The seldom-seen PHSSTHPOK kickstarts our Monday….
Plenty of great clues to enjoy from this trickier-than-usual-for-a-Monday setter (took me ages to work out an answer to 18d). I particularly liked 23d and 2d.
Thanks PHSSTHPOK!
ACROSS
1. Will reviewing exploration take a short time? (7)
PROBATE
PROBE (exploration) take (A + T (short time))
5. Look for good weapon (6)
GLANCE
G (good) + LANCE (weapon)
8. Reason client let out (9)
INTELLECT
9. Drone goes through Martian surface (5)
THRUM
THRU (through) + M[artian] (surface)
11. “Good will to all men,” is taught yearly for starting letters (5)
AMITY
A[ll] M[en] I[s] T[aught] Y[early] (starting letters)
12. After editing album clip, I remove power cord (9)
UMBILICAL
(ALBUM CLI[p] I)* (*after editing, remove P (power))
13. Ten plus three worked out by network of computers (8)
ETHERNET
(TEN plus THREE)* (*worked out)
15. Most suitable journalists are on trial (6)
APTEST
AP (journalists, Associated Press) are on TEST (trial)
17. Question a very loud opening in storm drains (6)
QUAFFS
QU (question) + A + FF (very loud) + S[torm] (opening)
19. Cobweb sags more after being ripped apart (8)
GOSSAMER
(SAGS MORE)* (*ripped apart)
22. Organ is faintest in echoing section (9)
INTESTINE
[fa]INTEST IN E[choing] (section)
23. He refuses to believe top general could hold up American city (5)
CYNIC
CIC (top general) could hold (NY)< (American city, <up)
24. Long period of time before noon (5)
YEARN
YEAR (period of time) before N (noon)
25. Spicy vegetable and pickle (3,6)
HOT POTATO
HOT (spicy) + POTATO (vegetable)
26. Turkey might be kept up in good spirits (6)
PECKER
Double (cryptic) definition
As in "keep your pecker up"
27. Religious Jamaicans uttered lines on television (7)
RASTERS
"rastas" (religious Jamaicans, "uttered")
DOWN
1. Intimate union is source of funding (7,6)
PRIVATE EQUITY
PRIVATE (intimate) + EQUITY (union)
2. One ignores problem in beheading wealthiest (7)
OSTRICH
[m]OST RICH (wealthiest, in beheading)
3. Path to hollow victory snatched away (5)
ALLEY
[v]ALLEY (hollow, V (victory) snatched away)
4. Charles I was accomplished (8)
EXECUTED
5. Manages to exchange drug for a literary character (6)
GATSBY
GETS BY (manages, to exchange E (drug) for A)
6. Wanted edges rubbed off with springs and chamois, perhaps (9)
ANTELOPES
[w]ANTE[d] (edges rubbed off) with LOPES (springs)
7. Company car driven up to the French boat (7)
CORACLE
CO (company) + (CAR)< (<driven up) to LE (the, French)
10. Decoration makes armed forces furious (8,5)
MILITARY CROSS
MILITARY (armed forces) + CROSS (furious)
14. Political dissident fires nuke in revolution (9)
REFUSENIK
(FIRES NUKE)* (*in revolution)
16. Indicator of veins on pitch (8)
LODESTAR
LODES (veins) on TAR (pitch)
18. Lead a high card, then tense up inside (7)
ACTUATE
ACE (high card), (TAUT)< (tense, <up) inside
20. Approval for staff meeting (7)
MANDATE
MAN (staff) + DATE (meeting)
21. Sharpness of woman’s buckle (6)
WITHER
WIT (sharpness) + HER (woman)
23. Falsifies accounts, but caught replacing first entry (5)
COOKS
BOOKS (accounts, C (caught) replacing first entry)
I enjoyed this harder-than-normal start to the week. Although, strictly speaking, UMBILICAL is an adjective (only sense in Chambers), I think it is common parlance to use it as an abbreviation for “umbilical cord”.
I think “for” as a link word in 5a is fine, albeit a little confusing, but I wasn’t keen on the use of “to” in both 11a and 3d. Nor do I like “up” as a reversal indicator in an across clue (23a).
15A is not a word (if it really is one) that I would use but it was easy to get.
I have never heard of the answer to 27A although I could parse the clue and guessed that Rastafarians could be abbreviated as “rastas”.
Apart from that, I didn’t think that it was all that hard. I did like 20D and 21D.
Is a Potato a vegetable?
Potato is probably the most vegetably of all vegatables.
Yes, a few months since we’ve had a puzzle from Phssthpok and I think over a year before that. Not many write-ins and some difficult ones in ACTUATE and RASTERS to finish off with. Like Hovis @1, I was surprised to see ‘up’ in 23a as a reversal indicator in an across clue.
A big tick from me for PECKER at 26a and not a nudge-nudge, wink-wink in sight.
Thanks to Phssthpok and Teacow.
Thanks Phssthpok and Teacow
A really enjoyable kick off to the week, which I was able to finish all but two clues on the train home from the office (an unusual occurrence in these times). Still took another 10 minutes or so to finally nut out the PECKER / WITHER pair in the SW corner when I got home. Found it a steady solve with some clever clues to be unravelled en route.
Especially liked getting ALLEY after thinking that it involved a V and Y from a hollowed out ‘victory’. Took ages to finally winkle out the logic to WITHER – well-disguised definition and a tricky word play to go with it.
I agree with the comments on 23a. Why not “… holds back American city”?
Otherwise, however, a very satisfying puzzle. Thanks to Phssthpok and Teacow.
We made steady progress with this despite a few clues that jarred a little. Hovis@1 has commented on ‘for’ in 5ac; we don’t have much problem with this, either, but it is a regular comment on another site that one cannot have [definition] for [wordplay]. We agree, though, about ‘to’ and using ‘up’ in 23ac.
But those niggles apart this was a pleasant enough solve. Favourite was LODESTAR
Thanks, Phssthpok and Teacow.
Allan @8 I must admit I am much happier with [wordplay] for [definition] than this way around.
My thanks to Phssthpok and TeaCow – a very enjoyable puzzle.
Unfortunately I had TREATY IN 1D not EQUITY so that threw the SW corner – hey ho…
THRUM, PECKER, and CORACLE were not in the cards for me today but there was a lot to enjoy including EXECUTED, GATSBY, OSTRICH, ALLEY, and COOK. Thanks to both.
Thanks, Phssthpok and Teacow. Got everything with a little help from Word Wizard. Peter@2, RASTERS was also a new term for me, and I figured it must be a homophone of “Rastas”; now I see it in Chambers. LODESTAR, GATSBY very clever surfaces. And thanks for parsing CYNIC.