Times 24,464 – First Cut Is The Deepest

Author   yfyapPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I like it when the first across clue in a puzzle is so solveable as this gives the first letters of so many down clues. So it was today and I quickly breezed through the offering which can be said to be on the easy side.

ACROSS
1 DETHRONEMENT *(end the term on) Do we call this a quasi &lit? Love the surface reading
9 WHELP Cha of WHEEL (turn) minus E (short of a little energy) + P (page)
10 WORKBENCH Cha of WORK (to be employed; as in work the servant to death) BENCH (judges)
11 INTONERS IN (popular) + *(tenors)
12 RASHER dd
13 GALLIPOT GALL (bitterness) I (one) POT (drug) a small glazed pot, esp for medicine – new word for me
15 EKE OUT Cha of E (English) K (king) E (first letter of exercise) OUT (in the open)
17 DESIST ha
18 SWANSONG Gloria SWANSON (1899–1983) American actress + G (grand) a writer’s or musician’s last work; one’s last work or final appearance.
20 RECANT RE (Religious Education or Bible classes) CANT (false piety)
21 MARIPOSA Ins of POS (job or POST minus T) in MARIA (girl) any of various plants of the Calochortus genus, with white, yellow or blue tulip-like flowers, native to N America (also mariposa lily or mariposa tulip)
24 SOSTENUTO *(son set out) musical term meaning sustained with full time allowed for each note… another new word for me
25 ADIEU Ins of DIE (pine) in AU (aurum or gold)
26 DEPARTMENTAL Cha of DEPART (go) MENTAL (mad)

DOWN
1 DOWDING *(wind god) British marshal of the RAF who commanded the British air defense forces that defeated the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain (1882-1970)
2 TRENT’S LAST CASE *(latest cars sent) a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley, first published in 1913
3 RIPON RIP (rest in peace) ON A tichy clue for a cathedral city (see), market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
4 NEWSROOM NEW BROOM (innovator) minus B (book going) replaced by S (shilling in the previous LSD British currency)
5 MARS dd Roman god of war
6 NEBRASKAN NEB (rev of BEN, peak) + ins of ASK (demand) in RAN (managed) … Shouldn’t there be a reversal indicator for BEN?
7 ANTHROPOLOGIST Ins of ROP (play or ROMP minus M, marks) in ANTHOLOGIST (literary collector)
8 THIRST Cha of TH (the minus E) IR (Irish) ST (street or way)
14 INSINCERE Cha of IN (at home) SINCE (because) RE (Royal Engineers)
16 SWEAT OUT Ins of WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) in STOUT (wonderful drink brewed mostly by Guinness for the world)
17 DURESS Ins of U (university) in DRESS (what’s worn)
19 GRADUAL G (good) RA (Royal Academy or artist) DUAL (rev of LAUD, praise)
22 IMAGE I (one) MAGE (wizard)
23 AURA Rev of A + RU (Rugby Union game) + A

List of common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
tichy = tongue-in-cheek

42 comments on “Times 24,464 – First Cut Is The Deepest”

  1. Sorry for being late on this one, but I only solved it just before going to sleep! On reading the blog this morning I was surprised that there was no comment on 4D. I thought it was fairly ambiguous as to whether it was “Innovator” is clued by B replacing S in “office”, or “Innovator” has B replaced by S to give “office” but having thought about it I went firmly for the former since I thought it scanned far better. “In” meaning to give was iffy to me, plus “‘s” suggesting has or something similar. The only reason for everybody elses way must be that new broom is two words and hence would be clued 3,5 but for me this still leaves the clue not quite parsing.
    1. I think you’re correct. The clue can be read either way. However as you say the one word answer indicator (8) doesn’t really allow NEW, BROOM to be the answer.
  2. I completed this puzzle within reasonable time, though I wouldn’t rate it as “easy”.
    Decades ago I had read TRENT’S LAST CASE, so the answer went in with a tinge of nostalgia for the times when I used to gobble up detective/crime/horror stories by the dozen.
    Some of us might also have recalled that its author E.C. Bentley was the inventor of the clerihew.

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