I found this mostly quite easy (especially in comparison to Arachne’s recent Monday puzzle), though with a few slight obscurities that I needed to check. Several very nice clues where the cryptic structure is well hidden.
Key:
dd = double definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SHADOW CABINET | dd | ||||||
| 10. | RUN INTO | RUN IN + TO – “Brief” applies to “transport officer”, with just “Encounter” as the definition. | ||||||
| 11. | DERANGE | ER in DANGE(r) | ||||||
| 12. | NURSE | dd | ||||||
| 13. | GELIGNITE | GE (Germanium) + LIGNITE | ||||||
| 14. | BY FAR | B(o)Y + RAF< – again the definition is well concealed | ||||||
| 16. | DYSPLASIA | (DISPLAYS A)* – I didn’t know the word, but it was fairly guess from the anagram and a few checking letters | ||||||
| 18. | NICOTIANA | (CIA NATION)* | ||||||
| 19. | ROPES | Hidden (“quarantined”) in caiRO PESthouse | ||||||
| 20. | HOUSEWORK | dd | ||||||
| 23. | CARER | CAREER less E | ||||||
| 24. | RAMADAN | DRAMA* + A(ttract) N(otice). I don’t much like the hyphen here – it could be omitted without spoiling the surface. | ||||||
| 25. | OFF PEAK | OFF + PEAK | ||||||
| 26. | ANIMADVERSION | DAMIAN* + VERSION. I’m sure we had “animadvert” not that long ago. | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 2. | HONORIFIC | (OF CHOIR IN)* | ||||||
| 3. | DENSE | DEN(i)SE | ||||||
| 4. | WRONG | (s)W(o)R(e) + O + NG | ||||||
| 5. | ANDALUSIA | A SUNDIAL* A | ||||||
| 6. | IRREGULAR | I + A LUGER< in RR (Rolls Royce) | ||||||
| 7. | ENNUI | E NUN* I | ||||||
| 8. | FRONT BENCHERS | FRONT (face, verb) + BENCHERS | ||||||
| 9. | GENERAL STRIKE | GENERAL’S TRIKE – this was the first answer I got. “1926 crisis” leapt out at me and the wordplay quickly followed. | ||||||
| 15. | ROTTERDAM | ROTTER + DAM | ||||||
| 16. | DRAGOONED | (GORDON A)* + ED (Balls). Like a Private Eye clue! |
||||||
| 17. | SUPERHERO | SUPER + HERO. There’s a Hero in Much Ado About Nothing. | ||||||
| 21. | UNMAN | UN (dialect for “one”) + MAN, and “cow” (verb) is the definition | ||||||
| 22. | KRONE | Hidden in (yemEN OR Kuwait)< | ||||||
| 23. | CUFFS | Sergeant Cuff appears in the Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. | ||||||
Andrew
16d “Using “A” for “first” as part of the anagram fodder is a bit suspect”
I parsed this as ‘first about’ giving the first letter of ‘about’ which is then part of the anagram (reshuffling) with ‘Gordon’.
To be pedantic, you can’t ‘reshuffle’ something unless it has been shuffled previously 🙂
Gaufrid, you’re probably right – but I think “first about” for “first letter of about” is also a bit suspect 🙂
Thanks, Andrew.
Found this one straightforward but entertaining, with good variety of clues, some of which were nicely misleading. I spent some time trying to make 26ac out of (CENSUREDAMIAN)* before realising my mistake.
Re 23dn, the Sergeant in Wilkie Collins’s ‘The Moonstone” is CUFF; hence the ‘apostrophe s’ in the clue is indicating a genitive construction rather than a contraction of ‘sergeant is’.
Thanks Geoff, Sgt Cuffs was a typo which I’ve now corrected.
Mostly straightforward, and enjoyable. I struggled a bit with the bottom quarter, because (on the bus) I had carelessly written NICOTINIA for 18ac.
What a pity about 6d: I guessed irregular and noticed it was almost an anagram of Guerrilla; just need to change L to R. Perhaps “Guerrilla changes sides?”
Re 5d – I worked this out easily enough from the anagram of A SUNDIAL but I don’t understand how you get the extra A from “showing afternoon” – anyone?
Smutchin, I think it’s just A = afternoon (I believe this is a common crossword abbreviation, but I can’t verify it at the moment), with “inaccurately showing” being the anagrind.
5d ‘A’ as an abbreviation for ‘afternoon’ is in Chambers.
OK, fair enough – thanks for the explanations.
I also had NICOTINIA for a while, then corrected it. But I never got past trying to make an anagram out of CENSURE DAMIAN.
Whatever Chambers says I don’t like “a” for afternoon any more than I like “ng” for no good.
Thanks, Andrew. Does “ED (Balls)” in 16d refer to the politician? If so, I’ve never seen this in a crossword before and was wondering if it was of fairly recent vintage.
I too was trying for the longest time to make an anagram out of “censure Damian”…
Geoff, re 23dn
If the Definition is “way of dealing with naughty boys?”
then CUFFING might be a more suitable solution, even with
a question mark.
Any thoughts on this interpretation of the clue using
deal = inflict (a blow) on someone?:
The Susidiary Indication could be CUFF has S(way)
and the Definition could be “dealing with naughty boys?”,
the question mark indicating that “dealing” refers to the
series of blows inflicted by the sergeant.
Polecat – yes, I think this interpretation would work.
Re 23 dn I thought the allusion was to handcuffs rather than the illegal smacking of juvenile offenders.
Thanks Dagnabit and John for your comments.
last weeks alphabetic too tough to blog?
stiofain