A pleasing and tractable puzzle to go with my Sunday morning coffee.
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 Order outline maps in decorative cover
EMULSION PAINT
(OUTLINE MAPS IN)* with ‘order’ as the anagrind.
8 Poetry is modest but not empty when read aloud
ODES
It took me the longest time to see this. It’s [M]ODES[T], which I kind of saw straight away. You have to read ‘not empty’ as ‘not MT’, and the ‘when read aloud’ gives you the instruction to do that.
9 Arranged for Heath to follow strict diet
REGIMENTED
A charade of REGIMEN and TED. Ted Heath was Prime Minister from 1970 to 1974.
10 Greek islander hiding in secret annexe
CRETAN
Hidden in seCRET ANnexe.
11 Tidied up after newspaper head has dined with editor
NEATENED
A charade of N for the first letter of ‘newspaper’, EATEN and ED.
12 It’s trendy to work around canines?
DENTISTRY
(IT’S TRENDY)* with ‘to work’ as the anagrind. What you might describe as an extended definition.
14 Wonderful father returns to Samoan capital
APIA
A reversal of AI for A1 or ‘wonderful’ and PA.
15 Revolutionary Irishman’s correspondence
MAIL
A reversal of LIAM, which is a typically Irish name. In crosswords at least.
16 Typically too old to absorb sodium
ON AVERAGE
An insertion of NA for the chemical symbol for ‘sodium’ inserted into OVERAGE. The insertion indicator is ‘to absorb’.
20 Makes plain consomme, perhaps, having nothing to lose
CLEARS UP
CLEAR S[O]UP
21 Extraordinary feat in outskirts of Surrey gets protection
SAFETY
An insertion of (FEAT)* in SY for the outer letters of ‘Surrey’. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
23 Shallow end removed – it had to help?
FACILITATE
A charade of FACIL[E], IT and ATE. ‘I had/ate scrambled eggs for breakfast.’
24 Vote against including Victory in the fleet
NAVY
An insertion of V in NAY. The insertion indicator is ‘including’.
25 Sinner and saint helping at protest
DEMONSTRATION
A charade of DEMON, ST and RATION.
Down
1 Back final runner at Bow?
ENDORSE
Shabbo is using ‘at Bow’ to encourage you to get your Cockney accent out, in which case the nag that came last in the 2.40 would be the end ‘orse.
2 Surprise leading group
UPSET
A charade of UP and SET.
3 Son runs off – and runs off quickly!
SPRINTS
A charade of S and PRINTS.
4 Groan, perhaps, having a change of heart?
ORGAN TRANSPLANT
A rat, or reverse anagram thingy. If you consider TRANSPLANT as the anagrind, then ORGAN becomes ‘groan’.
5 Dad’s outside initially mowing the grass
PAMPAS
An insertion of M for the initial letter of ‘mowing’ in PAPA’S. The insertion indicator is ‘outside’.
6 Guard housed by private landlord
INNKEEPER
An insertion of KEEP in INNER.
7 May repackage heaters
THERESA
(HEATERS)* with ‘repackage’ as the anagrind. Since it’s a definition by example, an indication to that effect would have been welcome. Theresa May was Prime Minister from 2016 to 2019.
13 Island’s border crossing showing native loyalty
TRIBALISM
An insertion of BALI’S into TRIM. The insertion indicator is ‘crossing’.
15 Menu’s starter – a large fat duck
MALLARD
A charade of M for the initial letter of ‘menu’, A, L and LARD, and a chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link. A ubiquitous duck, but I’ll take that. In fact, the mallard is thought to be the most abundant and wide-ranging duck on Earth, so there. Very often found in the local park lake, but don’t feed them – or any other aquatic birds – bread. I haven’t got space to explain here. Just don’t.
17 Forces’ sweetheart is a hundred at heart – that shows guts
VISCERA
An insertion of IS and C for ‘a hundred’ in Roman numerals in VERA [Lynn]. The insertion indicator is ‘at heart’.
18 Budget events holding pay back
GET EVEN
Hidden in budGET EVENts.
19 Transfer Anglo-Saxon notice
ASSIGN
A charade of AS and SIGN.
22 Fuming, missing medium shaped moulds?
FUNGI
(FU[M]ING)* The removal indicator is ‘missing’ and the anagrind is ‘shaped’.
Many thanks to Shabbo for the Sunday morning entertainment.
A rapid solve until I got to my last 2, ASSIGN & FACILITATE. The latter eventually jumped out at me as fitting the crossers and the potential definition and then took a few seconds more to get the parsing. Liked the MT idea in 8a and the different uses of “runs off” in 3d. APIA was written in from the wordplay but never heard of it.
My last two were FACILITATE and then TRIBALISM – with the former proving more elusive and the latter obvious from the crossers (I hadn’t thought of Bali).
‘Outline maps in’ (Pierre – you’ve overlooked the ‘in’) is a glorious anagram for EMULSION PAINT and I enjoyed the extended definition in DENTISTRY, the insertion/subtractions to get ON AVERAGE and CLEARS UP. ORGAN TRANSPLANT and ENDORSE both made me smile but MALLARD is favourite for the lovely surface.
Thanks Shabbo and Pierre
This was light but great fun, made even more enjoyable by the super-smooth surfaces.
With a tough choice for favourite, DEMONSTRATION gets the nod.
Many thanks to Shabbo and to Pierre.
Despite being relatively easy and quick, this was a delightful puzzle with every clue being very cleverly constructed. Thanks Shabbo and Pierre.
I agree that this was straightforward but a pleasure to solve. I liked the non-obvious anagrams at 1 and 12 across (in contrast to ‘sore thumb’ anagrams where awkward-sounding words make the parsing obvious).
[I think Robert Louis Stevenson died and is buried in APIA]
Another most enjoyable and smoothly constructed puzzle from this setter. Think my top two were NEATENED & CLEARS UP but there were several other goodies to savour.
Thanks to Shabbo and to Pierre – I do so agree with you about bread not being given to ducks but it’s hard to educate people when the birds themselves clamour for it.
Pleasant and not too difficult, but not all easy going. EMULSION PAINT is hardly the first ‘decorative cover’ to suggest itself so I needed most of the crossers to get this. APIA was only recalled with the help of the wordplay. I had exactly the same problem in working out the wordplay for ODES as our blogger, even if the answer was clear. Favourite was the END ‘ORSE at 1d.
Thanks to Shabbo and Pierre
Thanks both. I parsed ODES but still don’t think it quite works, as the homophone is too loose, and ironically ‘modest’ when empty provides ‘odes’ (noting may be a deliberate mis-direction)
….erm, actually, I now realise it doesn’t….nurse!
Regarding 8a, I worked in the paint industry for the whole of my career, and used drums which had been emptied had MT painted on them in large capitals. The practical use of a homophone effectively became an abbreviation.
As WordPlodder@7 says, pleasant and not too difficult, but not all easy going. FACILITATE was our LOI – we took ages to rid ourselves of the idea that ‘Shallow’ referred to the character of that name in Shakespeare. Our CoD was EMULSION PAINT for the total misdirection in the surface.
Thanks, Shabbo and Pierre.
Tractable is a lovely word, and it was just the right word for this crossword, so thanks to Pierre for the blog and the tone.
Like others, my last one in was facilitate and my favourites were too many to mention.
Didn’t much like mt=empty as a homophone until I read Rabbit Dave @10 – really very interesting and I’m converted to the notion, thanks.
Thanks also to Shabbo for the fun.
Thanks for explaining the parsing of ODES. Thanks also to Rabbit Dave for his anecdote.
Very smooth puzzle as others have said. Did not know the fact about mallards being the most wide-ranging duck but it does explain why we have seen them in some very unexpected places on our travels.
Thanks Shabbo and Pierre.