A fun challenge indeed, from SOLOMON .
FF: 9 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BATMAN |
Superhero hit the face of Magneto with one end of weapon (6)
|
| BAT ( hit ) M ( Magneto, first letter ) A ( one ) N ( weapoN, last letter ) | ||
| 4 | AFLUTTER |
By the conclusion of erotica, Bet is excited (8)
|
| A ( eroticA, last letter of ) FLUTTER ( bet ) | ||
| 10 | OPERATION |
Running round and exercising beside allotment (9)
|
| O ( round ) PE ( exercising ) RATION ( allotment ) | ||
| 11 | EAT UP |
Finish crossword setter’s tea? (3,2)
|
| reverse clue for TEA = [ EAT ]* | ||
| 12 | NURSERY |
Where toddlers are sure to be trained in number lines (7)
|
| [ SURE ]* in { N ( number ) RY ( lines, railway ) } | ||
| 13 | Y-FRONTS |
Why, ultimately, without an R, typeface’s pants (1-6)
|
| Y ( whY, last letter ) [ R in FONTS ( typeface ) ] | ||
| 14 | BONUS |
Extra sweaty smell accompanying group of students (5)
|
| BO ( sweaty smell , Body Odor ) NUS ( National Union of Students ) | ||
| 15 | TOOTHACHE |
Revolutionary put on inordinately silly hat, causing complaint (9)
|
| TOO ( inordinately ) [ HAT ]* CHE ( revolutionary ) | ||
| 17 | OTHERWISE |
Oscar? He writes plays in a different way (9)
|
| O ( oscar ) [ HE WRITES ]* | ||
| 19 | SINKS |
Overcome by pride and greed, perhaps, knight falls (5)
|
| SINS ( pride and greed, perhaps ) containing K ( knight ) | ||
| 20 | CUSHION |
Copper joins mum and I on the edge of snooker table (7)
|
| CU ( coppper ) SH ( mum ) I ON | ||
| 22 | SCATTER |
Broadcast jazz vocalist singing nonsense? (7)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 24 | STARS |
King and Queen whisked away from naked celebrities (5)
|
| STARkerS ( naked, without K – king, ER – queen ) | ||
| 25 | LIGHTBULB |
One turned on by mild garlic? (9)
|
| LIGHT ( mild ) BULB ( ~garlic ) | ||
| 26 | SUSPENSE |
Anticipation created by South American writer’s penultimate part of novel (8)
|
| S ( south ) US ( american ) PEN’S ( writer’s ) E ( novEl, penultimate part of ) | ||
| 27 | NEWTON |
Lawmaker in unfamiliar borough taking week off (6)
|
| NEW ( unfamiliar ) TOwN ( borough, without W – week ) ; clever misdirection | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BROWN |
Colour of something one might wipe with the middle of hanky (5)
|
| BROW ( something one might wipe ) N ( haNky, middle of ) | ||
| 2 | THE GRINCH |
Antisocial housebreaker retching violently having injected heroin (3,6)
|
| [ RETCHING ]* containing H ( heroin ) | ||
| 3 | AMADEUS |
Film a crazy woman performing a flip (7)
|
| A MAD ( crazy ) EUS ( woman = SUE, reversed ) | ||
| 5 | FUNNY BONE |
Fellow shocked nun by spinning a certain body part (5,4)
|
| F ( fellow ) [ NUN BY ]* ONE ( a ) | ||
| 6 | UNEARTH |
Discover blue planet supporting advocates for peace (7)
|
| EARTH ( blue planet ) under UN ( advocates for peace ) | ||
| 7 | TITAN |
Giant bird sang after the removal of its wings (5)
|
| TIT ( bird ) AN ( sANg, without end characters ) | ||
| 8 | REPOSSESS |
Get back on steamship stopped by some officers (9)
|
| [ RE ( on ) SS ( steamship ) ] containing POSSE ( some officers ) | ||
| 9 | TINY |
The twenty-fifth can is very small (4)
|
| cryptic def; read as TIN ( can ) Y ( twenty fifth letter of the english alphabet ) ; the first can is TIN A, second can is TIN B and so on | ||
| 14 | BOOKCASES |
Order patients’ spines to be examined on these? (9)
|
| BOOK ( order ) CASES ( patients ) ; spines in the context of books | ||
| 15 | TRIANGLES |
Experiment delivered with old German’s instruments (9)
|
| sounds like TRY ( experiment ) ENGEL’S ( old german’s ) | ||
| 16 | CONSTRUCT |
Make prisoner parade about inside (9)
|
| CON ( prisoner ) [ C ( about ) in STRUT ( parade ) ] | ||
| 18 | REISSUE |
Rerelease the 2nd part of Pullman’s boring novel series (7)
|
| U ( pUllman, 2nd letter of ) in [ SERIES ]* | ||
| 19 | SEATTLE |
Sleet swirls around empty ancient city (7)
|
| [ SLEET ]* around AT ( AncienT, empty i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 21 | SEALS |
Plug Shrewsbury’s top circus performers (5)
|
| SEAL ( plug ) S ( Shewsbury, first letter ) | ||
| 22 | SAGA |
Oddly, Shaggy put on a medieval Icelandic piece (4)
|
| SAG ( ShAgGy, odd letters of ) A | ||
| 23 | ROBIN |
Bird that’s black and gold returning home (5)
|
| ROB { reverse of B ( black ) OR ( gold ) } IN ( home ) |
I think for 15d, only tri is the result of a homophone and the old German is the Angle (as in the tribe).
Didn’t really get 11 a.
A fun challenge, certainly – most enjoyable.
I think in 5d, one = ‘a certain’.
Jai @2 – it’s a reverse anagram: the indicator is ‘up’, as in ‘What’s up / wrong?
My ticks were for AFLUTTER, NURSERY, Y-FRONTS, STARS and TINY (both made me smile), TITAN, TRIANGLES, CONSTRUCT, SEATTLE and – top of the tree – OTHERWISE.
I would have added CUSHION but I couldn’t quite excuse the cryptic grammar. 😉
Many thanks to Solomon and turbolegs
FUNNY BONE is clued as F + (NUN)* + BY< + ONE.
Quite right, Hovis @4 – I’d missed that, in making my different point!
OTHERWISE was my Clue of the day, too, though the idea of a Reggae version of an Icelandic saga made me smile.
That was fun. I see BATMAN and ROBIN (and Y-FRONTS) which looked like the start of a theme. I also see SCATTER CUSHION but if that has a connection to the Dynamic Duo, it’s beyond me.
Funsize@7 – at least they’re not TINY BROWN Y-FRONTS
Yes, a fun puzzle with some nice misdirections and fun surfaces. I don’t want to think too hard about 1D.
And unlike an IO, doable in a lunchtime!
Thanks Solomon for an excellent crossword. I found this on the easier end of the Solomon spectrum with my top picks being EAT UP, OTHERWISE, SINKS, STARS (COTD), AMADEUS, BOOKCASES, and ROBIN. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
I’m a huge fan of this setter. Always producing lovely surfaces, plenty of wit and, as others have already remarked, with some delightfully off-beat definitions. All of that was on show today. Faves inc AFLUTTER, NURSERY, Y-FRONTS, BONUS, OTHERWISE, STARS, TITAN, REISSUE and ROBIN.
Thanks both
My favourite was 27a NEWTON, but I like my science!
There were many well-constructed clues and some nice surfaces, but it took me a lot longer than indicated by a DD7.
I ticked SEATTLE, OTHERWISE, FUNNY BONE, and CONSTRUCT
I could not parse TRIANGLES and I am still struggling to see how delivered is a homophone indicator and how it applies to both experiment and old German.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Martyn @12
Collins: ‘deliver: to utter or present ( a speech, oration idea, etc’; ‘delivery: manner or style of utterance’.
‘Delivered’ does not apply to the second part of the clue – see Cogito @1 and here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angles_(tribe)
Thanks Eileen@13 for your kind help.
I did not realise deliver by itself means speak. My crossword dictionary led me astray – I should have looked at the real McCoy.
And, thanks for ANGLES and apologies to Cognito@1 for missing that comment. I clearly did not think of that, and it is clearly the correct solution.
TJ@8 Too funny
This was a joy. Not too hard, with unexpected delights around every corner.