In the past, Poins has been a contributor mainly to the Independent on Sunday puzzle slot, but he’s made a few appearances recently on a Monday. This was in the customary Monday style: clearly clued, no obscurities, generous grid. It hit the spot for me.
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 Encourage awareness in speech
INCITE
A homophone of INSIGHT.
4 Poet‘s son unfriendly towards Ezra oddly
SCHILLER
A charade of S, CHILL and ER for the odd letters of ‘Ezra’ gives you the German poet who is perhaps best known for An die Freude, upon which the lyrics to the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy) are based.
9 Criticise former PM causing alarm
DISMAY
A charade of DIS (‘Don’t dis me, man …’) and Theresa Mary MAY, who preceded Bojo as PM.
10 Ship‘s surgeon finally taken in by mania I’d faked
INDIAMAN
An insertion of N for the last letter of ‘surgeon’ in (MANIA ID)*
12 Object to sentry’s demand for ID
CHALLENGE
Just a dd, I think, although the second definition is rather vague.
13 Take part in bagging Ecstasy from haul
HEAVE
An insertion of E in HAVE, although I am struggling right now to equate HAVE and ‘take part in’. Some kind soul will find a sentence to help us out, no doubt.
14 Doctor sat in for matron for a change
TRANSFORMATION
(SAT IN FOR MATRON)*
17 Harassed teachers lie when confiscating small firework
CATHERINE WHEEL
(TEACHER[S] LIE WHEN)* The removal indicator is ‘confiscating’ and the anagrind is ‘harassed’.
21 Praise enthusiastically without getting much back? Not quite
EXTOL
A charade of EX and LOT[S] reversed.
22 Extremely difficult game in set against Heather
GRUELLING
A charade of RU for Rugby Union or ‘game’ inserted into GEL, followed by LING for ‘heather’.
24 Draw from French writer
DESCRIBE
A charade of DE for the French word for ‘from’ and SCRIBE.
25 Start of affair with next American goddess
ATHENA
A charade of A, THEN and another A.
26 Japanese currency backed in memo somehow seen by northern financiers
MONEYMEN
An insertion of YEN reversed in (MEMO)* followed by N. The reversal indicator is ‘backed’; the anagrind is ‘somehow’.
27 I’d withdrawn tasteless articles about king’s imposed settlement
DIKTAT
A charade of ID reversed and K inserted into TAT.
Down
1 Show ill-natured uprising in Bury endlessly
INDICATE
A reversal of ACID in INTE[R]. The insertion indicator is ‘in’; the removal indicator is ‘endlessly’; the reversal indicator is (since it’s a down clue) ‘uprising’.
2 Food and drink consumed by an animal – just the opposite
CASSAVA
Not CAVA in ASS but ASS in CAVA.
3 Drag along path
TRAIL
A dd.
5 Vote against the final part accepting nothing without a break
CONTERMINOUS
A charade of CON and O inserted into TERMINUS.
6 It’s wiser to put out hot stuffing in a dish perhaps
IRISH STEW
An insertion of H in (ITS WISER)* The insertion indicator is ‘stuffing’ and the anagrind is ‘to put out’.
7 Suggestion of doubt after learner driver gets to talk about old pain in back
LUMBAGO
A charade of L, UM, GAB reversed and O.
8 Athlete‘s agent
RUNNER
A dd.
11 Rule found by officer to stop airship heading off is not able to be changed
INCORRIGIBLE
An insertion of NCO for [non commanding commissioned] ‘officer’ and R in [D]IRIGIBLE.
Thank you, Allan, for the edit.
15 Learned to control oxygen escaping soon after taking lid off
SCHOLARLY
A charade of SCHO[O]L and [E]ARLY. The two removal indicators are ‘escaping’ and ‘taking lid off’.
16 Outrageous to draw attention to empty speechifying
FLAGRANT
A charade of FLAG and RANT.
18 Weapon’s power dismissed by skilled workman
ARTISAN
[P]ARTISAN
partisan ² (n) a halberd-like weapon with twin axe-blades or spikes (Chambers)
19 Fish feeding? Result is easy to see
EVIDENT
An insertion of ID for the fish aka IDE in EVENT.
20 Rarely finding the Spanish involved in rise of 60’s teenage faction
SELDOM
An insertion of EL for one of the words for ‘the’ in Spanish in MODS reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘finding involved in’ and the reversal indicator is ‘rise of’.
23 Letters from Plath implicating Indian police enforcer
LATHI
Hidden in PLATH Implicating. The stick used by Indian police. This gives you the ‘enforcer’ idea.
Many thanks to Poins for the start to our Indy week.
Is it my imagination, or does the name Ezra appear in crosswords with disproportionate regularity? Am I missing something?
“This was in the customary Monday style: clearly clued, no obscurities, generous grid.” – Agreed!
5dn threw us momentarily as we would spell the answer without the first N – but Chambers confirmed that both spellings are possible. And in 11dn NCO is Non-Commissioned Officer (or Warrant Officer); in the Army lance-corporals, corporals and sergeants are NCOs.
Difficult to nominate a CoD but we’ll go for SCHOLARLY.
Thanks, Poins and Pierre.