A jolly enough Tuesday offering, with the odd flash of wit to brighten our day.
Solid and straightforword cluing with a chuckle or too. I liked the image of the self-rgarding actor particularly. Thanks to Orense.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BEYOND THE PALE | Intolerable and badly done-by, help mate with no source of money (6,3,4) |
| Anagram (‘badly’) of DONE BY HELPmATE without M. | ||
| 9 | TERRIER | Row about stray dog (7) |
| TIER around ERR. | ||
| 10 | RECITAL | Reading music (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 11 | ENSUE | Follow gent inside to institute legal proceedings (5) |
| Inside of gENt + SUE. | ||
| 12 | ENTERTAIN | Create a diversion in harbour (9) |
| Double def. | ||
| 13 | SPIRACLE | Son’s design of replica vent for breathing (8) |
| S[on] + anagram (‘design’) of REPLICA. | ||
| 15 | VISAGE | Face struggle, accepting decline (6) |
| VIE includes SAG. | ||
| 18 | AIKIDO | Help to accommodate most of relations with love for martial art (6) |
| AID includes KIn (‘most of relations’) + 0. | ||
| 19 | HEDGEROW | Natural boundary providing advantage in hotel dispute (8) |
| EDGE (‘advantage’) in H[otel] ROW. | ||
| 22 | DESPERADO | Rail about reformed peers and criminal (9) |
| DADO (‘rail’) around anagram (‘reformed’) of PEERS. | ||
| 24 | BESET | European caught in worst attack (5) |
| E[uropean] in BEST (‘worst’, ho, ho, both as verbs). | ||
| 25 | AMASSED | Collected a service note by front door (7) |
| A + MASS + (note of) E + front of Door. | ||
| 26 | INSPIRE | Energise one part of church after end of sermon (7) |
| 1 + N (‘end of sermoN’) + SPIRE (church part). | ||
| 27 | GREENHOUSE GAS | Talk by nursery producing methane, for example (10,3) |
| GAS (‘talk’) by GREENHOUSE (‘nursery’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BUTTERS | Spreads, say, in case of bugs (7) |
| UTTER (‘say’) in outside of BugS. | ||
| 2 | YARDSTICK | Standard staff needed to support police HQ (9) |
| STICK (‘staff’) under [Scotland] YARD (‘police HQ’). | ||
| 3 | NAIVE | Ignorant of rising water in France (5) |
| Reversal of EVIAN. An oldie-but-goodie. | ||
| 4 | THREE-PLY | Multi-layered, the answer’s right up a touch (5-3) |
| THE REPLY, with its R raised one place in this Down clue. | ||
| 5 | EGRETS | Birds, for example, rest in flight (6) |
| EG + anagram (‘in flight’) of REST. | ||
| 6 | ACCORDING | Granting unusually draconic start to government (9) |
| Anagram (‘unusually’) of DRACONIC + G[overnment]. | ||
| 7 | EXTRA | Surplus may be invested in index tracker (5) |
| Hidden in ‘indEX TRAcker’. | ||
| 8 | PLUNGE | This may be taken as commitment (6) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 14 | ADDRESSEE | Intended recipient of speech on European energy (9) |
| ADDRESS (‘speech’) on E[uropean] E[nergy]. | ||
| 16 | ARRESTING | Strikingly attractive actor must be gutted not working (9) |
| A.R (‘Actor’, eviscerated) + RESTING (‘not working’, esp. of actors; nice surface). | ||
| 17 | GERONIMO | Tribal chief’s love child, say, turning up (8) |
| Reversal of 0 (‘love’) + MINOR (‘child’) +EG (‘say’). | ||
| 18 | ANDEAN | Article on churchman from a range (6) |
| AN + DEAN. | ||
| 20 | WITHERS | Dries up, accompanied by the Queen on last of duties (7) |
| WITH (‘accompanied by’) ER (‘er Maj) on end of ‘dutieS’. | ||
| 21 | GARDEN | Elgar denies being outside such a fertile region (6) |
| Hidden in ‘elGAR DENies’. | ||
| 23 | SLANG | Dross incorporating new words commonly used (5) |
| N[ew] in SLAG (‘dross’). | ||
| 24 | BASIS | International covered by deep- toned foundation (5) |
*anagram
A nice steady solve today, the only blip coming at 8d where I originally had PLEDGE instead of PLUNGE which worked fine until I struggled with 12a which was my LOI.
Thanks to Orense and Grant.
Exactly the same for me. I especially liked 4dn, THREE-PLY — it was one of my first in, but it took me a long time to work out why. Thanks GB and Orense
I too found it a nice and steady solve – I always wonder when solving clues like 22a whether a desperado only exists in Crosswordland these days
Thanks to Orense and Grant
An incorrect ‘pledge’ for 8d did for me and I ended up not being able to get 12a. SPIRACLE and ‘dado’ were also new, but not difficult to work out from the wordplay or def.
I liked the ‘right up a touch’ in THREE-PLY and the old BEST for ‘worst’ trick in 24a.
Thanks to Orense and Grant
Thanks to Orense and Grant. I’m another who started with pledge but then got ENTERTAIN and did at last get PLUNGE. I had to look up dado to parse DESPERADO
Another one whose grid was spoiled by PLEDGE instead of PLUNGE which l got after solving ENTERTAIN.
Thanks Orense & Grant.
Obvious enough, but the definition and parsing of 24 down have gone astray. Today’s mistake?
Thanks Orense and Grant
It seems that the setter’s ploy of tricking out a PLEDGE at 8d has been successful for the majority of solvers here … and I was another who needed ENTERTAIN to set things right again. Other than that, all was relatively straightforward, with as you say, some humour within the surface readings to keep one entertained whilst doing it.
Had to remind myself what a SPRACLE was. Finished with the fixed up PLUNGE, EVIAN (although have seen that plenty of times before and dunno why it was so late to be entered) and BEYOND THE PALE as the last one in.