Solving time: Forgot to record, but I think I gave up on 17dn after about 15 mins. The bottom left corner was the hardest, if I remember correctly. Some very inventive clues in here.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | L(LANG)OWER – I think Comso Lang is the archbishop in question. |
| 9 | WITHOUT STOPPING – I think this refers to ‘stop’ meaning ‘to limit the vibrating length of (a string)’ (Chambers). |
| 10 | YARD; rev. of DRAY (= a squirrel’s home) – refers to Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin. |
| 11 | AR(GO + [jaso]N + AU)T |
| 14 | hidden in ‘[flyo]VER M1 FOR M[5]’ (hidden) – the best hidden clue I’ve seen for ages. I tried for ages to do some elaborate shifting of an ‘M’ from the fifth letter of a word to the beginning or similar. |
| 15 | [c]AME ER[e] |
| 16 | CATER[pillar] |
| 18 | PANTIHOSE; anag. of THESPIAN around O – this word was clued in an identical way in the Sunday Times the previous Sunday, but I much prefer this wording. |
| 20 | QUIETISM; QU + (TIME IS)* |
| 21 | FOOT (double definition) – Michael Foot may have caused trouble for overseas solvers. |
| 25 | EDITORIAL COLUMN; (LAIR IN CLOUD ME TO)* – cloud layers cause me daily angst, but cloud lairs?! |
| 26 | NEGUS; E.G. in rev. of SUN – a hot drink made from port or sherry. I didn’t know this word which made the bottom left tricky for me. |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LOW (= base) + RY (= railway = line) – ‘baseline’ here is decidedly liberal, which I’m normally not so keen on, but as it’s in The Guardian I love this (topical) clue. L. S. Lowry was the Salford-based artist famous for painting matchstick men, which inspired this song/video. |
| 2 | ALTERER; (RETAILER – 1)* |
| 3/12 | GOOD VIBRATIONS; (TRIVIA BOD)* in (O[ld] SONG)* – I just couldn’t see where the anagram’s 14 letters came from here so took ages to get this. Another classic song, this one by The Beach Boys. |
| 4/13 | WITH COMPASS + ON around I – ‘unlikely to get lost’ is brilliant for ‘with compass’, though I’ve managed to disprove this on numerous occasions. |
| 5/23 | RETIREMENT PLAN (semi-cryptic definition) |
| 6/24 | DIPLOMATIC MOVE (cryptic definition) – Boris Spassky (Russia) and Bobby Fischer (USA) played a famous World Championship chess match in 1972. |
| 14 | VICE QUEEN (one straight, one cryptic definition) – I had QUEEN early on but pencilled in ‘mock’ as the first word and couldn’t get VICE for ages. |
| 17 | TAIPING; “TYPING” – I’m glad I didn’t spend too long trying to solve this as I’d never have got it, having not heard of Taiping or the Taiping Rebellion. |
| 19 | OROTUND; ROT in [h]OUND |
