A typical workout from Redshank, thanks to whom for setting a solid challenge. In my opinon, one of the more balanced crosswords I have solved recently, being not too easy and not too difficult .
FF:9 DD: 8
The pangram should be called out here.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CARILLON | Bells ring round parish centre, one nonstop (8) |
| [CALL (ring) round RI (paRIsh, centre)] ONe (nonstop i.e. without last letter) | ||
| 5 | STRING | Fraud involving royal racehorses (6) |
| STING (fraud) containing R (royal) | ||
| 10 | AERATED | Beer with no heart judged to have a head? (7) |
| AlE (beer, without heart i.e. without central character) RATED (judged) | ||
| 11 | IMPIOUS | Unholy pope identifies himself, clutching ring (7) |
| I’M PIUS (pope identifies himself) containing O (ring) | ||
| 12 | BETEL | Nut in car picked up (5) |
| sounds like BEETLE (car, vw) | ||
| 13 | NIETZSCHE | Creator of Superman, champion wearing size ten pants (9) |
| CH (champion) in [SIZE TEN]* – wiki here | ||
| 14 | FOURTH ESTATE | Press university to enter for the country (6,6) |
| U (uniersity) in [FOR THE STATE (country) ] | ||
| 18 | FECKLESSNESS | Incompetence not a trait of Mrs Brown’s Boys? (12) |
| cryptic def; i understand ‘feck’ as an expletive was oft used in the tv show, mrs brown’s boys | ||
| 21 | PHOSPHATE | Eccentric posh priest loathing salt (9) |
| POSH* P (priest) HATE (loathing) | ||
| 23 | ERATO | She inspires poetry moderator to some extent (5) |
| hidden in “..modERATOr..” | ||
| 24 | STAMINA | Endurance’s mainmast shattered, all except top (7) |
| mAINMAST(without top i.e without first letter) | ||
| 25 | LEAFLET | Tract that appears in spring (7) |
| double def? cryptic def; a leaflet is part of a compound leaf | ||
| 26 | ELEVEN | Team takes part in gospel evening (6) |
| hidden in “..gospEL EVENing” (related to cricket) | ||
| 27 | ORTHODOX | Conformist Dorothy endlessly trained to slice beef (8) |
| DOROTHy* in OX (beef) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CRABBY | Taxi driver circling King’s Cross (6) |
| CABBY (taxi driver) around R (king) | ||
| 2 | RARITY | It’s hard to find it within artillery lines (6) |
| IT in [ RA (artillery, royal) RY (lines, RailwaY) ] | ||
| 3 | LITTLE OWL | Flyer’s short unaspirated cry (6,3) |
| LITTLE (short) hOWL (cry, unaspirated) | ||
| 4 | ORDINARY SEAMAN | Mariner’s on a day off – this one? (8,6) |
| MARINERS ON A DAY* | ||
| 6 | TOPAZ | Best street guide’s a gem (5) |
| TOP (best) AZ (street guide) | ||
| 7 | IRONCLAD | Rigid Conservative blocked Maggie’s sobriquet briefly (8) |
| C (conservative) in [IRON LADy (maggie, margaret thatcher’s sobriquet) ] | ||
| 8 | GAS METER | Fuel holder, nothing left but a measuring device (3,5) |
| GASoMETER (fuel holder, without O – nothing) – i feel like i have seen this clue very recently | ||
| 9 | VICE CHANCELLOR | Opportunity to wind up after failing college boss (4,10) |
| [CHANCE (opportunity) LLOR (wind = ROLL, reversed)] after VICE (failing) | ||
| 15 | SASSENACH | Birches raised in small wood for English person (9) |
| SENAC (birches = CANES, reversed) in [ S (small) ASH (wood) ] – didnt know this word before, and apparently not a very polite one .. | ||
| 16 | OFF-PISTE | Fife’s top resort, where snow’s deeper (3-5) |
| FIFES TOP* | ||
| 17 | ACCOLADE | A pat on the back or a touch on the shoulder? (8) |
| doubel def; act of bestowing knighthood | ||
| 19 | BALLAD | Song and dance promotion (6) |
| BALL (dance) AD (promotion) | ||
| 20 | VORTEX | Get angry about men beginning to thump spinner (6) |
| VEX (angry) around [ OR (men) T (beginning to Thump) ] | ||
| 22 | PRICE | Unnamed royal scion’s quotation (5) |
| PRInCE (royal scion, without N – name) | ||
*anagram
Usually find Redshank straightforward but, for some reason, I really struggled with this. Maybe my mind’s not in gear. Guessed ACCOLADE (my LOI) and had to look it up to find the second meaning. Have seen CARILLON before but couldn’t dredge it out of memory. Glad the cryptic reading helped me spell NIETZSCHE. Noticed ‘superman’ in today’s Guardian. Is there some reason perhaps?
Thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs.
I like this setter. But I came a cropper today. hadnt seen Mrs Brown’s Boys and didnt have time to check so….mistake there causing another mistake in 17.Otherwise fine.(if it had been Rather Ted it would have been different)
Thanks Redshank and turbo.
Are we not missing q and j for a pangram?
Actually, Sassenach is the Gaelic for Saxon and applies to any lowlander, on whichever side of the border he lives. It’s not really rude (we call them Teuchtars)
I don’t understand the ORDINARY SEAMAN definition. Can someone explain this, please?
Sorry, I now see that ORDINARY SEAMAN is an anagram. I was confused by the “one” underlined solution.
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Enjoyable puzzle as ever from this setter that took a couple of sessions to get out and needed some additional help to learn about NIETZSCHE’s ‘Superman’ and the FECKLESSNESS of Mrs Brown’s Boys (which I had never heard of).
Finished with LEAFLET (clever clue), RARITY (which I found harder than I should have) and CARILLON (which I had to confirm meant bells) as the last few in.