Done in a slightly distracted fashion as I was in a soft play centre for children with half an eye on a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old. Slick as ever from Virgilius without a widespread theme although Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge and A Christmas Carol all appear.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A CHRISTMAS CAROL – double definition | |
| 9 | CHARLES – CH + ARLES | |
| 10 | DYNAMIC – MANY in CID <= | |
| 13 | TRISTRAM SHANDY – (STIR)* + TRAMS + HANDY | |
| 17 | LAWRENCE STERNE – (DH) LAWRENCE + homophone for STERN | |
| 18 | RAILWAY – (WARILY)* around A, very elegant | |
| 25 | DICKENS – substitute for devil as in “what the dickens”. This was unaccountably (given I’d already got A CC, Ebenezer and Charles) the last answer I got. I don’t think a childrens soft play centre provides ideal conditions for concentrating on a crossword! | |
| 26 | EBENEZER SCROOGE – (ONCE SOBER GEEZER)* | |
| Down | ||
| 3 | ILL-KEPT – (KILL PET)* | |
| 5 | ADDRESSEE – ADDRESS + EE | |
| 6 | CANTATA – CAN + TATA | |
| 7 | REMAINDER – REMINDER for eg knot tied around A | |
| 8 | LOCKER – LOCKE + R | |
| 14 | INANIMATE – I + NAN + I MATE. MATE for “beat in board game” is nice but I’m not sure about NAN for girl, perhaps there’s a better breakdown | |
| 18 | RAWHIDE – WAR <= + HIDE. RAWHIDE is untanned leather so needing treatment… | |
| 20 | BROOKE – Move the R in Booker | |
INANIMATE was my last – Nan is given in Chambers as diminutive for Ann.
14d. Nan is listed in Chambers as a diminutive of Ann so your analysis is correct. How many other names have diminutives that are also anagrams of themselves?