Klingsor has given us a puzzle that doesn’t seem to require any specialist knowledge as the grid is filled with fairly common words.
There’s a bit of music (DULCIMER [1 across] and GERSHWIN [11 across]), a nod to informal or slang words (KIBOSH [10 across] and Johnny in the clue at 3 down) and some science (MARMOSET [21 across], PLANET [25 across]) and PH I [7 across]), as well as some general reference to life today.
I liked the misdirected surfaces for GERSHWIN (although scorer is a well used definition for a composer) and PLANET.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | I’m probing sore with end of pointed instrument (8) |
D (last letter of [end of] POINTED) + (I’M contained in [probing] ULCER [an open sore]) D ULC (IM) ER |
DULCIMER (musical instrument like a flat box with a sounding-board and wires stretched across bridges, played with hand-held hammers) |
| 6 | To son, clothing still matters (6) |
(TO + S [son]) containing (clothing) PIC (picture; a still [photograph] is a picture) TO (PIC) S |
TOPICS (subject; matters) |
| 9 | Breach of agreement involving cunning backtracking (13) |
CONVENTION (agreement) containing (involving) ART (cunning) reversed (backtracking) CON (TRA<) VENTION |
CONTRAVENTION (infringement; breach) |
| 10 | Block in path, so bikers turned back (6) |
KIBOSH (hidden word reversed (in … turned back) PATH SO BIKERS) KIBOSH< |
KIBOSH (put a stop to; block) |
| 11 | Keeping quiet, winger fouled scorer (8) |
Anagram of (fouled) WINGER containing (keeping) SH (quiet!) GER (SH) WIN* |
GERSHWIN (reference George GERSHWIN [1898 – 1937′ American composer [scorer]) |
| 13 | Ailing suspect is spied on by old copper (10) |
Anagram of (suspect) IS SPIED ON + D (symbol for old penny [copper]) INDISPOSE* D |
INDISPOSED (ailing) |
| 15 | The woman had to get rid of small building (4) |
SHE (woman) + ‘D (abbreviation for had) SHE D |
SHED (small building) SHED (cast off; get rid of) two definitions |
| 16 | Wine in a jug? Not right (4) |
A + STIR (jug and STIR are both slang terms for prison) A STI |
ASTI (Italian white wine) |
| 18 | Sweeper about to control start of game will be man of the match (10) |
BROOM (sweeper) containing (about) (RIDE [sit on and control] + G [first letter of {start of} GAME]) B (RIDE G) ROOM |
BRIDEGROOM (the man of the marriage [match]) |
| 21 | Rodent bites small European monkey (8) |
MARMOT (genus of stout burrowing rodents) containing (bites) (S [small] + E [European]) MARMO (S E) T |
MARMOSET (very small S American monkey with a long hairy tail and furry tufts on its ears) |
| 22 | Smooth guy, gutted accepts defeat (6) |
GY (letters remaining in GUY when the central letter U is removed [gutted]) containing (accepts) LOSS (defeat) G (LOSS) Y |
GLOSSY (smooth and shining) |
| 23 | Already started working as a plumber? (2,3,8) |
IN THE PIPE LINE (cryptic definition for one whose line of work with involves PIPEs, e.g. a plumber) IN THE PIPELINE |
IN THE PIPELINE (in preparation; already started) |
| 25 | Conspiracist’s conclusion on flat Earth? (6) |
PLANE (any flat or level material surface) + T (last letter of [conclusion] CONSPIRACIST) PLANE T |
PLANET (The Earth is a PLANET) |
| 26 | Joker ensnares Batman finally? That’s criminal! (8) |
GAGSTER (comedian; joker) containing (ensnares) N (last letter of [finally] BATMAN) GA (N) GSTER |
GANGSTER (a criminal) |
| Down | |||
| 2 | Fellow out of work shows fulsomeness (7) |
FUNCTION (work) excluding (out of) F (fellow) UNCTION |
UNCTION (sycophancy; smarm; fulsomeness) |
| 3 | Johnny retains small university apartments in America (11) |
CONDOM (Johnny is an informal term for a CONDOM) containing (retains) (MINI [small] + U [university) CONDO (MINI U) M |
CONDOMINIUM (North American term for a block of apartments in which each apartment is separately owned) |
| 4 | Slough hospital is after damages (5) |
MARS (damages) + H (hospital) MARS H |
MARSH (slough) |
| 5 | Devastating effects of storms gripping Virginia (7) |
RAGES (storms) containing VA (abbreviation for the US State of Virginia) RA (VA) GES |
RAVAGES (devastating effects) |
| 6 | Jockey got extremely bored in Kentish town (9) |
Anagram of (jockey) GT (outer letters [extremely] of GOT) and BORED IN TONBRIDGE* |
TONBRIDGE (town in Kent; Kentish town) |
| 7 | Highly acidic letter from Rhodes? (3) |
PH (number used to express degrees of acidity or alkalinity in solutions) + I (Roman numeral for one) a solution with PH 1 is highly acidic PH I |
PHI (Greek [Rhodes] letter) double definition |
| 8 | Enclose report of inmate’s good health? (7) |
CON (prisoner; inmate) + FINE (in good health) CON FINE |
CONFINE (enclose) |
| 12 | Cast hit with crisis on producing melodrama (11) |
Anagram of (cast) HIT and CRISIS ON HISTRIONICS* |
HISTRIONICS (melodrama) |
| 14 | Youthful local employee’s first on track (9) |
PUB (public house; local) + E (initial letter of [first] EMPLOYEE) + SCENT (track) PUB E SCENT |
PUBESCENT (descriptive of the age of sexual maturity; youthful) |
| 17 | Dog jumps about entertaining half of nick (7) |
LEAPS (jumps) reversed (about) containing (entertaining) NI (2 of the 4 [half] letters in NICK) SPA (NI) EL< |
SPANIEL (breed of dog) |
| 19 | At home on night off? It’s the latest fad (2-5) |
IN (at home) + an anagram of (off) NIGHT IN THING* |
IN-THING (latest fad) |
| 20 | Offensive smell rises over locale (7) |
BO (body odour; smell) reversed (rises; down clue) + SCENE (locale) OB< SCENE |
OBSCENE (offensive to the senses or the sensibility) |
| 22 | Pick up from the bottom of skiing slope (5) |
G (last letter of [bottom of] SKIING) + LEAN (slope) G LEAN |
GLEAN (pick up facts of information) |
| 24 | Can Congress upset Nationalist? (3) |
IT (sexual relations; congress) reversed (upset; down clue) + N (nationalist) TI< N |
TIN (can) |
“To craunch the marmoset”. Google it if you don’t know where that comes from.
Small omission in blog. 15a has 2 definitions as well as the cryptic “she’d”: “to get rid of” and “small building”.
Enjoyable stuff. Thanks Klingsor and Duncan.
Hovis @ 1
Thanks – blog updated
We must be on Klingsor’s wavelength today as we finished this in record time and unaided. Excellent stuff, though. Difficult to nominate a CoD but we’ll go for PHI because of iots simplicity and (a) one of us is a chemist and (b) it wasn’t clued as a reference to another setter.
Thanks, Klingsor and Duncan.
I thought this was a not too demanding Klingsor, and certainly easier than his puzzle in the FT today.
Needless to say that everything was immaculately clued.
That said, in 8d, where does ‘report (of)’ come in?
Many thanks to Duncan & Klingsor.
Sil – I think 8d works if you take the cryptic part as a whole phrase – “con fine” = report of inmate’s good health
Thanks all