ST 4314 (1st Feb 2009) – Down among the dead men …

Anyway, an engaging puzzle with some inspired moments. Maybe a little fast and loose with definitions here and there, but nothing to scare the horses. I really enjoyed some of these clues. 15:51 to solve.

Across
1 PERUSAL ‘per usual’, with a u-turn taken out
5 A,GRIP,PA The ‘Herod Agrippa’ mentioned in Acts of the Apostles: Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Acts,12.1
9 REDUNDANT (and turned)*
10 LIT,HE H.E.=His/Her Excellency
11 ONE,GIN A boozy work of art, this clue – ‘one gin’ as Eugene’s ‘chaser’
12 SCORCHED Unless I’m missing something, this is a bit of a strange clue. Ironing can lead to scorching, but not really to ‘scorched’.
14 RESOLUTION (lone suitor)* – beautifully done
16 BUND b(orn) u(p) n(orth) + d(ied), a bund being an “embankment or dike, especially in India”, from Persian through Hindi.
18 TO,ME
19 ENTER,PRISE
22 BILL,HOOK
23 F(L)INCH nice play on ‘quail’
26 ON,CUE not sure about ‘on’ for ‘willing’
27 ILL,O,GI,CAL “I go” back in the middle
28 DEAD MEN Delightful double reference. The phrase about dead men telling no tales seems to have originated with the pirates of the Carribean, so should be intoned in a dodgy Keith Richards voice. The tabloids should now be able to recycle their ‘Prats of the Carribean’ headlines for the England cricketers.
29 SHE(BE)EN

Down
1 PARLOUR cryptic allusion
2 RID,GE ‘for example’ is reversed after rid=’free’
3 SENSIBLE (be in less)* – another nicely worked anagram
4 LEAF double definition
5 ARTICHOKES ananotheranagram – (choir takes)*
6 RULERS
7 PATCHOULI (lip, a touch)* – Scent much loved by the West Country bikers and hippies I hung around with in my first misspent youth
8 AMENDED anagram of those ‘dead men’
13 STENTORIAN yep, another anagram, but ‘misbehaving’ as an indicator after ‘ain’t’ is just great, especially given the surface theme of song
15 SIMULAC,RA (musical)* + R.A. (Royal Academician)
17 EPILOGUE I enjoy this sort of clue. Not everyone does.
18 TAB,L(O)ID
20 ECHELON ‘over’ to indicate the anagram is a bit ropey
21 PHLE,G,M maybe should be ‘signs’
24 NICHE A poetic little clue, stashing a ‘niche’ in a corner of the Teuto(nic,he)art
25 ALMS anagram of ‘Small’ minus one ‘l’ for learner.