Second blog today so a bit rushed, seemed quite easy except for 1ac which I’d not heard of.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CY PRES | Fancy President will squash this law (2,4) |
| New to me but a hidden answer | ||
| 4 | RINGER | Impostor to try to make attempt at phoning Buckingham Palace? (6) |
| RING (phone) E.R. | ||
| 10 | AVARICE | What draws a diner ultimately into a bad habit? (7) |
| A (dine)R in A VICE and &lit I guess | ||
| 11 | REVAMPS | With revolutions all around, a politician brightens up (7) |
| (A M.P.) in REVS | ||
| 12 | SENTIMENTALISTS | Manliness? Test it out — this lot are very soppy (15) |
| [MANLINESS TEST IT]* | ||
| 13 | COLANDERS | They’ve come down together — they’ll be in the kitchen (9) |
| CO (joint) LANDERS | ||
| 14 | DITCH | Get rid of irritating pain after day (5) |
| D(ay) & ITCH | ||
| 16 | LUTES | Instruments offering greetings with the Salvation Army coming out (5) |
| No S(alvation) A(rmy) in (s.a.)LUTES | ||
| 18 | SAFETY NET | Fatty seen floundering? This may prevent dangerous mishap (6,3) |
| [FATTY SEEN]* | ||
| 21 | THE INVISIBLE MAN | Short novel featuring one in evil banishment abroad (3,9,3) |
| I in [EVIL BANISHMENT]* [Tyop fixed thanks] | ||
| 22 | ARMLOAD | A member can’t take more than this (7) |
| Cryptic def ARM LOAD | ||
| 23 | ROTATOR | One goes around a hill confronted by rubbish (7) |
| ROT & A TOR | ||
| 24 | PINTER | Dramatist and unmarried woman — no saints (6) |
| Saints removed from (s)PIN(s)TER | ||
| 25 | PYTHON | Snake? It’s surprisingly not used by nasty hypnotist (6) |
| ITS* removed from [HYPNOTist]* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CLASSICAL | Cold girl I term almost ‘highbrow‘? (9) |
| C(old) LASS I CAL(l) | ||
| 2 | PLAINCLOTHES MAN | All chap mentions confuses detective (12,3) |
| [ALL CHAP MENTIONS]* | ||
| 3 | EDITION | Version of text seen as incitement to rebellion, wanting leader ousted (7) |
| (s)EDITION | ||
| 5 | INVALID | Someone unwell at home with a covering, very restricted (7) |
| V(ery) in IN & A LID | ||
| 6 | GAME SET AND MATCH | An announcement that court action will proceed no further (4,3,3,5) |
| Cryptic def | ||
| 7 | ROSES | Bloomers almost break — what’s inside is extraordinarily large (5) |
| O.S. in RES(t) | ||
| 8 | REVERE | Renowned rider always in race, first and last (6) |
| EVER in R(ac)E | ||
| 9 | BRUTUS | Conspirator is a beast — American not English (6) |
| BRUTE with U.S. replacing E(nglish) | ||
| 15 | HIT-AND-RUN | Like an accident that could be nasty and hurting, not good (3-3-3) |
| [AND HURTIN(g)]* | ||
| 17 | SAN JOSE | New-style jeans so OK for an American city (3,4) |
| [JEANS SO]* | ||
| 18 | SHINDY | Reluctant to limit awful din or rumpus (6) |
| DIN* in SHY | ||
| 19 | FRIARY | Religious institution enables the young to absorb uplifting atmosphere (6) |
| AIR reversed in FRY (youngsters) | ||
| 20 | TOLSTOY | Author in sort of depression, upset over a trifle (7) |
| SLOT reversed & TOY | ||
| 21 | TRAMP | Walk — ploy to catch maiden (5) |
| M(aiden) in TRAP | ||
Yes, all pretty straightforward apart from 1ac, which had me looking for an expression meaning ‘fancy’ till I realised it was a hidden. Cy près is explained here.
6dn raised a smile once I twigged what sort of court action was referred to.
Thanks, Quixote and flashling.
I’d come across CY PRES before but I didn’t remember it until I was well into the puzzle. ARMLOAD was my LOI, and that, together with 6dn, were almost Rufuslike. The LHS took me longer than the RHS, mainly because I didn’t unpick the long anagram at 2dn for a while. An enjoyable solve.
Thanks flashling (again!)
What is going on at 4ac “to try to make an attempt at”? It doesn’t make much sense as plain English nor does it seem to add anything cryptically to the clue.
Typo in 21ac – should be ‘I’ in EVIL BANISHMENT
CY PRES last one, it rang a bell, rest of it nice and gentle
I wonder why the setter used CY PRES as the clue is entirely unremarkable and there are several other words that fit.
I thought that too, sidey. Because he can, I guess. Anyway, a new phrase learned (and probably quickly forgotten till the next time it comes up in a puzzle).
Otherwise a gentle start to the Indy week. Thanks to S&B.
I remembered cy pres from another puzzle, so was spared the head-scratching over what could possibly fit that enumeration. It seems a slightly odd expression since cy isn’t obviously French – it must be quite archaic because I can’t see it in my standard French dictionary. Apart from that, nothing too taxing in this puzzle.
I don’t think I had ever come across “cy pres” before, and rather surprised myself by getting it from the word play – and then totally failed to get 2dn without a word search.
We had the same problem as Dormouse with 2d! Also failed to sort out 22ac so thanks to flashling for the blog.
Maybe we will be more awake tomorrow!
Thanks Quixote – sorry we slipped up on this one.