Times 28135 – Erica lingers on….where?

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 20 minutes
Music: Kempf, Beethoven Piano Sonatas

We are pretty much back to easy Monday here, as I trotted through this puzzle at a fairly easy pace.   Only fleuron gave me pause – is that a subatomic floral arrangement?   Otherwise, I found it pretty routine, but with a number of good-quality clues embodying original ideas.   However, if you don’t happen to know all the words, then you may chose to differ. 

Across
1 Scottish island’s current proprietor mentioned in speech (4)
IONA – I + sounds like OWNER to the non-rhotic. 
3 Cautious about girl serving wine (10)
CHARDONNAY – CHAR(DONNA)Y.   Serving seems to be just a connecting word, since Donna is an honorific in Italian.
10 Plain southern woman digesting version of Bible (7)
SAVANNA – S(A.V.)ANNA.
11 Fine plan, regularly collecting cash for floral ornament (7)
FLEURON – F + [p]L(EURO)[a]N. 
12 Reward for service having the Midas touch? (6,9)
GOLDEN HANDSHAKE – Double definition, one allusive.
13 It gets confused with Mao’s Chinese philosophy (6)
TAOISM – Anagram of IT and MAO’S.
14 Dull quality of poet backed by head (8)
DRABNESS – BARD backwards + NESS.
17 Country dweller got cat doctored with little hesitation (8)
COTTAGER – Anagram of GOT CAT + ER.
18 Ill-fated high-flyer in charge of a sport stadium originally (6)
ICARUS – IC + A + RU + S[tadium].
21 State of French uniform received by this method? (7,8)
EXPRESS DELIVERY – EXPRESS + DE + LIVERY.
23 Importuner ultimately serving a long time in prison cell (7)
DUNGEON – DUN + [servin]G + EON – the American spelling, not indicated.
24 Famous conductor in West, possibly, initially taking Ravel in thus (7)
MAESTRO –  MAE [west] + S(T[aking] R[avel])O.
25 Performer, one who’s rational about one in court (10)
RECITALIST – RE(C(I)T)ALIST, a real Russian doll construction.
26 Where cattle may be kept near river Exe at first (4)
BYRE – BY R E[xe], a word often found in Chaucer and such authors.
Down
1 Visible capacity for understanding (7)
INSIGHT – IN SIGHT.
2 Rock plant! Want lover replaced! (9)
NAVELWORT – Anagram of WANT LOVER – you should usually try a -wort with letters like that.
4 Blooming troll finally dismissed, like Erica (6)
HEATHY – HEA[-trolL)THY.  
5 Factory initially releasing extremely showy clothing (8)
REFINERY – Releasing] E[xtremely] FINERY.
6 Signed too much, having too many clients (14)
OVERSUBSCRIBED – Double definition, one a bit fat-fetched.
7 Operatic heroine, not quite typical (5)
NORMA – NORMA[l].
8 US city taking ages to welcome English king (7)
YONKERS – YONK(E,R)S.  No complaining from the UK crew, we just had this a couple of weeks ago.
9 Subject to update from bank? That’s putting it mildly (14)
UNDERSTATEMENT –  UNDER + STATEMENT.
15 Seriously bring in new style (9)
EARNESTLY – EARN + anagram of STYLE.
16 Eg Christmas fastener broken by a young relative (8)
SEASONAL – SE(A SON)AL.
17 Male theologian trapped in vehicle? Hard cheese (7)
CHEDDAR – C(HE DD)AR.
19 Extremely pretty hotel protected by lone method of checking callers (7)
SPYHOLE –  S(P[rett]Y H)OLE, usually call a peephole here in the US.
20 The messenger god — or some other messenger? (6)
HERMES – Hidden [ot]HER MES[senger].
22 Peacekeepers in film relating to ancient Carthage (5)
PUNIC – P(UN)IC.

98 comments on “Times 28135 – Erica lingers on….where?”

  1. Late to the party as I tore out the puzzle to do on the train then left it in the house. Instead I read a bit of my book and the Evening Standard on the way home (not much to read these days).
    No big problems when I sat down to this. Like others FLEURON was new; and the meaning of DUN.
    LOI was EARNESTLY. Done over a coffee but no time recorded. It was fun for a Monday.
    Glad I did the QC before lunch.
    David
  2. Which is as fast as I get.
    Happy I selected “Navelwort” over “Nevalwort”, the latter sounding very wrong, fortunately.
    LOI “Heathy” being a word I shall never use in the real world.
    Thanks for the blog.
  3. Can anyone explain how you get SEASONAL from Christmas? Shouldn’t it be Christmassy?

    Robin

    1. Christmas can be an adjective – for instance, “I’m sending you a Christmas gift” (which equally is a seasonal gift)
  4. Most of this was fairly easy for me. I took an age over 11,14 and 6d.
    It’s nice to have a puzzle a week I can manage ok!
    BW
    Andrew
  5. Most of this was fairly easy for me. I took an age over 11,14 and 6d.
    It’s nice to have a puzzle a week I can manage ok!
    BW
    Andrew

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