A good Saturday challenge from Klingsor, with no unusual words and, as usual, some nifty misdirections to keep us on our toes.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Fancy dress item worn by one in church? | |
| CAPRICE | CAPE (dress item) around or ‘worn by’ I (one) in RC (Roman Catholic – church) | |
| 5 | One in the know picked up drink after pub closed early | |
| INSIDER | SIDER – sounds like (‘picked up’) cider (drink) after IN |
|
| 9 | What movie actor will do to recruit | |
| CONSCRIPT | A movie actor (or any other actor) will CON or study / read the SCRIPT | |
| 10 | Reversal of decision leads to upset – third umpire review’s nonsense | |
| U-TURN | Initial letters or ‘leads’ of Upset Third Umpire Review’s Nonsense | |
| 11 | One’s found in bed, having chat with Henry’s wayward old lady | |
| CHRYSANTHEMUM | An anagram of CHAT and HENRY’S (anagrind is ‘wayward’ + MUM (old lady – in the friendly sense!) | |
| 13 | We’ve no problem getting hold of a recipe for casserole, say | |
| OVENWARE | An anagram of WE’VE NO (anagrind is ‘problem’) around, or getting hold of A R (recipe) | |
| 15 | Arrogance centres around ego, Regina reflected | |
| HUBRIS | HUBS (centres) around I (ego) R (Regina) reversed or ‘reflected’ | |
| 17 | Sounds like maybe banjo playing wasn’t good | |
| TWANGS | An anagram of WASN’T and G (good) – anagrind is ‘playing’ | |
| 19 | Hellraising days for animal types occurring naturally | |
| WILDLIFE | Hell-raising days could be described as a WILD LIFE | |
| 22 | In sports, nobody has a beard? Be careful what you say! | |
| WALLS HAVE EARS | WEARS (sports) around ALL SHAVE (nobody has a beard) | |
| 25 | Independent small business – that’s Helena’s last resort | |
| IBIZA | I (independent) + BIZ (‘small’ business) + A (last letter of Helena) | |
| 26 | Pineapple contains popular cocktail ingredient | |
| GRENADINE | GRENADE (pineapple – army slang) around or ‘containing’ IN (popular) | |
| 27 | Start of extremely fast, with setter in lead? | |
| ELEMENT | E (first letter or ‘start’ of extremely) + LENT (fast) round ME (setter) – lead is an example of an element – hence the question mark | |
| 28 | Outstanding soprano appears with unfamiliar tenor | |
| SALIENT | S (soprano) + ALIEN (unfamiliar) + T (tenor) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Shrub producing narcotic drink’s dropped round | |
| COCA | COC |
|
| 2 | Under pressure he can flip – that cramps acting style | |
| PANACHE | P (pressure) + an anagram of HE CAN (anagrind is ‘flip’) around, or ‘cramping’ A (acting) | |
| 3 | Suffer during interminable summary | |
| INCUR | IN (during) + CUR |
|
| 4 | English preacher boots out one working as spy | |
| EMISSARY | E (English) + MISS |
|
| 5 | Some are not nicely brought up and talk monotonously | |
| INTONE | Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘bought up’) in arE NOT Nicely | |
| 6 | Star died squeezing rich fellow to get money for illegal purposes | |
| SLUSH FUND | SUN (star) D (died) round or ‘squeezing’ LUSH (rich) F (fellow) | |
| 7 | One will produce tattoo on skin | |
| DRUMMER | Cryptic definition – ‘tattoo’ referring to the beat of drum, produced by the drum skin | |
| 8 | Circus performer is possible description of Wagner | |
| RING MASTER | As Wagner wrote the Ring cycle, he could be described as a RING MASTER | |
| 12 | At first, rehearsing with whole cast is useful | |
| WORTHWHILE | An anagram of R (first letter of ‘rehearsing’) WITH WHOLE – anagrind is ‘cast’ | |
| 14 | With time, Czech perhaps goes to Spain – he needs the job | |
| WAGE SLAVE | W (with) + AGE (time) +SLAV (Czech perhaps) + E (Spain) | |
| 16 | Wife’s unflagging, taking time out to produce radio | |
| WIRELESS | W (wife) + |
|
| 18 | Up until now, metallic finish not included? That’s poor | |
| ALL-TIME | An anagram of METALLI |
|
| 20 | Lives filled with new positive passion if you do this? | |
| INSPIRE | Cryptic definition – IS (lives) round, or ‘filled with’ N (new) + P (positive) IRE (passion) – you would possibly inspire people if you were able to fill their lives with ‘new positive passion’. | |
| 21 | Nothing bad but ultimately unsatisfactory | |
| NAUGHT | NAUGHT |
|
| 23 | A disguise when speaking offers benefit | |
| AVAIL | Sounds like (‘when speaking’) A VEIL (disguise) | |
| 24 | In itself 10 makes 10 then | |
| NEXT | X (ten) in TEN (itself) reversed, or ‘making U-turn’ (10down) | |
An enjoyable puzzle. I started off slowly and GRENADINE was my FOI. In the end I found the top half slightly easier than the bottom half, although some of the problems were of my own making. It took me too long to see SALIENT, and I completely failed to see the anagram fodder for ALL-TIME which was my LOI and solved via the definition. I was even pondering if there was a resort called “Iscoa” from the wordplay for 25ac until the penny dropped.
I thought the clue for WALLS HAVE EARS was a good spot.
Thanks to Klingsor and B&J,
A good challenge but not too frustrating, unlike some Saturday struggles. I particularly liked 22 and 26. Looks like I mis-parsed 21. I had ‘unsatisfactory’ as the def = NA (not available) for ‘nothing’ (er… a bit iffy I accept), UGH (‘bad’), T (last letter of ‘but’). Chambers gives ‘worthless’ or ‘good for nothing’ (or ‘unsatisfactory’ at a stretch) as one meaning of ‘naught’. I think your parsing is more plausible though.
Thanks again.
Thanks BertandJoyce and Klingsor,
I parsed NAUGHT using “but” to mean “except” ie remove the last letter of unsatisfactory from naughty.
Enjoyable puzzle, usual reference to Wagner/Ring Cycle, also thought 22A particularly cute and could not parse 18D.
Thanks to Klingsor and Bertandjoyce.
All very good as usual it seemed to me except for one quibble. What was the point of calling the actor a movie actor in 9ac? The extra word ‘movie’ is redundant and adds an unnecessary level of difficulty since one thinks there is something special about this word. Not quite unfair, but almost. Surely a clue should say what it needs to say in as few words as possible? To add extra ones is just padding, no?