Another duel with Tyrus – guaranteed a smile or two with his witty clues.
And as I expected full of fun and wit with a series of short and punchy clues.
9ac probably gets my vote as my favourite clue – though 20ac has a certain something in light of the jockey’s misdemeanour in 2012.
Even for a northerner like myself 22ac is a classic in misdirection and such a lovely construction to boot.
18dn has a lovely surface as does 17ac and I can’t not mention 15ac – pure beauty.
Looking at the longer answers, I wondered if Tyrus may have been sat in a noisy pub in the far east dreaming peaceful thoughts of Snowdonia, when he compiled this.
And not a double definition in sight – many thanks Tyrus always a pleasure to pit my wits against you.
Key
* Anagram
Rev. reverse
Underline (anagram)
ACROSS
7 European in wrong American city (5)
e (European) in sin (wrong) + a (american) = SIENA (city)
8 Cock-up a government’s hidden by one speaking this? (2-7)
mess (cock-up) + a + g(government) in one = ON-MESSAGE
10 Hush! That’s no way to make a complaint (7)
stillness(hush) – st (way abbreviation of street) = ILLNESS
11 King perfectly fine during live entertainment (7)
k (king) + aok (perfectly fine) in are (live) = KARAOKE
12 Scare criminal lots (5)
(scare)* = ACRES
13 Force assistant to cut back – I leave a month after review (6,3)
Rev. lop (cut) + i + Rev. (go + dec.(month)) = POLICE DOG
15 Be inclined to give 100 per cent? Yes and no (2,4,5,4)
Cryptic definition = DO ONES LEVEL BEST (i.e. level is not inclined)
17 Quango left in work – language (9)
(quangolin)* = ALGONQUIN
19 Popular return of charity I identified on radio (5)
in (popular) + Rev(aid(charity)) = INDIA
20 Jockey went off back to Italy (7)
Rev. (Rotted) + i (italy) = DETTORI
22 Rosie’s origin in drama – hospital out east (3,4)
Theatre (drama) – h (hospital) + e (east) = TEA TREE (Cockney rhyming slang Rosie Lee (tea))
23 Girl describes run-down part of principality (9)
Sonia (girl) around (down)* = SNOWDONIA
24 Article that’s turned hack off (5)
an (article) + Rev(yon – that’s) = ANNOY
DOWN
1 Lost ship located south of main island (3,5)
key (main) + l (lost) + Argo (ship) = KEY LARGO
2 Not upfront with paying passenger (Chinese?) (3,7)
Fare Astern (i.e. Not at the front of the ship) = FAR EASTERN
3 “Shameful sellout!” – opinion that’s unwelcome to hear (5,9)
(sellout opinion)* = NOISE POLLUTION
4 Escort not with husband, right? (4)
Usher (escort) – h(husband) = USER
5 Cheer up former king (6)
Rev. Rah(cheer) + old (former) = HAROLD
6 Not at all uplifting – see rough edged heartless old drama (7,7)
Rev(never – not at all) + get (see) + raggedy (rough edged) – g (heartless) = REVENGE TRAGEDY
7 Wasn’t sad, stupid, weird or unsophisticated (4,3,7)
(wasntsadstupid)* = SPIT AND SAWDUST
9 ‘Do it now!’ – art movement’s advice from 60s (4,4,3,3)
make love (do it) + (nowart)* = MAKE LOVE NOT WAR
14 Aroused a typical lad’s powerless to stop (4,2,1,3)
(atypicallad- p)* = CALL IT A DAY
16 … there’s a long time with nude swimming group (8)
(nude)* + ring (group) = ENDURING
18 Computer giant’s special order for electronic cameras (6)
Gates (as in Bill) replacing e (electronic) with so (special order) = GATSOS
21 Chances over – they’re useless without you (4)
o(over) + duds (they’re uselss) – u (you) = ODDS
If memory serves this is the second straight Tyrus puzzle that I’ve been able to complete relatively quickly, relatively being the key word as far as a Tyrus puzzle is concerned. I also found this more fun to solve than some of his previous puzzles. The clues for the long answers weren’t too difficult, and that certainly helped. I was held up slightly in the SE because I stupidly entered an unparsed TEA LEAF at 22ac and only looked at it properly when I realised that it made 6dn and 16dn unsolvable.
KEY LARGO was my LOI after I solved ILLNESS.
Thank you for the blog. Yes, lots of fun but hard work before everything finally fell into place. 18d was new to me, at least as an unfamiliar word, if not as a victim! I don’t know 1d (as in Bogart & Bacall) well enough to know if it’s a 6d but both were good clues whether they’re linked or not.
Thanks, twencelas.
A very pleasant solve. Completely defeated by GATSOS. Never heard of the camera and special order = so also new to me.
14d particularly nice, I thought.
On 1d I parsed it as lost = l, ship = argo following (located south of) main = key.
I suspect I’m being utterly dim here, but how is ‘right’ or ‘right?’ a definition of ‘user’ in 4dn?
Wil Chambers gives it as
user n a person who uses; a person who takes drugs, a drug addict (inf); continual enjoyment of a right (cf non-user; Fr user); a right established by long use (law).
Wonderful crossword, tremendous clues, amusing as well.
Firmly agree with @3newmarketsausage about parsing of 1D.
Thanks to Tyrus and twenceslas.
Thanks to twencelas for a very kind blog and to others for their comments.
Newmarket and gwep quite right about 1d.
gwep@6 said it all for me