This was no pushover by any means, and I really enjoyed the clues which had good surface readings. Thanks to Redshank. 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 Prostitute and her workplace recalled when on drugs (6)
DEBASE : Reversal of(recalled) BED(literally, a prostitute’s – or sex worker’s – place of work) + AS(when, as in “when;as you are travelling”) plus(on) E(slang abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy).
Answer: To prostitute;to degrade one’s talent or ability by using it for an unworthy cause.
4 0-0 in Paris? Terrific debut for London team (6)
ORIENT : O(the letter representing 0) + RIEN(in the local language of Paris, the word for “nothing”;0 – the second one in the clue) + the 1st letter of(debut) “Terrific “.
Answer: Name, at one time or another, by itself or as part, of the club now (re)named Leyton Orient, a London football team.
8 Eg second line installed for railway in plain (7)
ORDINAL : “l”(abbrev. for “line”) replacing(installed for) “ry”(abbrev. for “railway”) in “ordinary”(plain;vanilla).
Answer: An example of which is “second”, as in first, second , third, etc.
9 Aztec’s short way back across the wilds of Utah (7)
NAHUATL : { Reversal of(back) “lane”(a narrow road;way) minus its last letter(short) } containing(across) anagram of(the wilds of) UTAH.
Answer: The Aztecs’ language.
11 A sleuth probes English celebs’ brakes (6,4)
ESTATE CARS : A + ‘TEC(short for “detective”;a sleuth) contained in(probes) { E(abbrev. for “English”) + STARS(celebs).
Answer: Cars formerly called shooting brakes, or brakes in short.
12 Regulation got in a tangle with this other one (4)
RULE : A reverse clue. “Regulation” = anagram of(tangle) [“got in a” plus(with) “rule”( this other one; another term for a regulation – the answer)].
13 Some rubbing out needed to play it? (5)
BINGO : Hidden in(Some) “rubbing out “.
Answer: The game where you might figuratively rub out numbers on a card.
14 Buggy CD with racy ad corrupted (5,3)
CADDY CAR : Anagram of(corrupted) [CD plus(with) RACY AD].
Answer: Alternatively spelled “caddie car”, a trolley;buggy to carry golf clubs. But there is also a motorised golf buggy, though not called a caddy car, as far as I know.
16 Italian poet and French radical dry out (8)
PETRARCH : { ET(French for “and”) + R(in chemistry, symbol for a “radical”) } contained in(… out) PARCH(to dry;to deprive of water, say, your throat).
18 Char‘s unmarried, left abandoned (5)
SINGE : “single”(unmarried) minus(… abandoned) “l”(abbrev. for “left”).
Defn: and Answer: To burn superficially.
20 Count German fliers (4)
GRAF : G(abbrev. for “German”) + RAF(abbrev. for the Royal Air Force;fliers collectively).
Answer: Title for a German count.
21 Y chromosome the culprit? (10)
MALEFACTOR : Cryptic defn: The Y chromosome in mammals that determines its male characteristics, absent in females.
23 Fish with flies in Grangemouth (7)
WHITING : Anagram of(flies) WITH + IN + the 1st letter of(…mouth) “Grange“.
24 Divers use it in worst extremes (3,4)
WET SUIT : Anagram of(Divers;varied) USE IT contained in(in) the 2 outermost letters of(extremes) “worst “.
Answer: The “it” in the defn. A WIWD(wordplay intertwined with defn.) clue.
25 Work out 2÷500? (6)
DEDUCE : DEUCE(a playing card, dice roll, etc. of the value 2) contained in(÷;divided by) D(Roman numeral for 500).
26 Pepper and salt first after shaking (6)
STRAFE : The 1st letter of(first) ” salt“+ anagram of(shaking) AFTER.
Defn. and Answer: To hit with small missiles, eg. with bullets from in machine-gun fire.
Down
1 Play it up or down (5)
DARTS : Cryptic defn: The “it” in the defn. If read up, it’s short for a Stradivarius, a violin made by Antonio Stradivari (or one of his descendants); if read down, it’s a game.
2 Egghead possesses exactly what’s needed here (7)
BRITAIN : BRAIN(an egghead;a highly intelligent person) containing(possesses) IT(what’s needed;that desirable quality as in “either you have it or you don’t have it!”).
3 Cast dares to go and sign autographs here? (5,4)
STAGE DOOR : Anagram of(Cast) DARES TO GO.
Answer: The “here” in the defn. Another WIWD clue.
5 Scrapes the barrel, recruiting bottom of the pile into forces (5)
REAMS : The last letter of(bottom, in a down clue) pile contained in(into) RAMS(forces;pushes through).
Answer: Removes;scrapes material from inside a barrel, eg. of a gun or cannon, in order to increase the bore, with a reamer, a scraper-like tool for that purpose.
6 He resolves query when monarch’s in residence (7)
EQUERRY : Anagram of(resolves) QUERY containing(when …’s in residence) ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina;the British monarch).
Answer: An officer attendant upon the British sovereign, whose responsibilities would include resolving queries. A WIWD clue.
7 Arouse by wiggling it a little (9)
TITILLATE : Anagram of(wiggling) IT A LITTLE. A good titillating WIWD clue.
10 “Twist and Shout” inspired excuse-me there? (5,4)
DANCE HALL : Anagram of(Twist) AND + CALL(a shout) containing(inspired;inhaled) EH?(like “excuse me”, an expression asking someone to repeat what was said).
Answer: As an excuse-me is a dance where one may take another’s partner, and “Twist and Shout” is a song relating to the dance, the twist, this is a super WIWD clue.
13 “… there suck I“? Bad smell, say, Catholic masked (3,6)
BEE ORCHID : BEE O(phonetically;say, BO;abbrev. for “body odour”;a bad smell) + RC(abbrev. for “Roman Catholic”) + HID(masked;concealed).
Answer: The “there” in the defn. From the line in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” – “where the bee sucks, there sucks I…” (the printers of old used to elongate the “s” character, making it look like a lower case “f”). The bee orchid looks and smells (via pheromones) like a female bee, attracting the male into pseudocopulation, and pollinating the orchids in the process. So the printers were half right?
15 In case it’d snakes, females turn away (9)
DISAFFECT : Anagram of(snakes) containing(In …) F,F(2 x abbrev. for “female”).
17 Official enquiry initially into United proved wrong (7)
REFUTED : REF(short for “referee”, a football match official) + { the 1st letter of(initially) “enquiry ” contained in(into) UTD(abbrev. for “United”, as in Man Utd) }. Nice surface, as there have been official enquiries into Man U matches.
19 11 tour Greek island during an uprising in capital (7)
NICOSIA : { I,I(2 x Roman numerals for 1;11) containing(tour) COS(alternative spelling for Kos, the Greek island) } contained in(during) reversal of(uprising) AN.
21 Most of digital enhancement is crazy (5)
MANIC : The first 4 letters out of 7(Most of) “manicure”(a cosmetic treatment for the fingers;digital enhancement).
22 Extract hydrogen from leather compound (5)
OXIDE : “H”(the chemical symbol for the element, hydrogen) deleted from(Extract … from) “oxhide”(leather from an ox’s hide).
Answer: A chemical compound of oxygen and another element
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For the answer to pic5 please click here.
Thanks, scchua.
A real treat today – double helpings from Redshank / Radian. I found this the tougher of the two but well worth the extra effort.
I particularly liked 4ac, 16ac and 1dn – and 8 and 12ac, once I worked them out!
Many thanks to Redshank for an excellent puzzle.
Was socked by this one after yesterday’s relatively easy Dante
[[1,3 clearly a GRAF reference, 2,3 is STAGE DOOR I suspect]]
I had to throw in the towel early on this one. I’ll blame it on the sleep deprivation associated with having a 1-week old in the house.
[[Pic 2 is Albert Finney (in Tom Jones), who was in the 1974 film Murder on the ORIENT Express. Pic 6 is Graham Greene, author of Stamboul Train, which was made into the 1934 film ORIENT Express. Pics 1,4,7 are avocado, tomato, chili (pepper) – which come from NAHUATL/Aztec. The etymology of avocado is particularly interesting: from Nahuatl “ahuacatl”, testicle, so called because of the resemblance of the fruit’s stone to a testicle in the scrotum.]]
[[Keeper, well done – all correct. And 8u1x0, I think you’ve got GRAF and STAGE DOOR correct, though I don’t quite get your numbering of the pictures – is it row & column? I’ve added a link to the remaining answer under the pics.]]
I was abroad last week, far away from the Net.
Which means that I have some catch-up work to do.
I only finished this puzzle today.
I am a bit surprised by the lack of comments as I thought this was a marvellous crossword, full of original ideas (eg 4ac, 25ac, 10d).
I have said it before but, for some reason, I really prefer Redshank to his alter egos (which produce very good puzzles too! [don’t get me wrong]).
My CoD must be the &Lit (well, I think it is because every word is used for the construction) at 24ac – brilliant.
Thanks, scchua for another splendid assessment.
BTW, one cannot see it here (at this place) but did anyone else notice the presence of RC Whiting in the SW of the grid …… ? 🙂