I thoroughly enjoyed this offering from Pedro. Not too tricky, but kept me on my toes. The very nice cryptic definition in 18ac took me a while to spot, and 13d was my last one in as I managed to convince myself that cricket side would be an eleven and that I was therefore looking for something containing XI.
Some nice splashes of wit and neat, elegant surfaces. So, thanks very much to our setter.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}.
| Across | |
| 8 | Significant narration (7) |
| TELLING – DD | |
| 9 | Article dropped by dirty relative (5) |
| UNCLE – UNCLE{AN} (dirty losing its article AN). | |
| 10 | Ordinary people bet about it (5) |
| LAITY – LAY (bet) goes ‘about IT’ | |
| 11 | Popular cheese, originally French, without elaboration (2,5) |
| IN BRIEF – IN (popular) BRIE (cheese) + F (first letter of – originally – French) | |
| 12 | Toppled on the bar, clutching last of liqueur? Disgusting (9) |
| ABHORRENT – *(ON THE BAR) – with “toppled” indicating the anagram – and R (last of liqueR) also in the mix | |
| 14 | Just beat one making entry in pages (3) |
| PIP – I (one) goes inside PP (making entry in pages) | |
| 16 | What spins? Item of cookware spins (3) |
| TOP – POT reversed (item of cookware spins) | |
| 18 | One attuned to the moving components of oration? (3-6) |
| LIP-READER – Rather good cryptic definition. I’m sure I was not alone in initially looking for something involving an anagram of oration. | |
| 21 | As it were, darken pleasure (7) |
| DELIGHT – If you “de-light” something, then you could be said to be darkening it – at least in crosswordland! Very droll. | |
| 22 | Money supports son (5) |
| BRASS – BRAS (supports) + S (son) | |
| 23 | Regular occurrences of furious tempests initially a feature of winter (5) |
| FROST – Every other letter (regular occurrences) of FuRiOuS + T (Tempest initially) | |
| 24 | Person with siblings allowed to go on holiday (7) |
| TRIPLET – LET (allowed) ‘goes on’ TRIP (holiday) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Reliable fellow to begin suppressing breaking of law (8) |
| STALWART – START (to begin) captures (suppresses) *(LAW) with “breaking of” indicating the anagram | |
| 2 | Go red about one displaying a different colour (6) |
| BLUISH – BLUSH (go red) goes around I (about one) | |
| 3 | Like olives? Only in last year, primarily (4) |
| OILY – First letters (primarily) of Only In Last Year | |
| 4 | Stir up some meeting, idly turning up (6) |
| IGNITE – Reverse hidden (turning up) in meETING Idly | |
| 5 | Thing to do on beach the US ban — crazy! (8) |
| SUNBATHE – *(THE US BAN) with “crazy” signalling the anagram | |
| 6 | Save policemen turning up around border (6) |
| SCRIMP – PCS reversed (policemen turning up) go ‘around’ RIM (border) | |
| 7 | Meadow flower’s opening — a bit of foliage (4) |
| LEAF – LEA (meadow) + F (Flower’s opening) | |
| 13 | Lower rank encapsulates English cricket side (8) |
| RELEGATE – RATE (rank) includes (encapsulates) E LEG (English cricket side – legside as opposed to offside, for the benefit of anyone who is not one of us flannelled fools) | |
| 15 | Parties disrupted when gatecrashed by a hanger-on (8) |
| PARASITE – *(PARTIES) – with “disrupted” indicating the anagram – and A also making an appearance in the mix (gatecrashed by a) | |
| 17 | Medical treatment that hurts? Here’s neck support (6) |
| PILLOW – PILL (medical treatment) + OW (that hurts) | |
| 19 | Little domestic animal that is absorbing time (6) |
| PETITE – PET (domestic animal) + IE (that is) with T inside (absorbing time) | |
| 20 | Awful delay after day in terminal (6) |
| DEADLY – *(DELAY) – with “awful” signposting the anagram – follows D (after day) | |
| 21 | Conscription not right — it’s ridiculous (4) |
| DAFT – D{R}AFT – conscription losing R (not right) | |
| 22 | Used teeth to swallow a tempting item (4) |
| BAIT – BIT (used teeth) ‘swallows’ A | |
Edited at 2017-05-03 12:24 am (UTC)
Lots of toughies, especially lip reader, delight, triplet, relegate and petite.
I couldn’t parse relegate at first having spelt it with a lig, but the cricket ref for leg was obvious.
Dnk pcs for police.
lots of contenders for COD but I like pillow.
Nice puzzle that took me 13 minutes, so much more reasonable than yesterday I thought.
Edited at 2017-05-03 07:12 am (UTC)
Thanks Nick and Pedro.
PlayupPompey
The bottom half proved tricky for me. Rather desperately I pencilled in Ear Bender for 18a; this caused a long delay and was hard to unravel. Once I got 21a things began to fall into place. 18a was my LOI. No time recorded. David