Independent 8633/Punk

Always a pleasure to come across a Punk puzzle when I’m on duty.  Some straightforward stuff to get you going, but I really struggled to get over the line.  Only one bum and one tit reference today, so those who don’t like this setter’s schoolboy humour have not got too much to be concerned about.

 

 

Abbreviations

cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1  Rank junk in Texas, say?
STATUS
An insertion of TAT in S US, since Texas is indubitably in the Southern United States.

5  Young leaders in African territories shut in houses
IMMATURE
Another insertion: of AT for the first letters of ‘African territories’ in IMMURE, which means to ‘shut in’ or ‘wall in’.  The cryptic grammar is fine; you just have to put some kind of mental punctuation between ‘territories’ and ‘shut’.  IMMURE is not an everyday word, but is related to the French le mur for ‘wall’.

9  Become a mummy?  You must be joking!
GET STUFFED
A cd cum dd.  If you were an Egyptian mummy, you’d have been stuffed with natron as part of the embalming process.

10  Magazine flier?
TIME
A dd.  The American magazine famous for its covers and referring to the phrase ‘time flies’.  Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

11  Prayer recalling peak in mountain range
CHAPLAIN
It’s ALP reversed in CHAIN.  Punk is using a whimsical definition of CHAPLAIN – one who prays, therefore a ‘prayer’.

12/16  Measures required to secure new jumpers – I stand by it as the easiest way
LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE
Congratulations if you got this from the wordplay and not from the enumeration.  It’s NEO for ‘new’ and FLEAS for ‘jumpers’ in LITRES for ‘measures’ all followed by I and STANCE for ‘stand’.

13  Successful doctor about to shame malevolent woman, prying type
CURTAIN-TWITCHER
Ditto.  It’s TAINT for ‘shame’ and WITCH for ‘malevolent woman’ all in CURER for ‘successful doctor’.

19  Here all classes extremely happy to enter prize
PHYLUM
An insertion of HY for the outside letters of ‘happy’ in PLUM, as in ‘she’s just landed a plum job’.  The second level down in the Linnaean classification system.  For example, you are:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: Sapiens

So all ‘classes’ are in a PHYLUM; hence ‘here all classes’. And we are Homo sapiens, ‘wise man’.  Although looking at all the ethnic and religious conflict that’s going on in the world at the minute, you’d perhaps wonder why Linnaeus gave us that moniker.  The mnemonic, should you be remotely interested, is King Prawns Cry Over Fish Going South.

22 Private island?  Do I have to?  What might Juan Carlos say?
MUSTIQUE
A charade of MUST I? and ¿QUÉ? which is what a Spanish bloke like Juan Carlos would say for ‘what?’  The favourite haunt of the late and not much lamented Princess Margaret.

24  Empty fable, the tale that’s contrived about stars primarily, those coming out at night
FALSE TEETH
Punk is inviting you to ’empty fable’ to make FE, add THE TALE, and S for the first letter of ‘stars’, and then make an anagram of all that: (FE THE TALE S)*  I liked the misdirection in this one.

25  Speed – it’s required between the sticks
CELERITY
An insertion of IT in CELERY, which comes in ‘sticks’.  The two words are not etymologically related, I discovered.

26  Spuds, mashed treats
TATERS
(TREATS)*

Down

2  Build here to use elevated accommodation
TREE HOUSE
(HERE TO USE)* with ‘build’ as the anagrind.

3  Stupid sap to s-see?
TOSSPOT
A charade of TO, S and SPOT for ‘see’.

4  Quick easier, but one caught out when cryptic pitched at a higher level
SQUEAKIER
Nice crosswordy surface.  The anagrind is ‘cryptic’, and the anagram fodder is QU[IC]KEASIER.

5  Popular item is forced in at last, to a very minor degree
INFINITESIMALLY
It’s a bit convoluted: IN for ‘popular’ followed by (ITEM IS)* in FINALLY.  The anagrind is ‘forced’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’.

6  Item worn around the neck to stick one’s nose in, say?
MEDAL
A homophone of MEDDLE.

7  Massive box office success
TITANIC
It took me for ever to see this, and yet Punk might as well have given it to me on a plate.  A dd, referring to the film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio.   Arms out, everyone.

8  Sly character has run into lad wiping bottom
RAMBO
More films.  It helps to know that the RAMBO movies starred Sylvester Stallone, and that Sylvester was often nicknamed ‘Sly’.  I didn’t know either of those things, so was left floundering.  It’s a charade of RAM for ‘run into’ and BO[Y].

14  Forceful in relation to every new thing, on all fronts
INSISTENT
A charade of IN, SIS and TENT for the first letters of ‘to every new thing’.

15  Study carries university into key battle
ENCOUNTER
An insertion of U in CON for ‘study’, all inserted into ENTER for the ‘key’ that I’m now about to press to get me to the next line.

17  Cross sailor’s wrath
SALTIRE
A charade of SALT and IRE.  It is indeed a heraldic ‘cross’, but also commonly refers to the Scottish flag, which has a cross on it.

18  A green nut hollowed out as food
ALIMENT
A charade of A, LIME and N[U]T.

20  Something essential to bracket?
HINGE
I suppose a HINGE is an essential part of a bracket, but I think it’s also referring to the comedy duo HINGE and BRACKET.

Edit: the setter has kindly dropped in at comment no 1 to explain that this is in fact a hidden answer.

21  Topless bird poor fit for civvies
MUFTI
[E]MU followed by (FIT)*.  MUFTI refers to the clothes that service personnel wear when they come back into ‘civvy street’.  Comes from Arabic, apparently.

Thanks to Punk for this one.  Is Quixote on his summer holidays?