ACROSS
1 PAGODA Rev of ADO (trouble) GAP (crack) I wondered about the legitimacy of recurrent as a reversal indicator and what a surprise – Chambers gave running back in the opposite direction or toward the place of origin. You learn something new every day 🙂
4 SCRAPPER A dd that did not leave me jumping about
10 SILAS MARNER *(MARS ALIENS waR) a dramatic novel by George Eliot aka Mary Anne (Mary Ann, Marian) Evans (1819–1880) first published in 1861
11 EGG EG (exempli gratia, for example, say) + G (good) My COD for its innocent simplicity
12 IMPERIL IMPERIAL (commanding) minus A
14 ELECTRA ELECT (return as in a poll or election) RA (Royal Artillery) In Greek mythology, Electra was an Argive princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon. This lady also gave us the Electra Complex, a strong attachment of a daughter to her father, accompanied by hostility to her mother.
15 SHOTGUN WEDDING Lovely cd
17 FINANCE COMPANY A rather strained cha of FINANCE (capital) & COMPANY (seen by visitors) Thanks mctext, but it is still a very pedestrian clue
21 BRESCIA BRES (rev of SERB, a Slav) CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy.
22 PERUSAL Ins of U (posh) in PER (rev of REP material) & SAL (girl)
23 ETA dd Greek letter & abbreviation for estimated time of arrival
24 HALF-AND-HALF 0.5 + 0.5 = one and such a bevvy (slang for alcoholic beverage) is (in my book) half Tiger Beer and half Guinness Stout
26 THE BLUES another dd The Blues is a nickname of a number of British association football clubs: Chelsea F.C. Birmingham City F.C. Everton F.C. Ipswich Town F.C. & Manchester City F.C.
27 CRADLE Ins of D (daughter) in *(CLEAR)
DOWN
1 PASTIEST Ins of TIES (couples) in PAST (history)
2 GEL Rev of LEG (support)
3 DISHRAG Ins of I’S (one’s) & H (husband) in DRAG (pain as in Listening to her talking about her son’s exploits in school was such a drag/pain)
5 CONFERENCE PEAR Conference (meeting) Pear (sounds like pair, match)
6 AIRHEAD dd for an idiot or feather-brain (dope); a forward base for aircraft in enemy territory.
7 PRESTONPANS PRESTO (very quickly) + ins of PAN (Greek god of pastures, flocks and woods) in North & South poles. The Battle of Prestonpans (also known as the Battle of Gladsmuir) in 1745 was the first significant conflict in the second Jacobite Rising.
8 REGGAE Rev of Ins of G (good) in EAGER (enthusiastic) Second time the device G=good is used in the same puzzle
9 TAIL-END CHARLIE *(ARTICLe HEADLINE) for the bombardier gunner stationed at the back of a Lancaster bomber during WWII
13 PROLIFERATE *(A PETROL FIRE) Nice surface, runner-up COD for the imagery
16 WYCLIFFE Ins of CLIFF (height) in River WYE between England and Wales for John Wycliffe (c 1328–1384) aka Wycliffe John, an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century.
18 ALCOHOL Ins of HO (half of HOur) in *(LOCAL)
19 MIRADOR Ins of I R (run) in MAD (fanatical) OR (Other Ranks or soldiers) for a belvedere or watchtower.
20 ABSENT Ins of S (son) in A BENT (criminal)
25 AID MAIDEN (girl) minus MEN
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Am I missing something, or is ‘labour doesn’t anticipate’ a little weak? Surely that is hardly distinctive of a shotgun wedding, since labour doesn’t anticipate traditional weddings either.
Nick M
Maybe the SHOTGUN WEDDING refers to one of those truly last minute situations beloved of soap operas (“get ’em up the bloomin’ aisle before she pops”), with ‘anticipate’ meaning ‘forestall’. Quaint, really.
Last in: PRESTONPANS. Shamefully, I didn’t know there was a first Jacobite Rising, let alone a second. This was a hit-and-hope with the wordplay.
Note to Uncle Y: at 17ac I took it that “visitors” = COMPANY and that “seen by” is just an adjacency indicator.
as uncle yap says you learn something new everyday…
adjective
1 occurring often or repeatedly : she had a recurrent dream about falling.
• (of a disease or symptom) recurring after apparent cure or remission : recurrent fever.
2 Anatomy (of a nerve or blood vessel) turning back so as to reverse direction.
BRESCIA and MIRADOR were new as far as I remember but were easily getable from the wordplay.
Uncle Y, the retirement age for men of my generation is 65 but for younger folks it’s edging gradually towards 68 now. Obviously things are much better organised in Singapore!
As we are all pedants around here, I think a TAIL-END CHARLIE was a rear gunner rather than a bombardier. The tail turret was not only exposed but also difficult to escape from in case of fire, and the position was consequently the most dangerous on the plane. My uncle was a tail-gunner and was badly burned in a crash in 1942.
Yet another sub 20 minute doddle puzzle that is very run of the mill with no stand out clues
Not keen on 17ac, and failed to understand 25dn til now..
Nothing completely unknown for me today, but BRESCIA, PRESTONPANS and MIRADOR were distant bell-ringers.
I didn’t know this meaning of AIRHEAD when it came up in March but I remembered it this time.
The forced reading of Silas Marner as an impressionable youth has left my psyche indelibly scarred, which is the only excuse I can offer for such a poor performance. COD to PROLIFERATE.
I suppose the conference pear must be the new Tiepolo, although I have never seen them at the fruit stand.
jfr
Older solvers may remember the Rev Colin Morton, a regular finalist in the early years of the Championship, who occupied the manse in Prestonpans before he moved to Jerusalem. I’m saddened to report that he died last month.