Typically, the Monday Indy is a gentle start to the crosswording week in that paper. This was certainly that: not many anagrams, but plenty of easy-end charades to get you going. One I could recommend to those just getting into the cruciverbal black arts.
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 Declining ten years with National Trust
DECADENT
A charade of DECADE and NT.
5 Help idiot first
ASSIST
A charade of ASS and IST.
9 Talks about endless debauchery in carriages
CHARIOTS
An insertion of RIO[T] in CHATS
10 Constant runner-up is more compact
CLOSER
A charade of C and LOSER.
12 Yellow object that doesn’t work
LEMON
A dd.
13 Bold prisoner able to conceal hideaway
CONFIDENT
A charade of CON and DEN inserted into FIT.
14 Honour about to go to hospital division
REWARD
A charade of RE and WARD.
16 Bizarre posh and expensive car covered in cork
SURREAL
An insertion of U and RR for Rolls Royce or ‘expensive car’ in SEAL.
19 Stylish ring with wood inlaid
DASHING
An insertion of ASH in DING. DING for ‘ring’? As in DING-DONG.
21 Pot to go in larder
PANTRY
A charade of PAN and TRY.
23 Dear former lover deep in thought
EXPENSIVE
A charade of EX and PENSIVE.
25 Part of girdle a seamstress let out
LEASE
Hidden in girdLE A SEamstress.
26 Departs having taken last of cats’ lives
EXISTS
An insertion of S for the last letter of ‘cats’ in EXITS.
27 Grass brand right for blow
HAYMAKER
A charade of HAY, MAKE and R.
28 Time tears apart fashions
TRENDS
A charade of T and RENDS.
29 Resent worker consuming fantastic drug by gram
BEGRUDGE
An insertion of (DRUG)* and G for ‘gram’ in BEE.
Down
1 Coiled around and submissive
DOCILE
(COILED)*
2 Dour, cold safe
CHARMLESS
A charade of C and HARMKLESS.
3 Hamlet, say, heard to condescend
DEIGN
A homophone of DANE, of which Hamlet was an example. The homophone indicator is between the two elements, which makes the answer ambigous if the homophones contain the same number of letters. Since the two words are of different lengths here, we’ll say no more.
4 Spotted heavyweight rising, getting killed
NOTICED
A charade of TON reversed and ICED.
6 Persevere as small, ancient metal boxes start to explode
SOLDIER ON
A charade of S, OLD and an insertion (‘boxes’) of E for the first letter of ‘explode’ in IRON.
7 Children matter
ISSUE
A dd.
8 Suppress article about rubbish tribunal lacking guts
THROTTLE
An insertion of ROT and TL for the outside letters of ‘tribunal’ in THE.
11 Responsibility with respect to America
ONUS
A charade of ON and US.
15 Cut off a story by upcoming beat journalist
ALIENATED
A charade of A, LIE, TAN reversed and ED.
17 Organ stained and set aside
EARMARKED
A charade of EAR and MARKED.
18 Notice present by new Tesla advocate
ADHERENT
A charade of AD, HERE, N and T for ‘Tesla’. Not Mr Musk’s car brand, but the the SI derived unit of magnetic flux density, abbreviation T.
20 Facile nonsense shortly rejected
GLIB
BILG[E] reversed.
21 Introduction of European mug following press release
PREFACE
A charade of PR, E and FACE.
22 Tries electronic vehicle
HEARSE
A charade of HEARS and E.
24 Parking vehicle gives sense of achievement
PRIDE
A charade of P and RIDE.
25 Mammal taking bird in both hands
LEMUR
An insertion of EMU in L and R. The setter is going to have to work a bit harder than this to allow for an obligatory Pierre bird link. She should know by now that the answer has to be the bird, the whole bird and nothing but the bird. A clue like this just makes me feel like a kid who’s been offered a sweetie then had it snatched away at the last second. I’ll have her know that I’ll be calling 0800 1111 if this happens again, but in the meantime, many thanks to her for this morning’s puzzle.
Light but great fun for a Monday morning. I’m not convinced by RIDE as a synonym for VEHICLE but that apart this was a joy from start to finish.
Many thanks to Vigo and Pierre.
I raised an eyebrow at RIDE/VEHICLE too, Rabbit Dave, but that definition is given in Chambers, so we are on firm ground, I think.
Thanks Vigo & Pierre
I think RIDE is fine as an example of synecdoche, cf “That’s my ride”, “Those are my wheels”.
All the expected enjoyment from this one, despite one desperate moment when I thought Vigo was trying to make me accept DEIGN as a homophone of THANE!
I suspect RIDE = vehicle has come across the pond from our American cousins.
I particularly liked 5&23a plus 1d.
Many thanks, Vigo, and thanks to Pierre for the review.
Busy all day so we didn’t start this till late afternoon (over a cuppa) so it made for a nice relaxing break. So much to like we can’t nominate a CoD.
Thanks, Vigo and Pierre.
Thank you Pierre for the excellent blog – sorry for the lack of birds. Will try and do better in the future! Thank you also to all who commented. V x