A somewhat unusual puzzle this week with one very long answer filling many of the across spaces. We didn’t know the saying, so had to work it out from the anagram, which was reasonably enjoyable although getting the enumeration right proved quite tricky!
ACROSS
1, 9, 13, 17, 24 THE ENGLISH WINTER ENDING IN JULY TO RECOMMENCE IN AUGUST (month’s intelligence. Ice returning now? Ugh, I may just)*
7. CREW dd
10. FAN DAN GO
11. METAPHOR (poet harm)*
12. RE EVE S reference to Jim Reeves
21. L A SCAR an East Indian sailor apparently
22. V AC(A)TION
25. LIEDER sounds like ‘leader’
26. BRUT(e)
27. TELECASTER (secret tale)*
DOWN
2. H AILED
3. E.N.T. RAIN
4. G ARTH(ur)
5. INFER we can’t parse this satisfactorily: ‘unproductive without hat – reason is given’
6. H INDRA (o)NCE
7. CH ATE AU
8. EA GLEE YE
14. INCORRUPT ‘turnip’ anagramised around ‘cor’ which is ‘corn’ missing the n.
15. GUM<
16. S TRAINER
18. RECOUNT dd
19. COTT(ag)ERS
20. CO HERE
22. V(IT)AL<
23. sChOoL pItCh
I think INFER comes from INFER(tile) with tile = hat. Really enjoyed the anagram with the phrase emerging from crossing letters, it’s a quote from Byron’s ‘Don Juan’ tho I did not realise this till verifying. Thanks for the blog, Handel.
Thanks, Handel, and to nms for explaining ‘infer’ (nice).
I dislike long obscure anagrams, especially in this case, where there’s little in the clue to point you in the right direction. It’s fine if they span one or two clues, but this one virtually inactivated the half of the across grid. And, with apologies to Lord Byron, what on earth is the ‘Burlador’ of Seville supposed to have known about the English weather?
I thought the anagram appealed here because its wording suggested the quote, which I think I had heard before without being aware of where it came from – it was also v appropriate for a puzzle appearing on the first day of August.
Last in was BRUT – danged 4-letter words.
Long quotes just have to be loked up. Never heard this one.
I like nmsindy’s explanation of 5.
LASCAR appears in a Holmes story. “The man with the twisted lip”
The fake beggar is hiding in a nasty boarding house when his wife turns up. She is told the room is taken by a Lascar. I looked it up when I heard it first.
Didn’t like CASTER and ‘broadcast’
I tend to use puzzles with long anagrams sparingly, because when solving them I usually get there without working out all of the anagram. But I try to throw in the odd novelty for those who like them when I see an opportunity. Normal service has now been resumed.