I always enjoy Redshank’s puzzles, although my enjoyment in this instance was tempered by the fact that, having dashed through the NW corner, I spent half an hour staring at the rest of the grid in a stupor of dumb incomprehension. I’m still stumped by 19dn.
This may all have to do with the fact that I haven’t had any breakfast yet.
ACROSS
1. CRABBY R [Rex, king] within cabby [taxi driver]
4. STOP-OFFS Po [potty] within toff [swell] within SS [steamship, so the words within are on board ship]
9. LETHAL Anagram of all the, with snakes cleverly doing double-duty as the anagram indicator
10. SOFT SELL So [hence] + FTSE [share index] + LL [lines, track (?)]
12. BUFF Double definition
13. BIG BROTHER GB [Britain] within Ir [Ireland] within bother [fuss]; the allusion is to Eric Blair, aka George Orwell
15. TICKET AGENCY Anagram of get nice tacky
18. DROP EARRINGS Dr [doctor, GP] + O [old] + pear [fruit] + rings [calls]; terrific surface
21. UNINSPIRED Anagram of nips ruined
22. GHEE No, sorry, can’t figure this one out at all (apart from ghee being a clarified product). HELP.
24. ENCHANTS (P)enchants [weaknesses]
25. PRIVET P [power] + rivet [see 24ac.]
26. INNUENDO In [popular] + e [ecstasy] within nun [sister] + do [party]
27. CANNED Double definition
DOWN
1. CELIBATE Anagram of excitable minus x [kiss]
2. ARTIFICE Anagram of idea for trick minus the letters of dork
3. BEAU Hidden in wannaBE AUthor
5. TROUBLEMAKER Rouble [Russian currency] within anagram of market
6. PATROL CARS Pat [Irishman] + l(unati)c within roars [fulminates]
7. FLESHY Anagram of he’s within fly [knowing, sly]
8. SALARY Reversal of alas + r(apidl)y
11. DISAPPOINTED Anagram of said + P [pressure] + pointed [repaired joints]
14. HEARTSEASE Hear [adjudicate] + S(tradivarius) within tease [guy, make fun of]
16. UNSHAVEN Have within anagram of nuns
17. ASSENTED Anagram of East End’s
19. HUMERI ?? Some sort of play on the one-armed bandit? HELP. EDIT: fruit machine is an anagram of humeri in fact (thanks to Thoma99!)
20. OILCAN Reversal of Clio [model of Renault car] + an(d)
23. AREA A + R(h)ea [big bird]
Thanks for the blog and to Redshank for the crossword. I have exactly the same problems as you. Half an hour for the crossword, then ages looking at 19d. I put in HUMERI as well, but didn’t think of your explanation. I wondered whether GHEE alludes to French (“Nice”) pronunciation of “guy”, but there is no homophone indicator.
I haven’t seen LL before as “track” either.
19d – Humeri is a compound anagram – HUMERI IN FACT is an anagram of FRUIT MACHINE – and the definition is an oblique but perfectly true &lit!
I also thought of the homophone for Ghee – not completely sure there.
Thanks for the blog and to Redshank of course
Thoma99 – oh, of course! Thank-you for putting me out of my misery.
PS I’m sure the one-armed bandit joke is intended too for 19 – hadn’t spotted that. Makes the “in fact” rather clever. I was just thinking of people using their arms.
Thanks, Ringo, for the blog. I always enjoy Redshank’s puzzles, too.
Like you, I puzzled over 19dn – many thanks to Thomas99!
I interpreted GHEE as Muffyword suggested: ‘Nice’ makes the homophone indicator.
Favourite clues: 1dn and 18ac: I do have some of those dangly bits! [And I’ll have to add 19dn now – excellent!]
Many thanks, Redshank – lovely puzzle.
Thoma99 – thanks! Actually a really cool clue.
Thanks Ringo.
Well bagged Thomas. I had it down as DUETTI for a long time and was reasoning you’d need at least two one-arm bandits to play them. (????) I also popped in POLICE CARS — which made a tough solve tougher. Thanks to Redshank for an excellent challenge. At 18 the surface was tricky to get past. Great fun.