Nothing much to frighten the horses today, with some easy entry clues and not much difficulty thereafter, though I do have a slight quibble regarding 1,18.
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Across
1 “Stone walls do not a prison make” (Lovelace). “Yes they do” (Presley) (9,4)
JAILHOUSE ROCK – cryptic def. with reference to the 1957 film/single
9 Appearance of girl coming to the centre of Harris (7)
ARRIVAL – [h]ARRI[s] (centre of Harris) VAL (girl)
10 Opening words in front of female expert (7)
PREFACE – PRE (in front of) F (female) ACE (expert)
11 Latitude to be given to the Queen in future (5)
LATER – LAT (latitude) ER (the Queen)
12 A flyer for Kay? (4-5)
KICK-START – kick starts with the letter kay
13 Balletic leap is the start of lengthy aerobic manoeuvre (8)
CABRIOLE – anagram (manoeuvre) of L[engthy] AEROBIC
15 Genius I’m renouncing, being merely human (6)
MORTAL – [im]MORTAL (genius I’m renouncing)
18 Fat bribe (6)
GREASE – double def.
19 Ain’t about to discover outside comforts (8)
SUSTAINS – SUSS (discover) around (outside) anagram (about) of AIN’T
22 Rules that apply when choosing the proper gear? (5,4)
DRESS CODE – cryptic def.
24 Madonna directed part of “The Pits” (5)
NADIR – hidden in (part of) ‘madonNA DIRected’
25 Lodgers have heard the speculation (7)
ROOMERS – homophone (have heard) of ‘rumours’ (speculation)
26 Boring Scandinavian follows miners back (7)
MUNDANE – NUM (miners) reversed (back) DANE (Scandinavian)
27 Room to grow? (7,6)
KITCHEN GARDEN – cryptic def.
Down
1, 18 Director, Frenchman, has knocked guard out cold (4-3,6)
JEAN-LUC GODARD – JEAN (Frenchman) anagram (knocked) of GUARD COLD – this doesn’t work for me because the ‘out’ interferes with the anagram fodder and I’m not keen on ‘Frenchman’ cluing Jean rather than the usual Rene or M
2 Blairite right to make it snappy (9)
IRRITABLE – anagram (to make) of BLAIRITE R
3 Hang around while art is removed from vehicle (5)
HOVER – HOVER[craft] (art is removed from vehicle)
4 Implausible US president found in unworldly setting – word’s out (8)
UNLIKELY – IKE (US president) in UN[wor]L[d]LY (unworldly setting – word’s out)
5 Anticipate demand (6)
EXPECT – double def.
6 Perhaps maidens laugh if they go too far (9)
OVERSHOOT – OVERS (perhaps maidens {cricket}) HOOT (laugh)
7 Spooner’s call to girl found among the eucalyptus (5)
KOALA – Spoonerism of ‘lo Carla’ (call to girl)
8, 20 Doesn’t go initially with neural treatment from this guy (6,7)
DENTAL SURGEON – anagram (treatment) of DOESN’T G[o] NEURAL – with the wordplay and definition overlapping (you could also include ‘neural’ as part of the definition)
14 Determined that relative should go under cover (9)
INSISTENT – SIS (relative) in IN TENT (under cover)
16 Unoriginal way to measure fractions of a second? (5-4)
THIRD-HAND – double def.
17 Upset Nurse Pam Kent some time (8)
SUPERMAN – anagram (upset) of NURSE PAM
21 Boy went back to school for beetroot soup (6)
BORSCH – ROB (boy) reversed (went back) SCH (school)
23 Excited bibliophile obtains one Kafka first edition (1-4)
E-BOOK – initial letters (first) of E[xcited] B[ibliophile] O[btains] O[ne] K[afka] – this is almost an &lit except that a Kafka first edition is unlikely to be an e-book
24 Mercenary number almost reached Jamaica (5)
NINJA – NIN[e] (number almost) JA (Jamaica {IVR})
Thanks, Hamilton, for a delicious puzzle, and Gaufrid for his hard work. Somehow, the moment I picked up the puzzle the heavens opened and 1ac and 1d were done, then I was on a roll. Doesn’t happen very often! I understand Gaufrid’s reservation about 1d, but it only struck me when Gaufrid mentioned it.
Thanks Hamilton for an enjoyable puzzle and Gaufrid for the blog.
1/18dn: I can see the objection from an aesthetic point of view, but technically it works as JEAN + anagram of ((anagram of GUARD) + COLD), with “out” as a second anagram lead. What is wrong with “Frenchman” cluing JEAN?
7dn: I think the Spoonerism is “Oh Carla”, but this does not quite work for me, as it involves moving a single consonant. Did Spooner himself ever actually do that?
14dn: I can see “under cover” = “in tent”, but “in” then seems to do double duty as inclusion indicator and part of the answer. I do not like this sort of thing, although, as always, I have no quarrel with those whose views differ from mine.
Hi Pelham
I have no problem with two anagram indicators if they signal anagram of WORDA followed by anagram of WORDB but that is not the case here as it has to be an anagram of WORDAWORDB.
I enjoyed this offering from Hamilton; I thought 4d was a clever construction. But I share Gaufrid’s dissatisfaction with the anagram portion of 1/18d and PB’s quibbles with 7d and 14d.
7d: I tried to parse this as “Oh Kala” (it seems Kala can be a girl’s name, though a rather uncommon one), but I see how “Oh Carla” works with an accent where Carla is pronounced more like “Kah-la”. But “lo Carla” (as Gaufrid has it) doesn’t work, as it would yield something like KOLALA.
14d: PB @2 is spot on. SIS “under cover” would be SIS in TENT, not SIS in “IN TENT”.