Solving time 12:50, considerably easier than the one in the paper, but still a pretty good puzzle.
Across | |
1 | TRIP – R(iver) inside TIP. |
3 | FORM LETTER – FORM (class) + LETTER (character) |
10 | IN-CROWD – double definition. |
11 | THEOREM – O.R. (soldiers) inside THEE, + M(issed). |
12 | MISAPPREHENSION – MIS(s) + APPREHENSION. |
13 | HEALTH – L(ake) inside HEATH. |
14 | LORRAINE – LORE around RAIN, with two definitions for some reason. |
17 | MUTILATE – 1 + LATE after TUM reversed. |
18 | PRESTO – PEST + 0 around R(uns). |
21 |
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF – (join flash R |
23 | INNINGS – (w)INNINGS |
24 | BREATHE – (herb tea)* |
25 | APPARENTLY – AREN’T inside APPLY (fruity, i.e. like an apple). A bit cheeky but fine by me. |
26 | GROT – double definition. |
Down | |
1 | TRIUMPH – TRUMP around 1, + H(it). |
2 | INCESSANT – INCEST around SAN |
4 | ORDERS – (b)ORDERS |
5 | MATCHBOX – BOX after MATCH. |
6 | ELEANOR CROSSES – ELEANOR (Roosevelt, Franklin D.’s wife) + CROSSES. I’d never heard of these, but they’re a set of twelve crosses put up by King Edward I in memory of his wife, Eleanor of Castile. Only three are still standing. |
7 | TARSI – 1’S RAT reversed. |
8 | ROMANCE – A.N.C. (African National Congress) inside ROME. |
9 | HOSPITAL CORNER – (corporal then is)* |
15 | INSTANTER – (entrant is)*. A legal term meaning “without delay”. |
16 | STAND-IN – STAND + SIN. |
17 | MESSINA – MESS + IN A. Port in Sicily, right in the NE corner meeting the toe of the Italian boot. |
19 | OFFBEAT – OFF BEAT |
20 | GAMBOL – GAOL around M(o)B. |
22 | RUN UP – RUN (ladder, e.g. in a pair of tights) + U(sual) P(latform). |
COD to GAMBOL and a shout-out to 6dn for its challenge to the inner (sexist) man.
I have not looked at your other blog yet linxit, not having done the crossword.. presumably there is nothing available online yet?
21ac was one of those that can quickly be solved because of the enumeration: 3,4,8, cowardly soldier, ;join flash’, say no more. (A recent Jumbo had Dante Gabriel Rossetti as the solution: poet, 5,7,8, A in the first word, say no more.) A pity, actually–although I’m grateful for any help I can get–since the clues were quite clever.