- *=anagram
- [] = removed e.g. char[m]=char
- ()=abbreviation e.g. A(mpere)=a
- Hom. = homophone
This was a puzzle in the style of Punk and other compilers who like to get a bit of humour and sauciness into the clues. There were plenty of examples of the latter, esp 3 and 22, and 8 was a good joke at the expense of a Labour politician who is known to have a major indiscretion.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Carry around old copper valve (8) | ||
| Stopcock | Stock around o(ld) + PC. Carry used here in the sense of “carry confectionery”. | ||
| 5. | Complex way to kill conversation (4-2) | ||
| Hang up | DD – as in hanging up on a phone conversation. | ||
| 10. | Foreign car’s rubbish, recalled examiner (7) | ||
| Auditor | Audi + rot<. | ||
| 11. | Performing moonies is offensive (7) | ||
| Noisome | Moonies* | ||
| 12. | Female by pool shaving (5) | ||
| Flake | F + lake, shaving in the sense of wood shavings. | ||
| 13. | Non-vital half of company taken over by American one (9) | ||
| Inorganic | Organi[sation] in Inc. | ||
| 14. | Without confusion, organise unfinished playing area (9,3) | ||
| Orchestra pit | Orchestrat[e] around pi. Apparently pi can mean a confused mixture, something that comes from a term for printing types mixed together. | ||
| 18. | Naval division from Mary Rose lain at sea (5,7) | ||
| Royal Marines | (Mary Rose lain)* | ||
| 21. | Worn-out old lady doesn’t finish before a late hour (4-5) | ||
| Moth eaten | Mothe[r] + a ten. | ||
| 23. | Back pain without sign of timeout, that’s reality (5) | ||
| Truth | Hurt< around t(imeout). I'm guessing t is an abbreviation for timeout in some context. | ||
| 24. | Whip company overwhelmed by sudden rush (7) | ||
| Scourge | Surge around co | ||
| 25. | Intense series ends in striking fashion (7) | ||
| Blazing | Bling (flashy clothing and jewellery) around A-Z. | ||
| 26. | Urge to blackmail husband for the first time (6) | ||
| Exhort | Extort with H(usband) replacing t[ime]. | ||
| 27. | Can joint set after operation? (8) | ||
| Jettison | (Joint set)* | ||
Down |
|||
| 1. | Poles from south added to workforce (6) | ||
| Staffs | Staff + S(outh) | ||
| 2. | Learner rode a kicking mare (6) | ||
| Ordeal | (L rode a)*, mare as an old-fashioned abbrev for nightmare. | ||
| 3. | Animal doctor invested in remedy for large erection (9) | ||
| Cathedral | Cat + DR in heal | ||
| 4. | Protected food from my horrors, catching one son noshing apple cores (7,7) | ||
| Cornish Pasties | Cor(=my) + nasties around I s(on) [nos]h[ing] [ap]p[le] | ||
| 6. | Taking off with a resonant sound (5) | ||
| Aping | A + ping | ||
| 7. | Adults fill bodies with wine regularly (5-3) | ||
| Grown-ups | Odd letters of wine in groups. | ||
| 8. | Power nap for bed-hopping politician (8) | ||
| Prescott | P(ower) + rest hopping (=around) cot. | ||
| 9. | Preposterous – one council bans dashes (14) | ||
| Unconscionable | (One council bans)* | ||
| 15. | Drug blocking tear and crying reflex (2-7) | ||
| Re-entrant | E(cstasy) in rent + rant. A re-entrant angle is another term for a reflex angle. | ||
| 16. | More pies to be cooked, one’s assured (8) | ||
| Promisee | (More pies)* | ||
| 17. | Canine upset ambassador, biting the old fart (3,5) | ||
| Eye tooth | HE< around ye (old word for the) + toot | ||
| 19. | Game even includes duck (6) | ||
| Quoits | Quits around o | ||
| 20. | Weapon disembowelled warlord (6) | ||
| Shogun | Sho[t]gun | ||
| 22. | Mirror repositioned partially reflecting boob (5) | ||
| Error | Hidden, rev in mirROR REpositioned | ||
Thanks, Neal.
I can handle a bit of rude on a Monday morning, and liked this one. Just the last half dozen that held me up a bit. Well done for parsing ORCHESTRA PIT and CORNISH PASTIES. I’m sure I could have managed them both, but …
Specially liked GROWN-UPS and liked the surface reading of ERROR.
The modern equivalent of ‘mare’ is ‘Weston-super’: ‘The exam this morning was a bit of a Weston-Super’. According to my kids, anyway.
I found this a little tougher than usual for a Monday. I was held up at the end by the ORCHESTRA PIT/CORNISH PASTIES crossers and I never did bother to try and parse them, so thanks for that Neal. After I entered them I didn’t get the congratulatory message and it was only after I clicked the “Check” button that I found out that my other unparsed answer, “beating” at 25ac, was wrong. I gave it a little more thought and came up with the correct BLAZING and how it was parsed, but a failure nonetheless.
Tricky for a Monday. Getting late here so I had to come to the blog to get BLAZING, then guessed RE-ENTRANT, though geometry having always been beyond me, couldn’t say why.
Can somebody give me a sentence where “rant” and “crying” are interchangeable?
On Crossword Solver this puzzle is misnumbered 8655.
Thanks to eXternal and NealH.
Yes, I pointed out to Eimi the error in the numbering, but he confirmed it was the correct puzzle.
Very nice eX, Prescott reminded me of the anagram of Norman Lamont – Not a normal man. Do the legal section have to go through the crossword, although Cyclops would be bankrupt if the did.
Thanks Neal the Noisome clue has an “is” too many in the anagram material.
I certainly found this very tough today and in the end couldn’t see what 25ac was. 2nd, I noticed that the anagram fodder gave Laredo and as there is an old cowboy song The Streets of Laredo, I was convinced that it ought to be a type of horse, but I could nowhere find it defined as such.
The presence of J,K,Q,X and Z set me looking for a pangram – but there’s no V.
Good puzzle, though: thanks, eXternal and NealH
We only solved 25ac as we guessed it was a pangram. Having parsed BLAZING we then realised there was no V!
Good puzzle – a few head-scratching moments, a few smiles and a few new definitions – just the way to start the week.
Thanks eXternal and NealH.
Thanks eXternal and NealH
New words for me were PROMISEE and STOPCOCK, and I needed help to parse 14a, 2d, 15d, 25a.
My favourite was 13a.
2018 at last, I even finished today’s eXternal Puzzle , a well balanced & enjoyable jaunt. I look forward to the next from this compiler