Time: 27 minutes
Music: Beethoven Piano Concerto 2, Fleisher/Szell/Cleveland Orchestra
I thought this was going to be difficult at first, as I could not see any obvious answers in the top half of the grid. Skipping down the bottom, I saw ‘nugatory’ and worked my way up from there. I had the whole bottom half done in less than ten minutes, but the top proved a little more difficult. While there were some chestnuts here, there were also some novel cryptic techniques that forced the solver to think outside the box. If there had been any unusual vocabulary or obscure references to a UK-specific comedian or TV show, I would have been stuck. However, in the end, I found that you could let the cryptics be your guide.
I have nothing else to report, except that I have made steady progress on my income tax, and all ten forms I have to file are now seem to be totally correct. When I am done, I will start digging up and reseeding my lawn. So on we go….
| Across | |
| 1 | Spies following lead casing the French port (8) |
| VALENCIA – VA(LE)N + CIA. Unfortunately, I wasted a lot of time on PB. | |
| 6 | Look — a ghost about to vanish! (6) |
| ASPECT – A SPECT[re]. | |
| 9 | A United Nations programme? (3,5,2,3) |
| THE WORLD AT ONE – The obvious answer, even though as an American I NHO the literal, since we can’t listen to the BBC here. | |
| 10 | Get out with this key (6) |
| ESCAPE – Double definition referring to what you’ve got on your computer keyboard, which may or may not allow you to escape what you’re in. | |
| 11 | Fruit punch included black mineral (8) |
| GRAPHITE – GRAP(HIT)E – there’s no B in it! | |
| 13 | Boisterous enough to render sailor unconscious? (10) |
| KNOCKABOUT – KNOCK AB OUT, presumably more boisterous than is needed to knock out an OS. | |
| 15 | Writer in bloom having to drop empty idea (4) |
| DAHL -DAHL[ia], where I[de]A is what is dropped. Roald Dahl has been appearing frequently recently. | |
| 16 | Italian town’s main road crossing smaller thoroughfare? (4) |
| ASTI – A(ST)I, a new clue for an old answer. | |
| 18 | Extremely happy being in charge, likely to boom? (10) |
| HYPERSONIC – H[app]Y PERSON + I.C, causing a sonic boom | |
| 21 | Margaret keeping one next to Nancy’s black robe (8) |
| PEIGNOIR – PE(I)G + NOIR, which is black in Nancy, France. | |
| 22 | Chinese religious system Maoist altered (6) |
| TAOISM – Anagram of MAOIST, an easy starter clue. | |
| 23 | Remembering career as bodyguard? (7,2,4) |
| CALLING TO MIND – Double definition, one semi-jocular. | |
| 25 | Coat to take to the cleaners (6) |
| FLEECE – Double definition, this one straight. | |
| 26 | Turning over weapon, a politician is useless (8) |
| NUGATORY – GUN backwards + A TORY, the most like sort of politician in these clues. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Technician denies power to ardent supporter (7) |
| ARTISAN – [p]ARTISAN, a well-hidden chestnut. | |
| 3 | Remarkable as Odyssey evidently is? (3-8) |
| EYE-CATCHING – A derivitave of a hidden in [odyss]EY E[evidently], an indirect cryptic. | |
| 4 | Vital to tour hospital as part of routine (5) |
| CHORE – C(H)ORE. | |
| 5 | Completely self-obsessed Romeo breaks fast (7) |
| ALLEGRO – ALL EG(R)O, more Nato alphabet shenanigans. | |
| 6 | White substance provided as one preparing joint? (9) |
| ALABASTER – ALA BASTER, well-deserving of a question mark! | |
| 7 | Player earning roubles invested with Italian banker (3) |
| PRO – P(R)O. | |
| 8 | Fast runner no sporting type we’re told (7) |
| CHEETAH – Cheetah, a chestnut. | |
| 12 | Go to mess with shirty old scientist (11) |
| HYDROLOGIST – Anagram of GO + SHIRTY OLD. | |
| 14 | Goddess in Paphos, undressed, tried to change (9) |
| APHRODITE – Anagram of [p]APHO[s] + TRIED. | |
| 17 | Plain concept is revolutionary, used regularly as template (7) |
| STENCIL – [p]L[a]I[n] C[o]N[c]E[p]T [i]S backwards, a bit tricky. | |
| 19 | Journey north to support soldier reveals pattern (7) |
| PARAGON – PARA + GO + N, a ‘pattern’ in the sense of a ideal to follow, an older usage. | |
| 20 | Privileged member wearing crimson is on the rise (7) |
| INSIDER – IN + RED IS upside-down. | |
| 22 | Ton pig eats new leather strip (5) |
| THONG – T + HO(N)G, readily biffable. | |
| 24 | Caustic liquid left, yet unfinished (3) |
| LYE – L + YE[t], another easy one. | |
Thank you for explaining STENCIL
I love Beethoven. He was the real “Riffmeister”. “Roll over Chuck Berry” I say!
At these stressful times, though, I find Arvo Pärt very restful.
Don’t know if it would interest you but I used to be a subscriber to the Berlin Phil’s online Digital Concert Hall. I stopped my subscription about two years ago but three days ago or so I received an e-mail from them telling me that because they have had to shut the Philharmonie in Berlin, they are offering a months free subscription. All you have to do is go to their website digitalconcerthall.com and put in the code -on the screen- as instructed.