En garde ! There are plenty of sneaky definitions here, some sharp moves to keep you on your toes, in another delirious dimanche with the requisite modicum of sex and drugs to start off with…
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Church pour wine to honour God, but I won’t have it (8) |
| CELIBATE CE, “Church [of England]” + LIBATE, “pour wine to honour God” …Seems our bloggers and commentators have reached a consensus that the euphemism deployed here is past its sell-by date, but don’t expect setters to drop it anytime soon. |
|
| 5 | British artist stumped by Borders drug bust (6) |
| BREAST B(ritish) + R(oyal) A(cademy), “artist” + ST, “stumped by” all surrounds or “[b]orders” E, ecstasy, “drug” …Did you know there is an Aboriginal Australian artist named REA? Well, actually, seems it’s r e a. I didn’t. Of course, this is irrelevant. |
|
| 9 | Rip off an unruly person (8) |
| TEARAWAY TEAR AWAY |
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| 10 | Come into possession of a company in hearing (6) |
| ACCRUE “a crew” |
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| 12 | State summit Soviet leader fronts (5) |
| SPEAK S |
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| 13 | Additional indicators of drunken nips and slugs (4,5) |
| PLUS SIGNS (nips, slugs)* |
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| 14 | One might be on a trip in Hull with raincoat on (12) |
| HALLUCINATOR (Hull, raincoat)* …“On” is one of the more rarely seen anagrinds, classified in one list (page 7) as “Advanced,” rather than “Standard.” |
|
| 18 | Honest mug acquiring side-swiped Benz for Swiss Baron (12) |
| FRANKENSTEIN FRANK, “Honest” + |
|
| 21 | After messing up, men I scorn turn red (9) |
| ENCRIMSON (men I scorn)* |
|
| 23 | Black pilot circles river to give chopper support (5) |
| BRACE B(lack) + R(iver) + ACE, “pilot” |
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| 24 | Swinger’s club in Germany associated with Amazon? (6) |
| DRIVER D(eutschland) + RIVER, “Amazon?” |
|
| 25 | Tory MP involved in offensive disregard of authority (8) |
| CONTEMPT CON(servative), “Tory” + TE(MP)T, with your Member of Parliament in the thick of the historic Vietcong offensive at the beginning of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration, i.e., Tet |
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| 26 | Exhausted fellow, one from Germany (4,2) |
| DONE IN DON + EIN, “one” in German |
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| 27 | Contract row in NHS unit (8) |
| ASTRINGE A(STRING)E A&E = the UK National Health Service’s Accident and Emergency department |
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| DOWN | |
| 1 | Copper on trial will be appealing in toto (6) |
| CUTEST CU + TEST |
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| 2 | Wealthy drunk (6) |
| LOADED DD |
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| 3 | Club game (9) |
| BLACKJACK DD |
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| 4 | I am torn and split after wrestling bouncer (12) |
| TRAMPOLINIST (I am torn, split)* |
|
| 6 | Folk group heading for successful careers (5) |
| RACES RACE, “Folk group” + S |
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| 7 | For some Londoners, Yorkshire town’s sounding appropriate (8) |
| ARROGATE |
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| 8 | On becoming a part of it, fantastic as true love (8) |
| TREASURE (as true*) folding in RE, “On” |
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| 11 | Unctuous, base criminal gets under one’s skin (12) |
| SUBCUTANEOUS (Unctuous, base)* |
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| 15 | Thriller in which cop perhaps holsters piece (9) |
| NAILBITER NAIL(BIT)ER |
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| 16 | Killed without reason? (8) |
| OFFENDED OFF(END)ED …An offense under the law, even if the person offed hasn’t the time to feel offended. |
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| 17 | Predatory flapper cut by husband with one sword (8) Story that didn’t make it into F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Flappers and Philosophers? |
| FALCHION FALC(H)(I)ON A FALCHION — from Old French fauchon, derived from Latin falx, “sickle”— is a one-handed, single-edged sword “found in different forms from around the 13th century up to and including the 16th century,” according to Wikipedia. “An unsolved mystery exists as to why there is such a large discrepancy between the frequency of falchions in period art, contrasted with the amazingly few surviving falchions from the medieval period. Currently, there are fewer than 30 confirmed surviving medieval falchions, contrasted with the thousands of straight double edged swords from the same period. Current research by James Elmslie suggests that the overrepresentation in medieval artwork may be a form of artistic short-hand to convey certain meanings, such as indicating who the story enemies are, as falchions are overrepresented in ‘villainous’ characters, such as biblical enemies, or non-Christian barbarians.” …Could be that I’ve never seen the word before. |
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| 19 | I take orders from soldier behind blockade (6) |
| BARMAN BAR, “blockade” before MAN, “soldier” |
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| 20 | One of The Animals with a sound like Lennon? (6) |
| BEETLE “Beatle” …And then we had virtually the same clue (a little more precise as to the kind of [a]minal) in QC 3302 Friday by Wurm. |
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| 22 | Old people not{ice ni}ce-looking houses (5) |
| ICENI Hidden Though omnipresent in crosswords these days, during the Iron Age and early Roman era this tribe occupied (saith Wikipedia) only present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. There are theories about the origin of the name, nothing confirmed. |
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Maybe not for the first time, I’ve looked up both “it” = sex/sex appeal and “it girl”, and seen that none of Collins/Oxford/Chambers marks them as old-fashioned.
Peter Biddlecombe (failing to stay logged in when switching to a report page.)
Any day now…
There are some who complain about these every time they appear which may give a false impression and doesn’t make a consensus as there are surely many more who simply accept them for what they are, don’t comment one way or the other, and get on with the business of solving clues.
DNK FALCHION which appears to be on its first TfTT outing, nor BLACKJACK as a club. The NHS unit at 27ac is actually A & E but as with punctuation we have to allow for only letters going in the grid.
It’s true we don’t see ‘on’ as an anagrind very often but ‘working’ is common enough and ‘working / on’ turn up regularly as synonyms so it shouldn’t be much of a leap.
14a the anagram is of ‘Hull raincoat’.
This is almost an &lit clue. There is apparently quite a drug problem there. Also being on the East coast and in the UK it’s bound to be raining at least 50% of the time. I speak with some knowledge of the place having lived there for a decade.
Yes, I apparently can’t count, only 12 letters.
I agree with your “almost” about an &lit, knowing zilch about Hull.