First things first, I must own up that this probably won’t be a vintage post, as I simply didn’t get the time to even begin this puzzle this week, hence a slightly tardy posting.
Simultaneously solving and blogging, this seemed a very enjoyable puzzle. There are some lovely surface readings in there, and a good handful of nice anagrams.
As almost always, there are a couple of details that you lot will have to explain to me.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BO-PEEP | Worker procuring work with quiet little character tending sheep (2-4) |
| (OP in BEE) + P. | ||
| 4 | PHONED | Called doctor to restrain me (6) |
| ONE in PhD. | ||
| 8 | HALO | This indicates holiness endless peace in the Middle East (4) |
| [s]HALO[m]. | ||
| 9 | BURNISHING | Polishing and shining, rub vigorously (10) |
| (SHINING RUB)*. | ||
| 11 | BLIND MAN’S BUFF | Game author reportedly beginning to show bare flesh after drunken binge (5,4,4) |
| Absolutely no idea, beyond this being a well-known game. | ||
| 12 | TELEGRAM | Dispatch 22 and get out (8) |
| (REALM + GET)*. | ||
| 14 | INSERT | Rent is arranged for place in the interior (6) |
| (RENT IS)*. | ||
| 17 | TAURUS | Stars getting cheers before ball game in America (6) |
| TA + (RU in US). | ||
| 19 | SATIRIST | One in prison is television’s foremost comedian (8) |
| (A in STIR) + IS + T[elevision]. | ||
| 21 | PERIODIC TABLE | MThis arrangement establishes that copper is ordered not to follow lead! (8,5) |
| I think just a cryptic definition, but do let me know if there’s anything more to it than that. | ||
| 24 | GREAT DANES | Large dogs in tea gardens, running wild (5,5) |
| (TEA GARDENS)*. | ||
| 25 | ACTS | Book/musical’s principal characters swap places (4) |
| From CATS, with the first two letters (“principal characters”) swapped. Nicely done. | ||
| 26 | NOMADS | Itinerants’ son heads west eating bananas (6) |
| MAD in SON<. | ||
| 27 | LADDER | Live snake with its partner on board (6) |
| L + ADDER. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRAMBLE | Walk beside local road to collect fruit (7) |
| B (as in B road) + RAMBLE. | ||
| 2 | PROFITEER | I prefer to rent from capitalist (9) |
| (I PREFER TO)*. | ||
| 3 | EMBED | Journalist receives honour – one placed in a military unit (5) |
| MBE in ED. | ||
| 5 | HAIR SHIRT | Hot character, irritable, in short, uncomfortable clothing (4,5) |
| H + AIR + SHIRT[y]. | ||
| 6 | NEHRU | Statesman upset that man being embraced by American nurse for all to see (5) |
| (HE in RN)< + U. | ||
| 7 | DONE FOR | Nestled in bed, one foreseeably close to death (4,3) |
| [be]D ONE FOR[seeably]. | ||
| 10 | READMISSION | This may get one in repeatedly to study assignment (11) |
| READ + MISSION. | ||
| 12 | TIT | One may be blue, referring to this! (3) |
| Hm, not sure I quite follow. Obviously there’s the Blue Tit, but “referring to this”? | ||
| 13 | RESPONDED | Came back by desert, endlessly heading north around oasis, perhaps (9) |
| POND in DESER[t]<. | ||
| 15 | SURFBOARD | This may be ridden in the main for absurd recreation (9) |
| (FOR ABSURD)*. | ||
| 16 | TAT | Tasteless articles perhaps given in exchange for 12? (3) |
| As in “tit for tat”. | ||
| 18 | ASPIRIN | Terrible pain, sir? This might help! (7) |
| (PAIN SIR)*. | ||
| 20 | SWEATER | Atmospheric conditions not hot, with sun above Jersey (7) |
| S + WEAT[h]ER. | ||
| 22 | REALM | 500 pages covering large field of study (5) |
| L in REAM | ||
| 23 | TESTA | Protective covering set up by volunteers (5) |
| SET< + TA. A new word for me, but easy enough to find from wordplay. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition
11a BLIND (drunk) MAN (homophone ‘reportedly’ of Thomas Mann) S (beginning to Show) and BUFF (naked).
21a – I agree that it is a cryptic definition
12d – I think ‘this’ is the definition, referring to the blue bird.
And I agree that it is a very enjoyable puzzle so thanks to Commoner and Simon too.
BLIND is also ‘a drunken bout’, according to my SOED, so that would account for the ‘binge’ bit.
Agree with crypticsue on PERIODIC TABLE, but I think the surface is meant to suggest a policeman following a ‘lead’ to catch a criminal.
I took BLUE TIT to be referring to the fact that if you were using the word TIT to refer to a woman’s breast, then you could be accused of using BLUE language.
Good puzzle. Thanks to Commoner and Simon.
Yes, an enjoyable puzzle. HALO was my LOI from the definition alone so thanks for the parsing.
First class crossword, more from commoner, it gave me a few hours of pleasure sorting these well balanced clues.