Around average difficulty today from Breadman: I was 8 minutes on the button, coming back to finish in the top-left. Some, like 21ac, were easier to biff than to parse, and there was a good range of satisfying clues, like the neatly-worded 19ac and 9d. Very nice – many thanks to Breadman!
| Across | |
| 1 | Fizzy drink small, easy to reach (6) |
| SHANDY – S(mall) HANDY (easy to reach) | |
| 4 | Just pants put on line (6) |
| LAWFUL – AWFUL (pants) put on L(ine) | |
| 8 | Commander Mike to hand over navigational device (7) |
| COMPASS – CO (Commanding Officer = Commander) M(ike) to PASS (hand over) | |
| 10 | Heated the Spanish accommodation (5) |
| HOTEL – HOT (heated) EL (the, Spanish) | |
| 11 | Temperature having dropped, fear slip (5) |
| ERROR – T(emperature) dropped from tERROR (fear) | |
| 12 | Again photograph changing shore at first over time (7) |
| RESHOOT – anagram (changing) of SHORE and then “at first” O(ver) T(ime) | |
| 13 | Hard sweet idiot let fall (5,4) |
| LEMON DROP – LEMON (idiot) DROP (let fall) | |
| 17 | Highly esteemed lady longing to probe teacher, English (7) |
| DOYENNE – YEN (longing) to probe DON (teacher) E(nglish) | |
| 19 | Religious class absorbed by the Trinity (5) |
| THREE – RE (Religious class) absorbed by THE | |
| 20 | Loner ordered to join army? (5) |
| ENROL – anagram (ordered) of LONER | |
| 21 | Fly circles minute eatery (3,4) |
| TEA ROOM – TEAR (fly/dash about) OO (circles) M(inute) | |
| 22 | Husband at home in resting place, running late (6) |
| BEHIND – H(usband) IN (at home) in BED (resting place) | |
| 23 | Building material church folk accept finally (6) |
| CEMENT – CE (Church of England) MEN (folk) T (accepT “finally”) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Charlie‘s vacuum cleaner? (6) |
| SUCKER – double-ish definition. I wasn’t sure of the first, but it’s there as a simpleton. | |
| 2 | Naval chief revised chart to include variable London landmark (9,4) |
| ADMIRALTY ARCH – ADMIRAL (naval chief) and an anagram (revised) of CHART to include Y (variable, as in x and y) | |
| 3 | Outline you need help to lift weight (7) |
| DIAGRAM – AID (help) “to lift” = reverse, GRAM (weight) | |
| 5 | Legendary musketeer in combat, hostile (5) |
| ATHOS – “in” combAT HOStile | |
| 6 | Well suited to the job, athletic pro scrambled up ropes (3,3,7) |
| FIT FOR PURPOSE – FIT (athletic) FOR (pro) and an anagram (scrambled) of UP ROPES | |
| 7 | One’s fixed on banger maybe left on dish (1-5) |
| L-PLATE – L(eft) on PLATE (dish): banger meaning “sausage” in the surface and “car” in the cryptic. | |
| 9 | Son called during trial — most odd (9) |
| STRANGEST – S(on) RANG (called) during TEST (trial) | |
| 14 | Desert marathon perhaps an exhausting grind (3,4) |
| RAT RACE – to RAT = to desert, RACE (marathon perhaps) | |
| 15 | Notice minister flipped on key part of speech (6) |
| ADVERB – AD (notice) VER (rev = minister, “flipped”) on B (musical key) | |
| 16 | Protective wear Rachel half concealed on police force (6) |
|
HELMET – |
|
| 18 | Only distributed new fabric (5) |
| NYLON – anagram (distributed) of ONLY, N(ew) | |
Good puzzle with some clever and amusing clues — got us thinking.
FOI: SHANDY
LOI: THREE
COD: LEMON DROP
Thanks Breadman and Rolytoly