BOBCAT kicks off the week…
An enjoyable challenge with the expected feline Nina.
Thanks BOBCAT!
ACROSS
9. Desperately importunate Pole’s interminable action (9,6)
PERPETUAL MOTION
(IMPORTUNATE POLE)* (*desperately)
10. Belief in revolution does perhaps lead to conspiracy (5)
CREED
(DEER (does, perhaps) + C[onspiracy] (lead to))< (<in revolution)
11. Demolish gloomy housing National Trust essentially neglected (9)
DISMANTLE
DISMAL (gloomy) housing NT (National Trust) + [negl]E[cted] (essentially)
12. US laboratory’s mission to spread destruction (3,6)
LOS ALAMOS
ALAMO (mission) to spread LOSS (destruction)
14. The cardinal points about current power source (5)
SINEW
S N E W (the cardinal points, South, North, East, and West) about I (current)
16. One may cut a blunt writer to make a point (6,9)
PENCIL SHARPENER
19. Force denied presence of women in crew (5)
EIGHT
[w]EIGHT (force, denied presence of W (women))
21. Troubled Republican in suit misleads in all prime respects (9)
EXERCISED
(R (Republican) in EXEC (suit)) + [m]IS[l]E[a]D[s] (in all prime respects, i.e. 2, 3, 5, and 7)
23. Tense sort of geek fined (5-4)
KNIFE-EDGE
25. Gutted Aston Villa over halfway to getting a hammering here? (5)
ANVIL
A[sto]N (gutted) + VIL[la] (over halfway)
26. Landslide hasn’t spoilt special archipelago (8,7)
SHETLAND ISLANDS
(LANDSLIDE HASNT)* (*spoilt) + S (special)
DOWN
1. Observe US policeman driven back by a conflagration (10)
APOCALYPSE
(ESPY (observe) + LA COP (US policeman))< (<driven back) by A
2. They may advocate screening for privates (6)
BRIEFS
Double (cryptic) definition
3. Recently established location for Oracle lacking introduction of prime capital (3,5)
NEW DELHI
NEW (recently established) + DEL[p]HI (location for Oracle, lacking P[rime] (introduction of))
4. Pleasure dome initially makes money (4)
FUND
FUN (pleasure) + D[ome] (initially)
5. Hairy situation? Yes, and no (5,5)
CLOSE SHAVE
Sort of double definition – Yes, a hairy situation is a close shave. No, a close shave would not result in a hairy situation.
6. Men admitted to service bog (6)
MORASS
OR (men) admitted to MASS (service)
7. Monitor first Revolutionary Guards (6,2)
LISTEN IN
IST (first), LENIN (revolutionary) guards
8. Poet releases capital payment (4)
ANTE
[d]ANTE (poet, releases capital)
13. Invalid interpretation of note being circulated in Penny’s absence (10)
MISREADING
MI (note) + S[p]READING (being circulated, in P’s (penny’s) absence)
15. Damaged old scars will regularly crack (5-5)
WORLD CLASS
(OLD SCARS + W[i]L[l] (regularly))* (*damaged)
17. Almost get leg in tight eastern garment (8)
NEGLIGEE
(GE[t] (almost) LEG IN)* (*tight) + E (eastern)
18. Despite shortage of time, board to sustain troop may be arranged… in case (8)
PACKABLE
[t]ABLE (board, despite shortage of T (time)) to sustain PACK (troop)
20. Bet uncrowned former prince makes comeback before decade’s end (6)
TREBLE
([a]LBERT (former prince, uncrowned))< (<makes comeback) before [decad]E (end)
22. One in the know drives a van to stores (6)
SAVANT
[drive]S A VAN T[o] (stores)
23. Runners moving down south make contact (4)
KISS
SKIS (runners, moving down S (south))
24. Withdraw from relations backing first wife? (4)
EXIT
IT (relations) backing EX (first wife)
I’d just like to say that my first wife is not necessarily an ‘ex’ thank you.
David@1 The questionmark in the clue is used to indicate a definition by example.
The long anags opened things up nicely, tho I still stared dumbly at a few unparsed — couldn’t twig s[p]reading for being circulated even after entering it, d’oh! Enjoyable though, thanks both.
Very enjoyable. I had difficulty parsing MISREADING, PACKABLE and EXERCISED, but struggled through. For the first time ever, I think, having a nina helped as I guessed SERVAL from four of its letters.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues , LOS ALAMOS famous for Project Y so the whole clue could be the definition . EXERCISED is very neat use of prime .
EXIT , I think first wife implies there is now a second , otherwise it is just wife .
MORASS , I do not like OR = men , very demeaning , they are soldiers or troops .
Thanks Bobcat for an enjoyable crossword with my favourites being CREED, DISMANTLE, LOS ALAMOS, BRIEFS, CLOSE SHAVE, and LISTEN IN as well as SERVAL of course. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
Liked WORLD CLASS, ANTE and thought CLOSE SHAVE clever.
I found this difficult and finished with too many unparsed.
I am pretty sure David@1 was making a joke……
Thanks Bobcat and Teacow
Challenging in places but most enjoyable. For once we spotted the nina in time for it to help (with PACKABLE). We liked the prime number positions device in 21ac although it took us a while to realise which part of the clue it applied to.
Thanks, Bobcat and Teacow.
I got there, though I found it hard. I can’t put my finger on why, but I don’t much enjoy Bobcat. Maybe too many clues just a bit too obscure for my liking?
Anyone else notice that we also have PEACH FT hidden in column 4? The Pink Paper is more of a peach color, really.
Well spotted mrpenney. I read today that Bobcat generally leaves a feline nina on the bottom row. So I didn’t spot the blatant one further up. Oh well, I got there in the end and will remember this for future reference.
Quite tough I thought. I liked APOCALYPSE, WORLD CLASS and CLOSE SHAVE.
Thanks Bobcow and Teacat