The puzzle can be found here.
Hello! There’s no rest for the wicked, and so I’m back again with this puzzle by Hypnos, to whom thanks. I was in need of something gentle, and was in luck. A puzzle to please fans of anagrams, charades and double definitions, which I wouldn’t say I am particularly, but I still really enjoyed it.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
Across
1a Give a hand to guitar player doffing cap (6)
ASSIST
[b]ASSIST (guitar player) without the first letter (doffing cap)
4a Reserve the best dessert? (3,5)
ICE CREAM
ICE (reserve) and CREAM (the best). So simple and perfect that it will have been done before, but multiple helpings is fine with me!
9a A pair of names for all to see given a line in reference book? (6)
ANNUAL
A charade of A (from the clue), NN (a pair of names: two copies of the abbreviation for name, N), U (for all to see, film classification), A (from the clue again), and L (line)
10a Recall broadcast film on Irish culture originally setting standards (8)
CRITERIA
Reverse (recall): AIR (broadcast), ET (film, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), IR (Irish) and the first letter of (… originally) Culture
11a Painter, one permitted to enter Swiss region endlessly (9)
CANALETTO
A (one) and LET (permitted) in (to enter) CANTO[n] (Swiss region) without the last letter (endlessly)
13a It covers bin’s interior in big ship (5)
LINER
A double definition
14a Doctor contains awe for noted scientist (5,6)
ISAAC NEWTON
Make an anagram of (doctor) CONTAINS AWE
18a Soldier in pointer for battle is getting ready (11)
PREPARATION
PARA (soldier) goes in an anagram of (… for battle) POINTER. It took me a while to twig where the PRETION came from …
21a Some Mancunian ticketed for prank (5)
ANTIC
Contained in some mancuniAN TICketed
22a Individual wears uniform with surprised expression – that’s likely to happen! (4,5)
EVEN MONEY
ONE (individual) goes inside (wears) the combination of EVEN (uniform) and MY (my! — surprised expression)
24a One trained for engagement, characterising a body (8)
CORPORAL
Two definitions
25a Greek and German fancy underground area (6)
GROTTO
GR (Greek) and OTTO (German, German name)
26a Set in place enthralled by impressionist? That’s fitting (8)
APPOSITE
POSIT in (set in place) inside (enthralled by) APE (impressionist, mimic)
27a Flash irregular line of colour (6)
STREAK
A double definition, verb and noun
Down
1d A drug agent detains Greek character being lawless (8)
ANARCHIC
A (from the clue) and NARC (drug agent, slang for a narcotics agent) contains (detains) CHI (Greek character)
2d Relative is now flying around Northern Californian city (3-2-3)
SON-IN-LAW
IS NOW anagrammed (flying) around N (Northern) LA (Californian city)
3d Delay outlet at a fair (5)
STALL
Another pair of definitions in which the first is a verb and the second a noun
5d A cool bar set for renovation – place for bargains? (3,4,4)
CAR BOOT SALE
A COOL BAR SET anagrammed (for renovation)
6d Queen, say, with almost unique capital turned up in secessionist area (9)
CATALONIA
CAT (queen, say) with most of (almost) ALON[e], followed by the reversal of (… turned up) AI (A1, capital)
7d Philip’s mate managed day for light task (6)
ERRAND
A charade of ER (Philip’s mate — Prince Philip, that is), RAN (managed) and D (day)
8d Insufficient time agreed to remove outsiders (6)
MEAGRE
The answer is in the centre of (… to remove outsiders) tiME AGREed
12d Veteran then cast in rugged film (3,8)
THE REVENANT
VETERAN THEN is anagrammed (cast) to make this film
15d Extensive international account with promises of refunds? (9)
CAPACIOUS
CAP (international) and AC (account) put together with IOUS (promises of refunds)
16d Gent represented in quick Parisian character sketch (8)
VIGNETTE
An anagram of (… represented, re-presented) GENT goes in VITE (quick Parisian, French for quick)
17d How to describe writer’s published words as far as I’m concerned? (2,2,4)
IN MY BOOK
A writer might describe his or her published words as IN MY BOOK. The second definition is for the answer’s dictionary entry, an idiom meaning in my opinion
19d Beauty treatment almost covers small board above shop window (6)
FASCIA
Most of (… almost) FACIA[l] (beauty treatment) contains (covers) S (small)
20d Excite building filled by those inside at college (4,2)
STIR UP
STIR (building filled with those inside: prison) + UP (at college)
23d Worth not altogether seen in tiresome ritual (5)
MERIT
The answer is seen in some of (not altogether seen) tiresoME RITual
Had the same problem as Kitty did with the PRETION in 18a and have a complete blind spot when it comes to spelling Mr Newton’s first name. On top of that, I didn’t know the 12d film and spent a while wondering exactly what constitutes a German fancy!
All still done and dusted in reasonable time and I think the Parisian character sketch gets my vote for favourite.
Thanks to Hypnos and to our excellent blogger – loved the science teacher in the playground and the abridged classics!
Nice and gentle and enjoyable, and thanks for the blog.
I finished it quickly but came to find out how 20d works. I’m still not convinced by ‘building filled by those inside’. ‘Stir’ is slang for prison time, rather than an actual prison, isn’t it? Would anyone say ‘That building over there is a stir’?
Chambers gives just “prison” for “stir” (and I’ve heard my local one, Winson Green Prison, referred to as that).
Another gentle Sunday stroll and very enjoyable. We didn’t quite parse STIR UP (didn’t twig the ‘those inside’ reference) but apart from that no problems. We liked how the consecutive clues 6dn and 7dn managed to use ‘queen’ without meaning ER and then clued ER without using ‘queen’. Favourite was ISAAC NEWTON, with the enjoyment enhanced by the cartoon in the blog.
Thanks, Hypnos and Kitty.
In response to Kitty’s comment re 4ac, this clue HAS been done before, and as recently as last weekend in the Guardian prize puzzle by Crucible (see 24ac): https://crosswords-static.guim.co.uk/gdn.cryptic.20190323.pdf.
I didn’t think twice about stir being prison, but allan_c @4 has company (I won’t presume to call it good company!) in that I also had trouble seeing the right sense of “those inside”. Fortunately, the light did dawn while writing the blog. I’d meant to include a note to that effect, but forgot.
Richard @5 – well, that is a coincidence. I’ve searched for other occurrences online (and asked Mr K to consult his clue database) but haven’t found any. So to my knowledge, it’s only a double helping …