First one in was 9ac, followed by 23ac: and that was all for my first pass through the Acrosses I think. I ran into some trouble with a couple of the Downs: 15dn so clearly had to be C + a word for flat + A + NE, and likewise, in what world could 18dn (my LOI) not be (SERIAL*) around C? And of course these were all traps carefully laid by the setter, so well played. The latter is particularly clever as it requires you to separate the “of” off to a place your brain really doesn’t want to put it… but perhaps as a lover of fine (*cough*) cinema I’ll give my COD to 8dn for the reminder of the late great Sid James. Surely the two Sids in 8dn are the “pair of perverts” mentioned in 5ac?
A top-drawer Friday puzzle then, as expected, though perhaps unfortunate to have some of its thunder stolen by yesterday’s dooZy. Have a marvellous and crosswordtacular Easter weekend everybody!
Across
1 In retreat, king studies one British or German statesman (8)
BISMARCK – reverse K CRAMS I B [“in retreat”, king | studies | one | British]
5 A pair of dukes but not of perverts (6)
TWISTS – TW{o f}ISTS [a pair of fists, “but not OF”]
9 Some returning Huguenots’ll import a heavy burden (9)
MILLSTONE – hidden reversed in {hugu}ENOTS’LL IM{port}
11 Article shaped like egg, not the first for duck (5)
AVOID – A [article] + {o}VOID [shaped like egg, “not the first”]
12 Get a grip with this online nuisance having name for each medium (7)
SPANNER – SPAMMER [online nuisance] having N [name] for each M [medium]
13 Knife cut back across the male’s brain (7)
EGGHEAD – DAGGE{r} [knife “cut”], reversed across HE [male]
14 With rings around, is after that integrated circuit training (13)
CALLISTHENICS – with CALLS [ring] around, IS THEN IC [is | after that | integrated circuit]
16 Helper in turn enlisted by aristocratic young doctor (13)
PAEDIATRICIAN – AIDE reversed [helper “in turn”] enlisted by PATRICIAN [aristocratic].
A young doctor as in a doctor for young patients, not a recent graduate.
20 Dock made hard to protect parking building’s tower (7)
STEEPLE – STEELE{d} [“dock” made hard] to protect P [parking]
21 “Truth” I attached to internal discord (7)
FACTION – FACT I ON [truth | I | attached to]
23 Someone protected retiring Liberal, in a manner of speaking (5)
DRAWL – reverse of WARD [someone protected “retiring”] + L [Liberal]
24 City ends a loose alliance (9)
SYNDICATE – (CITY ENDS A*) [“loose”]
25 Fake European man’s left dotty old one (6)
CODGER – COD GER{man} [fake | European “MAN’s left”]
26 Act to keep carbon-bearing coal down (8)
DEJECTED – DEED [act] to keep JE{C}T [“carbon-bearing” coal]
Down
1 Puzzle to inspire poet? (6)
BEMUSE – double def, if the second def is (2, 4)
2 Latin moves a hack to come up short (5)
SALSA – A SLAS{h} reversed [a hack, “to come up” + “short”]
3 Magazine containing toxic stuff has one chapter deleted (7)
ARSENAL – ARSEN{ic}AL [containing toxic stuff “has I C deleted”]
4 Leaving university, music’s played with her trios: she’ll lead singers (13)
CHOIRMISTRESS – (M{u}SIC’S + HER TRIOS*) [“played”]
6 Row from wide river bend (7)
WRANGLE – W R ANGLE [wide | river | bend]
7 No smart person, a Scotsman or southern European (9)
SLOVENIAN – SLOVEN IAN [no smart person | a Scotsman]
8 Actor James? What about him lifting extra food? (4,4)
SIDE DISH SID [actor James, of Carry On fame] + EH [what] about SID reversed
10 Border control giving shocking power? (8,5)
ELECTRIC FENCE – cryptic def
14 Cold, flat area added to north-eastern hilly region (9)
CLEVELAND – C LEVEL AND [cold | flat area | added to]
15 Island turf acquired by grand in instalments (8)
EPISODIC – I SOD [island | turf] acquired by EPIC [grand]
17 Urge Left to block terror application (7)
IMPULSE – L [left] to block IMP USE [terror | application]
18 Dispose of serial production, retaining 100 (7)
INCLINE – IN LINE [of serial production] retaining C [100]
19 New note in rectangular space, initially unseen, ignored by addressee? (6)
UNREAD – N RE [new | note] in {q}UAD [rectangular space, “initially unseen”]
22 Sloshed paint is out of place (5)
INAPT – (PAINT*) [“sloshed”]
On googling, I see jet is a form of lignite which is a form of coal. Well I never.
Edited at 2017-04-14 09:22 am (UTC)
That being said, I’d have been twenty minutes faster if I hadn’t stupidly biffed “implore” in 17d and then trusted it for far too long even though I couldn’t parse the “application” bit. Left me with D_A_O for the manner of speaking until the two pennies finally, finally dropped. If I’d ever been to CLEVELAND I’d have been faster, too, I think.
FOI 1a, COD 5a—excellent work. Thank you to setter and blogger.
Edited at 2017-04-14 09:38 am (UTC)
Held up for ages by misreading coal as load in 26ac. Cleaned my glasses and was able to move on.
So a mixed week for me, ending up at 24 over par for the second week in a row. Need to speak to the handicapper.
Thanks setter and V.
Thanks Slogger as always and Happy Easter everyone- don’t buy Cadbury EASTER eggs!
I was expecting 25 to be a 14th-century leopard, and was quite disappointed with a fairly straightforward answer. ‘Paediatrician’, on the other hand, was a complete surprise.
This seemed willfully obscure as far as wordplay and even definition, were concerned and on too many occasions I found myself guessing a word that fitted the checkers (rather than biffing) and reverse-engineering from there.
I suppose it’s fair enough to serve up a tricky one for a day when the majority are on holiday but having completed the grid eventually after c100 minutes it wasn’t with any sense of achievement or enjoyment.
Edited at 2017-04-14 05:15 pm (UTC)
Those wanting to see what the fuss is all about should look no further than Carry on Abroad (1972), the film which featured more of the core stars together than any other, I believe.
Yay… all done and understood, and much enjoyed all the pdms. No time, though, as did it in fits and starts through the day, but don’t think it was quick… Happy Easter one and all!
Edited at 2017-04-14 08:09 pm (UTC)
COD PAEDIATRICIAN WOD CALLISTHENICS
Edited at 2017-04-14 08:43 pm (UTC)
To be honest I didn’t really enjoy the lower half all that much, with three successive clues (to IMPULSE, INCLINE and UNREAD) being too fiddly for my taste.
At least I knew CLEVELAND, as a 3xgreat-grandfather of mine was archdeacon of it (though that hadn’t stopped me trying to fit EVENA into the middle of it).