(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) An enjoyable puzzle from Tuesday regular Phssthpok, with a couple at the end taking slightly longer. Thanks to Phssthpok. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Way out of wind tunnel (8)
LOOPHOLE : LOOP(to wind round, making a loop) + HOLE(an area hollowed out in something solid;a tunnel). Good misdirection.
5 Caught help stealing last of liqueur (6)
CASSIS : C(abbrev. for “caught” in cricket) + “assist”(to help) minus its last letter(… stealing last of).
Defn: … made from blackcurrants.
10 Posts editorials (7)
COLUMNS : Double defn.
11 The French dress has space to stretch (7)
LEGROOM : LE(French for “the”) + GROOM(to dress;to smarten one’s or another’s appearance).
12 Crease new bedding (5)
LINEN : LINE(a crease, say, in material, or even on the cricket pitch) + N(abbrev. for “new”).
13 Whisk tea beggar adulterated (3-6)
EGG-BEATER : Anagram of(adulterated) TEA BEGGAR.
14 A gem found by a police searchlight? (5-7)
BOBBY-DAZZLER : BOBBY(a British police officer) DAZZLER(a searchlight, perhaps one used by the police).
Answer: One who is excellent, originally from northern English dialect.
18 While undergoing treatment, given bad drug for being unfriendly (12)
INHOSPITABLE : { [IN HOSPITAL]( undergoing medical treatment) containing(While …, given) B(abbrev. for “bad”) } + E(abbrev. for the drug Ecastasy).
21 Circle date for invading and finding capacity (9)
BANDWIDTH : BAND(a circular piece of material) + { D(abbrev. for “date”) contained in(for invading) WITH(and;together) }.
Defn: … of an electronic communication channel, in terms of the amount of data that can be passed along it in a given period of time.
23 Imprisoning grandmother: that is foolish (5)
INANE : NAN(term for one’s grandmother) contained in(Imprisoning …) IE(abbrev. for the Latin “id est”;that is).
24 Rat’s one who might formulate this? (7)
TREASON : Anagram of(who might formulate) RAT’S ONE.
Defn: … is what a rat might formulate;devise or develop. A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
25 Go wild in Turin or party (3,4)
RUN RIOT : Anagram of(party) TURIN OR.
26 Article on curse lacks a solution (6)
ANSWER : AN(in grammar, an indefinite article) plus(on) “swear”(to curse) minus(lacks) “a”.
27 New chemical not left out for technician (8)
MECHANIC : Anagram of(out) [ N(abbrev. for “new”) + “chemical ” minus(not) “l”(abbrev. for “left”) ].
Down
1 Pub gets final place setting (6)
LOCALE : LOCAL(the pub near your home or place of work) plus(gets) last letter of(final …) “place “.
2 During tea, nothing was bowled at Oval (6)
OBLONG : “oolong”(a dark Chinese tea that has been partly fermented before drying) with an inner(During …) “o”(letter representing zero;nothing) replaced by(was) “b”(abbrev. for “bowled” in cricket).
Answer: Having an elongated shape, starting from a square or a circle, the former being the more commonly used. A nice cricketing surface.
3 Titanic found by old Unesco or Greenpeace, possibly, in dip (9)
HUMONGOUS : [O(abbrev. for “old”) + NGO(abbrev. for “non-governmental organisation”, examples of which;possibly are Unesco and Greenpeace) ] contained in(in) HUMUS(one of the alternative spellings of “hummus”, a food dip popular in the Middle East).
4 The leaning tower of Pisa? (6,8)
LISTED BUILDING : Cryptic defn: Reference to the list;the leaning to one side of that famous building, and to the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest in the UK of conserved buildings which cannot be demolished, or even altered, without special permission from the relevant authorities. And that tower will surely be on the Italian equivalent of the list, or something like it.
6 Scum or gas mostly contaminated beer (5)
ALGAE : “gas ” minus its last letter(mostly) contained in(contaminated) ALE(beer).
7 Bound to fill branch with business jargon (4,4)
SHOP TALK : HOP(to bound;to leap) contained in(to fill) STALK(a branch on a plant or tree).
8 Hat for South American tailless marsupial after dark (8)
SOMBRERO : “roo”(short for “kangaroo”, the Australian marsupial) placed below(after, in a down clue) SOMBRE(dark;gloomy). Another good misdirection, as South America has its share of marsupials.
9 In vain, try to sell a drug after being affected by anaesthetic (4,1,4,5)
FLOG A DEAD HORSE : FLOG(try to sell, perhaps even, a lame or dead horse) + A + [ HORSE(slang for the drug heroin) placed below(after, in a down clue) DEAD(to the world after being given a general anaesthetic) ].
15 In Brazil, lion threatened one coming after many others (9)
ZILLIONTH : Hidden in(In) “Brazil, lion threatened “.
Defn: … , viz. after a zillion minus one, a huge but unspecified number.
16 Spies thrash army for bread (8)
CIABATTA : CIA(abbrev. for US spy agency) + BAT(to thrash;to beat, with a, well, bat) + T.A.(abbrev. for the British military arm).
17 Wonder if aristocrat‘s game hid in lake (8)
CHINLESS : CHESS(the board game, not only for aristos) containing(hid) [IN + L(abbrev. for “lake”) ].
Answer: When used together with “wonder”, a derogatory term for one, especially an upper-class person, who lacks strength of character, ie. is weak or stupid, or both. The receding chin trademark is a genetic abnormality brought about by inbreeding, which is reputedly practised by the upper classes, including royalty.
19 From country in Africa, get a change to good or evil (6)
MALIGN : “Malian”(describing one from the African country of Mali) with the 2nd “a” replaced by(get … change to …) “g”(abbrev. for “good”).
Defn. and Answer: Malevolent.
20 Frenetic hospital psychiatric treatment requires intensive care (6)
HECTIC : H(abbrev. for “hospital”) + ECT(abbrev. for “electroconvulsive therapy”, formerly known as electroshock treatment, usually used as a last resort treatment of severe psychiatric illnesses) plus(requires) IC(abbrev. for “intensive care”).
22 Don’t use murder (5)
WASTE : Double defn: 1st: Let go into disuse; and 2nd: Criminal slang for “to murder”.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Well done and thanks, scchua. And to you, Phssthpok — I rattled through the right-hand side but got stranded on the left. 4dn was delightfully elegant; and although I’d like to I can’t argue with Chinless Wonder. A very good assault course today, but I retired hurt. Thanks.
Thanks scchua
I needed your explanation of 3D.
‘Horse’ did not spring to mind when ‘drug’ was mentioned in 9D
Thanks scchua and Phssthpok.
13ac – I don’t think this quite works: there are two a’s in tea beggar but only one in egg-beater.
Very enjoyable, however.
Thanks Phssthpok for an enjoyable puzzle and scchua for the blog.
SonicElder@3 re 13ac: Yes, you are right. Perhaps Phssthpok wrote “begger” (which would make the anagram work but does not appear to be a real word, at least according to Chambers 2011) and someone edited it without noticing that it would muck up the anagram.
A terrific puzzle, great clues.It’s easier to mention the only clue I didn’t like , or get,19a. I haven’t quite got the hang of substituting clues.I think 4d is marvelous.Thanks Phssthpok and scchua.
Thanks Scchua and Phssthpok. Now I know that an oblong can be an ellipse as well as a rectangle. Hard on those who also have never heard of oolong. I only know it from the Temperance Seven’s version of Sugar – Hop in my oolong. I’d do a link to the youtube version but I don’t know how.
I carelessly had humungous rather than humongous. Rather tricky given that there are two spellings of the answer and many spellings of humus, hummus, hoummos, houmus. Humongous seems to be the only spelling that fits the wordplay although I never would have thought of Greenpeace and Unesco as NGOs. I shall leave the last word to Wikipedia – NGOs are difficult to define.