A nice confidence-boosting crossword today, helped along by several anagrams and a string of double definitions. If you’re a complete beginner and have one or two unsolved clues, I strongly advise you go back to it before reading any further; all are entirely gettable!
My vote for COD goes to 15dn, which was made difficult by a very crafty definition. Thanks Mara.
Definitions underlined.
|
| Across |
| 1 | Mediocre journalist getting the chop? (4) |
| HACK - double definition. |
| 3 | Nude king surrounded by people gawping? (8) |
| STARKERS - K (king) surrounded by STARERS (people gawping). |
| 9 | Blood Count? (7) |
| DRACULA - cryptic definition, somewhat given away by the necessary second capital letter. |
| 10 | A thousand men on ship knocked over, ship in ruins? (5) |
| WRECK - K (a thousand) and CREW (men on ship) all reversed (knocked over). |
| 11 | Small quantity formerly taken around university (5) |
| OUNCE - ONCE (formerly) around U (university). |
| 12 | Is Shakespearean king back in the country? (6) |
| ISRAEL - IS, then LEAR (Shakespearean king) backwards. |
| 14 | Lick conman? It’s hard to say! (6,7) |
| TONGUE TWISTER - TONGUE (lick) and TWISTER (conman). |
| 17 | Priest altered mark of rank (6) |
| STRIPE - anagram of (altered) PRIEST. |
| 19 | Wonderful US soldier in waterproof coat (5) |
| MAGIC - GI (US soldier) in MAC (waterproof coat). |
| 22 | Speedywriter (5) |
| SWIFT - double definition. |
| 23 | Shock rare primarily during power cut? (7) |
| OUTRAGE - first letter of (primarily) Rare inside (during) OUTAGE (power cut). |
| 24 | Colour around plot of land not entirely considered (8) |
| REGARDED - RED (colour) around GARDEn (plot of land) without its last letter (not entirely). |
| 25 | So found in bath, usually (4) |
| THUS - hidden in (found in) baTH USually. |
|
| Down |
| 1 | Terrorist leader inhabiting horrible secret locations (8) |
| HIDEOUTS - first letter (leader) of Terrorist inside (inhabiting) HIDEOUS (horrible). |
| 2 | Feature securing a series of links (5) |
| CHAIN - CHIN (feature) surrounding (securing) A. |
| 4 | Struggling on, I loathed the dish (4-2-3-4) |
| TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE - anagram of (struggling) ON I LOATHED THE. |
| 5 | A sportsman, might one argue? (5) |
| ROWER - double definition. |
| 6 | Something in a kettle— hydrogen or oxygen, perhaps? (7) |
| ELEMENT - double definition. |
| 7 | Japanese drink’s benefit (4) |
| SAKE - double definition. |
| 8 | Officedesk (6) |
| BUREAU - double definition. |
| 13 | Cuckoo taking a number of biscuits (8) |
| CRACKERS - double definition. |
| 15 | O no! Awful night! (7) |
| NOTHING - NO plus an anagram of (awful) NIGHT. |
| 16 | Popular friend, prisoner (6) |
| INMATE - IN (popular) and MATE (friend). |
| 18 | Bury something cold, heading off (5) |
| INTER - wINTER (something cold) without the first letter (heading off). |
| 20 | Grind last of corn, having cut around it (5) |
| GNASH - last letter of corn with GASH (cut) around it. |
| 21 | Some uprising from Caesar, a stonking emperor! (4) |
| TSAR - reverse hidden in (some uprising) caesaR A STonking. |