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HHHHello! My first Math, and it all went very smoothly until my last two, the intersecting 1a and 4d. I eventually thought of HICCUP (1a) – and at that point, noticed all the H’s on the left and right edges of the grid, echoing the pattern of black squares running diagonally. That might have been worth spotting earlier! 4d PATTER went in with fingers crossed as I thought there could be something else which worked, but all good.
Favourite clues? I like 9a because, well, all things considered … also 10a, partly influenced by the Cat in the Hat. Lots more to appreciate too. Thanks Math!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Get high on heroin. Injecting one mil makes body spasm (6) |
| HICCUP — UP (get high) on H (heroin), inserting (injecting) I CC (one mil) | |
| 5a | Covered decking in preserver and a hardener (8) |
| VERANDAH — The answer is hidden in preserVER AND A Hardener | |
| 9a | Considering everything, one wants to shuffle off this coil (8) |
| HOLISTIC — We need to make an anagram of (one wants to shuffle off) THIS COIL | |
| 10a | Whip round wearing floppy hat and tie (6) |
| ATTACH — CAT (whip) backwards (round) inside (wearing) an anagram of (floppy) HAT | |
| 11a | Gloss over what Marie Curie’s kids were (6,6) |
| FRENCH POLISH — Two definitions | |
| 13a | Ditch Harket initially seen fronting Norwegian group (2-2) |
| HA-HA — The first letter of (… initially) Harket seen before (fronting) A–HA (Norwegian group) | |
| 14a | A plant from Panorama ran that clip! (8) |
| AMARANTH — We take the answer from PanorAMA RAN THat clip | |
| 17a | Happily, after vacation, presidential leader’s no longer in charge! Entrancing thought! (8) |
| HYPNOTIC — HappilY on removal of inner letters (after vacation) + Presidential first letter (leader) + NOT (no longer) + IC (in charge) | |
| 18a | Ring back and make a disdainful sound (4) |
| POOH — HOOP (ring) reversed (back) | |
| 20a | Garden study or hut I rebuilt, with reluctant worker dismissed (12) |
| HORTICULTURE — An anagram of (… rebuilt) HUT I with RELUCT[ant] in which ANT (worker) is removed (dismissed) | |
| 23a | Unconventional sort of dodgy finance contract written in hurry (6) |
| HIPPIE — PPI (dodgy finance contract) in HIE (hurry) | |
| 24a | To be heavier than two huge bananas one’s eaten (8) |
| OUTWEIGH — An anagram of (… bananas) TWO HUGE; I (one)’s taken in (eaten) | |
| 25a | His parts are rewritten for musicians (8) |
| HARPISTS — HIS PARTS anagrammed (rewritten) | |
| 26a | Fashionable second course (6) |
| MODISH — MO (second) + DISH (course) | |
| Down | |
| 2d | Image of Billy, his third after wedding vow (4) |
| IDOL — Two definitions, plus bilLy’s third letter after I DO (wedding vow) | |
| 3d | Linked thing about one English paper’s leader (9) |
| CHIEFTAIN — CHAIN (linked thing) around (about) I (one), E (English) and FT (paper) | |
| 4d | Beat yak with shortened device (6) |
| PATTER — Two definitions, and PATTERn (device) without its last letter (shortened …) | |
| 5d | University heads gambling, for example, on probability with second roll-over (4,11) |
| VICE CHANCELLORS — VICE (gambling, for example) on CHANCE (probability) with the reversal of (… over) S (second) and ROLL | |
| 6d | The Listener follows programme on before show again (8) |
| REAPPEAR — EAR (the listener) follows APP (programme), with RE (on) before | |
| 7d | No one wants a student around time of birth (5) |
| NATAL — N (no), A (one), A and L (student) around T (time) | |
| 8d | Charge copper getting appeal in lawsuit (10) |
| ACCUSATION — CU (copper) and SA (sex appeal) in ACTION (lawsuit) | |
| 12d | She was barely noticed riding for £5 in Hackney (4,6) |
| LADY GODIVA — A double definition, the first cryptic | |
| 15d | Understand fear Nick! (9) |
| APPREHEND — A triple definition | |
| 16d | Labels are ones that don’t twist (8) |
| STICKERS — Two meanings: the second referring to “stick or twist” | |
| 19d | Cruise to the south of Cuba and America results in import tax (6) |
| CUSTOM — TOM (Cruise) underneath (to the south of) C (Cuba) and US (America) | |
| 21d | Time old and young get refill when only a bit drunk (3-2) |
| TOP-UP — T (time) + O (old) + PUP (young) | |
| 22d | Gets on when there’s no time to get in (4) |
| AGES — AS (when); inside (… in) which, there is no T (time) to GE[t] | |
A lot of clues with more than one definition – interesting. Cleverly constructed grid and some nice clues. I agree with Kitty ref HOLISTIC and the Cat in the Hat ATTACH. I also thought VERANDAH was very nicely hidden.
Thanks both
HOLISTIC
Could the def be ‘Considering everything one wants’?
HICCUP
Is mil a standard abbreviation of millilitre?
Thanks Math and Kitty
Thanks Math and Kitty
KVa @ 2: orally, yes, in the same way as it is in the building trade for millimetre.
An enjoyable puzzle, and it seems impossible that I should not have noticed all the Hs around the place but if you’re not looking it’s amazing what you miss.
Not often you see so many triple definitions either. Thanks, Kitty, for the parsing of AGES and NATAL, both of which eluded me. FRENCH POLISH was lovely, I thought.