Another good Sunday puzzle from Hypnos, with a range of difficulties, though nothing overly troublesome. 10ac and 11ac put up a bit of a fight for me, though in retrospect they seem perfectly reasonable. There’s one gap in my explanations at 4dn, where I don’t follow the reference to Helen Mirren, if indeed it is even her in question, or whether I’m being successfully misdirected.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FROLICSOME | Playful film score composed to encapsulate love (10) |
| 0 in (FILM SCORE)* | ||
| 7 | BABY | Girlfriend’s personal project (4) |
| double definition: girlfriend/personal project | ||
| 9 | SCAR | Mark that remains in cliff (4) |
| double definition: mark that remains/cliff | ||
| 10 | UP TO A POINT | A pout developed with purpose? Not wholly (2,2,1,5) |
| (A POUT)* + POINT | ||
| 11 | MAGNETIC | Attractive feature of tennis? It’s exciting to take it in (8) |
| NET in MAGIC | ||
| 12 | HYENAS | Sensible youth not dismissed for rearing animals (6) |
| (SANE + Y[out]H)< | ||
| 13 | PLOVER | Osprey essentially grabbing duck and shore bird (6) |
| LOVE in [os]PR[ey] | ||
| 15 | LOG CABIN | Advisers in how to start computer session in small dwelling (3,5) |
| Citizens’ Advice Bureau in LOG IN | ||
| 16 | DOWNFALL | Low river and lake in burst of rain (8) |
| DOWN + FAL + Lake | ||
| 18 | FIGURE | Consider movement by skater (6) |
| double definition: consider/movement by skater | ||
| 20 | ATTEST | Give evidence in a five day event? (6) |
| AT TEST | ||
| 21 | UGLINESS | Good punishment for students in America showing repulsive attribute (8) |
| (Good + LINES) in United States | ||
| 23 | CONSTRAINT | Study narrow body of water around November in restrictive condition (10) |
| CON + (November in STRAIT) | ||
| 25 | GOTH | Uncivilised person occupying Chicago theatre (4) |
| [chica]GO TH[eatre] | ||
| 26 | SKYE | Knight certainly cycling in island (4) |
| from (Knight + YES) but with the S cycled to the front | ||
| 27 | DINING ROOM | Dutch hotel I entered – tidy place for courses? (6,4) |
| (Dutch + (I in INN)) + GROOM | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ROCKALL | Mountainous hazard fellow ignored in tiny outpost (7) |
| ROCK[f]ALL | ||
| 3 | LOREN | Italian actress about to be hugged in capital (not half) (5) |
| RE in LON[don]. Sophia Loren, of course | ||
| 4 | COUNTERPART | Duplicate title role played by Mirren? (11) |
| Not entirely sure here: “role” is obviously PART, but how do we get from (Helen?) Mirren to COUNTER? | ||
| 5 | OPTICAL ILLUSION | Shift in political soul that’s outwardly deceptive (7,8) |
| (IN POLITICAL SOUL)* | ||
| 6 | ERA | Period in wild without outsiders (3) |
| [f]ERA[l] | ||
| 7 | BOOMERANG | Former student turned up in excavation e.g. Roman missile (9) |
| (Old Boy)< + (EG ROMAN)*. I haven’t come across “in excavation” as an anagrind before | ||
| 8 | BENGALI | Asian language and English found in Asian island (7) |
| ENGlish in BALI | ||
| 12 | HIGHFALUTIN | Pompous and posh element supporting powerful horse, nothing less (11) |
| HIGH + F[o]AL + U + TIN | ||
| 14 | VAN PERSIE | Struggle to pen article on a society, one noted for strikes? (3,6) |
| (AN + PER + Society) in VIE. Robin van Persie, the famous Chelsea Wanderers goalstopper from Belgium, or something | ||
| 17 | OUTLOOK | View after time facilities in marketplace devoid of sun (7) |
| (Time + LOO) in [s]OUK | ||
| 19 | RISOTTO | Dish that’s small and outlandish in port (7) |
| (Small + OTT) in RIO de Janeiro | ||
| 22 | NIGER | Reign destabilised African country (5) |
| REIGN* | ||
| 24 | ROD | Measurement found in empty thoroughfare? (3) |
| it took me a while to see the wordplay here, but it’s nice: it’s 0 in RD, or “road with nothing in it”, hence “empty” | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed
4dn I think is COUNT for title plus ER PART which is what Mirren is known for playing.
I enjoyed this puzzle although I failed to solve 24d.
I liked 21a, 23a, 27a & 8d and my favourites were 12a HYENAS and 5d OPTICAL ILLUSION.
New word for me was the footballer VAN PERSIE.
I parsed 4d in the same way as Dormouse. Helen Mirren has played both Elizabeth I & II.
Thanks for the blog, Simon.
Same parsing for me with 4D. I took an age to see HYENAS, and I thought this was a good, challenging puzzle. Ta, Hypnos and Simon for the blog.
Van Persie Chelsea and Man U striker of note.
Robin van Persie famously played as a striker for Feyenoord, Arsenal, Manchester United, Fenerbache and as a Dutch international. Never Chelsea or Belgium !!!!