Lorraine: Loved this weeks crossword as I did it really fast, which gives me the illusion that I am highly intelligent (Hee Hee) 🙂 Hope you all like the new format of including the clues.
BTW, this is the Trafites last blog as singletons, we are getting married on the 17th March 🙂
Legend to solution comments:
* = anagram.
< = word reversed.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Widely admired tree round university (7) | ||
| POPULAR | POPLAR around U | ||
| 5. | Wear out short military overalls (7) | ||
| FATIGUE | FATIGUE(s) | ||
| 9. | Bird in farmhouse larder (5) | ||
| OUSEL | hidden: farmhOUSE Larder | ||
| 10. | George, with trendy friend, meeting one in gaudy bar (3,6) | ||
| GIN PALACE | G+IN PAL+ACE | ||
| 11. | What’s bound to put an end to children’s game? (9) | ||
| HOPSCOTCH | HOP+SCOTCH | ||
| 12. | Military decoration, we hear, for a compere (5) | ||
| EMCEE | homophone of M.C. (Military Cross) | ||
| 13. | Low, perhaps, a US art critic abroad (12) | ||
| CARICATURIST | (A US ART CRITIC)* ref: Sir David Alexander Cecil Low |
||
| 17, 20. | Elephant seal, twice floundering, has to make a fresh start (4,3,5,5) | ||
| WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN | (ELEPHANT SEAL TWICE)* | ||
| 21. | Take choir out for a kind of tea that may be served in Hanoi (9) | ||
| ARTICHOKE | (TAKE CHOIR)* | ||
| 23. | Widdicombe Fair chap pointing to fruit in book (3,6) | ||
| TOM PEARSE | PEARS in TOME This held me up a bit as Brewer’s spells Pearse as ‘Pearce’ |
||
| 24. | Brush stroke (5) | ||
| SWEEP | dd | ||
| 25. | Reveal former printing machine (7) | ||
| EXPRESS | EX+PRESS | ||
| 26. | Senator solved crime (7) | ||
| TREASON | (SENATOR)* | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Prediction of support by ambassador on Cyprus (8) | ||
| PROPHECY | PROP+HE+CY | ||
| 2. | Free ticket left with travel document (8) | ||
| PASSPORT | PASS+PORT | ||
| 3. | Ring up about one flowering shrub (5) | ||
| LILAC | I in CALL< | ||
| 4. | Reference book – author gets users confused (6,9) | ||
| ROGETS THESAURUS | (AUTHOR GETS USERS)* | ||
| 5. | The current chefs working in a London station (9,6) | ||
| FENCHURCH STREET | (THE CURRENT CHEFS)* | ||
| 6. | Goes across with dramatist touring south-east (9) | ||
| TRAVERSES | TRAVERS around SE ref: Ben Travers |
||
| 7. | Mineral used to make good long weapon (6) | ||
| GLANCE | G+LANCE See GLANCE² in Collins |
||
| 8. | Small opening I, reportedly, must have allowed(6) | ||
| EYELET | homophone of I with LET | ||
| 14. | All the customers tell niece off (9) | ||
| CLIENTELE | (TELL NIECE)* | ||
| 15. | Titled lady one’s seen in pubs (8) | ||
| BARONESS | ONES in BARS | ||
| 16. | Play safe and bowl (5,3) | ||
| PETER PAN | PETER+PAN ‘peter’ here is slang for a (money) safe |
||
| 18. | Bushwhacker injured chest round end of July (6) | ||
| SCYTHE | Y in (CHEST)* I believe ‘chesty’ is the only anagram from ‘scythe’ |
||
| 19. | Come together in side at college (4,2) | ||
| TEAM UP | TEAM+UP | ||
| 22. | Class actors close to home (5) | ||
| CASTE | CAST+E | ||
Thanks for the blog, Lorraine. I too raced through this and then had the resulting illusion of intelligence shattered by staring blankly at the Guardian prize crossword for half an hour before coming up with my first answer.
Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding – I’m sure you’ll both get plenty of jokes about not having any cross words…
Thanks, Lorraine. And congratulations!
I liked the new format of your blog. It certainly helped to jog my memory.
Congratulations to you both! Handel are to wed in June – we’re naming our dining tables after our favourite setters!
Hi Lorraine
Best wishes for the 17th March. Great blog – liked the new format.
Yes, thank you both and congratulations. The Everyman was the crossword that got me back into cryptics a while ago, and your blogs were very helpful at that time (and still are now!)
And I agree: the new format is excellent, so thanks for that too.
Congrats to you both. Last two in for me were PETER PAN and GLANCE
Thanks for the blog Lorraine and although I do finish Everyman pretty quickly most weeks, there are always a couple of clues to stop me in my tracks. One from this puzzle was PETER PAN which was certainly well-hidden although I did know that PETER=SAFE.
The new format is superb and should be the norm for all crossword blogs. Well done Lorraine.
Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding and it must be a good omen that it is on St Pat’s day. Like me, I’m sure you have an Irish grandmother too.
Congratulations to both of you! (and thanks for all the excellent posts!)
Wonderful format. Thanks very much.