I found this one quite hard but resolved it eventually without resorting to aids in 50 minutes parsing as I went. Here's my blog...
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
Across | |
| 1 | Water not hot now? (4) |
| WASH - "Water not hot now" suggests that previously the water WAS H (hot). I think the definition works best as a nounas in an expanse of shallow water or the bay/estuary in East Anglia where King John is said to have lost the Crown jewels | |
| 3 | Great achievement having bottle back to drink nothing (6,4) |
| MAGNUM OPUS - MAGNUM (bottle), then SUP (drink) + 0 (nothing) reversed [back] | |
| 10 | What fills blimp, in general, is to have an effect (7) |
| IMPINGE - Hidden [what fills] in {bl}IMP IN GE{neral} | |
| 11 | One speaks about going both ways when touring most of large town (7) |
| RECITER - RE (about - forwards) + ER (about - reversed) [going both ways] contain [touring] CIT{y} (large town) [most of] | |
| 12 | It's still on the conference agenda?That's a physical impossibility(9,6) |
| PERPETUAL MOTION - A very clever clue that I find hard to categorise. The first part I take as a cryptic definition, a motion being a proposal that could be on a conference agenda and if it finds its way back time and again it might be said to be "perpetual". The second part of the clue is a straight definition of which the answer is an example. I like the juxtaposition of "still" in the clue and "motion" in the answer, a bit like "dry food" and "water biscuit" in yesterday's Quickie. | |
| 13 | Man on board that is a new arrival? (6) |
| ROOKIE - ROOK (man on board - chess), I.E. (that is - id est) | |
| 14 | Hint eventually used around answer time (8) |
| INTIMATE - IN TIME (eventually) contains [used around] A (answer) + T (time) | |
| 17 | Indicate tirade as outrageous (8) |
| FLAGRANT - FLAG (indicate), RANT (tirade) | |
| 18 | One investigates broken lute in case of Sherlock Holmes initially (6) |
| SLEUTH - Anagram [broken] of LUTE is contained by [in case of] S{herlock} H{olmes} [initially] | |
| 21 | Wind, then I twisted and bent, perhaps — a hidden danger (5,2,3,5) |
| SNAKE IN THE GRASS - SNAKE (wind), anagram [twisted] of THEN I, GRASS (bent, perhaps). "Bent" as a type of grass was something I learnt quite recently from crosswords. | |
| 23 | What many do with Hair (a collection of pieces of music)? (7) |
| PARTITA - PART IT (what many do with hair), A. A German suite, if I remember my music studies correctly. J S Bach wrote a lot of them. | |
| 24 | Manufactured material against one from Liverpool University dismissed (7) |
| VISCOSE - V (against - versus), I (one), SCO{u}SE (from Liverpool) [University dismissed] | |
| 25 | Openings for top artists — organised show with a dance (10) |
| TARANTELLA - T{op} + A{artists} [openings], RAN (organised), TELL (show), A. Another musical form. Here's one by Liszt | |
| 26 | Refuse to accept lie out of stupidity (4) |
| DENY - DEN{sit}Y (stupidity) [sit = lie, out] | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Keep things quiet, with chap's permission, abandoning assignment (7) |
| WHISPER - W (with), HIS (chap's), PER{mission} [abandoning assignment = mission] | |
| 2 | Prove sun may explode, leading to a ________? (9) |
| SUPERNOVA - Anagram [may explode] of PROVE SUN. I can't stand clues with blanks in them. | |
| 4 | Beautiful woman with cut is blocking A&E access (6) |
| AVENUE - VENU{s} (beautiful woman) [with cut] is contained by [is blocking} A&E | |
| 5 | Hurry up and get rid of the child (8) |
| NURSLING - RUN (hurry) reversed [up], SLING (get rid of) | |
| 6 | Scientist married big solicitor, sadly suppressing love (14) |
| MICROBIOLOGIST - M (married), anagram [sadly] of BIG SOLICITOR containing [suppressing] 0 (love) | |
| 7 | Material easily moulded, we hear, producing cherubs? (5) |
| PUTTI - Sounds like [we hear] "putty" (material easily moulded). These cherubs came up very recently in another puzzle. | |
| 8 | Jabber, say, neglecting a telephone voice at last (7) |
| SYRINGE - S{a}Y [neglecting a], RING (telephone), {voic}E [at last] | |
| 9 | Layout of room represented trendies' origin (8,6) |
| INTERIOR DESIGN - Anagram [re-presented] of TRENDIES ORIGIN | |
| 15 | Redundancies in senior management?Excellent (1,3,5) |
| A CUT ABOVE - A cryptic definition and a dodgy straight one as to be "a cut above" means to be better than something, not necessarily to be excellent. | |
| 16 | One sister takes boyfriend to swamp (8) |
| INUNDATE - I (one), NUN (sister), DATE (boyfriend) | |
| 17 | One agitates failsafe component, reducing difficult situation (4-3) |
| FUSS-POT - FUS{e} (failsafe component) [reducing], SPOT (difficult situation) | |
| 19 | Hurry to stock outsize line in legwear (7) |
| HOSIERY - HIE (hurry) contains [to stock] OS (outsize), RY (line - railway) | |
| 20 | One used in digs: small, mean dwelling (6) |
| SHOVEL - S (small), HOVEL (mean dwelling) | |
| 22 | Increasingly just ignoring first item in laundry (5) |
| AIRER - {f}AIRER (increasingly just) [ignoring first] | |