Compared to the previous Hamilton I blogged, some time ago, this was an order of magnitude tougher for me. The last 8 scattered in 3 of the quadrants took a long time, and even then, for the last one, I was corrected by assistance from a couple of experts – thanks to them. Thanks, too, to Hamilton for the challenge. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 Visitors have no time to meet Doctor, so must debate his identity (5,3)
GUESS WHO : “guests”(visitors) minus (have no) “t”(abbrev. for “time”) plus(to meet) WHO(the long running Doctor on TV; he does a lot of running too).
5 Fantastic guide to PC (6)
WIZARD : Double defn: 1st: British slang for “excellent”(fantastic!;great!); and 2nd: In computers(PCs), software to guide you with instructions for a complex task.
9 Plant soldier’s decorations (8)
REFINERY : RE(abbrev. for “Royal Engineer”;a soldier in the engineering support unit of the British Army) + FINERY(elaborate or showy decorations).
Answer: A processing plant to extract valuable products from raw materials.
10 Convenience of having guard partially relax (6)
LOOSEN : LOO(slang for a convenience;a toilet) + first 3 letters of(partially) “sentry”(a guard).
11 In the wild, gnu licks its young (8)
SUCKLING : Anagram of(In the wild) GNU LICKS.
Answer: A young mammal that is still taking milk from its mother.
12 Told to send account for accommodation (6)
BILLET : Homophone of(Told) “bill it”(to send the account for moneys owed).
14 Passion for landlord expressed in words (4,6)
LOVE LETTER : LOVE(a passion for) + LETTER(a landlord;one who lets out property). A WIWD(wordplay intertwined with defn.) clue.
Answer: That expressing passion in words.
18 Time was when we all got started (3,4,3)
THE YEAR DOT : Cryptic defn: Very long ago, literally, when time = 0.
22 History of girl clearing out of Leeds (6)
ANNALS : ANNA(a girl’s name) + the 2 outermost letters of(clearing out of) “Leeds “.
23 Songstress gets assistance in Australian city (8)
ADELAIDE : ADELE(British singer, winner of Grammy Awards in 2009) containing(gets) AID(assistance).
24 Enough heartfelt remorse to make one shake (6)
TREMOR : Hidden in(Enough) “HEARTFELT REMORSE “.
Answer: As a verb.
25 Grave ill afflicted country dweller (8)
VILLAGER : Anagram of(afflicted) GRAVE ILL.
26 Plant needed to put new facade on school (6)
YARROW : Replace(needed to put new) first letter of(facade) “Harrow”(a famous British public school) with “y”.
27 Terrible misfortune of missing the station (8)
TERMINUS : Anagram of(Terrible) “misfortune ” minus(missing) “of “.
Answer: The station at the end of, say, a train line or bus route.
Down
1 Tasteless fish is supremely horrid! (6)
GARISH : GAR(any of a genus of fish, with long toothed jaws) + IS + first letter of(supremely,in a down clue) “horrid “.
2 Meaning to force result (6)
EFFECT : Double defn: 1st: The basic or general meaning, as in “words to that effect”; and 2nd: To cause to produce a result.
3 Old Eastern Railways diverted northwards (6)
SENILE : Reversal of(diverted northwards, in a down clue) [ E(abbrev. for “Eastern”) + LINES(railway tracks) ].
Answer: One meaning of which is “relating to old age”, whether or not showing a decline in physical or mental faculties.
4 “Mrs” Doris Heron sadly doesn’t get out much (3,7)
HER INDOORS : Anagram of(sadly) Doris Heron. I guess the latter part of the clue is for the surface and/or for giving another defn. for the 2nd part of the answer, and, I suspect, to misdirect – technically, the clue works just as well without it.
Answer: A term for one’s wife, originating from the TV series “Minder”.
6 Decision made, having worshipped (8)
ICONISED : Anagram of( made) DECISION. I was trying to fit in IDOLISED into the wordplay, until a couple of real experts helped set me right. I was really thrown off by “made” in the familiar role as a verb for “decision” and by the unusualness of it as an anagram indicator.
7 Certain instrument on which sailors introduce Offenbach (8)
ABSOLUTE : LUTE(a stringed instrument) placed below(on which …, in a down clue) [ ABS(plural of abbrev. for “able bodied seaman”) + first letter of(introduce) “Offenbach “].
Answer: Not to be doubted or questioned, as in “this is absolute proof”.
8 Conservative benefactor initially reported to receiver (8)
DONATORY : TORY(short for a Conservative Party member) placed below(… initially, in a down clue) homophone of(reported) “donor”(a benefactor).
Answer: A donee.
13 Best performance put down to the occasion (6,4)
RECORD TIME : RECORD(to put down in writing) plus(to) TIME(an occasion;an event, as in “the first time we met”).
15 Underhand attempt to drink special latte (8)
STEALTHY : SHY(an attempt;a try) containing(to drink) anagram of(special) “LATTE “.
16 Present distribution agents (8)
REINDEER : Cryptic defn: Accomplices with Santa Claus in distributing presents on Christmas Eve – so they tell little children.
17 Is it right to con such people? (4-2-2)
WELL-TO-DO : WELL(right;proper, as in “all’s well”) + [TO DO](to con;to swindle). If you wish to con people, the rich are the ones you should con. Another WIWD clue.
19 Opening pairs slither along ominous course (6)
SLALOM : First 2 letters of, respectively(Opening pairs) ” slither along ominous “.
Answer: A winding course for downhill ski races. The meaning has been extended to an obstacle course in other sports activities.
20 She left poor shivering maiden (6)
VIRGIN : Anagram of(poor) “shivering ” minus(… left) “She “.
21 Backtracking, adviser tempers certain measures (6)
METRES : Reversal of(Back- or Backtracking) and hidden in(-tracking or certain?) ” adviser tempers “.
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Thanks for an excellent blog scchua – long time no see. I wasn’t expecting today, and it seems a pretty rare event for me to appear on a Tuesday.
4 down – you’re absolutely right about “Doris Heron” – the surface seemed to me to be nowhere near as good without the addition.
Finally, I’m sorry I seem to have frightened away the picture puzzlers – maybe, unlike us, they’re all on holiday?
Thanks scchua – I needed your help to parse LOOSEN. I loved this puzzle by Hamilton, and I am on holiday!
Thanks Hamilton and scchua – I was working today and only got to this very late and found it significantly tougher than usual for a Tuesday. [[Anyway, just to assuage Hamilton’s guilt very slightly, the first pic is ‘The Guess Who’ (1 across, one of the easier clues – BTW, 2013 is the fiftieth anniversary year of Doctor Who so I bet we should be on the lookout for themed special puzzles in November). I recognize the characters in the other pics but it’s too late to figure out the links to the puzzle!]]
Just to say, thanks for dropping by, Hamilton, and look forward to your next puzzle.
Thanks for the blog, sschua.
[[Pic 3 shows Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, who starred in GUESS WHO’s Coming to Dinner. Pic 4 is Cate Blanchett, who played Elizabeth I, the VIRGIN Queen, in two films. Pics 5 & 6 are Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, who starred in The Girl with a Pearl Earring, based on a novel of the same name, inspired by a painting of the same name by Vermeer, who also painted LOVE LETTER (which you included in your blog). No idea on Pic 2.]]
[[Well done Keeper. The remaining one also played the VIRGIN Queen – hint: look at those eyes (sung about by Kim Carnes).]]