What can we say?
Another excellent Dac, which for some reason we found slightly tougher than normal. As usual, excellent surfaces, with an ingenious definition at 1d.
We were delighted that our favourite Greek island made an appearance at 11ac – we haven’t visited for a couple of years now, but will be back there in 2017.
| Across | ||
| 1 | A cent, so worthless, put at back of the wallet (8) | |
| NOTECASE | An anagram of A CENT SO – anagrind is ‘worthless’ + E (last letter or ‘back’ of ‘the’) | |
| 5 | Prophet and priest rejected religious pilgrimage (6) | |
| ELIJAH | ELI (priest) + HAJ (religious pilgrimage) reversed or ‘rejected’ | |
| 9 | Charge about home getting part of house safe from storms (9) | |
| RAINPROOF | RAP (charge) round IN (home) + ROOF (part of house) | |
| 11 | Greek island, second to be captured by special troops (5) | |
| SAMOS | MO (second) in or ‘captured by’ SAS (special troops) | |
| 12 | Part of North African town in area near sea (6) | |
| MEDINA | IN A (area) ‘near’ MED (sea) | |
| 13 | End tucked in torn clothing (7) | |
| RAIMENT | AIM (end) ‘tucked’ in RENT (torn) | |
| 14 | Thus identifies thief top gunner’s shot (4,3,6,2) | |
| PUTS THE FINGER ON | An anagram of THIEF TOP GUNNER’S – anagrind is ‘shot’ | |
| 16 | Arranged nice drives: attempt to back US tourism, perhaps (7,8) | |
| SERVICE INDUSTRY | An anagram of NICE DRIVES – anagrind is ‘arranged’ + TRY (attempt) after or ‘backing’ US | |
| 19 | Old Welshman rolling after drinking half of best rum (7) | |
| OFFBEAT | O (old) + TAFF (Welshman) reversed or ‘rolling’ around or ‘drinking’ BE |
|
| 21 | Firmly fix eastern and northern itinerary during discussion (6) | |
| ENROOT | E (eastern) N (northern) + a homonym (‘during discussion’) of ROUTE (itinerary) | |
| 23 | Order not entirely predictable (5) | |
| EDICT | Hidden in (‘not entirely’) prEDICTable | |
| 24 | Restore control, say (9) | |
| REINSTATE | REIN (control) STATE (say) | |
| 25 | Tease lecturer having a new coat (6) | |
| RAGLAN | RAG (tease) L (lecturer) A N (new) | |
| 26 | Frank initially mislaid old records for dances (3-5) | |
| ONE-STEPS | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | Shopper hurried up, before bank’s closure (4) | |
| NARK | RAN (hurried) reversed or ‘up’ + K (last letter or ‘closure’ of ‘bank’) | |
| 2 | Examiner keeps scripture marks for a term at Harvard (9) | |
| TRIMESTER | TESTER (examiner) round or ‘keeping’ RI (scripture) M (marks) | |
| 3 | Islander‘s extremely canny, quietly leading rebellion (7) | |
| CYPRIOT | C |
|
| 4 | It gets hot overnight: heart rate goes wonky (7,6) | |
| STORAGE HEATER | An anagram of HEART RATE GOES – anagrind is ‘wonky’ | |
| 6 | Hollywood swindle going on and on? (7) | |
| LASTING | LA (Los Angeles – location of Hollywood) STING (swindle) | |
| 7 | Oliver perhaps, first person to entertain friend in France (5) | |
| JAMIE | JE (first person in French) round or ‘entertaining’ AMI (friend in French) | |
| 8 | Lack of certainty, say, in the Conservative leader, wavering (9) | |
| HESITANCY | An anagram of SAY IN THE C (first letter or ‘leader’ of ‘Conservative’) – anagrind is ‘wavering’ | |
| 10 | Troops wield power, with a great number chasing foe endlessly (7,6) | |
| FOREIGN LEGION | REIGN (wield power) LEGION (a great number) after or ‘chasing’ FO |
|
| 14 | Old soldier moved quietly into jetty (9) | |
| PISTOLEER | STOLE (moved quietly) in PIER (jetty) | |
| 15 | Limit alcoholic drink – here’s why? (9) | |
| RATIONALE | RATION (limit) ALE (alcoholic drink) | |
| 17 | Noticed team-mate swallowing cold drink (4,3) | |
| ICED TEA | Hidden in or ‘swallowed by’ ‘notICED TEAm’ | |
| 18 | Unionist forces in revolts (7) | |
| UPRISES | U (Unionist) PRISES (forces) | |
| 20 | Fellow linguist half abandoned illicit relationship (5) | |
| FLING | F (fellow) LING |
|
| 22 | Where officers eat pickle? (4) | |
| MESS | Double definition | |
A game of two halves. I tried the across clues first as usual and got precisely 3 write-ins, which boded ill. Then I got the first 7 downers on the trot. After that, straightforward and enjoyable. RATONALE was my last in & favourite. I don’t think it even needed the question mark. Such a nice def.
Thanks as ever to Bert, Joyce & Dac.
A pleasant diversion, all wrapped up without any assistance, electronic or otherwise. A few clues took longer than they should to crack – for instance 14ac, where crossing letters gave me the answer but I thought it referred in some obscure way to the top gunner having a finger on the trigger; a real facepalm moment when I realised it was an anagram!
A toss-up for CoD between ELIJAH and RATIONALE
Thanks, Dac and B&J