Time: 17:31
Music: Shostakovich, Symphony #5, Berstein/NYP.
Here we have a typical Monday offering, which should not prove very challenging for most of our regular crew. The use of words like arrestment and thearchy seems a little forced, but the cryptics are very helpful. With only the early solvers in, the SNITCH is at 62. I did have to write down the letters for the longer anagrams, but then I saw them at once. The only biff was accompaniment, which is a bit tricky.
| 1 | What goes with endless fear encapsulated by current criticism? (13) |
| ACCOMPANIMENT – A/C COM(PANI[c])MENT. Comment and criticism as in the sense of literary criticism. | |
| 8 | Dodgy dealer bowling top people over (4) |
| SPIV – VIPS backwards, a bit of a chestnut. | |
| 9 | Driver to acclaim, restricting a disturbance (10) |
| CHARIOTEER – CH(A RIOT)EER. | |
| 10 | Explosive women at matches in the isles (8) |
| HEBRIDES – H.E. + BRIDES. | |
| 11 | Fade away very quietly with end of the port (6) |
| DIEPPE – DIE + PP + [th]E, the site of the famous disaster in 1943. | |
| 13 | Bank’s ideal after change, split up into smaller units (10) |
| BALKANISED – Anagram of BANK’S IDEAL. | |
| 16 | Keen on being at home with set of books around (4) |
| INTO – IN + O.T backwards. | |
| 17 | Girl suffering alongside Jack (4) |
| JILL – J + ILL, which many will biff because of Jack and Jill. | |
| 18 | Stoppage? Restart somehow involves workers (10) |
| ARRESTMENT – Anagram of RESTART around MEN. | |
| 20 | Join forces as side promoted (4,2) |
| TEAM UP – TEAM + UP. | |
| 22 | The cunning strategy’s ending divine rule (8) |
| THEARCHY – THE + ARCH + [strateg]Y | |
| 24 | South Americans support huge numbers reportedly (10) |
| BRAZILIANS – BRA + sounds like ZILLIONS. | |
| 26 | Suffering from severe cold, Greek character encounters doctor (4) |
| NUMB – NU + M.B, classic crosswordese. | |
| 27 | Chair’s fresh prop is so shaky (13) |
| PROFESSORSHIP – Anagram of FRESH PROP IS SO. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Drug Emma, suffering with the pain (11) |
| AMPHETAMINE – Anagram of EMMA + THE PAIN. | |
| 2 | Protect cold maiden maybe (5) |
| COVER – C + OVER. | |
| 3 | End up entertaining super fellow in part of southern Europe (9) |
| MACEDONIA – M(ACE DON)IA, i.e. AIM upside down. | |
| 4 | Collects are primarily associated with church services (7) |
| AMASSES – A[re] + MASSES. | |
| 5 | One young man penning one long poem (5) |
| ILIAD – I L(I)AD. | |
| 6 | Ditched female maybe shakes, not half — is male displaying bigotry? (9) |
| EXTREMISM – EX + TREM[bles] + IS + M. | |
| 7 | Bond and M avoiding prison sentence (3) |
| TIE – TI[m]E. | |
| 12 | New form of heat pump not widely established (3,2,3,3) |
| PUT ON THE MAP – Anagram of HEAT PUMP NOT. | |
| 14 | Buddhist monk with musical instrument going about US city (9) |
| KALAMAZOO – KA(LAMA)ZOO. | |
| 15 | Perhaps vending machine is getting spender confused outside (9) |
| DISPENSER – Anagram of SPENDER around IS. | |
| 19 | What may be observed in spiritual settings? (7) |
| RITUALS – Hidden in [spi]RITUAL S[ettings]. | |
| 21 | Plant’s vitality (5) |
| PULSE – Double definition. | |
| 23 | Top section of tree farm (5) |
| RANCH – [b]RANCH, a chestnut for sure. | |
| 25 | Rebuke artist on piano (3) |
| RAP – R.A. + P. | |
25:23
NHO KALAMAZOO, but very helpful wordplay.
Biffed EXTREMISM – thanks vinyl for explaining it.
LOI was CHARIOTEER.
I rarely attempt the 15×15, so I was pleased to complete all but one clue in just over half an hour, late this evening. I just couldn’t see HEBRIDES, but it was getting near my bedtime.
Harder for me than most of you here, as I was severely held up by not being able to shoe-horn in THEOCRACY, wrote in the wrong answer for ARRESTMENT (NHO), and didn’t see the hidden RITUALS. But a good score for me, so not unhappy. COD BRAZILIANS.