That was fun!
There was so much to appreciate in the puzzle today. We loved the ‘timeshare arrangement’ in 18d. 25ac was very crafty and had us head-scratching for a while. The surfaces as expected, were very smooth.
Thanks Bluth, a real pleasure to solve. A great way to end 2025.
Happy New Year to everyone, we will see you again in 2026.
LI (51 in roman numerals) + lAdIeS mEn (alternate letters only or ‘regularly’)
HER (that woman) with USING (taking drugs) ‘outside’
UsUAL (general) with ‘s’ (son) changed to NG (‘final’ letters in abandon biting)
FUeL (charcoal, say) after or ‘going on’ GRATE (fireplace) missing (‘less’) ‘e’ (last letter of smoke)
BET (gamble) after or ‘on’ GO (game) + WEE (small) N (note)
A reversal (‘turning over’) of EG (for example) DIR (director briefly)
An anagram (‘working’) of ILLEGAL GOALIE (19d and 20d) around or ‘covering’ I (middle or ‘essential’ letter of eclipse)
tEMPER (humour) missing first letter or ‘failing to start’ and an anagram (‘about’) of IGNORE PUN
HR (hour) in or ‘toured by’ TO B (book)
LT (capital letters or ‘biggest characters’ in Looney Tunes) ‘appearing in’ an anagram (‘daffy’) of CARTOON
A Spoonerism of CANE’S (rod’s) WHAT (sorry?)
MO (second) before GO between (12ac) N (noon) and L (first letter or ‘a little’ of lunch). A rather devious device here which had us head-scratching. You have to lift and separate the answer to 12ac.
SwEDISH (Scandinavian) with ID (passport perhaps) replacing ‘w’ (wife)
TT (teetotal – ‘dry’) inside A LEE (shelter)
LOUis (Prince) without or ‘banishing’ ‘is’ and a reversal (‘retirement’) of E G N (last or ‘conclusive’ letters of hencE kinG CaN)
BRA (something offering support) under A and an anagram (‘broken’) of LEG
An anagram (‘turned’) of WRITER HAS
GREENS (money) underneath or ‘supporting’ S (small) RING (band) after P (initial letter in Paul)
ENT (Ear, nose and throat – ‘hospital department’) ER (medical TV drama)
An anagram (‘manoeuvres’) of IN FIELD
ALL ‘inside’ G (good) ERA (time) around or ‘assuming’ I (this writer)
An anagram (‘supply’) of ITEM COURIERS
LAGER (Stella maybe) OUT (determined) after or ‘following’ L (last letter or ‘tail’ of football). We wondered about ‘out’ and ‘determined’ being synonyms – but if somebody is ‘out to get you’, they are ‘determined to get you’.
OWN (has) inside or ‘adopted by’ NEWTS (amphibians)
PART (constituent) TIED (secured) with the ‘t’s being ‘shared’ – a ‘timeshare arrangement’
kILLEr (murderer) without first and last letters or ‘scratching walls’ + GAoL (prison) with ‘o’ (nothing) missing or ‘escaping’
A (American) inside (‘cutting’) a reversal (‘up’) of LOG (record) + IE (that is – ‘specifically’)
BASE (immoral) D (diamonds)
Apologies for the late posting. We wondered why we hadn’t received any notification of comments. For some reason or other it was not published at the scheduled time!
Great crossword. Always enjoy Bluth where I often have to struggle with a parsing or two (or three, or …). The only clue I wasn’t mad keen on was 7d where I thought moving a D up a couple of places wasn’t much of an anagram but that’s a minor quibble at best.
Fair dos, Bluth always finds some innovative devices, and a lot of thought goes into the wordplays.
I’m not at all sure that DETERMINED = OUT (15d) :- just because there may be a certain phrase wherein either ” A or B ” might make sense, it doesn’t mean A = B.
7(d), INFIDEL, demonstrates the bane of setters, in setting short anagrams – the disguise is tough.
INFIELD is just too similar to INFIDEL.
9(ac) is, I think, “of nails”, to work?
An enjoyable and intelligent puzzle, good balance of difficulty and clue-types.
Big Thanks, B B & J
B&J’s introduction covers what I would have said very nicely
Thanks very much to them and Bluth and Happy New Year to the three of you
Thanks both. Struggled towards the end, finishing with WAINSCOT as a guess, as it’s a nho for me, therefore the whole clue was rendered impenetrable as it’s a tough Spoonerism wherein I feel ‘sorry’ deserved a ? given its purpose.