An enjoyable challenge from Silvanus today: not the easiest, but with that important quality of “obviously right once you see it”.
The neat surfaces hide a good variety of clue constructions, including the usual anagrams and hidden answers, and a couple of homophones (which involve groan-worthy jokes, but they work). Some of the constructions are a little tricky, but they’re all fair. Favourites include 26a (an old crossword trick used in an ingenious way) and 7d (clever misdirection with the surface suggesting “horn”). Thanks Silvanus for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | QUOTIDIAN | Wasted a quid on it daily (9) |
| Anagram (wasted = destroyed or drunk) of A QUID ON IT. | ||
| 6 | PETAL | Term of endearment from Penny and other people (5) |
| P (p = penny) + ET AL (short for Latin et alii, “and other people”). | ||
| 9 | AVAILED | Retired cook admitting King James Bible was of help (7) |
| DELIA (the cook Delia Smith), containing (admitting) AV (Authorized Version of the Bible, otherwise known as the King James version), all reversed (retired). | ||
| 10 | MENTION | Head of institute in French resort getting acknowledgement (7) |
| First letter (head) of I[nstitute], in MENTON (resort on the French Riviera). | ||
| 11 | KNOW-ALLS | Smart Alecs with reason why cobblers were unsuccessful reportedly? (4-4) |
| Homophone (reportedly) of NO AWLS; a lack of leather-piercing tools would indeed be something of a disadvantage for a shoemaker. | ||
| 12 | IRONIC | Press piece regularly seen as sarcastic (6) |
| IRON (press = remove creases from fabric) + alternate letters (regularly) of [p]I[e]C[e]. | ||
| 14 | VERNACULAR | Copper having youthful exterior essentially swearing in native tongue (10) |
| CU (Cu = chemical symbol for copper), with VERNAL (spring-like or youthful) around it (having . . . exterior), then the middle letters (essentially) of [swe]AR[ing]. | ||
| 18 | ARISTOCRAT | Noble actor is oddly consumed by method (10) |
| Anagram (oddly) of ACTOR IS, contained in (consumed by) ART (method, as in “The Art of War” or many later books with similarly-structured titles). | ||
| 22 | CURFEW | Restrictive order requires detailed check on small number (6) |
| CUR[b] (check = restrain; de-tailed = last letter removed) + FEW (small number). | ||
| 23 | DISABUSE | “Set right pace finally when chasing” said running coach (8) |
| Anagram (running) of SAID, then BUS (coach); then the last letter (finally) of [pac]E, “chasing” = following everything else. Disabuse someone of something = correct their mistaken opinion. |
||
| 25 | ELEMENT | Small amount of water, perhaps, that’s found in a kettle (7) |
| Triple definition: a small part of a larger whole, one of the historical “four elements” (along with earth, air and fire), or the heating component in a kettle. | ||
| 26 | BALDING | Sports broadcaster in state of shock? (7) |
| Double definition: the first is Clare Balding, and the second uses the old crossword trick of “shock” as in a shock of hair, with “balding” being the state of losing hair. | ||
| 27 | TRIAL | Four dropping out of unimportant Test (5) |
| TRIVIAL (unimportant), with IV (Roman numeral for four) dropping out of it. The surface suggests a Test Match in cricket, though to some people that could never be unimportant. | ||
| 28 | BREATHERS | Those swimming would defend occasionally brief rests (9) |
| BATHERS (those swimming), containing (defending) alternate letters (occasionally) of [b]R[i]E[f]. Breather = a break from strenuous activity to “get one’s breath back”. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | QUACKS | Doctors jokes told by Jonathan Ross? (6) |
| CRACKS (jokes), as it might be pronounced by Jonathan Ross or others who have a non-standard pronunciation of the letter R. Quack = slang for doctor, especially a fraudulent or dubious one. |
||
| 2 | ORATOR | “Speaker poor,” a Tory admits (6) |
| Hidden answer (. . . admits) in [po]OR A TOR[y]. The surface couldn’t possibly refer to a recent Speaker of the House of Commons, could it? | ||
| 3 | I’LL SAY | Always burdened by misfortunes? Absolutely right! (3,3) |
| AY (archaic word for “always”), with ILLS (misfortunes) burdening it (on top of it, in a down clue). | ||
| 4 | INDULGENCE | Favour clue virtually needing to be rewritten (10) |
| Anagram (to be rewritten) of CLU[e] (virtually = almost all of it) + NEEDING. | ||
| 5 | NAME | Celebrity, topless macho type, making a comeback (4) |
| HE-MAN (macho type), with the first letter removed (topless), reversed (making a comeback). | ||
| 6 | PUNK ROCK | Frantically knock up a bit of reggae music (4,4) |
| Anagram (frantically) of KNOCK UP + first letter (a bit) of R[eggae]. | ||
| 7 | TRIANGLE | Instrument that usually provides a warning to drivers (8) |
| Double definition: musical instrument consisting of a bent metal bar, or a road sign providing a warning (especially a temporary one at an accident scene). | ||
| 8 | LONICERA | See more delightful area to display honeysuckle (8) |
| LO! (see!) + NICER (more delightful) + A (area). The botanical name for the flowing plant Honeysuckle. |
||
| 13 | INSATIABLE | Rejected temptation to stop in Greater Manchester town, becoming ravenous (10) |
| BAIT (temptation), reversed (rejected), inserted into (stopping) IN SALE (Sale, town in Greater Manchester). | ||
| 15 | WAR CHEST | Shrewd point about funds collected for political campaign (3,5) |
| ARCH (shrewd), with WEST (a point of the compass) around (about) it. | ||
| 16 | DISRAELI | Former PM‘s diaries edited to restrict length (8) |
| Anagram (edited) of DIARIES, containing (restricting) LENGTH. Benjamin Disraeli. |
||
| 17 | ETHEREAL | Heavenly bouquet here, alluring to some extent (8) |
| Hidden answer (to some extent) in [bouqu]ET HERE AL[luring]. Ethereal = often used to mean “light and insubstantial”, but originally “celestial” or “otherworldly”. |
||
| 19 | BALLOT | Computer program contains everything that’s secret in General Election (6) |
| BOT (computer program), containing ALL (everything). | ||
| 20 | SUPINE | Drink popular ale, ultimately it’s flat (6) |
| SUP (drink) + IN (popular) + last letter (ultimately) of [al]E. Supine = lying flat on one’s back. |
||
| 21 | WEIGHS | Considers carefully if time to abandon gym equipment (6) |
| WEIGHTS (gym equipment), with T (time) removed (to abandon). | ||
| 24 | STAB | Go crazy when upset (4) |
| BATS (crazy = insane), reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue). Go (noun) = stab = attempt, as in “have a go”. |
||
REGGAE =PUNK ROCK? I rest my case
Copmus @1.
As indicated by Quirister, MUSIC is the definition, not REGGAE MUSIC.
That was definitely a bit of a wake-up call for a Monday and I confess to checking the meaning of the 1a anagram – should have known it was unnecessary given a setter of this calibre!
Took a while to sort out DISABUSE and my favourite, for the smile it produced, was KNOW-ALLS.
Many thanks to Silvanus for another very satisfying solve and thanks to Quirister for the review.
Most of this went in fairly easily but we struggled with the 15dn/22ac and 26ac/21dn crossers. And for 22ac we thought it had to start CUR… but must have had a mental block as FEW never occurred to us and we decided it had to be CORSET – which can be a restrictive order issued by the Bank of England to other banks – not that we could then parse COR… (and a set is not necessarily a small number either). D’oh! But we got the rest of it.
We liked the surface of 9ac and wondered if the retired cook was making a scripture cake.
Thanks, Silvanus and Quirister.
Silvanus his homophone clue in 11ac (for KNOW-ALLS) makes exactly clear why I was a bit pernickety in yesterday’s Everyman blog (22ac there).
And the rest was good too, even though I failed on CURFEW (22ac).
Many thanks to Silvanus & Quirister.
Many thanks to Quirister for his decryptions and to everyone else who took the trouble to comment.