I’m not sure how easy or hard this puzzle will prove to be on the snitchometer, but I found it mostly straightforward; it seemed that many of the clues I’d either seen the likes of before, or were kind of obvious even if the parsing wasn’t. I take issue with the definition for 13a, and was pleased to see my nickname exhibited in 22a. Around 20 minutes working steadily from NW to SW to SE to NE in an anticlockwise manner. I think 12d gets my CoD vote even if it’s not original.
| Across | |
| 1 | Amusing drama cut to allow bathos? (8) |
| COMEDOWN – COMED(Y) followed by OWN = allow; a BATHOS being an anticlimax. | |
| 5 | Make time for old European statesman (6) |
| BRANDT – BRAND = make (as in ‘that make of kettle’), T(ime). Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany 1969 – 74. His birth name was actually Herbert Ernst Carl Frahm and he used the pseudonym WB to escape detection by the Nazis then later adopted it formally. | |
| 8 | Fire fan of unknown international team arrested by policeman (10) |
| PYROMANIAC – Y = unknown, ROMANIA, all inserted into PC for policeman. | |
| 9 | Maximum fantasy author not reaching conclusion (4) |
| PEAK – Mervyn PEAKE doesn’t get his final E. | |
| 10 | Maoist occasionally involved with Morning Star’s rebirth (14) |
| TRANSMIGRATION – Anagram of A I T (alternate letters of Maoist) and MORNING STAR. Something to do with souls being reincarnated, if you believe in that sort of tosh. | |
| 11 | Get urge to hold small reserve fund (4-3) |
| NEST-EGG – NET = get, insert S(mall), EGG = urge, as in ‘egg on’. | |
| 13 | Body found in squat surrounded by refuse (7) |
| DENSITY – SIT = squat, surrounded by DENY = refuse. I’m trying, as a scientist, to reconcile DENSITY with BODY, but can’t really. Density is a measure of how much ‘denseness’ or mass per unti volume something has, not necessarily implying a body is dense rather than not dense; but I can see how it could perhaps be misused to mean BODY without a qualifying adjective such as ‘high’ or ‘great.’ I guess that’s what the unscientific setter intended. | |
| 15 | Man with money recited poem (7) |
| RONDEAU – RON = our man, DEAU sounds like DOUGH = money. I probably wouldn’t have got this quickly except for the fact that I’d seen the word quite recently in another puzzle. | |
| 18 | Olympian at home cleared out to accommodate tenancy (7) |
| ATHLETE – AT, H(OM)E, insert LET = tenancy. | |
| 21 | Chicken order is handled poorly (5,6,3) |
| RHODE ISLAND RED – (ORDER IS HANDLED)*. A chicken I’d also seen before. | |
| 22 | Pip and this girl dated in the afternoon (4) |
| EMMA – Pip Emma is WW1 phonetic alphabet for P.M. as opposed to ack Emma being A.M. | |
| 23 | This writer’s style to consider extravagant? (10) |
| IMMODERATE – I’M, MODE = style, RATE = consider. | |
| 24 | Popular sort of tea one kept in jug (6) |
| INMATE – IN = popular, MATÉ being a type of tea. Chap in jail, or jug. | |
| 25 | Poem by American about Yankee ship’s hero (8) |
| ODYSSEUS – Insert Y, SS into ODE, add US. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One used to wind and sunburn after eclipses (7) |
| CAPSTAN – CAPS = eclipses, TAN = sunburn (well, sun changed but not burned?). | |
| 2 | Human beings in graceless state (6,3) |
| MORTAL SIN – MORTALS = humans, IN. According to Wiki, “A sin is considered to be “mortal” when its quality is such that it leads to a separation of that person from God‘s saving grace. This type of sin should be distinguished from a venial sin that simply leads to a weakening of a person’s relationship with God.” Put me down for all of the above, in case there is a God after all and my chum Mr Dawkins and I are wrong. | |
| 3 | Land ownership seemed suspect with new resident (7) |
| DEMESNE – (SEEMED N)*. YouTube says you can say ‘demain’ or ‘demean’; I’ve never been sure so I avoided saying it altogether. | |
| 4 | Short worker brought into section (7) |
| WANTING – Insert ANT into WING. | |
| 5 | Posh daily located in most suitable capital (9) |
| BUCHAREST – U(posh), CHAR (daily), inside BEST. | |
| 6 | Iodine found in fruit becomes relevant (7) |
| APPLIES – I(odine) inside APPLES. | |
| 7 | Move slowly north and in Rouen hunt for suspect (7) |
| DRAGNET – DRAG = move slowly, N(orth), ET = and in France, where Rouen is. | |
| 12 | Go to press with items from this news source? (9) |
| GRAPEVINE – Amusing &lit. | |
| 14 | Upstanding character, anti-beer, corrupted? (9) |
| INEBRIATE – I think this is ‘I’ an upstanding vertical character, then (ANTI BEER)* ‘corrupted’, the whole meaning an anti-beer person who became the opposite. Or something along those lines. | |
| 16 | Blade-wielder beheaded sailors held in sultanate (7) |
| OARSMAN – (T)ARS inserted into OMAN. | |
| 17 | Moon appearing in play’s miniature scene (7) |
| DIORAMA – IO our usual crossword moon of Jupiter, inserted into DRAMA. | |
| 18 | In total area length and line related (3,4) |
| ALL TOLD – A(rea), L(ength), L(ine), TOLD = related. | |
| 19 | Delays as Sheridan actor’s first out in shake-up (7) |
| HINDERS – (SHERID N)*. | |
| 20 | Such unhappiness coming to miser? (7) |
| ENDLESS – A bit vague on this one; I’ll try MISERABLE is becoming endless to leave MISER. Or as kevin g says, MISERY without its Y. | |
I trust our esteemed blogger is suitably appreciative of being immortalised in print, in 22ac