A fairly straightforward puzzle for my first blog of the year. And maybe it's just a one-off, but the URL numbering was just one greater than for last Friday's puzzle, meaning it was easy to locate in advance. I hope jackkt has similar good luck next Monday. Best wishes, crosswording and otherwise, to all for 2016.
The crossword can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20160104/12132/
Definitions are underlined.
The crossword can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20160104/12132/
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Phonesomewhere in Alabama (6) |
| MOBILE - double definition, the second a city famed for ... being the birthplace of Tim Cook (any better offers?) The city is apparently pronounced "mo-beel", which would have been probably my fourth guess. | |
| 4 | King of Rome heard in ruins (6) |
| WRECKS - homophone (heard in) of REX (King of Rome, i.e. the Latin word for "king") | |
| 9 | Small fib about hard stunt by cyclist (7) |
| WHEELIE - WEE (Small) + LIE (fib) about H (hard) | |
| 10 | Superior meal with no starter (5) |
| UPPER - {s}UPPER (meal with no starter, i.e. the word "supper" without its first letter) | |
| 11 | Reports from all quarters (4) |
| NEWS - N (north) + E (east) + W (west) + S (south) are the four quarters, with an argument to be made that it's an extended definition | |
| 12 | Stick found by National Trust supporter (8) |
| ADHERENT - ADHERE (Stick) + NT (National Trust) | |
| 14 | Former scheme a politician is clarifying (11) |
| EXPLANATORY - EX (Former) + PLAN (scheme) + A + TORY (politician) | |
| 18 | I'm laid back in easily managed home (8) |
| DOMICILE - reversal (laid back) of I'M in DOCILE (easily managed) | |
| 20 | First murder victim in Lincoln and first in Leicester (4) |
| ABEL - ABE (Lincoln, i.e. the 16th US President) + L (first in Leicester, i.e. the first letter of the word "Leicester") | |
| 22 | Seriousplot in churchyard (5) |
| GRAVE - double definition | |
| 23 | Dutch capital and London area doing business (7) |
| DEALING - D (Dutch capital, i.e. the capital letter of the word "Dutch") + EALING (London area) | |
| 24 | Animals prepared to rest (6) |
| OTTERS - anagram (prepared) of TO REST | |
| 25 | Who cares if pig has cover for head? (2,4) |
| SO WHAT - SOW (pig) + HAT (cover for head) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Male due for lawn maintenance (6) |
| MOWING - M (Male) + OWING (due) | |
| 2 | Polish worker's increase (7) |
| BEESWAX - BEE'S (worker's) + WAX (increase, as opposed to wane) | |
| 3 | Girl likely to lose heart (4) |
| LILY - LI{ke}LY (likely to lose heart, i.e. the word "likely" without its middle letters) | |
| 5 | Game allowed to block road (8) |
| ROULETTE - LET (allowed) inside (to block) ROUTE (road) | |
| 6 | Manage to enclose small group of trees (5) |
| COPSE - COPE (Manage) around (to enclose) S (small) | |
| 7 | Muddled priest showing little spirit (6) |
| SPRITE - anagram (Muddled) of PRIEST | |
| 8 | Playing Lydia, Glenda is a star (7,4) |
| LEADING LADY - anagram (Playing) of LYDIA GLENDA | |
| 13 | Everyone understood air raid warden's signal (3,5) |
| ALL CLEAR - ALL (Everyone) + CLEAR (understood) | |
| 15 | Massage required by bishop having no work? What rot! (7) |
| RUBBISH - RUB (Massage) + BISH{op} (bishop having no work, i.e. the word "bishop" without "op", the usual abbreviation for work) | |
| 16 | Slow movement of a soldier gatecrashing a party (6) |
| ADAGIO - A + GI (soldier), inside (gatecrashing) A + DO (party) | |
| 17 | Insulthardly worth mentioning (6) |
| SLIGHT - double definition | |
| 19 | Average temperature, as intended (5) |
| MEANT - MEAN (Average) + T (temperature) | |
| 21 | Headlight, as it were, forming part of such a lorry (4) |
| HALO - hidden in (forming part of) sucH A LOrry. The "as it were" tells us that "headlight" is a slightly oblique definition of the answer. | |