I think this is the fourth Sunday blog in a row that I’ve drawn Poins, or vice versa. No complaints from me there.
As usual, this one seemed very smooth indeed, with everything falling into place nicely. I’ve exactly zero scribbled notes on my paper, suggesting this wasn’t in any way painful!
Over the weeks I’ve noticed that in many clues, Poins inserts a sort of linking word such as “of” or “in” between definition and wordplay (sorry, “subsidiary indication”). I wonder how other solvers feel about that. I probably wouldn’t have thought twice were I not explicitly having to explain the clues, but once you notice it, it becomes difficult to un-notice if you see what I mean.
Still, that’s one of the great things about the Independent crosswords – that setters are free to display their individual styles.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MELLOW | Genial chap needing no introduction on Malta (6) |
| M + [f]ELLOW. | ||
| 4 | ABSURD | Foolish sailors game to return to Germany (6) |
| ABS + RU< + D. | ||
| 8 | KNOW-ALL | Wise guy‘s denial heard by everyone (4-3) |
| Homophone of “no” (a denial) + ALL. | ||
| 9 | BARRAGE | Bombardment of boat carrying soldiers (7) |
| RA in BARGE. | ||
| 11 | ACCUSATIVE | It’s a case of working without us in Central America (10) |
| (US in CA) in ACTIVE. | ||
| 12 | GAOL | Prison officer’s first to stab convict from behind (4) |
| O[fficer] in LAG<. | ||
| 13 | SATIN | Small container filled with Askey’s earliest material (5) |
| A[skey] in (S + TIN). | ||
| 14 | UNSETTLE | Trouble in a French town (8) |
| UN + SETTLE. | ||
| 16 | LAMBASTE | Unsatisfactory to wrap Egyptian goddess in carpet (8) |
| BAST in LAME. | ||
| 18 | TOPER | Essential to stop Ernest becoming a drinker (5) |
| Hidden in [s]TOP ER[nest]. | ||
| 20 | GEAR | Unusually good fish found in Spain? Just the opposite (4) |
| E in GAR. A term one tends to associate with the Beatles, but still not a common term. Hence “unusually”. | ||
| 21 | SEAMSTRESS | Appears to be speaking to Rex, grabbed by girl from sewer (10) |
| Homophone of “seems” + (R in TESS). | ||
| 23 | POLECAT | An animal’s place to crash (7) |
| (PLACE TO)*. | ||
| 24 | SEVILLE | City look at containing Villa for the most part (7) |
| VILL[a] in SEE. | ||
| 25 | TENDER | Offer of support to keep North Dakota republican (6) |
| (ND in TEE) + R. | ||
| 26 | SKATES | Swimmers start to seek things to wear on the feet (6) |
| SKATE + S[eek]. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MANIC | Involved with blocking river up when demented (5) |
| (IN in CAM)<. | ||
| 2 | LAWSUIT | Capone turned up with clothing in a case (7) |
| AL< Capone + W + SUIT. | ||
| 3 | OIL PAINTS | I slap it on furiously with what Rembrandt liked to use (3,6) |
| (I SLAP IT ON)*. | ||
| 5 | BRAKE | Crack reportedly found in stopper (5) |
| Homophone of “break”. | ||
| 6 | UPRIGHT | Just winning over the Conservatives (7) |
| UP + RIGHT. | ||
| 7 | DOG COLLAR | Follow with arrest when it’s found on a clergyman (3,6) |
| DOG + COLLAR. | ||
| 10 | MINUTEMAN | One ready to serve for a short time on island (9) |
| MINUTE + Isle of MAN. | ||
| 13 | SCAPEGOAT | He takes the blame for page’s coat getting torn (9) |
| (PAGE‘S COAT)*. | ||
| 15 | SO TO SPEAK | Very much against having son on top, as it were (2,2,5) |
| SO + TO + S + PEAK. | ||
| 17 | BURGEON | Eats over time to grow (7) |
| GRUB< + EON. | ||
| 19 | PERSIST | Press it in order to carry on (7) |
| (PRESS IT)*. | ||
| 21 | SHARE | Cut soprano before musical’s mentioned (5) |
| S + homophone of “Hair”. | ||
| 22 | SALES | Opportunities to sell drink on board (5) |
| ALE in SS. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition
I sailed through most of this but then I got stuck on the 11ac/10dn/16ac crossers. I eventually saw ACCUSATIVE, then MINUTEMAN, and finally LAMBASTE. I didn’t know or had forgotten BAST and I would normally spell the answer “lambast”, although my Chambers says that both are acceptable.
As far as Simon’s question about Poins’ use of linking words is concerned I can’t say that I noticed them, and my view it that he generally writes enjoyable puzzles
Didn’t find this as smooth a solve as Simon Harris, took ages to see POLECAT despite the – now – obvious anagrind.
At 20A I took the word GEAR to mean “unusually (as in “very”) good” . However you may be right, as the usage is apparently so rare that I can’t find it anywhere, despite having heard it used.
Thanks to Poins and Simon Harris.
Hi gwep @2
“… as the usage is apparently so rare that I can’t find it anywhere …”
From Chambers under ‘gear’: “adjective (old slang) unusually good, or (later) very up to date”.
Thanks Gaufrid, that had me puzzled on the train last week.
Another WHOOPIE for me at last, I nearly finished this one. I will look out for Mr Poins, in the future, very enjoyable.