The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30082.
Anto on his best behaviour for a fun puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FOOT FAULT |
Splitting payslip results in bad service? (4,5)
|
| ‘Splitting payslip’ gives FOOT (‘pay’-) plus FAULT (-‘slip’). ‘Results in’ might be regarded as part of the definition, or as connective tissue. | ||
| 6 | BEES |
Occasional brewers who will deliver honey? (4)
|
| Alternate letters (‘occasionally’) of ‘BrEwErS‘. | ||
| 10 | BLUFF |
Deceive friendly bank (5)
|
| Triple definition. | ||
| 11 | YOUNGSTER |
Gutsy Nero wrestled child (9)
|
| An anagram (‘wrestled’) of ‘gutsy Nero’. | ||
| 12 | LEECHES |
Suckers taking shelter before short game (7)
|
| A charade of LEE (‘shelter’) plus CHES[s] (‘game’) minus its last letter (‘short’). | ||
| 13 | INTROIT |
Sacred music at heart of saintly shroud rite (7)
|
| Interior letters (‘at heart of’) of ‘asINTly shROud rITe’. The actual letters are chosen to give the required result. | ||
| 14 | SERIOUS DAMAGE |
Acute harm horrible images aroused (7,6)
|
| An anagram (‘horrible’) of ‘images aroused’. | ||
| 17 | FRUIT MACHINES |
For example, Apple devices providing gambling opportunities (5,8)
|
| A charade of FRUIT (‘for example, apple’) plus MACHINES (‘devices’). | ||
| 21 | PARSNIP |
Assigns blame when returning vegetarian food (7)
|
| A reversal (‘when returning’) of PINS (‘assigns’) plus RAP (‘blame’). | ||
| 22 | PRIAPIC |
Chap so excited as couple make comeback in film (7)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of RIAP, a reversal (‘make comeback’) of PAIR (‘couple’) in PIC (‘film’). I think that Anto can be forgiven the adjectival answer (with extended definition?). | ||
| 24 | HANDS DOWN |
Passes on instruction to tellers when bank heist’s over (5,4)
|
| The instruction during a bank heist wiuld be HANDS UP, so that when the heist is over that command would be cancelled, although I doubt that the tellers would need explicit instructions. | ||
| 25 | TUTTI |
All together now – express disappointment at what comes before do (5)
|
| A charade of TUT (‘express disappointment’) plus TI (‘what comes before do’ -the full solfa do-re-mi-fa-so-la-TI-‘do’) | ||
| 26 | TWEE |
Sentimental short message made even shorter (4)
|
| A subtraction: TWEE[t] (‘short message’ – the burning question is whether one still tweets {if one does} now Twitter is X) minus its last letter (‘made even shorter’). | ||
| 27 | LISTENS IN |
Catalogue standard no good bugs (7,2)
|
| A charade of LIST (‘catalogue’) plus ENSI[g]N (‘standard’ – military colours) minus the G (‘no good’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FABULIST |
One telling stories featuring fantastic, very minor celebrities (8)
|
| A charade of FAB (‘fantastic’) plus U LIST (‘very minor celebrities’ – way down from the A-list, with perhaps a hint of the German prefix U) | ||
| 2 | OF USE |
Beneficial to add oxygen to blend (2,3)
|
| A charade of O (chemical symbol, ‘oxygen’) plus FUSE (‘blend’). | ||
| 3 | FIFTH COLUMNIST |
Internal enemy in appropriate position here? (5,9)
|
| Indeed, 3D occupies the FIFTH COLUMN of the crossword grid. | ||
| 4 | ULYSSES |
Element of July’s session is something hard to understand? (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘element of’) in ‘jULYS SESsion’; the definition must be a reference to the James Joyce novel, which perhaps some find difficult to understand in parts. | ||
| 5 | TOURIGA |
Travel around Wigan central to find Portuguese wine (7)
|
| A charade of TOUR (‘travel around’) plus IGA (‘wIGAn central’). Touriga Nacional, to give its full name, is a grape varietal much used in Port, and also vinified on its own, and maybe so labelled. | ||
| 7 | EAT NO LEAN |
Mrs Sprat’s dietary requirement processed at lane one (3,2,4)
|
| An anagram (‘processed’) of ‘at lane one’. | ||
| 8 | SCROTA |
Gutted scientific programme providing containers for seed producers (6)
|
| A charade of SC (‘gutted ScientifiC‘) plus ROTA (‘programme’). | ||
| 9 | AGATHA CHRISTIE |
She made crime novels airtight as each evolved (6,8)
|
| An anagram (‘evolved’) of ‘airtight as each’., with an extended definition. | ||
| 15 | REFERENCE |
Endorsement after president would indicate top choice (9)
|
| With a P (‘president’) in front, the answer becomes PREFERENCE (‘top choice’). | ||
| 16 | C-SECTION |
Conservative faction working to gather information for delivery option (1-7)
|
| An envelope (‘to gather’) of I (‘information’) in C (‘Conservative’) plus SECT (‘faction’) plus ON (‘working’). | ||
| 18 | TOPSOIL |
Labour adopts works creating best medium for growth (7)
|
| AN envelope (‘adopts’) of OPS (‘woks’) in TOIL (‘labour’). | ||
| 19 | ALPINES |
In Scotland all large trees produce small flowers (7)
|
| A charade of A’ (‘in Scotland all’ – “a man’s a man for a’ that”) plus L (‘large’) plus PINES (‘trees’). | ||
| 20 | UPSHOT |
Trophies stolen, clubs eliminated – it’s a result! (6)
|
| A charade of [c]UPS (‘trophies’) minus the C (‘clubs eliminated’) plus HOT (‘stolen’). | ||
| 23 | PATES |
Heads or livers chopped up? Depends how you say it (5)
|
| Double definition, with the second using the French pronunciation (and spelling) PATÉS. |
Good fun. I was not familiar enough with Scottish to fully parse ALPINES, and the wordplay for FOOT FAULT eluded me. New to me: FIFTH COLUMNIST FRUIT MACHINES, TOURIGA, PRIAPIC.
Okay, that’s a full quota of SCROTA for this year and a second FIFTH COLUMNIST for the month.
I shouldn’t be solving these in the middle of the night but I really enjoyed this and it was as close to a write in as I ever get.
Thanks PeterO for parsing slightly more thoroughly than me; I didn’t stop to think about the 5th column device, which is neat.