I found this mostly quite easy but the bottom left-hand corner gave me no end of difficulties. Eventually I filled in 20, 15 and 16 without really knowing why, along with 21.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | [-b]RUNO,[-l]UTON |
| 10 | THERE’S NO TELLING – a “teller” is someone who works in bank so “telling” must be what they do. |
| 12 | (ROBE SO WHAT)* – SHOWBOATER. |
| 13 | BO[-o]HO[-o] – a shortened version of “bohemian”, which is close synonym of “beatnik”. |
| 14 | (PETES)*,IN – Brian EPSTEIN was the manager of the Beatles and Paul MacCartney himself described him as the “fifth Beatle”. It’s quite a famous phrase now I think so this made the clue very easy (for me). |
| 17 | hidden reversed in “mediCINES RArely” |
| 20 | RUMP – another word for “butt” but why “softly”? |
| 21 | MISDEALING – “improper distribution” is the definition and “West London borough” is EALING but I can’t explain where MISD- comes from. Have I got this one wrong? |
| 23 | BECAUSE IT’S THERE – George Mallory’s now famous response when asked why he wanted to climb Everest. |
| 25 | S(CREW)Y – deceptive definition in “touched” (a colloquialism for “slightly mad”). |
| 26 | A,F,FE(ETC<)D – another meaning of “touched”. |
| Down | |
| 1 | B(RUT)US – very simple clue but this took me ages to get. |
| 2 | LOP in (SEVEN)* – ENVELOPS. |
| 4 | (ON BUM I TAKE IN)* – MOUNTAIN BIKE. Excellent, and amusing &lit. |
| 5 | HAZE – sounds like (Isaac) “Hayes” |
| 6 | ILL (going up) in FABLE |
| 7 | SHANGHAI – the definition is “trick” but I can’t work out the wordplay: “Trick (hands) into endless sea journey?” |
| 15 | PRUDE,NCE – not really sure about this one either: “Victorian person showing discrimination overlooking one’s discretion”. If “Victorian person” is PRUDE then “showing discrimination overlooking one’s” must account for NCE somehow. |
| 16 | TAP WATER – and another one I don’t get: “What’s piped into bath could make foam it it’s not 11” (the answer at 11 is THE HARD STUFF) |
| 18 | START,RE,K |
| 19 | (TO SEE TIN)* – NOISETTE. |
| 22 | GRE(ED)Y |
| 24 | STY,X |
15d The ‘NCE’ comes from ‘N[i]CE’.
16d Possibly a straight clue. Water that is ‘hard’ does not readily make a lather or foam but soft water does.
20. I think the answer is bum p.
Bum and butt are both synonyms of one’s rear end.
Butt softly means to bump.
21. mi(s)dealing
S = succeeded in mid Ealing
7d Double definition. Shanghai is ‘to trick into performing an unpleasant task’ and also ‘to drug or make drunk and send to sea as a sailor’. ‘Hands’ are workers on a ship.
Not entirely convinced about 7d. Thought the endless sea journey might be SAIL less L which then contains HANGH but could not get the rest.
Is it, ahem, a dbl def cum &lit ref card game and abduction? I can’t quite fathom (!) it either.
Re: 7D, the whole is an &lit. Hang = trick as in knack, H = hands (in COED), in SAI(l), as Nmsindy spotted. You know you’re going to have to work a bit with a Saturday Nestor.