Times 26641 – A Sting in the Tell

A gentle start to the week, albeit with a bit of a teaser at 14 across, a potential incubus to those of our community who suffer from vocalophobia (fear of vowels). The company I used to work for is given a mention at 12 across, while one of my hobbies is referenced at 9 down. We have a couple of authors bookending the acrosses, and even a Savoyard opera for those who care for that type of thing. Me, I prefer Mr Sullivan’s painfully reconstructed Cello Concerto, Irish Symphony and incidental music to The Tempest to his tra-la-la diddy-diddy whatsit stuff, but horses for courses, so long as we all make the home stretch, what? 27’20”.

ACROSS

1. WOOLF – WOLF around O. I liked Mrs Dalloway best, but gave up after The Waves – much as she did actually.
2. PATIENCE – whimsical double definition, which requires you to put a bit of punctuation between the last two words – or not, if you’re feeling naughty.
8. INDIAN ELEPHANT – I never bothered to parse this, but I reckon it must be an anagram* of PEN ANNIHILATED. Talking of which, doesn’t the definition of a crosswrd anorak have to be someone who actually bothers to work out what letters are used to make those nine-word answers in the Guardian that run across seven ‘lights’ and contain 47 letters?
10. PORTERAGE – ‘moving loads’ is the literal; PORTER (‘beer’) + AGE (‘[to] mature’). Never heard of this, but it’s the type of thing that WS Gilbert probably worked into one of his operettas, tan tan tara, tsing boom, tsing boom!
11. CHINO – CHINO[OK]; and there was I thinking chinook was a chopper driven by Robert Duvall – or was it Shelley?
12. NESTLE – N + STEEL*.
14. MILITATE – literal ‘tell’; MATE around I + LIT (crossword word for inebriated). ‘An example’, you ask? Well, certainly: ‘His election showed that his showbiz background did not militate against his Presidential bid’.
17. PLAINTAIN – ANT in PLAIN.
18. ACCEPT – ACC + EP (‘record’ – remember them?) + T[ransactions]; I always thought ac. was sufficient for ‘account’, but I guess accountants can charge extra if they add 50% to the letterage.
20. STERN – [we]STERN; I wasted too much time trying to remove something from ‘gay flick’.
22. CINERARIA – CINE + RA + AIR reversed; I thought this was the plural of a place where you do incinerations, but apparently not.
24. FORWARD-LOOKING – ‘enterprising’; FOR + WARD (as in Richard Carstone, ward of Chancery in Bleak House) + LOOKING.
25. WRINKLED – ‘lined’; W (‘with’) RINK (‘strip of a [bowling] green’) + LED.
26. SWIFT – WIF[i] in ST.

DOWN

1. WHIPPING POST – the 15-strong gang that included Ronnie Biggs nicked two and a half mill from a Royal Mail train, so they woz, sorta like, whipping the post. Most of the gang was found, but not most of the loot.
2. ORDER – ORDER[lies].
3. FLAGEOLET – GOT ALL FEE* for the slightly kinky sounding recorder wannabe flute. That’s a whipping and now a flage – I’m a bit worried about this setter.
4. PREPAY – PREP + A + Y.
5. THEREMIN – THE + REMIN[d]; ‘an electronic musical instrument, played by moving the hands through electromagnetic fields created by two metal rods’, named after a Russian dude. Here it is strutting its stuff.
6. ETHIC – E + THIC (sounds like ‘thick’).
7. CANDIDATE – CANDID + ATE; émigré from the Quickie.
9. HOME STRAIGHT – HOME + STRAIGHT, and in sight of the winning post.
13. STAGE DOOR – SO DO GREAT* (the anagrindational role is played by ‘broadcast’).
15. INCURIOUS – INCUR + IOUS; Collins has ‘not eager to find out’, so I guess if you’re not eager to find a solution, you can be called incurious.
16. VISCERAL – ‘of the gut’; alternate letters of S[i]C[k]E[n] inside VIRAL (‘like some diseases’).
19. ANGLED – [m]ANGLED.
21. NO-WIN – NOW + IN.
23. REIKI – ‘a form of therapy in which the practitioner is paid lots of dosh to channel energy into the patient in order to encourage healing or restore wellbeing’; hidden in the Russian count/prince chappie.