Shuchi is away today so I have the pleasure of covering this light-hearted puzzle from Jason.
Nothing particularly difficult, in fact it was over all too quickly, but I was left feeling cheery, though perhaps the sun streaming in through the window helped as well.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DOGHOUSE | cryptic def. |
| 5 | ANCHOR | hidden in ‘IndiAN CHOReography’ |
| 9 | ALL CLEAR | CALL (telephone) LEAR (poet) with C (about) moved along – Edward Lear |
| 10 | AGENDA | END (finish) in AGA (stove) |
| 11 | ARRANGER | A RR (k-king) ANGER (irritation) |
| 12 | STRAYS | ST (street) homophone of ‘raise’ (get up) |
| 14 | TONIC WATER | *(TWO CERTAIN) |
| 18 | GROUND CREW | G (good) ROUND (routine) CREW (bunch) |
| 22 | TEETER | T[w]EETER (wife leaves online chatterer) |
| 23 | CARD GAME | CAR (motor) [parke]D GAME (up for) |
| 24 | MAROON | AR (Arabian) in MOON (gaze vacantly) |
| 25 | COMEDIAN | CO (firm) MEDIAN (middle) – a reference to Bob Hope |
| 26 | RASHER | *(SHARE) R (little resistance) |
| 27 | TROTTERS | T (time) ROTTERS (beasts) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | DRAMAS | MAR (march) in SAD (wretched) reversed |
| 2 | GALORE | GAL (girl) ÖRE or ØRE (Scandinavian brass {money}) |
| 3 | OBLONG | O (old) B (book) LONG (extended) |
| 4 | STAGECOACH | STAGE COACH (theatrical trainer) |
| 6 | NIGHT OWL | *(NOW LIGHT) |
| 7 | HEN PARTY | N (new) P (pressure) in HARTY (lively) |
| 8 | REASSERT | RE (on) A TRESS (lock) reversed |
| 13 | CINEMAGOER | *(M CAINE) GOER (raver) |
| 15 | EGG TIMER | EG (for example) G[rumble) REMIT (brief) reversed |
| 16 | FOIE GRAS | *(FOR AGES I) |
| 17 | ENVELOPE | [m]EN (chaps with nowt up top) V (see {vide}) ELOPE (bolt) |
| 19 | ADVERT | D (departs) in AVERT (shift) |
| 20 | MALICE | M (maiden) ALICE (who chased a white rabbit) |
| 21 | TENNIS | NET (clear) reversed SIN (fault) reversed – by an extraordinary coincidence 21dn in today’s Indy has the same answer! |
Thank you, Gaufrid.
An enjoyable puzzle, as you say, with many good clues, especially, I thought, 1,9 and 14ac and 7 and 13 dn.
I’m afraid I ground to a halt in the bottom right corner – this is one of those grids which don’t give much of an entry from the other parts of the puzzle and I only had the A from CINEMAGOER!
I don’t think I would ever have seen through ‘nap perhaps’, nor trained horses as trotters.
I was very impressed with the economical wordplay of 21dn [once I saw the answer!] with the two reversal indicators combining in such a smooth surface and the reference to ‘fault’.
I made steady progress for 30 mins , completing the NE and making some headway in the SW but then ground to a complete halt and 30 mins further effort yielded nothing.
9a While I know lear is a poet there are hundreds of others so that didn’t really help and without checking letters from 1,2&4 d I couldn’t get this.
11a I didn’t know what to make of k-king. I’ll know for the next time.
24a If you’d asked me what moon meant, I would have said it was what certain groups of men do out of the back of coaches on motorways -and that doesn’t involve staring vacantly.
25a I think the reference to Bob Hope is a bit dated.
2d I would never have got that -of course Cyclops in Private Eye would have another meaning for Scandanavian brass. Danish tart, perhaps?
17d v=v(ide) I think is very hard
As usual thanks for making it all clear.
Yes thank you to Jason and Gaufrid.
I enjoyed this because I thought it was medium hard, but a little perspiration cracked it. But irritated that I couldn’t get 25 without help, and tennis is my main game, how could I have missed 21? Aargh!
Quibble with 18: surely men and bunch are the same I.e. Crew so it doesn’t really work for me.
But loved 17 definition, reminds me of trad corporate speak “focus like a laser”, “line up our ducks in a row” etc..almost makes me miss my cubicle. Not.