Another very pleasing Sunday puzzle from Hypnos in the usual IoS style. All clearly and elegantly clued, with a good range of subject matter in the answers to enjoy.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Term maybe scholar mistakenly lent for writer
HILARY MANTEL
A charade of HILARY for one of the ‘terms’ at Oxford University, MA for Master of Arts or ‘scholar’ and (LENT)* with ‘mistakenly’ as the anagrind. The ‘maybe’ is referring to the HILARY rather than the MA, I fancy. The ‘writer’ in question is a two-time Booker Prize winner.
8 Old unionist in agreement reduced by a third? That’s gratifying
SENSUOUS
An insertion of OU for ‘old’ and ‘unionist’ in SENSUS, which is CONSENSUS for ‘agreement’ ‘reduced by a third’. SENSUOUS for ‘gratifying’? If you insist.
9 Clever stratagem operating to get ticket
COUPON
A charade of COUP and ON. COUP has several meanings, in English and especially in French, and I suppose that ‘clever stratagem’ is one of them.
10 Prickly sort in court engaged in endless legal action
CACTUS
I think this is an insertion of CT in CAUS[E], but am happy to be corrected.
12 IPod a girl brandished I dismissed as wasteful
PRODIGAL
Hypnos is asking you to make an anagram (‘brandished’) of (IPODAGIRL)* after having removed I. Probably best known to most people from the parable of the PRODIGAL SON in Luke Chapter 15. The younger son leaves home, spends all his father’s money on whores and then returns, whereupon his father welcomes him with open arms and kills the fatted calf. My kind of parent.
13 Elegant female coming out in TV broadcast?
DEBONAIR
Got any female friends called DEB? Well, if she was on telly, she’d be DEB ON AIR.
14 Change represented by noon
AMEND
‘Noon’ or twelve o’clock, is the END of AM, so it’s AM END. Might have seen this before.
15 Violently push boat
BARGE
A dd.
17 Principal expert touring hospital – source of worry?
HEADACHE
A charade of HEAD for ‘principal’, and an insertion of H in ACE. HEADACHE in its figurative rather than literal sense.
19 Person at fault reportedly, one that’s entered order largely for spicy stuff
CINNAMON
A charade of CINNA and MON. CINNA is a homophone of ‘sinner’ and then it’s MON[K] for ‘largely’ someone who’s entered an ‘order’.
21 Two letters penned by unknown independent ME citizen
YEMENI
The mathematical ‘unknown’ is Y; ‘independent’ is I. If you ‘pen’ EM and EN for the thirteenth and fourteenth letters of our alphabet inside that, you’ve got a Middle Eastern citizen.
23 Eric and Eliot perhaps not working
IDLENESS
Referring to Eric IDLE and Eliot NESS. If you don’t know either of them, get on Mrs Google. I’m not doing all the work for you.
25 A figure is left in part of ground in NY area
STATEN ISLAND
A bit convoluted, but clearly clued. ‘Part of ground’ is STAND (as in football); you need to put A TEN IS and L inside that.
Down
1 Grant maybe for audience shade
HUE
‘For audience’ is a homophone indicator for HUGH Grant, the actor introduced to the big time in Four Weddings and a Funeral but more recently in the news for being one of the victims of the phone hacking scandal, as well as for fathering three children with two different mothers. Allegedly.
2 Nothing is found in ramshackle hotels in African country
LESOTHO
An insertion of O in (HOTELS)*
3 Poor cafes obscured in view of skyline
ROOFSCAPE
(POOR CAFES)* with ‘obscured’ as the anagrind.
4 Some software about to get on top of woman in charitable centre? That’s a wrong understanding
MISAPPREHENSION
A slightly complicated parsing, but all fair. It’s an insertion (‘in’) of APP for ‘software’, RE for ‘on’ and HEN for ‘woman’ in MISSION for ‘charitable centre’.
5 It might feature in Tijuana chow?
NACHO
Hidden in TijuaNA CHOw. NACHO is a Mexican snack and might therefore be found in Tijuana ‘chow’ or ‘food’. I’m not going to call this an &lit otherwise I’ll be in trouble.
6 American protected by wicked European in retreat is hard to catch
ELUSIVE
An insertion of US in EVIL E reversed.
7 East End labourer wearing censorious expression sometimes
NOW AND THEN
A HAND is a ‘labourer’ but in the East End of London, he’d be an ‘AND. The ‘censorious expression’ is NOW THEN! Put one inside the other to get the phrase meaning ‘sometimes’.
11 A creature having right to move north before start of year in country
AZERBAIJAN
Again, a bit convoluted, but it’s all there if you go looking for it. It’s a charade of A, ZERBA and I JAN. I JAN is the ‘start of the year’ and ZERBA is the black and white stripy mammal with R for ‘right’ moving north, or upwards in a down clue.
14 Put up foolish thing on stage concealing top plant
AMARYLLIS
Couldn’t see this for ages. It’s a reversal of SILLY and [D]RAMA.
16 A university lecturer getting into hire car
RENAULT
An insertion of A, U and L in RENT for what the French call la marque au losange because of the lozenge-shaped logo on the bonnet.
18 What weapons might contain in a dodgy compound?
AMMONIA
A charade of AMMO and (IN A)* for the pungent-smelling chemical compound.
20 Second means of catching artist
MONET
A charade of MO for ‘second’ (‘Just a mo’) and NET for the French artist.
24 Deplorable ex-President eliminating a source of trouble
SAD
Referring to President Sadat of Egypt. It’s SAD[AT].
Many thanks to Hypnos for today’s puzzle.
I found this puzzle slightly trickier than some IoS puzzles, but it was an enjoyable solve.
Pierre, I agree with your parsing of CACTUS. My Chambers has a definition of “cause” as “a legal action between two contending parties”. I had actually entered the answer unparsed and only checked Chambers after reading your comment. STATEN ISLAND also went in unparsed, but only because the answer seemed obvious once a couple of checkers were in place. AMARYLLIS was my LOI and I only saw the wordplay after I had entered it.
By the way, with 13ac, are you ignoring the meaning of “deb” as short for debutante, a female who comes out because you assume everyone knows that, or did you just miss it?
A very straightforward puzzle to solve; even if the parsing was a bit convoluted in places the answers came easily. I parsed CACTUS as you did, but parsed DEBONAIR as Dormouse suggests.
Thanks, Hypnos and Pierre.