A generous supply of helpful anagrams made this easy to get into. Thanks to Vulcan.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | PAMPAS | Plain starter of meal daddy’s eating (6) M[eal] in PAPA’S |
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| 5 | AUTOCRAT | At court, a new sovereign (8) (AT COURT A)* |
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| 9 | SUBPOENA | Having cooked bean soup, one requires attendance (8) (BEAN SOUP)* |
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| 10 | REPOSE | Take another attitude to rest (6) RE-POSE |
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| 11 | QUEEN’S SPEECH | Once Standard English no longer heard at opening of Parliament (6,6) Double/cryptic definiton: the Queen’s English is the standard, and since her death she has not given the speech to open Parliament |
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| 13 | MULE | Slippery equine? (4) A mule is a kind of slipper, so it’s SLIPPER-Y |
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| 14 | TEETOTAL | 18 on a course that is dry (8) 18 is the TOTAL number of TEEs on a golf course |
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| 17 | BLOKEISH | Typically male slob struggling with hike (8) (SLOB HIKE)* |
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| 18 | SHED | Drop tools here (4) Double definiton |
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| 20 | MONTENEGRINS | Tense morning working for Europeans (12) (TENSE MORNING)* |
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| 23 | LIBIDO | Try to stop celebrity endlessly showing sexual urge (6) BID (to try) in LIO[n] (a celebrity) |
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| 24 | ARCHIVES | Old records from accomplished country singer (8) ARCH (accomplished) + (Burl) IVES (country singer) |
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| 25 | HEIGHTEN | Raise the hinge that’s wonky (8) (THE HINGE)* |
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| 26 | MANGLE | Make a mess of motorway gradient (6) M[otorway] + ANGLE |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 2 | AGUE | No place for pandemic, just fever (4) PLAGUE (pandemic) less PL[ace] |
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| 3 | PIPSQUEAK | Whippersnapper very quietly suppressing single sound from mouse (9) I (single) in PP (very quietly, in music) + SQUEAK (sound from a mouse) |
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| 4 | SEEMED | Appeared to do this from Nice beach? (6) From the city of Nice you might SEE the MEDiterranean |
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| 5 | AGAINST THE GRAIN | Contrary to inclination, objecting to Scotch? (7,3,5) Double/cryptic definiton: if you object to Scotch Whisky you are AGAINST THE GRAIN (as opposed to the Grape) |
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| 6 | THRUSHES | Birds in most of the riverside plants (8) TH[e] + RUSHES |
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| 7 | COPSE | Manage to get round small group of trees (5) S[mall] in COPE (manage) |
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| 8 | ASSOCIATED | Move cat aside, keeping very connected (10) SO (very) in (CAT ASIDE)* |
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| 12 | GUILLOTINE | Killer’s destiny in being caught by subterfuge (10) LOT (destiny) + IN in GUILE |
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| 15 | OBSESSION | Alumni’s pub evening is a thing! (9) OBS’ (Old Boys’, alumni’s) + SESSION (an evening in the pub) |
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| 16 | SIGNPOST | Initial contribution to thread that gives clear directions (8) SIGN (to initial) + POST (contribution to a thread on a blog etc) |
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| 19 | SITCOM | Relax on firm topper on mattress for programme (6) SIT (relax) + CO (company, form) + M (“topper” of Mattress) |
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| 21 | TYING | Securing hearing without resistance (5) TRYING (hearing, in court) less R[esistance] |
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| 22 | ZEAL | Enthusiasm in the heart of Commonwealth country (4) The middle of new ZEALand |
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Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
Pleasant puzzle. I liked the Uxbridge English Dictionary definition for MULE.
I was a bit surprised that it was MONTENEGRINS rather than MontenegrAns, but it seems to be correct.
Quite tricky for a Monday. As Andrew says, easy to get into but then I stalled. Looking back I was obviously on the wrong wavelength as it was all straightforward really. After two goes at it I got to the end.
I had no idea how to spell MONTENEGRINS thinking it would be ans on the end, so that required a look-up. Burl Ives was a bit of a blast from the past and took some dredging up.
Liked the two long ones 10a and 5d, and SEEMED was very clever (couldn’t get plage to work!).
There’s a spare s in the blog for 15d.
Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew
An enjoyable straightforward solve – though I failed to parse 14A (teetotal), because of its slippery misdirection to 18A.
Comment #4
Thanks Andrew. I think OBSESSION is OB + SESSION, otherwise you have OBSSESSION.
Thanks Vulcan and Andrew. A gentle and enjoyable start to the week, though I needed help with the parsing of GUILLOTINE.
I didn’t know a mule waa a slipper. Nor that whisky is grain — despite the obvious connection. All else hunky dory.
Had trouble with ARCHIVES, both with arch=accomplished and with remembering Burl Ives, who was quite a while ago now. But I did enjoy the TEE TOTAL.
Liked MULE. The only four-letter equine I could think of and Google made ‘slippery’ make sense. Typically Vulcanian. Thanks.
Vulcan at his best, with witty wordplay galore (QUEEN’S SPEECH, TEETOTAL, AGAINST THE GRAIN, SIGNPOST, SEEMED, OBSESSION), some lovely anagrams (MONTENEGRINS, AUTOCRAT, SUBPOENA) and some just nice clues (PAMPAS, AGUE, GUILLOTINE, SITCOM, TYING). Brilliant, thanks Vulcan and Andrew!
Favourites: SEEMED, MULE.
New for me: country singer Burl IVES (for 24ac) – was he well-known in the UK? I never heard of him in Australia but we were not fans of country music.
I was a bit confused by TEETOTAL as one usually uses the same tee for driving and another for shorter holes but I suppose it works. Quite a challenge today, my favourites were AGUE, GUILLOTINE, OBSESSION and SEEMED.
Ta Vulcan & Andrew.
AlanC – I’m not a golfer, but I think the tee is not only the little support for the ball, but also the place from where you start each hole, hence 18 tees on a course.
Thanks to the Burl Ives reference, I have just joyfully listened to The Ugly Bug Ball 🙂