I found this to be a tough nut to crack from Wanderer. Progress was slow and steady .. and I still couldnt nail a couple of clues in the end without some help.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ATLANTIC OCEAN | Notice at canal about deep water (8,5) |
| Anagram of NOTICE AT CANAL | ||
| 9 | MOUNTIE | Policeman sets doctor free (7) |
| MO (doctor) UNTIE (free) | ||
| 10 | HECTARE | Unit of area the acre represented (7) |
| Anagram of THE ACRE | ||
| 11 | ROCKY | Rough diamond, an unknown quantity (5) |
| ROCK (diamond) Y (unknown quantity) | ||
| 12 | PARALYSIS | Soldier largely disheartened by relative immobility (9) |
| PARA (soldier, -trooper) LY (LargelY, disheartened) SIS (relative) | ||
| 13 | LAPIDARY | Stones expert, with new iPad to hand, cuts song (8) |
| [Anagram of IPAD R (hand)] in LAY (song) | ||
| 15 | SPOT ON | Dead right, the boy’s inhaled cannabis (4,2) |
| SON (boy) inhaled POT (cannabis) | ||
| 18 | BEDPAN | Be patient at first and perhaps you might get to go in it (6) |
| BE + anagram of [P (patient at first) AND ] | ||
| 19 | STOICISM | Second-in-command, one into witty sayings about uncomplaining fortitude in suffering (8) |
| [S (second) IC (in-comman) I (one)] into MOTS (witty sayings, french) , all reversed (about) | ||
| 22 | NEIGHBOUR | Sit next to Posh during her bingo game (9) |
| U (Posh) in anagram of HER BINGO | ||
| 24 | BENIN | Mountain in African republic (5) |
| BEN (mountain) IN | ||
| 25 | OVIDUCT | Poet going to university initially caught the Tube (7) |
| OVID (poet, Publius Ovidius Naso – Roman poet, 43 BC) U (university initially) CT (caught) | ||
| 26 | IMAGINE | Fancy being single in early 70s (7) |
| John Lennon’s hit in the 70’s | ||
| 27 | GUY THE GORILLA | Make fun of exciting story broadcast about sense of self- importance shown by Ian Botham (3,3,7) |
| GUY (make fun of) [ THRILLA (sounds like ‘thriller’, exciting story) about EGO (sense of self importance) ] – Nickname for Botham and former celebrity at the London Zoo. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1, 18 | ADMIRAL BENBOW | Blonde barmaid almost clobbered by wife in imaginary inn (7,6) |
| Anagram of BLONDE BARMAId (almost) with W (wife) – Referring to home of Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island. | ||
| 2 | LAUNCH PAD | Boat with flat place to take off (6,3) |
| LAUNCH (boat) PAD (flat) | ||
| 3 | NATTY | Concern at Tyson boxing clever (5) |
| Hidden in “concerN AT TYson” | ||
| 4 | INEXPERT | Former head of piggery still is eating ham (8) |
| [EX (former) P (head of piggery)] in INERT (still) | ||
| 5 | ON HIRE | For rent, working soundly after given a rise? (2,4) |
| ON (working) HIRE (sounds like higher, given a rise) | ||
| 6 | EUCALYPTI | Pity a clue’s anagrammed “trees” (9) |
| Anagram of PITY A CLUE | ||
| 7 | NAANS | Indian food one in hospital brought up (5) |
| AN (one) in NAS (san – hospital, reversed) | ||
| 8, 20 | NELSON MANDELA | Hold hand of the French non- current president (6,7) |
| NELSON (Hold) |
||
| 14 | DEATH DUTY | Tax as a sort of hated obligation (5,4) |
| DEATH (sort of hated, anagram) DUTY (obligation) | ||
| 16 | TRIENNIAL | In case beginning to eat in hotel becomes a regular event (9) |
| [ E (beginning to eat) in INN (hotel) ] in TRIAL (case) | ||
| 17 | STIRLING | Scottish city worthy, reportedly (8) |
| Homophone of STERLING (worthy) | ||
| 18 | See 1 | |
| 20 | See 8 | |
| 21 | HOOTCH | Drink making you scream in front of child (6) |
| HOOT (scream) CH (child) | ||
| 23 | ICING | Divination system’s not hard – a piece of cake, perhaps (5) |
| I C(h)ING – Divination system, not hard. | ||
| 24 | BLAIR | Former leader writer using a pseudonym (5) |
| Tony Blair / Eric Blair – George Orwell | ||
*anagram
Thanks, Turbolegs. I found it an easier Wanderer than usual, but stymied myself for a long time by wrongly entering “eucalypts”. Once that was sorted the last couple fell into place. Nice one, Wanderer, for some reason I especially enjoyed 9ac MOUNTIE.
Many thanks for the blog which helped considerably!
I did wonder whether in 8,20 it was “main de la” (all three words being French) with I (non-current) being removed.
Thanks, Turbolegs, for the blog, and Wanderer for an enjoyable puzzle.
I read 8,20 as Alan did. ‘Non – current’ is a very odd description.
[Today is Nelson Mandela Day – it would have been his 96th birthday.]
I took ma(i)n de la as well. Not wanderer’s hardest but a few to ponder.
nothing wrong as such with 1a but just seemed too easy a starting point.
Ps don’t worry about asking for help. I can’t believe there’s a blogger here who hasn’t 🙂
Didn’t know it was Mandela’s birthday but unlike some FT puzzles it didn’t matter.
Thanks for the comments, all.
Hi Alan @2,
Undoubtedly, your parsing is right. I will fix it above.
Hi Flashling @5,
Thanks for the kind words – not having a great day trying to be intelligent, I guess.
Regards,
Turbolegs
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
A backlog puzzle for me and my first crack at this setter.
The LHS took quite a while to crack, not helped by initially writing UNCUT in at 11. The last in was the well hidden NATTY – I knew it meant smart … but thought it was more about looking smart (spruce) rather than being smart (clever). However, there it is in the dictionary.