Just like buses … you wait ages for one and then another one comes along straight afterwards. We hadn’t seen Nitsy for ages in the Indy until his puzzle a couple of weeks ago, and here he is back again. I wasn’t too keen on this one: rather a lot of questionable synonyms and some cluing I couldn’t understand. You can no doubt put me right.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Want judge to ignore maiden embracing gentleman
DESIRE
An insertion of SIR in DEE[M]
4 Lamb, perhaps – try it stuffed with sage initially
ESSAYIST
English literature’s most famous ESSAYIST, Charles Lamb: a charade of ESSAY and S in IT.
9 Golf, for example, reversing around old men
TROOPS
An insertion of O in SPORT reversed. I was going to say that golf isn’t a sport, but I’ll restrain myself on this occasion.
10 Fiddle next to valley, cutting a hedge
STRADDLE
A charade of STRAD for the violin (not sure that the maker would have been happy having it called a ‘fiddle’) and D[A]LE. How that is a definition of ‘hedge’, I don’t know. Hedging your bets?
12 Steep bill returned by the man
BATHE
A reversal of TAB and HE.
13 Criminal won’t snivel when leaving wife’s bust
INSOLVENT
([W]ONTSNIVEL)* with ‘criminal’ as the anagrind.
14 Mark if one phrase is important
SIGNIFICANT
A charade of SIGN, IF, I and CANT. CANT for ‘phrase’?
18 Awful charade with the termination of free school principal
HEAD TEACHER
(CHARADE THE E)* I’d always write this as one word, but two is fine as well.
21 Worse number? Anything that is by Queen
NAUGHTIER
If I’ve understood this well, I don’t much like it. I think it’s a charade of N for ‘number’, AUGHT, IE and R for Regina. ‘Worse’ for NAUGHTIER? ‘He’s been bad/he’s been naughty’ is fine, but the comparative adjective doesn’t work in that context.
23 Taken for a ride South by navy in boat
STUNG
A charade of S and N inserted into TUG. N for ‘navy’ works in the sense that RN is ‘Royal Navy’, I suppose.
24 Champion to consume about fifty fish
SPLENDID
An insertion (‘about’) of L in SPEND, followed by ID for the fish. Except the fish is the IDE, so I don’t understand this one. Champion! for Splendid! only works if you’re from oop north, I suspect.
25 Review‘s pleasant about group of books
NOTICE
An insertion of OT for ‘Old Testament’ in NICE.
26 Drop iron?
DECREASE
Well, if you ‘iron’ a shirt, it won’t have creases in it any more, will it? A dd cum cd.
27 Arranges backing in races, e.g. at Sandown.
STAGES
Hidden reversed in raceS EG AT Sandown.
Down
1 Where figures might be raising a little, then low
DATABASE
A reversal of A TAD followed by BASE.
2 Need right brand in footwear
SHORTAGE
An insertion of R and TAG in SHOE. ‘Brand’ in the cattle sense, I think.
3 Pilsner? He ordered refill
REPLENISH
(PILSNER HE)*
5 French composer’s lacking energy – works unexceptional
SATISFACTORY
The composer Erik SATI[E]S plus FACTORY for ‘works’.
6 Help Vice Admiral keeling over with pain
AVAIL
A reversal of VA followed by AIL.
7 Fashionable act still
INDEED
A charade of IN and DEED. I suppose ‘still’ and INDEED are interchangeable as markers at the start of a sentence: ‘Still/Indeed, it’s not the worst thing that could have happened.’
8 Shift in tax settlement
TREATY
An insertion of EAT in TRY. ‘He’s trying my patience.’ ‘He shifted half of the shepherd’s pie on his own.’
11 IRA missile – it wrecked things in agreement
SIMILARITIES
(IRA MISSILE IT)*
15 Managed small drink after tenor’s entrance
TRANSPORT
A charade of T, RAN, S and PORT. ‘Entrance’ in its verbal sense.
16 Quiet trip? Not with this!
SHOUTING
A charade of SH and OUTING, with an extended definition.
17 Mature priest sitting on monstrous female
PROGRESS
A charade of PR and OGRESS.
19 Idle group of students stuck by what stands for university education
UNUSED
An insertion of NUS in U and ED. I’m not over the moon about ‘stuck’ as an insertion indicator, if that is indeed what it is.
20 For everyone bar rogues, mostly
PUBLIC
A charade of PUB and LIC[E]. Is it really LIC[E]? Are LICE ‘rogues’? I think we should be told.
22 In back of building he rolled joint
HINGE
(IN HE G)* with ‘rolled’ as the anagrind.
Not my favourite ever Nitsy, but thank you to him anyway.
Thanks Pierre and Nitsy,
In 22 d, “rolled” could be an insertion/envelope indicator rather than an anagrind. In contrast, for 19d, stuck doesn’t need to act as an insertion indicator – “stuck by” puts NUS next to (in this case after) U, and ED then comes at the end. Maybe.
I have no objection to STRADDLE=hedge or NAUGHTIER=worse, but I share your puzzlement at SPLENDID. Apparently the Swedish name for the fish is id, or, if as long as we’re on foreign languages, perhaps this started life as a clue for splendide.
I struggled with TREATY as I’ve never heard of shifting food in that sense, but otherwise all straightforward. Thanks, Nitsy and Pierre.
24ac, Chambers gives both id and ide as spellings for the fish – indeed, id appears as the main spelling and there is only a re-direction under ide.
I, too, struggled to understand the parsing of 8dn, so thanks for the explanation.
Nowt wrong with champion for splendid, nipper!
Cant, a common saying or stock phrase. Using phrase to give cant is pushing it a bit.
‘Stuck by’ as an inclusion indicator, my car was stuck by the lorry and the bus, not brilliant.