As usual a pleasing efficient crossword from Phi. Not much to say really — it all fits together very well.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | HER(M)ITAGE — this museum |
| 10 | Y(E)ARN |
| 11 | ALGE(B)R{I}A |
| 12 | DATA SET — a in (stated)* |
| 13 | R {b}ATTY |
| 14 | SPE(AR(H)EA)D |
| 16 | CENTRE OF GRAVITY — v is the centre of “gravity” |
| 19 | LARCENIST — (clarinets)* |
| 21 | WI SER |
| 22 | FINE LEG — fine (gel)rev. |
| 23 | MA({camb}R{idge})IM BA |
| 24 | D(R)OWN |
| 25 | {s}UNDER MINE — “handbag” in this sense is a word that comes from Margaret Thatcher |
| Down | |
| 1 | THEATRICAL — (trail cheat)* |
| 2 | F(RIGHT)EN |
| 3 | NIMB(L)Y |
| 4 | GAG A{muse} |
| 5 | DEAD W EIGHT |
| 6 | HYSTERIA — (I stay her)* |
| 7 | HA(SS)LE |
| 8 | KNOT — 2 defs |
| 14 | S(MO KING G{irls})UN |
| 15 | DAYDREAMER — (ready)* in dame r |
| 17 | {waite}R IE SLING |
| 18 | INSOMNIA — CD |
| 20 | RAN DO M |
| 21 | W(A RC)RY |
| 22 | FAD E — which is a fanciful way of saying “fifth fad”, so perhaps a question mark? |
| 23 | M{annerist} ODE |
21 across. Could this also be read as WIS (West Indies aka Windies) + ER (TV series)?
I think it’s more likely what’s shown in the blog ie following dict abbreviations.
Not a hard puzzle, esp liked the use of NIMBY in NIMBLY. Enjoyable.
Yes, Nimby was nicely defined. I was less sure about UNDERMINE, which was the last one in for me. To define the Thatcher handbagging as ‘undermining’ is surely something of an understatement!
Thank you, John. I got UNDERMINE but I’m still not sure having read the blog how this works. If someone could spare 60 seconds of their Friday evening to enlighten me I would appreciate it.
Enjoyed the puzzle, for me it was a decent challenge.
part = sunder the writer’s = mine – tricky enough, it was my last entry
Thank you nms. I’m glad I had enough letters in to guess it!
From Chambers definitions of handbag
vt (inf) to attack, destroy, wreck, undermine (orig used of Margaret Thatcher).
I suppose ‘undermine’ is a bit bathetic in that list, but a not unreasonable usage when one looks back at what actually happened.