Took me ages to get going with this one; I’m putting it down to having to put the clocks forward and my brain therefore not being in gear on this Sunday morning. Some tricky ones to parse here. Good puzzle, though.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
7 Street art regularly featured a fish
TETRA
A charade of TETR for the even letters of ‘street art’ and A. It’s not four-sided, btw.
8 Went away round river with a coat on
VARNISHED
An insertion of R in VANISHED.
10 Chief changes caption
PONTIAC
(CAPTION)*
A war chief of American Indian origin who fought against the British.
11 Food created using a computer’s recipe is third rate
VICTUAL
Flipping heck, this is supposed to be an ‘easy’ weekend puzzle. VIRTUAL with the R (‘recipe’, which is apparently Latin imperative doctor-speak for ‘take’ in prescriptions) replaced by C, which would be the ‘third rate’ in an examination, for example.
12 Conservative beginning to offend Liberal Democrat on train
OLD SCHOOL
A charade of O, LD and SCHOOL for ‘train’. I fancy that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats will be offending each other in public for the next six weeks, never mind on the train. Excellent contemporary clue, though.
13 Refuse to take king into bed
DROSS
An insertion of R in DOSS. You have to take ‘refuse’ as a noun.
14 Women receiving diamonds from young men
LADDIES
Another insertion: of D in LADIES.
16 Fretful about fungus
TRUFFLE
(FRETFUL)*
18 Publication reported about legendary misanthrope
TIMON
I think this is TIM, in this instance a homophone of Time, the American magazine noted for its front cover photographs, and ON. It’s referring to the Greek bloke who was a complete misanthrope.
20 Strong suspicion, when voiced, is resolved
IRONED OUT
A homophone of IRON DOUBT. There’s a reason why the B in words like DOUBT, DUMB and LAMB isn’t sounded, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is.
22 Automatic rifle – 19 edges away
ROBOTIC
A charade of ROB and OTIC, which is [N]OTIC[E].
23 Capital city is large, perhaps
ALGIERS
(IS LARGE)*
25 Go to restrain educator blowing top, showing lack of loyalty
TREACHERY
An insertion of [T]EACHER in TRY.
26 Wise, perhaps, some consider Nietzche
ERNIE
Referring to the shorter member of the comic duo, ERNIE WISE. Hidden in considER NIEtzche.
Down
1 Marijuana’s turning up in bar
STOP
A reversal of POT’S
2 High Street I visited at last
STONED
Plenty of drugs in the downs so far. A charade of ST, ONE and D for the last letter of ‘visited’.
3 Callas, say, Greek character who performs music
MARIACHI
A charade of MARIA and CHI. Referring to MARIA CALLAS, one of the best-known sopranos of the last century. And she was an American-born Greek, so the clue is a clever one. MARIACHI is the composer.
4 Material turned over to protect cold ground
MINCED
A reversal of C in DENIM.
5 Get rid of stylish rug, offered with reduction
SHRUG OFF
Hidden in styliSH RUG OFFered.
6 A net closed round young person
ADOLESCENT
(A NET CLOSED)*
8 Sid’s band? It gets continually worse
VICIOUS CIRCLE
The punk rocker from the Sex Pistols, Sid VICIOUS, is followed by CIRCLE for ‘band’. MARIA CALLAS and SID VICIOUS in the same puzzle is excellent work from Commoner. They were both singers, but I think the only thing they have in common is that they both died young (or youngish in Callas’ case). One from an (alleged) heart attack; the other from a drug overdose. In the latter case, that’s what punk does to you.
.
9 Your violent struggles with a resistance agitator
REVOLUTIONARY
(YOUR VIOLENT A R)* The anagrind is ‘struggles’.
12 Eliminate rising body odour, before long and repeat
OBLITERATE
A charade of OB, a reversal of BO, L and ITERATE for ‘repeat’. L for ‘long’? It’ll be in a dictionary somewhere.
15 In action, explosive bomb is discharged
DEMOBBED
An insertion of (BOMB)* in DEED.
17 E.g. beer brewed in this country by extreme enthusiast
UBERGEEK
A further insertion of E.G. and BEER in UK for ‘this country’. UBER comes from the German über, or ‘over’ and is used in English to mean ‘extreme’ or ‘super’. UBER-MODEL, UBER-TRENDY, or among female 6dns: ‘She is such an uber-bitch.’
19 Observe water in liquid form, perhaps
NOTICE
Well, liquid water would be NOT ICE, wouldn’t it?
21 Southern Indian expanses?
OCEANS
I wasn’t mad keen on this. ‘Expanses’ is OCEANS, for sure: ‘he had oceans of space down the left wing.’ But there’s only one INDIAN OCEAN, so I’m not sure where the plural answer comes from. Someone can help, no doubt.
24 Grain yield reported
SEED
A homophone of CEDE.
Many thanks to Commoner for the Sunday morning entertainment. Might go back to bed now to catch up on that hour’s lost sleep …
21d. There’s also a Southern Ocean. Hence plural.
Thanks to setter and blogger. I quite enjoyed this.
Re 3 down: MARIACHI refers to a musician who performs mariachi music, which originated in traditional music of Mexico. I don’t think there’s a composer of that name. Remember Tom Lehrer’s song In Old Mexico?
The mariachis would serenade,
And they would not shut up till they were paid.