As always, a quality crossword from Poins, who must be thoroughly bored of me by now.
Some quite challenging stuff in there too, the two “measure” clues being my last two in.
| Across | ||
| 7 | COME TRUE | Happen to regret joining Poins in bed (4,4) |
| (ME in COT) + RUE. | ||
| 9 | PANDER | It can be seen in Philip and Erica’s pimp (6) |
| [phili]P AND ER[ica]. | ||
| 10 | METE | Measure of experience say (4) |
| Homophone of “meet”. | ||
| 11 | NECROPOLIS | Police deployed to catch a couple of rogues in the middle of Hounslow cemetery (10) |
| RO[gues] in ([hou]NS[low] in POLICE*). | ||
| 12 | HANDLE | The French performer’s first name (6) |
| HAND + LE. I wasn’t initially sure about HAND for “performer”, but Chambers confirms it. | ||
| 14 | SKIN-DEEP | Superficial sort introduced to escort by Penny (4-4) |
| (KIND in SEE) + P. | ||
| 15 | TRAVEL | Move when he abandons the party line (6) |
| T[he] + RAVE + L. | ||
| 17 | BEHIND | Starts to bathe each animal’s bum (6) |
| B[athe] E[ach] + HIND. | ||
| 20 | NEBRASKA | State banks are amalgamating (8) |
| (BANKS ARE)*. | ||
| 22 | PEEVES | Goes over Evie’s oddly neglected grievances (6) |
| [e]V[i]E[‘s] in PEES. | ||
| 23 | WAINWRIGHT | Uttered straight after success involving American wagon builder (10) |
| (A in WIN) + homophone of “right”. | ||
| 24 | HOLD | Hearts practised to defend successfully (4) |
| H + OLD. | ||
| 25 | SEVERN | Son equal to grabbing rector from river (6) |
| S + (R in EVEN). | ||
| 26 | PART SONG | It’s sung about after concerns with government (4,4) |
| PARTS + ON + G. Another one I had to check in Chambers, but “concern” is indeed there as the thirteenth definition of “part”. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COVENANT | Very effective at the outset to block Conservative over worker’s contract (8) |
| ((V + E[ffective]) in CON) + ANT. | ||
| 2 | MERE | Measure piece of tile removed from lake (4) |
| ME[t]RE. | ||
| 3 | ORANGE | Old compass discovered in house (6) |
| O + RANGE. William of Orange, that sort of thing. | ||
| 4 | OPPOSITE | Facing put in place after work on back of blouse (8) |
| OP + POSIT + [blous]E. | ||
| 5 | IN GOOD TIME | Early fashionable deity embodying love on occasion (2,4,4) |
| IN + (O in GOD) + TIME. | ||
| 6 | DECIDE | Police probing river in Settle (6) |
| CID in DEE. | ||
| 8 | EXCISE | Cut training manoeuvre without hesitation (6) |
| EX[er]CISE. | ||
| 13 | DEAD RINGER | Band occupying number one looks very much like another (4,6) |
| RING in DEADER. | ||
| 16 | ENSHRINE | Treasure in French saint’s tomb (8) |
| EN + SHRINE. | ||
| 18 | DWELLING | House poor Mark somewhere in London (8) |
| D (a poor exam result) + WELLING. | ||
| 19 | HANG-UP | Emotional problem causing Chinese dog to get upset (4-2) |
| HAN + PUG<. | ||
| 21 | ERASER | Be wrong to assume, for instance, tip of épée is rubber (6) |
| (AS + [épé]E) in ERR. | ||
| 22 | PETARD | Firework‘s somehow taped around tiger’s tail (6) |
| [tige]R in TAPED*. | ||
| 24 | HOST | Hot East German entertainer (4) |
| H + OST. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition
I found this challenging but enjoyable. The two measure clues were my last ones in too!
I do the Independent crossword on an mobile app that doesn’t show me the name of the setter, which made 7a quite a struggle; after I got it from the definition and the crossing letters, I couldn’t parse it till *that* penny dropped! I couldn’t parse PART SONG at all.
Thank you, Poins and Simon.
I’m always happy to see Poins’ name at the top of an IoS puzzle (unlike Abhay my technology is less sophisticated, so I can see it’s him). You know it’ll be a sound and accessible puzzle, and that’s what I enjoyed about this one.
NEBRASKA is a lovely clue with a fine surface; but it was all pretty good, really.
Thanks to Simon and Poins.
I had no problem with “hand” and “part” but it was “old” meaning practised at 24ac that fooled me.