Another fine crossword from Flitwick. A tractable puzzle in the usual Monday Indy style, with precise clueing and some deft touches.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Officer damages murderous computer
MARSHAL
A charade of MARS and HAL, the sinister computer on board Discovery One in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. His most famous line, after having murdered Frank, was: ‘I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.’ He soiled himself when Dave started disconnecting him, though.
5 Goddess who’s in heaven, usually
VENUS
Hidden in heaVEN USually.
9 Éclair is lost without a trace
RELIC
Flitwick is inviting you to take the A out of ‘éclair’ and then make an anagram: it’s (ECL[A]IR)* and the removal indicator is ‘without a’. The anagrind is ‘lost’.
10 Old thief to steal trendy headgear
ROBIN HOOD
A charade of ROB, IN and HOOD. Ah, but was he really a thief or a committed and charismatic left-winger intent on redistribution of wealth? If he came back, there might be a job he could apply for.
11 A country (this one) with water to the East
UKRAINE
A charade of UK, RAIN and E. The country which has just elected a comedian to be its Prime Minister. We would never do that in the UK. Oh, hang on …
12 Free muscle work out
ABSOLVE
A charade of AB for the (abdominal) muscle and SOLVE. Mainly used in the sense of ABSOLVING someone from their sins.
13 Management‘s badly phrased lie
LEADERSHIP
(PHRASED LIE)*
15 River islands
ISIS
A charade of two IS gives you the Thames at Oxford.
18 Help us with start of opera that’s mediocre
SO-SO
A charade of SOS and O for the first letter of ‘opera’.
20 Exasperated supporters regularly speed away
BRASSED OFF
A charade of BRAS, SED for the odd letters of SpEeD, and OFF.
23 Leave the ranks, being loudly dismissed
FALL OUT
A charade of F for the musical ‘loudly’ and ALL OUT, which describes a cricket XI who have all been ‘dismissed’.
24 Second-rate features?
B MOVIES
A cd.
25 A new, ruder variety of lingerie
UNDERWEAR
(A NEW RUDER)* ‘Lingerie’ is posh underwear, I suppose.
26 Keen on acquiring Rachmaninoff’s first prelude
INTRO
An insertion of R for the first letter of the composer’s name in INTO.
27 Court ladies using animal magnetism, primarily
HAREM
A charade of HARE and M for the first letter of ‘magnetism’.
28 Established an underground home with electric light
SETTLED
A charade of SETT for the badger’s home and LED.
Down
1 Bad French song – it’s infectious!
MALARIA
A charade of MAL for the French word for ‘bad’ and ARIA.
2 Awkward silence after king lies down
RECLINES
A charade of R for Rex or ‘king’ and (SILENCE)*
3 Reportedly save lots of people
HORDE
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of HOARD.
4 Collections of overlapping signs
LIBRARIES
I liked this one for being inventive. A is the last letter of the zodiac sign LIBRA and the first of ARIES. If you overlap the two signs and merge two As into one, you get LIBRARIES.
5 Put on a coat, run away, and disappear
VANISH
VA[R]NISH
6 Casually plays with food
NOODLES
A dd. To NOODLE on the guitar, for example, is just to play casually. Some singer-songwriters do it when they are looking for inspiration for a song.
7 Sneak around in novel disguise
SIDLE
Hidden reversed in novEL DISguise.
8 Time and money problems
TROUBLES
A charade of T and ROUBLES for the Russian currency.
14 Unruly press besieging hotel for booze
SPRITZERS
An insertion of the RITZ hotel in (PRESS)* The containment indicator is ‘besieging’ and the anagrind is ‘unruly’.
16 Weakness that’s easy to see
SOFT SPOT
A charade of SOFT and SPOT.
17 Statue of Rommel I rebuilt around Alexandria, initially
MEMORIAL
An insertion (‘around’) of A in (ROMMEL I)* with ‘rebuilt’ as the anagrind.
19 Adding iodine to alloy makes it more robust
SOLIDER
The ugly as sin comparative adjective is an insertion of I for the chemical symbol for ‘iodine’ in SOLDER.
21 Forgot to include “glove” in dictionary
OMITTED
An insertion of MITT in OED for the [Oxford English] ‘dictionary’.
22 Organised massacre of Amorite king during ball
POGROM
Another insertion: of OG for the well-known Amorite king in PROM.
23 Rush of blood to the hand
FLUSH
A dd, the second referring to a card ‘hand’.
24 Beef starter to turn out badly?
BURNT
A charade of B for the first letter of ‘beef’ and (TURN)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind; caddish, or an extended definition if you will.
Many thanks to Flitwick for the Bank Holiday entertainment.
Although I prefer more demanding crosswords, this was so nicely constructed that I enjoyed every minute of the solve. Slightly blotted my copybook by entering “dealership” for 13a but soon realised my error.
IBM always claimed it was coincidental that their name is formed from the next letters alphabetically for HAL.
Favourite clue was that for UNDERWEAR.
Thanks to Flitwick and Pierre.
Is malaria infectious?
harry tadd @2
Collins says it is: “An infectious disease characterized by recurring attacks of chills and fever, caused by the bite of an anopheles mosquito infected with any of four protozoans of the genus Plasmodium (P. vivax, P. falciparum, P. malariae, or P. ovale)”.
Good, entertaining start to the week.
I particularly liked LIBRARIES, VANISH and SPRITZER.
Thanks Flitwick and Pierre.
What Robi said.
Hovis@1: Surely you have that the wrong way round. It was Clarke and Kubrick who claimed the coincidence. IBM existed long before the film.
Just realised that tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of my first seeing the film 2001.
Dormouse @6. My bad. You are, of course, quite correct.
Another elegant and amusing crossword from Flitwick, thoroughly enjoyable.
We are catching upon puzzles and have only just completed Flitwick’s second offering tonight. We didn’t comment on the first one so would like to take this opportunity of welcoming Flitwick to the Indy stable.
Not too difficult but very enjoyable to solve. Clear clueing throughout and good surfaces. Looking forward to some more.
Thanks Pierre – maybe a bird or two next time.