D (penny) + ALLIANCE (a relationship)
15 Run after officer for help (9)
COOPERATE
OPERATE (run) after CO (officer)
17 Revolutionary meets much- liked rogue (7)
VILLAIN
VILLA (revolutionary, Pancho Villa) meets IN (much liked)
19 Met to restrict legal right of striking (7)
SALIENT
SAT (met) to restrict LIEN (legal right)
21 Fine fields for jumpers (5)
FLEAS
F (fine) + LEAS (fields)
22 Cosset girl in US city (5)
NANNY
ANN (girl) in NY (US city)
Nice to see ‘revolutionary’ not being CHE for a change. Took me a while to think of Pancho Villa. The different pronunciation of LL holding me up, I reckon.
The outstanding clue for me was SENTRY with its beautiful play on ‘watch’ and ‘minute’.
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow.
Slight correction TASTER swallowsO=TOASTER.
More challenging than his Chifonie puzzles-house style?
Ah, yes. Thank you Copmus @2. I’ve amended that!
I thought that the D in 13a stood for penny = copper.
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. An enjoyable offering from one of my favorite setters. I messed up WAGTAIL (I should have remembered WAG from previous puzzles) by putting in Fantail (for FA cup) but that did not account for the the N, and I paused over cosset = NANNY. Last in were FOSTERLING followed by VAMPIRISM (when I finally saw “vamp” could be “exploit”).
Coby @4. That was my reading of the clue. I don’t know whether D can stand for ‘detective’ without being in combination such as DI. D for penny and copper for penny are quite common in cryptics.
19d How SAT is obtained from Met
As I am a beginner, I just wanted to know.
Thanks
P Ganesha @7. I take it in the sense that, for example, you can say “the board sat/met last Friday”.
P Ganesan @7: we pondered this ourselves but decided on “The committee sits on Saturdays”, I.e. meets
Ganesan not Ganesha. Auto(in)correct at work again.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
A reasonably straightforward solve, but one in which his subtle nuances of language brought a nod of appreciation – especially in 9a (footballer’s birds), 14a (pick up – learn), 20a (pass on), 26a (minute and seconds), 1d (stay), 10d (exploit) and 19d (met – sat).
Didn’t recall the Mexican revolutionary, VILLA but it had to be. That clue was my second to last in with WiLL the last.