The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29864.
Tramp in top form, with well varied devices and excellent surfaces.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DIRECTOR’S CHAIR |
Reform or Richard Tice’s getting a seat (9,5)
|
| An anagram (‘reform’) of ‘or Richard Tice’s’. Richard Tice is a politician of the Reform UK party. | ||
| 9 | SEIZURE |
Fit soldiers with uniform after altering size (7)
|
| A charade of SEIZ, an anagram (‘altering’) of ‘size’; plus U (‘uniform’) plus RE (Royal Engineers, ‘soldiers’). | ||
| 10 | COPPOLA |
Film-maker to capture clip about American (7)
|
| A charade of COP (‘capture’) plus POL, a reversal (‘about’) of LOP (‘cut’) plus A (‘American’). The definition could refer to Francis Ford Coppola, his wife Eleanor, or their daughter Sofia. | ||
| 11 | RESET |
Clear trees for building (5)
|
| An anagram (‘for building’) of ‘trees’; ‘clear’ in the sense of set to zero. | ||
| 12 | STARTLING |
Remarkable bird popping back to nest (9)
|
| An envelope (‘popping’) of T (‘back to nesT‘) in STARLING (‘bird’). | ||
| 13 | MAN-EATERS |
They seduce with long hair: sweet things ditching fellow (3-6)
|
| A charade of MANE (‘long hair’) plus A[f]TERS (‘sweet things’) minus the F (‘ditching fellow’); with an extended definition. | ||
| 14 | ACARI |
Perhaps ticks answer close to right one (5)
|
| A charade of A (‘answer’) plus CA (circa, ‘close to’) plus R (‘right’) plus I (‘one’). Acari was an old taxonomic subclass including mites and ticks, but recent genetic studies have shown that they fall into two orders not as closely related as had been thought, so the term acari has been dropped.. | ||
| 15 | NAMED |
Appointed journalist to follow war (5)
|
| A charade of NAM (Vietnam, ‘war’) plus ED (editor, ‘journalist’). | ||
| 17 | SUPREMEST |
Best to drink with me during break (9)
|
| A charade of SUP (‘drink’) plus REMEST, an envelope (‘during’) of ‘me’ in REST (‘break’). | ||
| 20 | THUMBNAIL |
Handy feature to capture image (9)
|
| A charade of THUMB (‘handy feature’) plus NAIL (‘capture’). Of course, a thumbnail is also a handy feature. | ||
| 22 | ICTUS |
Stroke from American on Number 1 court (5)
|
| A charade of I (‘number one’ – oneself) plus CT (‘court’) plus US (‘American’). | ||
| 23 | RUN-DOWN |
Weak résumé (3-4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 24 | CHIANTI |
Conservative success curtailed against a red (7)
|
| A charade of C (‘Conservative’) plus HI[t] (‘success’) minus its last letter (‘curtailed’) plus ANTI (‘against’). A red wine, that is. | ||
| 25 | BREATHING SPACE |
Time to relax in living room (9,5)
|
| A charade of BREATHING (‘living’) plus SPACE (‘room’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DISCRIMINATORY |
Detectives mostly bent, politician is loaded (14)
|
| A charade of DIS (‘detectives’) plus CRIMINA[l] (‘bent’) minus its last letter (‘mostly’) plus TORY (‘politician’). | ||
| 2 | REINS IN |
Checks on son moving into stylish home (5,2)
|
| A charade of RE (‘on’) plus INSIN, an envelope (‘moving into’) of S (‘son’) in IN IN – that is, IN (‘stylish’) plus IN (‘home’). | ||
| 3 | COURT CARD |
Jack perhaps to go out with caution during match? (5,4)
|
| A charade of COURT (‘go out with’) plus CARD (‘caution during match’ – yellow, soccer, for example) | ||
| 4 | OVERSEE |
Look after extra on picture (7)
|
| A charade of OVER (‘extra’) plus SEE (‘picture’). | ||
| 5 | SOCIALS |
Primarily, sugar-free Cola is drunk in parties (7)
|
| An anagram (‘drunk’) of S (‘primarily Sugar-free’) plus ‘cola is’. | ||
| 6 | HOP IT |
Get out of house – mine? (3,2)
|
| A charade of HO (‘house’) plus PIT (‘mine’). | ||
| 7 | IWO JIMA |
Battle of WWII: a major shot having lost war (3,4)
|
| An anagram (‘shot’) of ‘WWII a major’ minus the letters of ‘war’ (‘having lost war’); with an extended definition. If ‘major’ is not taken as a specific rank, the clue might refer to General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of the Japanese garrison at the time of the battle, who is beleived to have been killed during it. | ||
| 8 | LARGE INTESTINE |
Resetting a line for anagram: it includes colon (5,9)
|
| An anagram (‘for anagram’) of ‘resetting a line’. | ||
| 14 | AMENITIES |
Provision of services is welcoming couple after conclusion of prayers (9)
|
| A charade of AMEN (‘conclusion of prayers’) plus ITIES, an envelope (‘welcoming’) of TIE (‘couple’, verb) in ‘is’ | ||
| 16 | MOURNER |
One at funeral more upset around holder of ashes (7)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of URN (‘holder of ashes’) in MOER, an anagram (‘upset’) of ‘more’. | ||
| 17 | STAUNCH |
Loyal group of teachers standing to receive top grade in school (7)
|
| A double envelope (‘to receive’ and ‘in’) of A (‘top grade’) in TUN, a reversal (‘standing’ in a down light) of NUT (National Union of Teachers, former ‘group of teachers’) in SCH (‘school’). | ||
| 18 | PELICAN |
Bird with inside of bill turned up to crack nut (7)
|
| An envelope (‘to crack’) of LI, a reversal (‘turned up’ in a down light) of IL (‘inside of bILl’) in PECAN (‘nut’). | ||
| 19 | ESTONIA |
State of Señorita going out having dumped Romeo (7)
|
| An anagram (‘going out’) of ‘seno[r]ita’ minus the R (‘having dumped Romeo’). | ||
| 21 | BIOTA |
British scrap with local animals in this? (5)
|
| A charade of B (‘British’) plus IOTA (‘scrap’). |
Thanks Tramp and Peter.
I usually get a few chewy ones in Tramp’s offerings but this all went in quite quickly, with a few in the SE needing a pause for the little man in the memory department to blow the dust off ictus and the acarids.
Hmm I’m sure I saw Ictus and the Acarids at Limpley Stoke social club in the 70s
Thanks Tramp for a top-notch crossword. When I solved DIRECTORS CHAIR & COPPOLA I thought I was seeing a theme develop but I got no further than that. No matter, the clues were good on their own. In addition to the aforementioned ones, I ticked SEIZURE, STARTLING, REINS IN, OVERSEE, & IWO JIMA as favourites. My only stumble was ACARI. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
I found this a little gentler than Tramp’s average offering, but by no means easy. The long ones helped a lot.
We had face card the other day and COURT CARD today. These things happen. I was also sure we’d had ICTUS very recently but that was in my loo book.
I assumed SUPREMEST was in Chambers (turns out it’s not, when I checked later, at least in the online version) so I checked Google NGrams. The word supreme is about 15,000 times more frequently used than the “word” supremest. The people have spoken!
Liked it a lot, especially all the long ones plus IWO JIMA, NAMED and THUMBNAIL. Had to construct ACARI (which I vaguely remembered) and ICTUS. Thanks Tramp and PeterO (especially for the early blog)!
PS finished six out of the last seven (starting with Prize Paul but excluding the Wednesday Paul), for the first time…