This was quite an easy one from Paul, except for one small point. The answers are mostly quite accessible, even if some of the wordplay is a bit convoluted. I only had to look up a couple of words I didn’t know, and a few more just to check. I would imagine that the usual gang knocked this one off pretty quickly.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Is Charlie in hybrid? Finally delighted with much brawn (7) |
| MUSCLED – MU(‘S C)LE + [delighte]D. | |
| 6 | In the past commonly approved housing old husband’s stuff? (5) |
| DOUGH – D(O)UG + H. | |
| 10 | Unusually alert about new place to go for old cards? (9) |
| LANTERLOO – Anagram of ALERT around N + LOO. | |
| 12 | Rows of pinnies for Maggie Simpson? (5) |
| TIERS – Double definition. | |
| 13 | Horse in series tucking in hard behind (7) |
| SHAFTER – S(H,AFT)ER. | |
| 14 | Independent school’s storage unit (4) |
| IPOD – I + POD. | |
| 16 | Fine since joining Italian company’s board (6) |
| FASCIA – F + AS + CIA. C.I.A Sri is an Italian company that makes packaging machinery. | |
| 17 | Brew time — all there after one (6) |
| TISANE – T + I + SANE. | |
| 19 | Happily agree to include poetry run — it’ll take you back (11, two words) |
| REVERSE GEAR – Anagram of AGREE around VERSE + R. | |
| 21 | These await delivery from station owners (11, two words) |
| POST LETTERS – POST + LETTERS, both in an entirely different sense from the answer. | |
| 24 | Previously applaud silent sauna, perhaps (6) |
| HUMMUM – HUM + MUM. Hum for applaud is obsolete. | |
| 26 | Salt thus turning ship’s officer (6) |
| OSMATE – SO backwards plus MATE, for a salt of osmium. | |
| 29 | Paradise Lost’s tyrant is in some flashbacks a Ragamuffin (4) |
| KSAR – Hidden in [flashbac]KS A R[agamuffin]. | |
| 30 | Local barge in spin round island north and east of Balallan (7) |
| BIRLINN – BIRL + I + N + [Ballalla]N. | |
| 31 | Provoke pleasure in a study (5) |
| AMUSE – A + MUSE. | |
| 32 | Launching out of odd spots suspect a police trap (9) |
| UPCASTING – [s]U[s]P[e]C[T] + A STING. | |
| 33 | Once assert guys must have it moved to the back (5) |
| SAYST – STAYS with the ‘T moved to the back. | |
| 34 | Street with old decoy at the front is most tainted (7) |
| STALEST – STALE + ST, using one of the more obscure meanings of decoy to clue another obscure meaning of decoy. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Annual check-up, one following a recurrent theme (5) |
| MOTIF – MOT + I + F, a write-in for English car owners. | |
| 2 | Eg, Oxford for retaining a Yank producing one issue at a time (9) |
| UNIPAROUS – UNI + P(A)RO + US. | |
| 3 | Special claims surrounding eastern temples (7) |
| SPEOSES – S + P(E)OSES. | |
| 4 | Gull held by lean young Highlander (6) |
| LASSIE – L(ASS)IE. Yes, laddie doesn’t work. | |
| 5 | Trap being somehow near chaps close to rampart (11) |
| ENSNAREMENT – ENS + anagram of NEAR + MENT + [rampar]T, a very busy cryptic. | |
| 6 | Like the Faerie Queene’s morning lawns each week in fall? (6) |
| DEAWIE – D(EA W)IE. | |
| 7 | Fish first to flourish in seaweed (4) |
| ORFE – OR(F[lourish])E. | |
| 8 | Extreme intelligence? (5) |
| ULTRA – Double definition, the second the WWII code name for the intelligence obtained by breaking the Enigma encryption. | |
| 9 | Who’ll trumpet Senior Service in foreign shore? (7) |
| HORNERS – R.N. inside an anagram of SHORE. | |
| 11 | So model gets round rent? Blimey! (11, three words) |
| THAT’S TORN IT – THAT + S(TORN)IT. | |
| 15 | Resurrection as a saint’s being restored (9) |
| ANASTASIS – Anagram of AS A SAINT’S, obvious to a classicist. | |
| 18 | Greek lad, European with unending hype about Hebrew (7) |
| EPHEBUS – E + P(HEB)US[h]. The Latin form of a Greek word. | |
| 20 | Important date certainly for cancellation (7) |
| ERASURE – ERA + SURE. | |
| 22 | Musician’s desire to lap it up (6) |
| LUTIST – LU(IT upside-down)ST. More often lutanist. | |
| 23 | Language terms being empty, colourless, and anonymous (6) |
| TSWANA – T[erm]S + WAN + A. Few words start with ts-, and the wise Mephisto solver will learn them. | |
| 25 | Clemency from moi? Report with heart lifted (5) |
| MERCY – ME + CRY with the middle letter raised. | |
| 27 | Upright English destroyed, we hear (5) |
| ERECT – E + sounds like WRECKED. | |
| 28 | Worse luck: for the most part cold dish is served up (4) |
| ALAS – SALA[d] upside-down. | |
Well, I worked it all on Monday, so that should tell you something. Ha.
An enjoyable offering form Mr Mckenna, with a suitably seasonal pun. Speaking of which, here’s a resumé of the McKenna puns from the past couple of years:
21/12/25 3408 MUSCLED DOUGH
30/11/25 3405 SERGEANT TINA
09/11/25 3402 BILL HICCOUGH
19/10/25 3399 HARBOUR TRAIT
30/09/25 3396 BIFF RENDING
07/09/25 3393 ACKEE PUNCHER
17/08/25 3390 CHABLIS TREST
27/07/25 3387 PARCEL LOANER
06/07/25 3384 STRAPPED EASE
15/06/25 3381 TERROR FIRMER
25/05/25 3378 BRAES SWARTHY
04/05/25 3375 PLAGUE JURIST
13/04/25 3372 FARED INCOME
23/05/25 3369 UNCOOL FASTER
02/03/25 3366 CONSENT WRICK
09/02/25 3363 BAKING PUTTEE
19/01/25 3360 SCRAM BULLDOG
29/12/24 3357 WHEELED OLIVE
08/12/24 3354 MISTER MEANER
17/11/24 3351 HATTER CHEWED
27/10/24 3348 CUSSED SAVOUR
06/10/24 3345 CONQUER BINES
15/09/24 3342 REGIONS TREAT
25/08/24 3339 HUMMER FUNNY
04/08/24 3336 WHELK COOMBES
14/07/24 3333 TEASE DRAINER
23/06/24 3330 WANDER W HUMAN
26/05/24 3326 BOOMER BUSSED
28/04/24 3322 DONKEY HOODIE
31/03/24 3318 KENYA FINNISH
03/03/24 3314 EYEFUL DOWER
04/02/24 3310 KNOCK ACHIEVE
07/01/24 3306 CALMER SUTURE
10/12/23 3302 MULLED TIPPLE
12/11/23 3298 GRANDMAS COOL
15/10/23 3294 NOOSE PEPPERS
17/09/23 3290 FALCON DULSE
20/08/23 3286 FAUGH CANDLES
23/07/23 3282 MIFFY S DOUGH
25/06/23 3278 PARLOUR MEANT
Enjoy!
Excellent, thanks!
16a. CIA is simply the abbreviation used by Italian companies, like CIE in French, or LTD in the UK.
Or CIA in Spain!
I found this reasonably straightforward but loved it, lots of rewarding rootling around in Chambers even when it wasn’t necessary to know the answer.
The one thing I couldn’t figure out was ULTRA: the Enigma meaning isn’t in Chambers. Not a complaint!
V in 32ac you have one word too many underlined: ‘launching’ is the definition and ‘out of odd spots’ is the instruction to remove every other letter.
Rootling around in Chambers is the whole point!