Words in English often have a multiplicity of meanings. Tramp exploits this feature many times over in this puzzle, with a surface misdirection requiring a mental sidestep to arrive at the solution. Solid work.
I have provided a short explanation for the leaps that I found the most challenging.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | UNALIGNED |
Uniform policeman’s back dealing supply out (9)
|
| U (uniform) + last letter of (back [of]) [POLICEMA]N + anagram of (supply) DEALING | ||
| 10 | ABASH |
Adult party? Show up (5)
|
| A (adult) + BASH (party) | ||
| 11 | LEPROSE |
Focus for talent: piano picked up with scales (7)
|
| Inside letters of (focus of) [TA]LE[NT] + P (piano) + ROSE (picked up) | ||
| 12 | UNDERGO |
Experience unconscious fit (7)
|
| UNDER (unconscious) + GO (fit) | ||
| 13 | CURT |
Short, nasty dog needing lead for town (4)
|
| CUR (nasty dog) + first letter of (lead for) T[OWN] | ||
| 14 | BOTTICELLI |
Little bit cut off? Career primarily at sea for oil worker (10)
|
| Anagram of (at sea) {LITTLE + BI[T] minus last letter (cut) + first letters of (primarily) O[FF] + C[AREER]}, with a whimsical definition, referring to Sandro Botticelli | ||
| 15 | RESERVE |
Soldiers wait for backup (7)
|
| RE (soldiers) + SERVE (wait) | ||
| 17 | SAPPING |
Bleeding send electronic message to idiot at front (7)
|
| SAP (idiot) + PING (send electronic message to), with “at front” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 19 | NORTH KOREA |
State of fancy throne surrounding king: gold one (5,5)
|
| {Anagram of (fancy) THRONE around (surrounding) [K (king) + OR (gold)]} + A (one) | ||
| 22 | ASIA |
Geographical region like Iowa (4)
|
| AS (like) + IA (Iowa) | ||
| 23 | PASSAGE |
Duct with clot blocking side (7)
|
| ASS (clot) inside (blocking) PAGE (side) | ||
| 24 | REDTAIL |
American hawk to trade across department (7)
|
| RETAIL (trade) around (across) D (department), perhaps better known as the red-tailed hawk. I have seen one in my back yard, but not in Chambers. | ||
| 26 | RAGES |
Fumes from fire ultimately breathed in by kids (5)
|
| Last letter of (ultimately) [FIR]E inside (breathed in by) RAGS (kids) | ||
| 27 | LUNAR YEAR |
You finally ran relay races for a time (5,4)
|
| Anagram of (races) {last letter of (finally) [YO]U + RAN RELAY} | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PUBLIC TRANSPORT |
People go through this open entrance (6,9)
|
| PUBLIC (open) + TRANSPORT (entrance, in this sense, with both having stress on the second syllable) | ||
| 2 | CAR PARKS |
Grounds for pulling up fish on vessels (3,5)
|
| CARP (fish) + ARKS (vessels), with “pulling up” here meaning “bringing to a stop” | ||
| 3 | FIDO |
Perhaps husky fellow’s reply to priest? (4)
|
| F (fellow) + I DO (reply to priest, i.e., at a wedding), referring to the dog breed | ||
| 4 | ANTELOPE |
One’s horny wife out of desire to go with lover (8)
|
| [W]ANT (desire) minus (out of) W (wife) + ELOPE (to go with lover), “horny” here meaning “horned” | ||
| 5 | ADJUST |
Settle bill completely (6)
|
| AD (bill) + JUST (completely) | ||
| 6 | HANDICAP |
Panic had spread around block (8)
|
| Anagram of (spread around) PANIC HAD | ||
| 7 | BARREL |
Naked girl conclusively pinching Romeo’s butt (6)
|
| {BARE (naked) + last letter of (conclusively) [GIR]L} around (pinching) R (Romeo) | ||
| 8 | SHOOTING GALLERY |
Range that’s largely soothing given treatment (8,7)
|
| Anagram of (given treatment) LARGELY SOOTHING | ||
| 16 | REHEARSE |
Perform before show and try again endless sex (8)
|
| REHEAR (try again) + SE[X] minus last letter (endless) | ||
| 17 | SWEARING |
Blinding sun exhausting (8)
|
| S (sun) + WEARING (exhausting) | ||
| 18 | IN SPADES |
Definitely wearing a suit (2,6)
|
| IN (wearing) + SPADES (a suit) | ||
| 20 | RESIGN |
Rule over Sweden and abdicate (6)
|
| REIGN (rule) around (over) S (Sweden) | ||
| 21 | OPENLY |
Just taking in sport in full view (6)
|
| ONLY (just) around (taking in) PE (sport) | ||
| 25 | DARN |
Blasted right into karate expert (4)
|
| R (right) inside (into) DAN (karate expert) |
Didn’t manage to finish with four in the NW unsolved – though should have got CARPARKS
Liked: BOTICELLI, ANTELOPE, REHEARSE, SWEARING
Thanks Tramp and Cineraria
I loved this, even though it took the longest time to get FIDO.
I liked the way Tramp put the caesura in unexpected places. [I see Cineraria said the same thing, but quite differently.] I know that’s what makes cryptics tick for all setters, but here were some especially surprising definitional phrases: “out” (for UNALIGNED) maybe the best. And “Romeo’s butt” that wasn’t.
BOTTICELLI as “oil worker” was a nice touch.
My one quibble maybe was OPENLY. When I was at school at least, gym/PE/PT on the one hand and sports/games on the other were quite different – different time periods, different activities, different outfits, and in the second case there were always opponents. Maybe things have changed.
Tx.
Always enjoy Tramp a lot, a good pummelling but never feel bruised. FIDO and SWEARING my favourites. Quibble-wise I can’t make ‘perform’ mean REHEARSE, despite ‘before show’. Like ‘art’ and ‘craft’, I reckon ‘perform’ and ‘rehearse’ will only ever be synonymous in crosswords, not on stage. Thank you both
I found this reasonably approachable but the last clues took some time, particularly those with “whimsical” definitions. I thought ABASH, RESERVE, RAGES, HANDICAP and RESIGN all had nice surfaces.
Thanks Tramp and Cineraria
I can’t remember how hard I found this but I know FIDO was last in and it shouldn’t have been. The long clues helped a lot, with the pleasing SHOOTING GALLERY going in early. I was happy to see BOTTICELLI again so soon. I checked he used oils; he sometimes did, mixed with egg in tempera grassa amongst other media.
Like Cineraria, I couldn’t find any evidence of REDTAIL as a single word although I’d already entered it and have no complaints. Neil may clarify later.
A fitting Prize.
Thanks Tramp and Cineraria.
Martin@5: REDTAIL as a single word can be found in Collins.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues and just right for a Prize .
BOTTICELLI makes a very quick return .
SHOOTING GALLERY is unusual for a long anagram , both words completely separate but swapped over .
Full Harvest moonset very soon , don’t miss it .
The top left corner held out for quite a while. LEPROSE isn’t normally part of my vocabulary, and it didn’t help that I got hung-up on LA being the focus for talent (and on ‘amen’ being what you say to a priest). Is ‘FIDO’ really a name someone might give a husky? I enjoyed the playful use of words Cineraria describes, particularly BOTTICELLI as an oil worker, and grinned at ANTELOPE. And ‘American hawk’ really was a bird in the end – although not one I’d heard of. Thanks both.
This took a few days but I eventually got there. Thanks, Cineraria, not least for the parsing of BOTTICELLI and LEPROSE (an unfamiliar meaning to me), which I did not work out.
The Audubon website of US birds refers to ‘Red-tails’ (though with a hyphen) here,suggesting the word is in informal use among ornithologists.
And thanks to Tramp.
A challenge I did not acquit well. It took the full week.
FIDO was my only secure ground in the NW corner. The superb construction of UNALIGNED held me back. I guess I never considered that “out” might be the definition. I eventually realised that my ACQUIT needed to be ADJUST at 5d. I finally got securely home with the brilliant CAR PARKS and the neat ANTELOPE.
LEPROSE was new to me and I found it very hard to unravel. My prime candidate had been LOWDOWN. The vision of someone using a SHINBONE as a horn may linger a while.
What a tough but rewarding puzzle. Many thanks Tramp and Cineraria. I’d never parsed PUBLIC TRANSPORT correctly.
I loved the bleeding, blinding and blasted trilogy. Perhaps this made me go for SOPPING rather than SAPPING at 17a.
Thanks Tony @6. I had no doubt it would be out there somewhere. KeithS @8 reminds me that when the grid was mostly empty, I checked the spelling of John Bolton for American hawk (although he doesn’t seem
so hawkish compared to the psychopathic Secretary of War).
Great prize indeed, and ‘largely soothing’ is very neat. Could Tramp be suggesting that (openly swearing) ‘hawks’ are bleeding the barrels and sapping the reserves of oil?
Thanks Tramp and Cineraria
[ Martin wins the Order of the Crystal Ball this week , fortunately another distinctive style so I am 6/6 which is pretty rare . ]