Vulcan doing what Vulcan does, with the usual elegant clueing, and helpful anagrams for some of the longer answers. Thanks to him for the puzzle.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | HESPERUS | Man’s mostly read the Evening Star (8) HE’S (man’s) + PERUSE[d] |
||||||
| 5 | ASLANT | Has lantern, keeping at an angle (6) Hidden in hAS LANTern |
||||||
| 9 | RELIABLE | Soldiers, responsible and trustworthy (8) RE (Royal Engineers) + LIABLE (responsible) |
||||||
| 10 | MALIGN | To get straight after money is evil (6) M[oney] + ALIGN |
||||||
| 12 | ELASTIC BAND | It may bind a sheaf, but it’s balanced awkwardly (7,4) (IT’S BALANCED)* |
||||||
| 15,19 | ROUND ROBIN | Plump bird that is widely distributed (5,5) ROUND (plump) + ROBIN (bird) |
||||||
| 17 | SHOP FLOOR | Workers, one under purchaser’s feet (4,5) Customers walk on the floor of a shop, so it’s under their feet |
||||||
| 18 | DEMEANOUR | Belittle Guardian’s conduct (9) DEMEAN + OUR |
||||||
| 20 | ACE OF SPADES | Criminal oaf’s escaped, one in a dark suit (3,2,6) (OAF’S ESCAPED)* |
||||||
| 24 | UTOPIA | Ideal place, you said, with lots of trimmed bushes (6) U (“you”) + TOPIA[ry] |
||||||
| 25 | DOMINICA | After party, skirt can almost land in the Caribbean (8) DO (party) + MINI (skirt) + CA[n] |
||||||
| 26 | KEEPER | Goalie for manager (6) Double definition |
||||||
| 27 | MESSAGED | Texted in confusion, no longer young (8) MESS (confusion) + AGED |
||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | HORSE TRADE | Store heard to be failing, so bargain shrewdly (5-5) (STORE HEARD)* |
||||||
| 2 | SOLD A DUMMY | Deceived, as aspiring ventriloquist may be? (4,1,5) Double definition |
||||||
| 3 | EXALT | Highly praise former singer that’s not old (5) EX-ALT[o] |
||||||
| 4 | UGLY CUSTOMER | Dangerous opponent, no beauty at the checkout (4,8) Double definition |
||||||
| 6 | STANDS FOR | Represents frosts and winds (6,3) (FROSTS ANDS)*, with “winds” in the sense of “twists” |
||||||
| 7 | AXIS | A team’s pivot (4) A XI (team,, e.g. cricket) ‘S |
||||||
| 8 | TUNA | Obsessive hauled up a big fish (4) Reverse of NUT (obsessive fan) + A |
||||||
| 11 | LABOUR OF LOVE | Hard work all for nothing? (6,2,4) Cryptic definition, using love = nothing as in tennis |
||||||
| 13 | FORBIDDING | Why are there boxes on the bridge table? Ominous (10) The boxes are FOR BIDDING in the game of Bridge |
||||||
| 14 | GRANDSTAND | Splendid get-up to show off (10) GRAND + STAND (get up) |
||||||
| 16 | DRAMATISE | Make a play of remarkably smart idea (9) (SMART IDEA)* |
||||||
| 21 | PLIES | Steadily works gripping tool with no resistance (5) PLIERS (a gripping tool) less R |
||||||
| 22 | BUNK | Hurried departure from bed? Nonsense (4) Three definitions |
||||||
| 23 | MOLE | Spy from Smolensk? (4) Hidden in sMOLEnsk |
||||||
Small typo in 1a, Andrew. Read in the present tense so it;s HE’S PERUS(e). Agree that Vulcan is demonstrating his range admirably in today’s puzzle. Liked ROUND ROBIN and ACE OF SPADES amongst others. Thanks to Andrew and Vulcan.
Didn’t know about boxes on bridge table but the crossing letters and rest of blue made it quite gettable.
Lovely Monday crossword. Some fairly simple clues to get one going. Liked Ace of Spades
Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
Well, perus is the greater part of either tense of read, so, technically…. ?
Needed all the crossers for the UGLY CUSTOMER- not an expression I’ve ever heard. ACE OF SPADES got me thinking that Motörhead would be a cute way to clue M
Cheers V&A
Good Monday challenge. Neither too easy nor too difficult.
I’m with Matthew@2 in that I too ‘Didn’t know about boxes on bridge table but the crossing letters and rest of blue made it quite gettable.’
I always think I am going to fail with Vulcan’s cryptic definitions. Fortunately, the crossers were helpful today.
Funnily enough my comment on the G thread last night ‘What Vulcan does’ was similar to Andrew’s opening. I also had to look up boxes to make sense of FORBIDDING, which then became my favourite. I also liked HESPERUS (agree with Tomsdad @1), ELASTIC BAND, DEMEANOUR, SHOP FLOOR, ACE OF SPADES, SOLD A DUMMY and LABOUR OF LOVE. Lovely stuff all round.
Ta Vulcan & Andrew.
Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
I’m probably in a minority in knowing what bidding boxes are. They are used in duplicate bridge events where you don’t want people at other tables to hear what you are bidding.
Favourites LABOUR OF LOVE and ACE OF SPADES.
Depending whether Venus was spotted in the morning or the evening, it was known as Phosphorous or HESPERUS. Considering my areas of knowledge, I was surprised to learn this today.
Good puzzle as usual from Vulcan. My favourite was SOLD A DUMMY.
Thanks Andrew.
Only knowing ROUND ROBIN in the sporting context, found it interesting to learn that it applies also to a document or letter of grievance whereby the signatories names are arranged in a ring, to avoid any being singled out for punishment as ring-leaders.
This setter never disappoints.