Neo provides us with a fun workout this morning.
The four long clues, although excellent, are quite easy, so give you an in to every other entry in the puzzle, so once these wre in place, the rest slotted in quite quickly.
I did have a minor quibble with the clue for DIEGO, but am happy to be corrected or overruled.
Thanks, Neo.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PSYCHOTHERAPIST | Analyst flustered beginning to engage this sporty chap (15) |
| *(e this sporty chap), where e is the beginning of (e)ngage | ||
| 9 | REGALIA | Excellent beer sent round in Crown & Sceptre? (7) |
| <=A1 LAGER (“excellent beer”, sent round) | ||
| 10 | ICE PACK | Maybe swelling number of reserve forwards (3,4) |
| ICE (“reserve”, as in “put on ice”) + PACK (“forwards” in rugby)
Number here is “that which numbs” such as an ice pack. |
||
| 11 | HAUNT | Husband gets mum’s sister in trouble (5) |
| H(usband) + AUNT (” mum’s sister”) | ||
| 12 | PEPPERONI | Enliven by topping with one pizza ingredient (9) |
| PEP (“enliven”) + PER (“by”) + ON (“topping”) + I (“one”) | ||
| 13 | NATHANIEL | In Natal he represented Hawthorne for example (9) |
| *(in natal he) | ||
| 15 | DIEGO | One departure after another for Spaniard (5) |
| DIE + GO (“one departure after another”)
Not sure if this works as die and go are both verbs, and departure is a noun (perhaps “One to depart after another Spaniard” may have been better, if a little clumsier?) |
||
| 16 | GREEK | Something incomprehensible from Tsipras say (5) |
| Alexis Tripsas is the Prime Minister of Greece | ||
| 18 | ASSISTANT | Fool succeeded with heartless gibe about single aide (9) |
| ASS (“fool”) + S(ucceeded) with TA(u)NT (hearltess “gibe”) about I (“single”) | ||
| 20 | NOTORIOUS | Infamous old port guarded by other people? (9) |
| O(ld) RIO (“port”) guarded by NOT US (“other people”) | ||
| 23 | EERIE | Mysterious European Republic wanting revolution (5) |
| E(uropean) + <=EIRE (“republic”, wanting revolution) | ||
| 24 | SYRINGA | Lilac no good planted in troubled country (7) |
| N(o) G(ood) planted in SYRIA (“troubled country”) | ||
| 25 | PHARAOH | King Henry having an artist over in boozer (7) |
| H(enry) having A RA (“artist”) + O(ver) in P(ublic) H(ouse) (“boozer”), so P(H-A RA-O)H | ||
| 26 | SECONDARY MODERN | Lower form runs new school (9,6) |
| SECONDARY (“lower”) + MODE (“form”) + R(uns) + N(ew) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PARTHENOGENESIS | Reproduction Stonehenge assembled in capital (15) |
| *(stonehenge) in PARIS (“capital”) | ||
| 2 | YOGHURT | Food unusually tough and extremely rubbery (7) |
| *(tough ry), where ry is the extremes of r(ubber)y | ||
| 3 | HALF-TRACK | Military vehicle brings force in to stop pain (4-5) |
| F(orce) in HALT (“to stop”) + RACK (“pain”) | ||
| 4 | TRAMP | Incline encountered after time in hike (5) |
| RAMP (“incline”) after T(ime) | ||
| 5 | EXIT POLLS | Such surveys necessarily on the way out? (4,5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | ADELE | Sign that character must be removed by alpha female (5) |
| DELE (“sign that character must be removed”, in proofreading) by A(lpha) | ||
| 7 | ISADORE | His name is love (7) |
| IS + ADORE (“love”) | ||
| 8 | TAKE IT ON THE CHIN | Face up to defeat when punch gets through? (4,2,2,3,4) |
| A punch getting through a boxer’s guard would possibly hit him on the chin. | ||
| 14 | INAMORATA | Very soon scoundrel gets a girlfriend (9) |
| IN A MO (“very soon”) + RAT (“scoundrel”) gets A | ||
| 15 | DESPERADO | Bandit’s gone round holding sellers up (9) |
| DEAD (“gone”) + O (“round”) holding <=REPS (“sellers”, up) | ||
| 17 | ENTERIC | Record first signs of indigestion creaking in guts (7) |
| ENTER (“record”) + I(ndigestion) C(reaking) | ||
| 19 | ACREAGE | Big plot last from Zola on prison guards (7) |
| (zol)A + RE (“on”) guarded by CAGE (“prison”) | ||
| 21 | RONIN | Lordless swordsman right ahead skinned mink (5) |
| R(ight) + ON (“ahead”) + (m)IN(k)
In feudal Japan, a ronin was a samurai with no ties to a master or lord. |
||
| 22 | SOPPY | Wet work agent accepts (5) |
| SPY (“agent”) accepts OP (“work”) | ||
*anagram
Fantastic crossword, I thought. I reckon a few years back I would have struggled to get very far with this but now I managed to complete without aids. I did check that HALF-TRACK was a word.
Unlike you, loonapick, I found the perimeter clues quite tricky. I was particularly pleased to get 1d.
I parsed 12a in an overly complex way for some unknown reason. I parsed the ONI as cON (topping with) + I.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick.
All correct and present but a teeny bit boring help up against Serpent.
Thanks all.
Another lovely Neo crossword – although I did give up without the swordsman – thank you to him and loonapick
Thanks to Neo and loonapick. Lots of fun. In the US I was not familiar with SECONDARY MODERN but had no trouble solving it, was dubious about DON DIEGO, and took a long time getting ICE PACK, my LOI. With GREEK I latched onto Casca’s comment in Julius Caesar about Cicero’s oration in Greek: “Those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads. But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.”
I thought this was quite good, but there were some dreadful surfaces (19, 21) and tenuous definitions (6, 7). Probably me, not for the first time.
The four 15-lettered words around the perimeter are always a great help to get one started. Great fun and entertaining too. Thank you, Neo and loonapick.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Found this one more difficult than others here by the looks, probably because I didn’t crack three of the long clues until later in the solve – couldn’t get PHYSIOTHERAPIST out of my brain across the top and didn’t twig to it being an anagram for a long time. Didn’t end up parsing the first part of PEPPERONI or the last part of ASSISTANT properly.
Finished in the NE corner with ADELE, ICE PACK and ISADORE as the last few in.
We had 7down as Imamore, I’m love, the male version of 14 down, inamorata..