A rather nice and gentle end to the year – a couple of seasonal clues/answers and what with the slightly more obscure words being anagramatically clued, this was all pretty straightforward.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | TIFFANY – TIFF + ANY |
| 5 | SNATCH – S + NATCH |
| 9 | ERROR – (T)ERROR |
| 10 | ALMA MATER – ALMA + MATE + R |
| 12 | ROYALTIES – ROYAL + TIES |
| 13 | SOLVE – SOLE around V |
| 14 | HAPPY FAMILIES – dd (I believe, with the split coming after groups) |
| 17 | GUARDIAN ANGEL – GUARDIAN + ANGEL |
| 19 | UNARM – hidden in lUNAR Module |
| 21 | OVERPITCH – OVER + PITCH |
| 23 | MISTLETOE – cd |
| 24 | SPAIN – SPA + IN |
| 25 | TENNANT – TENT around A + N |
| 26 | TRAGEDY – TRY around AGED |
| Down | |
| 1 | THEORY – HE in TORY |
| 2 | FORSYTHIA – (SOFT + HAIRY)* |
| 3 | APRIL – A + PRI(g) + L |
| 4 | YEAR IN YEAR OUT – dd ref New Year’s Eve |
| 6 | NO MESSING – NO. + MESSING |
| 7 | TOTAL – TOT + A + L |
| 8 | HARNESS – HAR(d) + NESS |
| 11 | MISMANAGEMENT – MATESNAMINGME* |
| 15 | PADEMELON – LANEMOPED* |
| 16 | ILL AT EASE – TEASE after I + ALL< |
| 17 | GOURMET – G(roup) + OUR + MET |
| 18 | SHANDY – HANDY after (exercise)S |
| 20 | ARSON – R after A + SON |
| 22 | PASTA – PA’S + TA |
Common crossword abbreviations this week:
son = S
right = R
five = V
note = N
ambassador = HE (His/Her Excellency)
fifty = L
litre = L
one = I
runs = R
army = TA (Territorial Army)
I’m afraid I was unfamiliar with pademelons, and I don’t think that this was helped by being clued anagrammatically since all 12 vowel combinations seemed possible (although some more likely than others). Still, glad to have learnt something!