Dac’s typically good offering, but, unusually, one or two clues about which I am a bit doubtful.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CASABLANCA – ca s(ailing) a B (canal)* |
| 6 | SWOP – (POWS)rev. |
| 9 | LEGI(R)ON. I know it makes for a good surface, but is a leg-iron really a band? A leg-iron’s a fetter, something that restrains, and a band can be used for restraining, but … |
| 10 | RATT(L)ER |
| 12 | C(H)AFF |
| 13 | METER MAID – “made” at the back of “metre” |
| 14 | SE CON DREADING |
| 16 | TRIED ONE’S BEST – (tense brides to)* |
| 20 | CAUTIONED – (education)* |
| 21 | HO SEA |
| 23 | IMP(ASS)E(l) |
| 24 | BOUQUET – 2 defs |
| 25 | vulGAR Yob |
| 26 | UNFRIENDLY – (funnily Red)* |
| Down | |
| 1 | C(ALIC(e))O |
| 2 | SIGMA – “cig” ma |
| 3 | BAREFACED LIES – after a shave you’re barefaced |
| 4 | A GNOME N. Is nickname quite good enough? Both Chambers and the COD say that it is jocular, humorous, familiar; the COD doesn’t even seem to give ‘agnomen’, but Chambers says that it’s a name added to the family name, generally on account of some great exploit. |
| 5 | CURATOR. I took a long time to understand why this is the answer, and eventually decided that it’s a homonym and meant to be “queue rater”. But who pronounces ‘curator’ like that? The first syllable more usually, I’d have thought, rhymes with the first four letters of ‘Bjorn’, or at any rate the anglicised pronunciation of that word. |
| 7 | WELFARIST – we (frail)* st |
| 8 | PARA DI((fightin)G)M |
| 11 | TERRACED HOUSE – (here Tudors)* round ace |
| 14 | SKI(n) JUMPER |
| 15 | STOCKING – 2 defs |
| 17 | NAN KEEN. I thought that this, together with 1dn, was a sort of mini-theme. But very mini. |
| 18 | SIDE BAR. Is ‘side bar’ a type of bar (in the pub sense)? Then why wasn’t there a question mark? |
| 19 | P(ANT)RY |
| 22 | S(elect) QUAD – def. ‘players for the team’ |
Agree it was a good puzzle. Think some latitude is OK with definitons. Collins does give AGNOMEN = nickname. Re CURATOR, I think this relates to regional accents – maybe RP would be a standard – I thought the homophone was exact.