Guy has set this morning’s puzzle.
Some unusual definitions held me up a bit, but I got there in the end. A fun puzzle with some clues where the parsing was not immediately obvious, but nothing terribly obscure in the final reckoning. Unusually for me, solving the longer entries didn’t help as much as they sometimes do.
Thanks, Guy
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MOTHERS-IN-LAW |
The king’s visiting LA, cutting short time with least favourite relatives? (7-2-3)
|
| THE + R’s (R= Rex, so “king”) + IN (“visiting”) + LA, cutting MO (“short time”) + W (with)
Mothers-in-law were often the butt of comedian’s jokes. |
||
| 9 | NONSLIP |
Unopened anonymous note certain to cause friction (7)
|
| [unopened] (a)NON (anonymous) + SLIP (“note”) | ||
| 10 | CUT-RATE |
Priest taking test initially marked down (3-4)
|
| CURATE (“priest”) taking T(est) [initially] | ||
| 11 | TAROT |
Sailor returned to deck for the forecast (5)
|
| TAR (“sailor”) + [returned] <=TO | ||
| 12 | RESTRAINT |
Check Romeo isn’t on holiday (9)
|
| R (Romeo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + AIN’T (“isn’t”) on REST (“holiday”) | ||
| 13 | SIDE ROAD |
Team went by boat, you’d say a slower way to go (4,4)
|
| SIDE (“team”) + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [you’d say] of RODE (“went by boat”) | ||
| 15 | CASH IN |
Profit by removing middle of sandwich and repackaging it (4,2)
|
| *(sanich) [anag: repackaging] where SANICH is SAN(dw)ICH with its middle removed | ||
| 17 | GREEDY |
Demanding a larger allotment, garden’s left with long grass (6)
|
| G(arden) [‘s left] + REEDY (“with long grass”) | ||
| 18 | TIBETANS |
People in yeti country live among giants (8)
|
| BE (“live”) among TITANS (“giants”) | ||
| 21 | BLEACHING |
Sore behind starts to burn literally every beauty treatment (9)
|
| ACHING (“sore”) behind [starts to] B(urn) L(iterally) E(very) | ||
| 22 | BRAGS |
Black tatty things, crows (5)
|
| B (black) + RAGS (“tatty things”) | ||
| 23 | SOLDIER |
Private OAP unpacked summer clothes (7)
|
| [unpacked] S(umme)R clothes OLDIE | ||
| 24 | RESPITE |
Downtime editor’s beginning after dealing with drivel (7)
|
| E(ditor) [‘s beginning] after RE (“dealing with”) + SPIT (“drivel”) | ||
| 25 | INCANDESCENT |
Very hot coming down from Machu Picchu? (12)
|
| INCAN (“from Machu Picchu?”) + DESCENT (“coming down”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MINUTES |
Itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny record? (7)
|
| Two meanings of MINUTE (“its-bitsy” and “teeny-weeny”) | ||
| 2 | TUNBRIDGE WELLS |
New girl bustled about town (9,5)
|
| *(new girl busted) [anag:about]
Tunbridge Wells (proper name – Royal Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent. |
||
| 3 | ECLAT |
Powder end of nose in mirror for striking effect (5)
|
| <=(TALC (“powder”) + [end of] (nos)E, in mirror (i.e. reflected)) | ||
| 4 | SUPERMAN |
Masculine ideal according to mother wears blazer (8)
|
| PER (“according to”) + MA (mother) wears SUN (“blazer”) | ||
| 5 | NICISH |
Wobbly chin is kind of sweet (6)
|
| *(chin is) [anag:wobbly] | ||
| 6 | ALTERCATE |
“Photoshop?” Ms Blanchett spat (9)
|
| ALTER (“photoshop”) + CATE (Blanchett) (American actress) | ||
| 7 | PARISH MAGAZINE |
Doctor in Gaza has Prime, local reports (6,8)
|
| *(in gaza has prime) [anag:doctor] | ||
| 8 | SEXTON |
Church attendant cross with radio playing outside (6)
|
| X (cross) with SET ON (“radio playing”) outside | ||
| 14 | REDACTION |
Censorship something Communists do? (9)
|
| RED ACTION might be “something Communists do” | ||
| 16 | LINGERED |
One put off by underwear daughter didn’t clear up (8)
|
| I (one) put off by LINGER(i)E (“underwear”) + D (daughter) | ||
| 17 | GO BUST |
Smash mug, getting oddly upset (2,4)
|
| GOB (“mug”) getting [oddly] U(p)S(e)T | ||
| 19 | SUSPECT |
Dodgy feature that makes one buy into cult (7)
|
| USP (unique selling point, so “feature that makes one buy”) into SECT | ||
| 20 | SIERRA |
Range hosier rarely stocks (6)
|
| Hidden in [stocks] “hoSIER RArely” | ||
| 22 | BASIS |
Foundation degree requiring intelligence (5)
|
| BA (Bachelor of Arts, so “degree”) requiring SIS (Special “Intelligence” Service) |
Thanks Guy and loonapick. I agree that it was fun with lots to like. I parsed 13ac with ROWED as the homophone.