Apologies for the brief blog, but a host of things came up and I’ve only just found time to solve this. It was quite tricky, and I haven’t the time to think some clues through or google them, so please correct me/ help me out.

Nimrod’s puzzles have a very individual style, rarely more exemplified than here. Found it very hard, but got there in the end, but decided I’d better verify in some cases by using the new free ‘reveal’ facility which confirmed my answers.

Solving time: 65 mins

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 FIRST LIGHT Dawn. Nothing to do with the Sun replacing the Daily Herald in the late 1960s. And ‘light’ is an old-fashioned word for a crossword answer and this is the first in this puzzle.

7 C-IN-C cf cinc(h) de-tailed

9 ID LING Two fishes, familiar to solvers.

10 LIME RICK

11 NAME SAKE Good

12 ARMANI Airman with the i ‘demoted’

13 GAINED ADMISSION Double definition with the split at suspect/got

15 ETHNIC CLEANSING (China neglects in)* “What China neglects in forces?” Finally got this, which was key to the difficult lower half of the puzzle, when I’d sufficient crossing letters. I do not understand it though. Does China = mate have something to do with it definitionally?

20 RED-TOP Liverpool play in red tops, shorts etc (’coverage - partial)

21 CU (copper) T IN T WO (walkover). Clue of the puzzle for me.

23 LITTLE MO (Maureen Connolly, tennis player) - clue also had a &lit element as she passed away, prematurely, if I recall.

24 NUN C (I) O

25 IN TO(w)

26 SE (SAME SEE) D Very subtle = walls is a containment indicator. Sed = but in Latin

DOWN

2 IN DIANA Roman goddess of hunting

3 SPIKE Milligan Very good

4 L (A GG) ARD It can be a adj though given as rare in Collins

5 G OLDEN DELI C IOUS

6 T IMP (AN) I

7 CERAMISTS Got it from definition and verified but not understood “Handicraftsmen writing author’s name into formal declarations”

8 NO CAN DO

14 NINETY-TWO (twenty-on I)* Another very subtle one that I got only near the end.

16 THE LION Sign of the Zodiac and typical pub name? If the latter, that’s a bit vague and I really struggled in that corner of the grid.

17 CY PRES S Trust = wills

18 ANTONY Mark

19 NEW LINE key worker = typist carriage return (do you remember that?)

22 NINES Hidden

Not too difficult - solving time, 18 mins

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 T (A MA) RACK

5 SCH E MA

9 ATROCIT Y (Riot Act)* Y = end of unruly (last letter)

10 PULL-UP Reads the same both ways.

12 CH EER Companion of Honour

13 LOUNGE BAR (be langour)*

14 GEOMETRICIAN (A coterie Ming)*

18 COUNTER TENOR “Tenner” (in the auditorium)

21 BATH SHE BA

23 ADORE Hidden

24 A MINE’S

25 DO (MIN) ANT

26 DOGGER Double definition

27 STAND A RD

DOWN

1 TRA (N) CE ambition ultimately = last letter

2 MARR (i) ED

3 RE CURRENT

4 CATTLE MARKET (Tackle matter)*

6 C (musical notes A to G) LUNG

7 EX L I (B) RIS

8 AS PI RANT

11 PUT THE CAT OUT It can let itself out through the ‘cat-flap’

15 ISOLATION (Liaison to)*

16 S CAB BARD

17 HURT LING How long ago it was when I first learned ling = heather

19 SONATA Hidden

20 PEN TAD A set of five.

22 STELE “Steel”

Solving time:  23 minutes 

Apologies for the late hour of posting, but a long day of hospital treatment left me rather zonked.   This was a typical enjoyable Dac puzzle with elegant surface readings and clever devices, although a couple of petty quibbles.

    (*)= anagram (CD) =  cryptic def   (R) = reversal

ACROSS

1   STRIDE   S + TIRED*

4   CRACKPOT  POT (Prize) +  CRACK (Expert)

9  ADAMS     ADAM + S  Adams was of course the second President of the US.

10  CHIMING IN    CHI (Foreign character) + MINGIN(G) - My first sighting of that word in a crossword. (I think!).

11 OUT TO LUNCH   Two defs.

12 MENU   Hidden

14  INSPECTORATE      P inside  IN SECT +ORATE

17  RECREATIONAL   CREATION inside REAL(M)

20 LYRE     Homophone for LIAR

21  HELICOPTER   THE POLICE* +R  Seen it before, but it’s still a nce clue.

23  MIDDLETON  I presume there was  a Royal consort called MIDDLETON - can’t remember one off the top of my head.

24  DOB IN       DO + BIN

25  STEM TURN   I’d just been writing the quiz questions for the local League and used the phrase STEM CHRISTIE so this leapt out at me.

26 GREENE   GREEN + E

 DOWN

1  SLAVONIC   VOCALS IN *   Another nice clue.

2  ROAD TEST    A in ROD TEST

3  DISCOVERED   SERVICE ODD*

5  REINCARNATION  REIN + CAR + NATION

6  CHIT  C + HIT

7  PIGLET    LEG* inside PIT

8  TONE UP     E inside  TON UP

10  COUNTERFEITER  Homophone of Counter Fitter

13  ATTIC ORDER  (CD)   New phrase to me

15  UNSTABLE     (T)UNS  + TABLE  Wouldn’t an “unopened” cask be a complete one and therefore a TUN?  Can’t make my mind up over “unopened” here.

16  CLARENCE   Double def.  Clarence House was the Queen Mum’s residence, and is now Charles’ town pad, I think.

18  CLAMPS    C (Close to Car - surely this should be R? - or is this just C “near to”?) + LAMPS

19  BRIDGE     BRIDGE(T) - as in Bridget Jones’ Diary

22  PLOT  A “P  LOT” would be a collection of coins.  PLOT is also a bed in gardening.