Sunday Times 4686 by Dean Mayer - lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate

27:44. Another tricky one from Dean, and highly enjoyable as always. He has a knack for writing clues that I at least find completely baffling until the penny drops. Bog-standard cryptic crossword setting this ain’t.

There were some grumbles on the club forum about a couple of the clues this week. 2dn, for instance, which is undoubtedly a very obscure reference: I wonder if anyone had actually heard of this chap. However I also wonder if Dean didn’t include him just as a trap for the unwary (myself included) who will have bunged in the much more likely-looking LORD READING. Devious.

However much the most controversial clue was 12ac: the dreaded foreign term clued with an anagram. I generally have a strong aversion to obscure terms that are clued in such a way that you can’t be sure of the answer, but I don’t think that is the case here. I think this one is solvable with a reasonably high degree of certainty even if you don't know the word or speak Italian. In fact I'm certain it is, because I did so, as explained below. Of course this may just have been a stroke of luck on my part, so I suppose the question is whether the solver can reasonably be expected to find the answer on the basis of the information in the clue. You need to deploy your ‘that looks sort of like a word meaning X’ skills, but this is a regular occurrence for me at least so it doesn't bother me. Admittedly the requirement for this particular skill is usually restricted to English, and I think it would be fair to say that this linguistic innovation on the part of Dean has not met with universal acclaim. Personally I thought it was tough but fair, but then I would say that wouldn't I? I'd be very interested to hear the thoughts of our esteemed setter and editor. And of course this community in general: what did you think?

And in the meantime, happy Easter!

Across
1	Being stupid, hum?
	HALFWIT - if I’m interpreting this right then the definition is easier to understand if you insert a comma: ‘being, stupid’. If WIT is ‘humour’ then half of it is of course HUMour. A neat and devious clue that sets the tone for the rest of the puzzle.
5	Heart races, locked in trunk
	BOTTLE - heart = courage = BOTTLE. A BOLE is the trunk of a tree: insert TT, the Tourist Trophy, annual races held in the crossword setter’s favourite island.
8	Odd cure ending love for excess
	OVERINDULGENCE - (CURE ENDING LOVE)*. Super anagram.
9	Acid on screws of electrode
	ANODIC - (ACID ON)*. A straightforward clue made more difficult for me by the presence of the wrong lord at 2dn.
10	Part of tree with variable roughness
	ACERBITY - an ACER is a tree (or shrub), so part of one is an ACER BIT. Add Y (variable).
12	In rewrite of Avatar, omit Italian verse
	OTTAVA RIMA - (AVATAR OMIT)*. I may have come across this term studying Don Juan (which is written in it) years ago, but I didn’t remember it and puzzled over where to put the letters for ages. The key to solving the clue for me was letting go of the idea that the second word was going to be VITA and trying other things. This led to the realisation that RIMA must be a good bet for ‘Italian verse’. OTTAVA is then the only feasible-looking arrangement of the remaining three letters from the anagrist, and the whole thing looked pretty convincing to me as the name of an Italian verse form involving eight of something or other. I confess I submitted with my fingers crossed but I have been less sure about many an English word.
14	We must leave most recent hideout
	NEST - NEweST.
15	At airport, guide one on duty
	TAXI - TAX (duty), I. A pilot taxiing a plane would be guiding it.
17	14 pin on scholar
	RABBIT HOLE - or RABBI (scholar), THOLE (pin). A NEST for rabbits.
20	Found about four men finally pardoned
	FORGIVEN - FORG(IV)E, meN.
22	The morning crossword in The Observer was stunning
	AMAZED - AM, AZED. Reference to the barred grid puzzle in the Observer.
23	In which sewer’s cover should be found?
	HUNT THE THIMBLE - I have come across this game before, but not for a very long time and it took me a while to remember it.
25	Move right — not right, left
	PROPEL - PROPEr, L. This was one of my last in. So obvious once you see it. Until then, not so much.
26	Pirate ship gutted by missile
	SPARROW - ShiP, ARROW. Jack of that ilk, a character based on Keith Richards.

Down
1	Pauper’s refuge (Old Testament)
	HAVE-NOT - HAVEN, OT. The opposite of a ‘have’, of course.
2	Dancing in drag, older Post Office boss
	LORD DEARING - (IN DRAG OLDER)*. And not, as I had for a while, LORD READING. This chap was the Chairman and Chief Executive of Post Office Ltd, apparently.
3	Get shock installing decoration for seat
	WING CHAIR - WIN (get), HAIR (shock) containing GC, George Cross (decoration).
4	Big wave from guy turning up in pants suit
	TSUNAMI - reversal of MAN inside (SUIT)*. ‘Pants’ is the anagrind.
5	Part of brass tap extremely loose
	BUGLE - BUG, LoosE. I couldn’t see for a while how ‘tap’ could mean BUG, but then I thought of ‘wiretap’.
6	Bottomless container's function
	TAN - TANk. I had SINk in here for a while, which made 5ac a bit harder.
7	Father of Odysseus given genuine upset
	LAERTES - reversal of SET (given, as in homework), REAL. I only knew the one in Hamlet, but the wordplay was pretty clear.
11	Mountain goat’s week in reserve
	BENCH WARMER - BEN, CH(W)ARMER. I struggled with this one: the expression is not familiar to me, and I’d have said that a defining characteristic of a ‘goat’ in this sense is that he is not charming.
13	A border area, the area where Joseph came from
	ARIMATHEA - A, RIM, A, THE, A. The wordplay was very helpful for the spelling here.
16	Someone else answer him!
	ANOTHER - A, NOT HER.
18	Turning handle, monarch’s out to lunch
	BONKERS - reversal of KNOB, then ER’S.
19	In fabrication, measured holes up
	LIES LOW - LIE, SLOW.
21	Russian guy, not quite alive
	VITAL - VITALi.
24	Feeling colddraught
	NIP - DD, one as in ‘there’s a nip in the air’, the other a reference to whisky or similar.