Crystal-clear clueing and elegant surfaces. Good puzzle.
A doddle to solve and blog, tbh, but that didn’t stop me enjoying it. Anagrams and crossword chestnuts galore plus a very nice &lit. Thanks to Falcon for the (short) ride.
| Across | ||
| 1 | KETCHUP | Sauce boat at a higher price (7) |
| KETCH + UP. | ||
| 5 | ROSEHIP | Heading for Rotterdam, old vessel carrying English fruit (7) |
| R (1st letter of ‘Rotterdam’) + O[ld] + SHIP contain E[nglsh]. | ||
| 9 | DRESS | Prepare to get into gear (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 10 | ON BALANCE | All things considered, loan can be arranged (2,7) |
| Anagram of LOAN CAN BE. | ||
| 11 | AT THE MOST | Not more than that new, imperfect tomes (2,3,4) |
| Anagram (‘new’) of THAT & another (‘imperfect’) of TOMES. | ||
| 12 | INDUS | Religious people spending hour in river (5) |
| hINDUS (‘religious people’) dropping H[our]. | ||
| 13 | GOLDEN LABRADOR | Dog in a grand bordello, barking (6,8) |
| Anagram (‘barking’) of A GRAND BORDELLO. | ||
| 18 | ONE-ARMED BANDIT | Be on it, and dream wildly? (3- 5,6) |
| Anagram (‘wildly’) of BE ON IT AND DREAM, ‘&lit’, as one is always pleased to type. | ||
| 20 | LARCH | Check on tailless bird in tree (5) |
| CH[eck] (in chess) follows LARk. | ||
| 22 | PATRIOTIC | Flag-waving threesome in pact I suspect (9) |
| TRIO in anagram (‘suspect’) of PACT I. | ||
| 24 | CONTRALTO | Rule mostly broken by key singer (9) |
| CONTRO(L) (most of ‘rule’) surrounds ALT (a computer ‘key’). | ||
| 25 | AROMA | Member holding head of orchid with a distinctive smell (5) |
| ARM (‘member’) + O (head of ‘Orchid’) + A. | ||
| 26 | PRESENT | Current offering (7) |
| Double def. | ||
| 27 | SLENDER | Narrow lake shown in poster (7) |
| L[ake] in SENDER (as in ‘return to…). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | KIDNAP | Abduction of a kind, getting mixed press initially (6) |
| Anagram (‘getting mixed’) of A KIND + P (‘Press initially’). | ||
| 2 | TWENTY-ONE | Score individual required in game (6-3) |
| TWENTY (a ‘score’) + ONE (‘individual’). The card-game blackjack or vingt-et-un. | ||
| 3 | HASTE | Speed shown in running heats (5) |
| Anagram (‘running’) of HEATS. | ||
| 4 | PRONOUNCE | Say it, perhaps this, to a Parisian (9) |
| PRONOUN (‘”it”, perhaps’) + CE (‘this’ in French). | ||
| 5 | ROBOT | Automated machine, British in origin (5) |
| B[ritish] in ROOT. | ||
| 6 | SOLDIER ON | Tommy planned to keep going (7,2) |
| SOLDIER (‘Tommy’ Atkins, from Kipling) + ON (‘planned’). | ||
| 7 | HONED | The man and daughter, catching on, pointed (5) |
| HE + D[aughter] surround ON. | ||
| 8 | PLEASURE | Excuse certain to cause amusement (8) |
| PLEA (a legal ‘excuse’) + SURE (‘certain’). | ||
| 14 | DARK HORSE | Sinister drug, an unknown quantity (4,5) |
| DARK (‘sinister’) + HORSE (heroin, ‘drug’). | ||
| 15 | ALBATROSS | Bird in brass – a lot manufactured (9) |
| Anagram (‘manufactured’) of BRASS A LOT. | ||
| 16 | DRIFTWOOD | Timber washed ashore did for odd couple inside (9) |
| TWO (‘couple’) in anagram (‘odd’) of DID FOR. | ||
| 17 | FOOLSCAP | Takes in better paper (8) |
| FOOLS (‘takes in’) + UP (‘better’). | ||
| 19 | ECLAIR | Lace nutty Irish cake (6) |
| Anagram (‘nutty’) of LACE + IR[ish]. | ||
| 21 | RANGE | Compass showing north in storm (5) |
| N[orth] in RAGE. | ||
| 22 | PILOT | Guide the Italian aboard vessel (5) |
| IL (It. ‘the’) in POT. | ||
| 23 | INANE | Crazy firing head of security – senseless (5) |
| INsANE (‘crazy’) minus S (1st of ‘Security’). | ||
*anagram
Loved it, especially 18ac. Thanks GB and Falcon
Completely agree with your intro GB. Wonderful &lit at 18a.
I suspect many, like me, initially entered BIRCH at 20a, which fits the clue and the generally easy level.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant.
Thanks both,
Wonderful surfaces as you say. Over too quickly but a masterpiece of elegance.
Slight typo in blog at 17d. CAP not UP.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant. I agree – great fun. I took a while parsing LARCH thanks to the CH=check, but much enjoyed 18ac.
Thanks Falcon & Grant.
In 17 down, how does better equate to CAP? Could better be a misprint for best?
To Psmith:
Both are verbs. To ‘cap’, say, someone’s witty remark would be to ‘better’ it. (I got it wrong in the blog anyway).
More Mondayish than yesterday but more elegant. COD 12a.
Thanks Falcon and Grant
Just back from a break from our Sunshine Coast where I couldn’t print out the puzzles – the first one of my new back log. A gentle but entertaining crossword to start off with !
Liked the clues that have already been pointed out along with DARK HORSE and my last one in PRONOUNCE (when I finally nutted out how it worked).