Time: 23 minutes
Music: Holst, The Planets, Previn/LSO
I found this puzzle…..interesting. I had a hard time getting started, and I ended up biffing most of the answers. I suspect inexperienced solvers would find it very difficult, lacking both the general knowledge and the tricks of the veterans. Many of the cryptics are rather extreme, and if the literals had been equally hidden the puzzle would have been much more difficult.
The SNITCH rating is rather low, and my time confirms that, but I think the rating will go up as we get more solvers on the board.
| Across | |
| 1 | Court request collected works — has to involve President first (6,6) |
| HABEAS CORPUS – H(ABE)AS + CORPUS. I actually put Abe in has without seeing that this produced a word – a Latin word, but a word. | |
| 9 | Dominant kid grabbing Pole repeatedly (5) |
| BOSSY – BO(SS)Y. Bonny was considered and rejected. | |
| 10 | £25, including fees returned by Mike Carroll? (9) |
| PSEUDONYM – P(DUES backwards)ONY + M from the NATO alphabet. What Lewis Carroll is a DBE for. | |
| 11 | A cry for help about worst poisonous substance (8) |
| ASBESTOS – A + S(BEST)OS. where both worst and best are verbs. | |
| 12 | Move poet to pen right line (6) |
| PROPEL – P(R)OPE + L, where a specific poet is required. | |
| 13 | Person possibly given documentation after prison sentence (4,4) |
| LIFE FORM – LIFE + FORM. Well, I suppose, although this expression is usually reserved for aliens and such. | |
| 15 | Courageous and fortunate in pursuit of power (6) |
| PLUCKY – P + LUCKY, a chestnut. | |
| 17 | Writer’s one book covered in a lot of rubble (6) |
| SCRIBE – SCR(I B)E[e]. | |
| 18 | Bet success will be welcomed by a theatre fan (8) |
| PLAYGOER – P(LAY,GO)ER. A bunch of classic cryptic tricks here, with the cleverly disguised a = per. | |
| 20 | Intense skill, circling where animal hides (6) |
| ARDENT – AR(DEN)T. | |
| 21 | A youngster rejected fame without disagreement (2,3,3) |
| AS ONE MAN – A + SON + NAME backwards. | |
| 24 | Unduly sentimental, though not about son being involved in river disaster (9) |
| CATACLYSM -CA(T[re]ACLY,S)M. Most solvers will ignore the ridiculously convoluted cryptic and write in the obvious answer. | |
| 25 | Shy, cut short the argument (5) |
| THROW – TH[e] ROW. | |
| 26 | “Fancy beer,” I crow, “runs in my place for making it” (12) |
| MICROBREWERY – M(anagram of BEER I CROW + R)Y | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Item that fixes part of cooker having new trouble (7) |
| HOBNAIL – HOB + N + AIL. | |
| 2 | Base receiving warning after cream tea curdled — when still edible? (4-6,4) |
| BEST-BEFORE DATE – BEST + BE(FORE)D + anagram of TEA, another convoluted cryptic. | |
| 3 | Article from the pen of singular Saint: something deep (5) |
| ABYSS – A + BY + S + S. | |
| 4 | Start to climb up to get on piece of furniture (8) |
| CUPBOARD – C[limb] + UP + BOARD. | |
| 5 | Dance very unnecessary in party (4) |
| REEL – RE[v]EL. | |
| 6 | Fail to stress indication of softness in some carpeting? (9) |
| UNDERPLAY – UNDER(P)LAY. | |
| 7 | Policeman redirected persons to crime (9,5) |
| INSPECTOR MORSE – Anagram of PERSONS TO CRIME. | |
| 8 | Exploit upset the person writing this procedure (6) |
| EMPLOY – ME upside-down + PLOY. | |
| 14 | Dodgy story supported by account provided by one mathematician (9) |
| FIBONACCI – FIB + ON + ACC + I. Is acc. a valid abbreviation for account? Chambers says yes! | |
| 16 | Alfred picked up expression of sadness about King in sudden gathering (5,3) |
| FLASH MOB – ALF upside down + S(H.M)OB. | |
| 17 | Scrutinise attention in school (6) |
| SEARCH – S(EAR)CH. I carelessly created this from the cryptic and still didn’t see it, had to come back later. | |
| 19 | Catwalk is home to a fugitive (7) |
| RUNAWAY – RUN(A)WAY, a bit of a chestnut. | |
| 22 | Egg on something explosive (5) |
| NITRE – NIT + RE. | |
| 23 | Worker in cloth often runs from laundromat machine (4) |
| DYER – D[r]YER. | |
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