A Puzzle by Starhorse
+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +
The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid
Starhorse hasn't appeared for quite a while but this puzzle was well worth the wait. Many thanks to him
Across
1a Away and likely to be preoccupied… (6-6)
ABSENT-MINDED: Away/not present and likely/intend. Very nice
8a … fighting former policemen and monarch (7)
RUCKING: Former policemen in Northern Ireland and a male monarch
9a Appropriate island for meeting old friends? (7)
REUNION: Cryptic definition, the island in question lying in the Indian Ocean
11a Stubborn publicist with tons to write about area (7)
ADAMANT: If we split the solution, a synonym of stubborn 2,3 we could have a publicist into which we need to insert the abbreviation for Area and follow the lot with the abbreviation for Tons
12a Protects son heading west for cover (7)
SMOTHER: Protects/nurses with the abbreviation for Son moved to the beginning of the clue
13a One not involved in silent diplomacy (4)
TACT: Remove the letter that looks like the number one from silent/unspoken. Nice
14a Money obtains suit and musical instrument (3,7)
TIN WHISTLE: Crosswordland's favourite money and a Cockney’s suit. To me we need an indicator thus here, though it is in the OED. I’m assuming “obtains” is a juxtaposition indicator.
17a Player teed off again and again (10)
REPEATEDLY: PLAYER TEED* (off)
19a Fancy someone assisting a move to the Far East (4)
IDEA: An assistant/guide with the A moved to the end of the clue. I'm not entirely sure this parses grammatically, we need "moving" or "moves" both of which of course would ruin the surface read.
22a Oddly insular places to go (7)
URINALS: INSULAR* (oddly)
24a Reveal degree to be superior (7)
OUTRANK: Reveal/expose plus degree/level
25a Quick way to make contact in thread (7)
HOTLINE: In/popular plus thread/strand
26a Make it fairer - take a pound off (7)
LIGHTEN: Double definition.
27a Heaven and Earth guaranteed to take precedence (8,4)
PROMISED LAND: Earth as in ground/terra firma following guaranteed/assured
Down
1d Old mischievous American spies from the south (7)
ARCHAIC: Mischievous/cunning plus the usual American spies rev.
2d Tears up nearly everything that's circular (6)
SPIRAL: Tears/shreds rev. plus everything/the lot without its last letter.
3d Hitting me's outrageous when it's dark (5-4)
NIGHT-TIME: HITTING ME* (outrageous) .
4d Customs requires extra shilling (5)
MORES: Extra/additional pl inus the abbreviation for Shilling
5d True icon strangely paranoid (8)
NEUROTIC: TRUE ICON* (strangely)
6d It's about time he chased record title (7)
EPITHET: It from the clue around (is about) the abbreviation for Time and he from the clue all after one of the usual records
7d Sudden advance before using crack (12)
BREAKTHROUGH: Using/by following crack/fracture. Nice misdirection.
10d Kissing Rex, with Lynn perhaps interrupting - that's stressful (5-7)
NERVE-RACKING: An informal kissing “interrupted” by the abbreviation for Rex and the given name of the singer Lynn
15d Efficient when drunk? (4-5)
WELL-OILED: Double/cryptic definition
16d Jumper like my top, for example (8)
PARADIGM: A (military) jumper, an informal like and the initial letter of My
18d Artist offering nothing for a dog (7)
POINTER: A generic term for an artist who uses brushes with the abbreviation for nothing replacing A from the clue. Very nice.
20d Damned daughter sang (7)
DRATTED: The abbreviation for Daughter and sang/informed on
21d Spot mysterious driver and scholar… (6)
STIGMA: The mysterious driver in Top Gear plus an abbreviated master of arts.
23d … appears it's me escaping back to house (5)
SEEMS: Very nicely hidden and reversed (to house, back)
An entertaining lunchtime diversion – many thanks to Starhorse.
I particularly liked 11a, 19a, 25a, 10d and 16d.
A most entertaining pre lunch diversion with a couple of clues where parsing took a bit of work, eg 26d.
The clues I particularly liked were 9a and 14a
Thanks to Starhorse and in advance to Stephen
Many thanks, Starhorse. I always enjoy your puzzles and it was a pleasure to find this one in today’s NTSPP slot.
This was superb – a lot of fun combined with admirably brief clueing, some nice disguises and smooth surfaces throughout. The parsing of a couple of clues took some unravelling but it all came together nicely in the end.
I had too many ticks to select a podium.
A little more of a caffeine assisted cerebral workout than it seems to have been for Gazza with a number of PDMs but an enjoyable start to my Saturday morning.
Smiles for 14a, 26a, 10d, 15d, and 16d.
Thanks to Starhorse and in advance to Stephen L.
Thank you Starhorse, enjoyable puzzle and very welcome on a dreary but welcome rain day in the SE. We struggled to parse a couple of solutions (11a and 26a) but sure we have the correct answer so thanks in advance to Stephen L for his review. More, please, Starhorse.
On this rainy Saturday on the West Coast of BC, a fun offering today.
I liked 14a, 22a, 27a, 18d & 23d
Thanks to Starhorse & Stephen L
Cracking puzzle & a good bit tougher than the SPP. Ticks all over the shop & too numerous to mention.
Thanks Starhorse – please don’t leave it so long.
We felt we had been working very hard by the time we eventually got all this one sorted. Our last one to parse was 14a so we’ll make that our top clue.
Thanks Starhorse.
Thanks all for your comments and Stephen’s review. I did wonder about indicating the cockney suit but OED does now give it as British informal, although the origin is obviously rhyming slang. I think an indicator is more used for aural cockney, such as removing the h from the front of a word. Point taken on 19a – I guess I’m relying on imaginary punctuation as in the instruction “a”: move to the far east, but that’s probably more Guardian-like than Telegraph, and I do like neat surfaces when possible.