There are a couple unusual—even NHO—words here, and I don’t know how difficult this would’ve seemed without very recent serendipitous discoveries in other puzzles, but all was clued so cleverly and entertainingly well that my solve was a steady romp.
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Chill out? Do this to maintain warmth? (4,4,5,2) |
| KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON With a literal interpretation of the idiom for a cryptic hint |
|
| 9 | One will leave and go away briefly near Iowa (7) |
| BEGONIA BEGON |
|
| 10 | Trump slogan appearing around NHS unit makes you colour (7) How well you know me! |
| MAGENTA MAG(ENT)A |
|
| 11 | Arty type’s shocking utterance about heroin (4) |
| BOHO BO(H)O |
|
| 12 | I’m against going for assessment with social worker (10) |
| PROTESTANT PRO, “(going?) for” + TEST, “assessment” + ANT, “social worker” |
|
| 13 | Everything occupies mostly irritable dabbler (7) |
| MALLARD M(ALL)ARD |
|
| 15 | Red slogan repeated by one around lunchtime (7) |
| CHIANTI CH(I)ANT + I |
|
| 17 | Music producer Oa{sis trum}peted for a while (7) |
| SISTRUM Hidden “a musical instrument of ancient Egypt consisting of a metal rattle” (Collins) …Must be NHO, as I was imagining something different! |
|
| 19 | Bit of a lad some might have for dinner? (4,3) |
| LONG PIG CD Human flesh served to cannibals, translation of a Māori and Polynesian term |
|
| 20 | A tall hat worn around North Dakota etc. (3,3,4) |
| AND ALL THAT (A tall hat)* covers N(orth) D(akota) …I went back and forth on this, as “around” is in many anagrind lists, and “worn” is not (in any?)—but “battered,” say, is. Creative Anagrind Prize! |
|
| 22 | Animal flatulence flipping overwhelms vet ultimately (4) |
| STAG GA(T)S<=“flipping” |
|
| 25 | After dismissing core members, reggae band get back together (7) |
| REGROUP R |
|
| 26 | Indian greeting star outside a vacant set (7) |
| NAMASTE NAM(A)(S |
|
| 27 | Refugee old prince passed by a circuitous route (9,6) |
| DISPLACED PERSON (Old prince passed)* |
|
| DOWN | |
| 1 | One skewered king on its file with bishop by a bishop (5) |
| KEBAB K(ing) + E (the file where the king is initially placed on the chessboard) + B(ishop) + A + B(ishop) |
|
| 2 | Food parcels broken into by soldiers? (9) |
| EGGSHELLS CD, playing on “soldiers,” which can mean strips of bread or toasted dipped inside a soft-boiled egg (“food parcel”) |
|
| 3 | Beastly type kidnaps North American (4) |
| YANK YA(N)K |
|
| 4 | A French editor with trapped wind’s stuffy (7) |
| UNAIRED UN(AIR)ED |
|
| 5 | I’m into quotes about Hebrew, say (7) |
| SEMITIC CIT(IM)ES <=“about” |
|
| 6 | Consumption sadly isn’t gone, I admitted (9) |
| INGESTION (isn’t gone)* swallowing I |
|
| 7 | State of heavyweight? God-awful primarily! (5) |
| TONGA TON, “heavyweight” + G |
|
| 8 | New heed given to object in close encounter? (4,5) |
| NEAR THING N(ew) + EAR, “heed”+ THING, “object” |
|
| 13 | Sad case Mr Wrong walked all over (9) |
| MASSACRED (sad case Mr)* |
|
| 14 | Republican to probe if Apollo cooked up hoax (5,4) |
| APRIL FOOL (if Apollo)* with an R undercover |
|
| 16 | Those giving cronies jobs in new stone pits (9) |
| NEPOTISTS (stone pits)* …Positions filled by nepotists typically do not involve strenuous manual labor. But maybe quarry foreman… |
|
| 18 | Old picture taken by police of the forehead (7) |
| METOPIC MET, “police” + O(ld) + PIC The Metropolitan Police Service of London …NHO anatomic term. Surely needed a few crossers for this. |
|
| 19 | Academic was first to secure merit (7) |
| LEARNED L(EARN)ED |
|
| 21 | Artist, say, in German article (5) |
| DEGAS D(EG)AS |
|
| 23 | Unripe lime? (5) |
| GREEN DD |
|
| 24 | A few throwing out old piece of Ercol? Duck! (4) |
| SMEE S |
|
16:42
Lots of DNKs:BOHO, dabbler, SISTRUM, LONG PIG, Ercol, METOPIC. It’s my understanding (well, belief) that in the daily cryptics a hyphenated word is treated as one word, so that in ‘god-awful’, A would not be an initial letter; can I assume that this convention doesn’t obtain in the ST?
A Sunday puzzle at the easy end of the scale but unfortunately I fell at the last hurdle after 31 minutes as I needed aids for NAMASTE. I wish I could claim it as a NHO, but it has appeared here several times before.
I had a question mark against SISTRUM when I wrote it in but vaguely remembered the word if not its meaning. It has appeared before too, including a QC in 2024.
I knew LONG PIG and BOHO but METOPIC was from wordplay only.
ERCOL is still in business after more than a century – traditional British but founded by an Italian from whom it takes its name.