ST 4357 (Sun 29 Nov) – Illegal tender

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 7:22

I suspect the likes of Tony will demolish my time for this – I’ve had three weeks of very few crosswords and this felt commensurately pedestrian, including writing REDEEMED in the space at 18ac by mistake and another incorrect answer (TENDER) at 22dn. The puzzle itself was very good and I don’t think I have any significant quibbles.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 ENIGMATICAL; (MAGICIAN LET)* – good clue.
10 AMOUR (hidden)
11 TALKING-TO; KING in (TOTAL)*
12 EYESTRAIN (cryptic definition) – should have seen through this earlier.
13 SATIE; (A[rt]ISTE)*
14 BEHEST; H.E. in BEST – H.E. for ‘His Excellency’.
16 R.E. + DEEMED
18 TIDDL(I)ER
20 SPARSE; (PEARS + S[mall])* – ‘bananas’ being the anagram indicator.
23 H + A BIT
24 ELECTIONS, from SELECTION
26 RESTRAINT; REST (= ‘remains’) + TRAIN (= ‘coach’) with the T (= ‘tense’) moved to the end
27 PECAN; CA (= circa = ‘about’) in PEN[itentiary] – not sure why this merited an exclamation mark.
28 SPELL DANGER (1 def, 1 whimsical ‘literal’ def)

Down
2 NOOSE; rev. of SOON, + [hom]E
3 GYRATES; (RAY GETS)*
4 ASTRAY; AS (= ‘For instance’) + rev. of ART + Y (= ‘unknown’)
5 I + SLANDER
6 AT ISSUE; A TISSUE
7 HAVE A BUTCHER’S; HAVE (= ‘own’) + A[dvanced] + BUTCHER’S – slang for ‘have a look’ (i.e. ‘peer’), from the Cockney rhyming slang ‘butcher’s hook’.
8 EGG TIMER (cryptic definition)
9 POWER DRESSING; (DEPRESSING ROW)* – nice anagram.
15 HAD A BASH; HASH around A DAB – I toyed with ‘had a bite’ for a while here.
17 R.E.M.E. + DIAL – another army regiment (cf 16ac).
19 LETS RIP; L + (PRIEST)*
21 PUT-UPON; PUT UP + rev. of NO
22 RENTED; (T[h]E + NERD)* – I initially wrote in the alternative anagram ‘tender’ here.
25 ON CUE; U (= ‘you heard’) in ONCE – clever use of the verb ‘guards’ as a hidden indicator, disguised as a noun in the surface reading.

5 comments on “ST 4357 (Sun 29 Nov) – Illegal tender”

  1. No quibbles for the online version maybe but, in the printed version , 7D was enumerated as (4,1,7,1). This should have been a very quick solve but I had to get all the checkers before I realised that the answer had to be have a butcher’s.
  2. 6:53 for me, Neil, so not exactly blowing you out of the water. I too put in TENDER for 22D initially, which held me up a little.

    The (on-line) published answer to 7D is TAKE A BUTCHER’S, which at least isn’t one of their usual grotesque misprints, but doesn’t seem to fit the wordplay as well as HAVE A BUTCHER’S.

    I don’t recall coming across “gay” as an anagram indicator before, and I’m not all that keen on its use in 19D, feeling that it’s pushing things a little too far for the sake of a good surface phrase (“gay priest”).

  3. It appears I too have made an “error” in putting Have not Take.

    Apart from the labour government, very few things in this world cause me more aggravation than this incompetent, slapdash, couldn’t-care-less, benighted crossword!

    I make no mention of today’s, but could have..

  4. AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
    The answer has to be “have”.

    To own something is to have it, however you may own it after you have taken it.

    As I said: AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

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