The scheduled blogger is unavailable, so here’s a quick rundown. I solved the puzzle first thing this morning: from what I remember it didn’t hold me up for long. Thanks to Budmo.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | RUNAWAY | Out-of-control aircraft’s first to occupy landing zone (7) A[ircraft] in RUNWAY |
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| 5 | WHEELIE | Simple stunt with part of foot attached to bike regularly kicked out (7) W[ith]HEEL + [b]I[k]E |
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| 9 | CARAT | Oscar attempts to hide measure of gold (5) Hidden in osCAR ATtempts |
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| 10 | KISSINGER | Controversial US politician snogging that Cockney woman (9) KISSING (snogging) + ‘ER |
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| 11 | COAT HANGER | Surprisingly, not a charge for item in wardrobe (4,6) (NOT A CHARGE)* |
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| 12 | AMMO | After revolution, commandant stores bullets etc (4) Hidden in reverse of cOMMAndant |
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| 14 | DRIVING RANGE | How far one can travel with a Tesla in place of Golf? (7,5) Double definition – I think Tesla is a bit of a red herring: it could be any type of car |
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| 18 | BENEFACTRESS | Patron beats fencers off (12) (BEATS FENCERS)* |
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| 21 | RARE | Two-thirds of Zimbabwean capital is unusual (4) Two thirds of [ha]RARE |
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| 22 | ASPIRATION | Eager desire of Parisian to corrupt (10) (PARISIAN TO)* |
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| 25 | ARGONAUTS | Angostura rum for heroic sailors (9) ANGOSTURA* |
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| 26 | ENTER | Go into middle of America with shaved head (5) CENTER (US spelling od centre) less its first letter |
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| 27 | TEST BED | International match with live feed at last, a place to experiment (4,3) TEST (international match, e.g. in cricket) + BE (live) + [fee]D |
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| 28 | TOTALLY | Shot colleague dead (7) TOT (shot of drink) + ALLY – as in “you’re dead/totally right” |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | ROCOCO | Runs over clown in theatrical style (6) R[uns] O[ver] COCO famous clown |
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| 2 | NORMAN | French person in Opera North (6) NORMA (opera by Bellini) + N[orth] |
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| 3 | WITCHCRAFT | Bad spelling of broomstick? (10) Two (related) definitions – a WiTCH’s CRAFT is “bad spelling”, and her CRAFT could be a broomstick |
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| 4 | YUKON | It’s disgusting, working in Canadian territory (5) YUK + ON (working) |
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| 5 | WESTERNER | Nearly married more severe American? (9) WE[d] + STERNER |
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| 6 | EVIL | On return, live in sin (4) Reverse of LIVE |
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| 7 | LIGAMENT | Venison, perhaps, wrapped in cotton tissue (8) GAME (e.g. venison) in LINT |
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| 8 | EARLOBES | Nobleman honours stud locations? (8) EARL + O.B.E.S (UK honours) – studs are small earrings that would go in the lobes |
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| 13 | PRESS AGENT | President books inspiring wise man as promoter (5,5) SAGE in PRES + NT (New Testament) |
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| 15 | VICE SQUAD | Cave with squid bemused investigative team (4,5) (CAVE SQUID)* |
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| 16 | ABERRANT | Deviant president, Republican, with tirade (8) ABE (Abraham Lincoln) + R[epublican] + RANT (tirade); nothing to do with the current incumbent |
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| 17 | INERT GAS | Perhaps neon lit up Tangiers (5,3) TANGIERS* – “lit up” can mean drunk |
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| 19 | PISTOL | Arm private investigator, with many uprising (6) P.I. + reverse of LOTS |
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| 20 | ENERGY | Refreshed Green party at last showing intensity (6) GREEN* + [part]Y |
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| 23 | INSET | Clubs abandoning cricket, perhaps? It should be seen as part of the bigger picture (5) INSECT (e.g. a cricket) less C |
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| 24 | KNOB | Handle screw-up (4) Reverse of BONK (have sex with, screw) |
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Thanks Budmo and Andrew
Not hard, but very enjoyable. Favourite EARLOBES, for the misleading definition.
WHEELIE was FOI, but I can’t see what “Simple” is contributing – it’s neither necessary nor accurate!
I drive an electric car (not a Tesla), and am more conscious of driving range than with one you can just refill with petrol as needed.
Very enjoyable puzzle. A rare completion on first pass, but still challenging and stimulating. Many well-disguised definitions, surprising pdm’s, funny and plausible surfaces, offbeat synonymns, clever wordplay — a delight!
Many favourites, including 5a WHEELIE (taking me back to my childhood, practicing these), 9a CARAT (“Oscar” double-bluff), 14a DRIVING RANGE (misdirecting appearance of a substitution (T for G) — and “range anxiety” is a thing with electric cars), 26a ENTER (funny surface), 28a TOTALLY (good surface, surprising synonymns, concise), 3d WITCHCRAFT (“broomstick”), 4d YUKON (Canadian reference), and all the others
18a We’ve seen a lot of BENEFACTRESSes lately. Seems to be a useful combination of letters for setters?
1d ROCOCO, I guess there’s not a ROBOZO theatrical style
I parsed 5a as “With” = W, and “part of foot” = HEEL
Thanks Budmo, and Andrew for stepping in
Me@2, Sorry I thought I deleted my second-last paragraph. That is, of course, how Andrew parsed it in the blog
I also liked EARLOBES. Foolishly had Troys for CARET for a while. A pleasant puzzle.
Andrew – you have missed Republican for one of the Rs in ABERRANT. Thanks – blog corrected. A
[Chemistry pedant: the Noble gases group (including neon) haven’t been called “inert gases” for ages. It’s surprisingly easy to make compounds of xenon (though not as easy as in The Hail Mary Project!), and krypton also has some compounds. Even argon combines with some elements, though the products might not be regarded as “compounds”.]
TOTALLY for Dead had me scratching my head for a while. So too the parsing of INSET. Apart from that an enjoyable steady solve this morning…
Thanks for stepping in with the blog , a good set of clues and useful for newer solvers . WHEELIE very neat , ENTER has a nice touch for the American reference , BENEFACTRESS very concise and even a Canadian refererence for Mig@2 dominating the charts .
Not keen on BAD spelling for WITCHCRAFT , most of my spells are good .
INERT GAS only refers to neon which is fair enough for nearly all conditions .
Ronaldo@7 – football is totally/dead boring .
Very enjoyable puzzle with lots of clever misdirection. Rarely for us, we didn’t need to reach out to either Anne Bradford or Mr Google
Thanks to Andrew and Budmo
Fell over on KNOB – I chucked in ‘snub’ with a shrug – otherwise more of a Quiptic vibe to this one. Thanks both
I failed to parse 26ac. I took ‘middle of America’ to be R. Then I couldn’t work out how ‘head’ without its first letter (shaved) could be ENTE.
Obvious now.
Bang on my solving skills ability – thanks Budmo and Andrew.
Thanks Budmo for an enjoyable set of clues with my top picks being DRIVING RANGE, BENEFACTRESS, ASPIRATION, TOTALLY, INERT GAS, PISTOL, and INSET. For once I didn’t need the blog for parsing questions but thanks just the same Andrew.
Thanks Budmo – not a compiler I remember seeing, but my memory isn’t what it used to be. A write-in, but an enjoyable puzzle for its many smiles, smooth surfaces, clean clueing and clear parses (as usual after solution and with occasional head-scratching). I think a more difficult grid would be justified. Thanks again and thanks Andrew for stepping in.
Apart from toying with fatally instead of totally in 28a, it all went straight in. Good fun while it lasted and easier than Monday’s Vulcan.
Favourites KISSINGER and EARLOBES.
Thanks Budmo and Andrew
Three Guardian BENEFACTRESSES in 2026.
Martin @15. I wrote benefactress straight in without needing to think!
Thanks for stepping in Andrew. Enjoyed this offering from Budmo although, even with the QM, I balked at the equivalence in 5D. A European is a westerner from an Asian’s (and Spengler’s) perspective; an American from Boston is an easterner from my perspective.
I rarely comment here as my usual thoughts don’t go much beyond “it was a crossword and I solved it”, but making an exception today. Really good, witty, surfaces, and some clever misdirection. Not too hard, but lots of fun.
Bravo Andrew! I’ve only just caught this, by accident, almost on my way out.
I’m in total agreement with Mig’s first paragraph @2, so that saves me some time!
My own ticks were for KISSINGER, TOTALLY, EARLOBES, INSET and, not surprisingly, top favourite ARGONAUTS.
Thanks to Budmo for an enjoyable puzzle.
This might be the first ever Cryptic I managed to solve completely on my own, without a thesaurus, anagram helper or Chambers’ Word Wizard.
Like WhiteDevil #9, my first attempt on 24d was SNUB, and like Petert #4 I got stuck on TROYS, but in the end, I got there.
Thanks for a very enjoyable puzzle full of clever misdirection, Budmo, and thanks for the blog, Andrew!
I found this much easier than yesterday’s Vulcan and most enjoyable. I put Snib for 24dn. Snib – a latch =handle and you screw something up before you bin it. Can I claim a finish. Please!
New for me: neon = INERT GAS.
Favourite: NORMAN, EARLOBES (loi).
Roz@7, which Ronaldo are you addressing here – Cristiano or Luis Nazario de Lima…?
Isn’t gold measured in Karats, and gems in Carats?
RogerPat@24 – not in the UK … carats for both.
Comment #26
RogerPat and Van Winkle
Even Merriam Webster says that carat for gold is “acceptable”.
A carat is a unit of weight used to measure the size of a gemstone such as a diamond. A karat is a measurement indicating the proportion of gold in an alloy out of 24 parts, so 18K gold is 18/24 parts gold. However, the use of carat (in place of karat) to indicate the fineness of gold is also considered acceptable.
Enjoyable puzzle with some lovely anagram spots. I’m another whose favourite was EARLOBES.
I liked this crossword very much. My favourite was “shot colleague dead”.
“earlobes” was very good too.
I particularly enjoyed the anagrams for COAT HANGER and ARGONAUTS, and the pleasing symmetry of the short reversals EVIL and KNOB. Oh, and the witch craft.
Gentle but solid stuff! Thanks both
KNOB; brilliant. Thanks Budmo and Andrew for the fill in. Very enjoyable.
I too was a bit bemused by the C in CARAT; similarly at 4d because I think of YUK as a laugh, the expression of disgust being _yuck_ for me. And I share Coloradan’s uneasiness with WESTERNER for “American”. (Additionally because it’s used of western Canadians as well, as far as the Rockies anyway.) None of these quibbles made me doubt the solutions, though.
I failed to parse 26a, following the same red herring as Andrew Sceats @10. Overall I did find it easier than most, but also quite well crafted and very satisfying.
Nothing much to add, though thrown for a moment by patron’s surface of inherent maleness.
Thanks to all.
Etu@33 yes, it’s superficially jarring to equate patron (as opposed to patroness) with benefactress… but then one realises how unnecessary it is to mark such terms for gender anyway – and hence the clue is a gentle tickle on older sensibilities.
Interestingly, people seem comfortable with using the traditionally male terms as the wider genderless ones in English. I assume that’s because the whole language is barely marked for gender in the first place. In Spanish, for example, the topic is much more vexed, with traditional use of the male term for women carrying a significant undertone, alas usually perjorative.
Late to this. This was right on the nose skill wise for me. Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Andrew and Budmo.
Don’t we use the term ‘patron saint’ to refer to both male and female saints? I don’t think I have ever encountered ‘patroness saint’.