This I found quite hard overall. Some easy answers but some very obtuse ones as well. I foresee great gnashing of teeth in the comments. I got drawn into quite a few dead ends, which accounted for much of my over-target 9 minutes
| Across | |
| 1 | House here in France on the sea (6) |
| MEDICI – MED (sea) ICI (‘here’ in France) | |
| 4 | Left under wraps, cry out (6) |
| BELLOW – Under is BELOW, which ‘wraps’ L for left. | |
| 8 | Notice one in tirade incandescent (7) |
| RADIANT – AD (notice) + I inside RANT. Hands up who wasted ages looking for an anagram of TIRADE + I? | |
| 10 | Article by one German backed woman (5) |
| ANNIE – AN (article) + EIN backwards | |
| 11 | Area near ship in ocean depths (5) |
| ABYSS – A + BY + SS | |
| 12 | Member returned in fat dancer’s costume (7) |
| LEOTARD – TOE is a member, reversed, inside LARD | |
| 13 | Hawk-eyed old British man (9) |
| OBSERVANT – O + B + SERVANT | |
| 17 | Diet? Army unit shedding tons! (7) |
| REGIMEN – REGIMEN[ |
|
| 19 | Run with Russian runner for country (5) |
| RURAL – Russian ‘runner’ i.e. river, is URAL, add R for run at the beginning | |
| 20 | River close to port and dock perhaps (5) |
| TWEED – T (end of ‘porT’), + WEED | |
| 21 | Say why lover no longer unattractive? (7) |
| EXPLAIN – cryptic definition | |
| 22 | Stronghold and loch in order (6) |
| CASTLE – L for loch inside CASTE for order. Another cul-de-sac trying to find the anagram of LOCH IN. | |
| 23 | Beer feeding explosive ability (6) |
| TALENT -ALE inside TNT | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Broken arm nursed by men he’s tailed (6) |
| MERMAN – anagram (‘broken’) of ARM inside MEN | |
| 2 | Gladly send dog out to find insect (5-4-4) |
| DADDY-LONG-LEGS – anagram (‘out’) of GLADLY SEND DOG | |
| 3 | Frame way to describe Princess Royal? (7) |
| CHASSIS – CHAS SIS. The sister of ‘Chas’, or as we call him His majesty King Charles the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. | |
| 5 | She inspires weary author regularly (5) |
| ERATO – alternate letters. One of the nine Muses of Greek mythology, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, the arts and crosswords. | |
| 6 | Arsenal get act sorted in former FA location (9,4) |
| LANCASTER GATE – anagram (‘sorted’) of ARSENAL GET ACT. Former headquarters of the Football Association before they moved to Wembley Stadium, but I don’t know how anyone is supposed to know that. | |
| 7 | Uses energy in remote region (6) |
| WIELDS – E inside WILDS | |
| 9 | Play patience (9) |
| TOLERANCE – double definition | |
| 14 | Old general has a hold over father (7) |
| AGRIPPA – A + GRIP + PA. Roman General 63-12BC | |
| 15 | Cold in HGV? Extremely so! (6) |
| ARCTIC – C inside ARTIC. | |
| 16 | Revolver English brought into factory (6) |
| PLANET – E inside PLANT. Hell of a definition. | |
| 18 | Duke drawn in by dinner gong (5) |
| MEDAL – D for duke inside MEAL | |
That was tough… Should I be surprised by there being no objections to Chassis on the basis of a reference to a (very much) living person? I know they now permitted but many of us regret the relaxation of the rule.
FOI 2d Daddy Long Legs
LOI 3d Chassis – and got it wrong anyway! – so a DNF
COD either 11a Abyss or 15d Arctic.
Almost 2 hours on big crossword and, of course, I failed.
Got all but one clue.
I’m thoroughly miserable. 😞
17a is the diet of Wurm’s
14:35, no errors. Enjoyed this one, and achieved one of my better times for a Wurm puzzle. FOI MEDICI, LOI MERMAN COD CHASSIS, which made me smile. Thanks Wurm and Curarist