Well – a bit of confusion in the B&J household yesterday, as this puzzle appeared in the subscription version of the Indy app, with the Tees puzzle that was blogged yesterday by Quirister appearing on the Indy webpage. Both versions then appeared on the app.
Apologies to those who solved the Indy subscription version of the puzzle yesterday for the delay in the blog.
A good, fairly easy Tuesday (or Monday!) workout from Crosophile. If the puzzle was meant to be published today, we would have expected a theme, but if there is one, we can’t find it. Perhaps others can?
Across
1 Like sentence when court detains us, I told a criminal not wanting time (9)
CUSTODIAL
CT (court) round or ‘detaining’ US + an anagram of I tOLD A without the ‘t’ (time) – anagrind is ‘criminal’
6 Keen on a bit of badminton (4)
INTO
Hidden in (‘a bit of’) badmINTOn
8 Small child actually seeing November in place of cold (6)
INFANT
IN FAcT (actually) with the ‘c’ (cold) replaced by N (November)
9 Forces apart any person from polite Scotsman (8)
CIVILIAN
CIVIL (polite) IAN (Scotsman)
10 Not quite innocent when receiving jostle or a soft touch (8)
PUSHOVER
PURe (innocent) without the last letter or ‘not quite’ round or ‘receiving’ SHOVE (jostle)
11 Posh Spice’s opening number mostly regularly seen (6)
SNOOTY
S (first letter or ‘opening’ of ‘spice’) NO (number) + alternate or ‘regular’ letters of mOsTlY
12 Body bags from Cyprus street and square (5)
CYSTS
CY (Cyprus) ST (street) S (square)
13 Squirts a bit of soap on dishes (9)
SPLATTERS
S (first letter or ‘a bit of’ ‘soap’) PLATTERS (dishes)
17 After last of red’s drunk Henry joins me for big bottles (9)
DEMIJOHNS
D (last letter of ‘red’) + an anagram of H (Henry) and JOINS ME – anagrind is ‘drunk’
19 Road warning when first moving off curve in road (5)
AMBER
cAMBER (curve in road) with the first letter omitted or ‘moving off’
22 What’s at end of sentence for one with too many drugs? (6)
PERIOD
PER (for) I (one) OD (overdose – ‘too many drugs’)
24 This year’s mad frenzy (8)
HYSTERIA
An anagram of THIS YEAR – anagrind is ‘mad’ – no reference to the dreaded B-word?
25 Rolls filled with duck and poultry (8)
ROOSTERS
ROSTERS (rolls) round or ‘filled with’ O (duck)
26 In the sierras he cloaks Conchita perhaps in a coat (6)
ENAMEL
EL (‘he’ in Spanish, as ‘in the sierras’) round or ‘cloaking’ NAME (‘Conchita perhaps – a Spanish name) – our LOI and a bit of a struggle to parse
27 What is intelligence department hiding? Give up? (4)
CEDE
Hidden in intelligeCE DEpartment
28 We taste rum and Crosophile is drunk – Goody! (9)
SWEETMEAT
An anagram of WE TASTE (anagrind is ‘rum’) round or ‘drinking’ ME (Crosophile – the setter)
Down
1 Someone to watch out for the hard of hearing getting to 100? (7)
CENTURY
A homophone (‘for the hard of hearing’) of SENTRY (someone to watch out)
2 Health resort’s ethnic quarter mostly one for Italian food (9)
SPAGHETTI
SPA (health resort) GHETTo (ethnic quarter) without the last letter or ‘mostly’ I (one)
3 A hundred vote differently, double the frequency? (6)
OCTAVE
An anagram of A C (hundred) VOTE – anagrind is ‘differently’
4 Popular dog to run up (5)
INCUR
IN (popular) CUR (dog)
5 Armchair for two leaves two (not women) embarrassed (4,4)
LOVE SEAT
An anagram of LEAVES TwO without the ‘w’ (women) – anagrind is ’embarrassed’
6 A lot of murk beside current housing that’s cold (5)
IGLOO
GLOOm (murk) without the last letter or ‘a lot of’ after I (current)
7 Kitchen gadget adding egg into sample (7)
TOASTER
O (egg) in TASTER (sample)
14 Peg’s beer not finished (3)
PIN
PINt (beer, as in ‘mine’s a pint’) without the last letter or ‘not finished’
15 Mild anger over spilled tea (9)
TEMPERATE
TEMPER (anger) + an anagram of TEA – anagrind is ‘spilled’
16 The best clothing to put on in the garden? (3-5)
TOP-DRESS
TOP (best) DRESS (clothing)
18 Crosophile watched broadcast in a pigsty (7)
EYESORE
A homophone (‘broadcast’) of I (Crosophile, the setter) SAW (watched)
20 Patent happening to get one director on board (7)
EVIDENT
EVENT (happening) with I (one) D (director) inside or ‘on board’
21 Like a hundredth and rising? (6)
ASCENT
AS (like) CENT (a hundredth, as in many currencies)
23 Result of girl getting prior income support (5)
ISSUE
SUE (girl) after IS (income support)
24 Rush with a stem concealed (5)
HASTE
Hidden (‘concealed’) in witH A STEm
Thanks to Bertandjoyce
Crosophile’s 100th I should think
This one was rather poo, methinks, especially 26 across.
I didn’t have a problem with the girl’s name 🙂
I did, however, groan at yet another appearance of Crosswordland’s kitchen gadget of the month – even if this one was a slight variation on the previous clues for this word – we’ve also seen quite a bit of the poultry in 25a
Thanks to B&J and Crosophile
1d did recall Arthur Daley.
As Dansar says, Crosophile’s 100th. (It’s indicated along the diagonal, bottom left to top right.)
Excellent workout. Thanks to Crosophile and Bertandjoyce.
By the way, in 21d I took CENT as the prefix meaning one hundredth, without any reference to currency. The prefix is usually CENTI but my Collins gives both.
Thanks to Dansar and Hovis for spotting the theme and the Nina. How did we miss it?
Thanks, Bertandjoyce. And thanks for nearly all the comments. 🙂
Congrats, Crosophile, and good to see you be a bit ‘fleabaggy’ @8.
Some setters just do not get the full credits they deserve.
As Hovis said, an ‘excellent workout’.
Many thanks to B&J too.
Apologies to Crosophile – we forgot to offer our congratulations!