A teasing crossword to round off an excellent week of quickies. For me, the recent level of difficulty has been just right - some new vocabulary fairly clued and some chewy wordplay for more obvious definitions - and this offering is no different. Despite not getting 8ac straight away, along with the unhelpful arrangement of the NW corner, I managed to rattle off about 3 quarters of the answers before slowing down, and eventually crawling over the finish line. My clue of the day is 15ac; perhaps not the most difficult example of its type, but I liked the surface reading.
Definitions underlined.
| Across |
| 8 | EXCLUDE - rule out from EX (former) + CLUE (evidence) with D inside (including diamonds). I realise I’ve never questioned why diamonds are D or DD in crosswords; can anyone explain? |
| 9 | ELLEN - this is NELLIE backwards (rejected girl) with I removed (ditched) for another one (another girl’s name). |
| 10 | EQUIP - the definition is provide, made from the last letter of (finally) punchlinE with QUIP (joke). |
| 11 | LADETTE - anagram of ATTLEE (indicated by upset) around D (daughter) for girl behaving badly. |
| 12 | TIEPOLO - this 18th century Venetian artist is TIE (draw) + POLO (game). My last one in; I’d not heard of him, but with all the checkers, the wordplay gave the game away. |
| 14 | LISZT - unknowns are usually X, Y or Z (mathematics). In this case, put Z in LIST (table) for the composer. List and table are not entirely synonymous in my mind, however. |
| 15 | RIVET - great surface reading, which deftly obscures a hidden word. One can take a metal pin from caR I’VE Towed. |
| 17 | WHINGER - WINGER (footballer) going round H (hospital) for one always complaining. |
| 19 | ARCHIVE - not the sort of record collection that sprung to mind first. An anagram of VICAR HE (indicated by put in order). |
| 20 | REFER - a palindromic (both ways) synonym of send. |
| 22 | IRISH - this national is IRIS (flower) + the first letter of Honduran (initially). |
| 23 | LETTERS - a triple definition. Post, characters and people such as landlords. |
| Down |
| 1 | PEKE - sounds like “peak” (top) and a breed of dog from China. This was another I left until the end and was a bit of an educated guess! |
| 2 | SCOUSE - outermost letters of (extremely) SceniC + OUSE (river) for Liverpudlian. |
| 3 | JUMP - J (judge) joining U (upper class, posh) + MP (politician) for spring. I admit I had to google “U=posh in crossword” after solving to confirm! |
| 4 | MEALS ON WHEELS - a cryptic definition. Food for the elderly, or those in a train’s dining car. |
| 5 | NEW DELHI - this capital is an anagram of WHEN IDLE (indicated by set about). Confusing the order of L and H made the composer at 14ac a little trickier - lesson learnt. |
| 6 | SLATES - pans, as in criticises. LATE (arriving at the last minute) inside SS (steamship). “On board” indicating “within SS” crops up every now and then. How do we feel about “arriving at the last minute” being equated with late, rather than just on time? |
| 7 | ANCESTOR - old member of family is an anagram of SORT and CANE (indicated by struggling). Not a niece or an O in sight, to my surprise. |
| 12 | TERRAPIN - first letter of (heading for) Pond in TERRAIN (country), and a small turtle. |
| 13 | OUTRIGHT - thoroughly is OUT (old-fashioned) with RiGHT (Tories). We often see “in” for fashionable, but I’ve not seen the obverse clued like this before. |
| 16 | VICTIM - the small boys are VICtor and TIMothy, making an unfortunate target. |
| 18 | GAFFER - boss from GAFFE (embarrassing mistake) + last letter of (ending in) uproaR. |
| 20 | RATS - expression of irritation can be seen when STAR (famous actor) is written upwards (shown up). |
| 21 | RUSE - R (right) + USE (to resort to) gives cunning plan. |