An abundance of familiar crossword vocabulary, and a couple of real chestnuts, gave me enough of a start in all corners. Only 13ac and 4dn caused any head-scratching; the former to check my spelling, and the latter with it’s many parts and vague definition.
Edit: Not vague – just longer than I expected!
Definitions underlined.
| Across |
| 1 |
Angler‘s fine with one tank (9) |
|
FISHERMAN – F (fine) with I (one) and SHERMAN (tank). |
| 6 |
Filming location is ready to go (3) |
|
SET – double definition. |
| 8 |
Masked assassin is somewhat forlorn in jail (5) |
|
NINJA – hidden in (somewhat) forlorN IN JAil. |
| 9 |
Husband absorbed by observing a trifle (7) |
|
NOTHING – H (husband) contained by (absorbed by) NOTING (observing). |
| 10 |
Met was at training for American police squad (4,4) |
|
SWAT TEAM – anagram of (training) MET WAS AT. |
| 11 |
Piano teacher holding back school (4) |
|
ETON – hidden backwards in (…holding back) piaNO TEacher. |
| 13 |
Old soldier and successful batsman? (9) |
|
CENTURION – definition and cryptic hint. |
| 16 |
Beginning of retirement in brilliant piece of land (4) |
|
ACRE – first letter of (beginning of) Retirement contained by (in) ACE (brilliant). |
| 17 |
Unrivalled, but lacking nobility? (8) |
|
PEERLESS – definition and cryptic hint. |
| 20 |
US city fashionable in the past (7) |
|
CHICAGO – CHIC (fashionable) and AGO (in the past). |
| 21 |
Gone swimming near a port in Italy (5) |
|
GENOA – anagram of (swimming) GONE, then A. |
| 22 |
Love endless river (3) |
|
NIL – all-but-the-last letter of (endless) NILe (river). |
| 23 |
Insulting attack (9) |
|
OFFENSIVE – double definiton. |
| Down |
| 1 |
Reportedly from Northern Europe? Close! (6) |
|
FINISH – sounds like (reportedly) “Finnish” (Northern European). |
| 2 |
Small insect on a Christmas visitor (5) |
|
SANTA – S (Small), ANT (insect), and A. |
| 3 |
Drama with old partner is tiresome (8) |
|
EXACTING – ACTING (drama) with EX (old partner). |
| 4 |
Activity that involves putting sensible car around trendy island (9,4) |
|
MINIATURE GOLF – MATURE (sensible) and GOLF (car), containing (around) IN (trendy) and I (island). |
| 5 |
Bar snack from floor being picked up (4) |
|
NUTS – STUN (floor) reversed (being picked up). |
| 6 |
Infatuated sweetheart, initially, with glove (7) |
|
SMITTEN – first letter of (initially) Sweetheart with MITTEN (glove). |
| 7 |
Messily eating African stew (6) |
|
TAGINE – anagram of (messily) EATING. |
| 12 |
Funny ringtone is a gas! (8) |
|
NITROGEN – anagram of (funny) RINGTONE. |
| 13 |
Friendly drink (7) |
|
CORDIAL – double definition. |
| 14 |
Two beers, maybe, for dance (6) |
|
CANCAN – CAN (beer, maybe), twice. |
| 15 |
Large property‘s broken tea set (6) |
|
ESTATE – anagram of (broken) TEA SET. |
| 18 |
Boredom of nine running around university (5) |
|
ENNUI – anagram of (running) NINE, containing (around) U (university). |
| 19 |
Old pet turned over Mexican dish (4) |
|
TACO – O (old) and CAT (pet) reversed (turned over). |
Just one of those days where everything was going in as soon as I looked at it. Maybe leaving it until later in the day is more conducive to my brain working properly.
FOI — 1ac “Fisherman”
LOI — 9ac “Nothing”
COD — 12dn “Nitrogen”
Thanks as usual!
Edited at 2021-12-29 05:28 pm (UTC)
CHICAGO is one of the first crossword clues I ever remember solving, when I was about 15 (so 4 decades ago …). It was clued as “US city with a fashionable past” and I still remember the joy of the PDM.
FOI FISHERMAN, LOI NITROGEN (because I hadn’t noticed it), COD CHICAGO for old times’ sake, time 05:56 for 1.4K and an Excellent Day.
Many thanks to the Squire and William.
Templar
Thanks for the excellent blog.
Mini golf my LOI. Anyone else play the one on the beach at Le Touquet? Missed it the last 2 years. J