This was a lovely crossword. Tricky in parts, with the SW and NE corners taking me past the 15 minute mark, but lots of smooth surface readings and satisfying clues to solve along the way. A few bits of obscurity, such as 7d and 24ac (for me, at least) but both of these were generously clued. 12ac was known vaguely at best but, such is the advantage of cryptic crosswords over non-cryptics for flattering one's sense of general knowledge, it went in with a confident nod and without a checker in sight. This is certainly not the principal advantage of cryptics, but it does permit a tut to the imaginary onlooker: yes of course that's the messenger god. Duh. I think my favourite clue was 14ac - one of the easier in the puzzle but with a superb surface reading that really grew on me. Definitions underlined, and many thanks to Orpheus for this - much enjoyed.
| Across | |
| 1 | Quote Italian in church CITE: IT. (Italian) in C.E. (Church of England) |
| 3 | In class a boy is relaxed and friendly INFORMAL: IN, FORM (class) AL (a boy) |
| 9 | Lively person’s son, a footballer, perhaps SWINGER: S (son) WINGER (a footballer, perhaps) |
| 10 | Endless to-do about commander’s centre of activity FOCUS: FUSS (to-do; endless = drop the last letter) going around O.C. (commander): as in Officer Commanding, apparently - new to me, I was only aware of C.O. |
| 11 | Consumed in college, we hear EATEN: Eton, audibly (we hear). |
| 12 | Messenger god immersed in another message HERMES: hidden, or immersed, in the letters of anotHER MESsage. |
| 14 | But would a driver’s unwelcome adviserwithdraw thus? TAKE A BACK SEAT: An interesting clue to categorise, this: it's a double definition (a driver’s unwelcome adviser ; withdraw) with the conflicting meanings of the two definitions made into an all-in-one (or &lit) surface question. As in: could a back-seat driver take a back seat? It could even be mused rhetorically by a driver to said annoyance, with a possibility of getting peace and quiet for a second or two (or at least a change of conversation). I scribbled this in quite quickly without really thnking about it, but on reflection it's an excellent clue. |
| 17 | Possibly fellow Lithuanian’s element? COBALT: CO-BALT (fellow Lithuanian, possibly, as a Balt is not necessarily from Lithuania). |
| 19 | Spiritual leader’s tailless pet? RABBI: RABBIT (pet, losing its tail/last letter) |
| 22 | Send message to European man verbally EMAIL: E (European) MAIL (male, verbally) |
| 23 | Attendants English can put in French street RETINUE: E (English) TIN (can) put inside RUE (French street). |
| 24 | Top score?A sucker might get it! BULL'S-EYE: double definition, the second one cryptic - or very cryptic if, like me, you had not heard of the hard boiled sweet called a bullseye that can be sucked for some nominal degree of pleasure. "Top score" has a question mark because, for example, it is on an archery target but isn't on a dart-board. |
| 25 | Club accommodating old vessel BOAT: BAT (club) accomodating O (old). |
| Down | |
| 1 | Film container actors originally employed around filming location CASSETTE: CAST (actors) E (originally [i.e., first letter of] Employed) going around SET (filming location). |
| 2 | It isn’t commonly a stain or blemish TAINT: 't ain't = it isn't, commonly. |
| 4 | Start here, only travelling towards John o’Groats, say? NORTH-EASTERLY: anagram (travelling) of START HERE ONLY. |
| 5 | Tender Conservative not opening box OFFER: coffer = box, without the opening C (conservative). |
| 6 | Friend carrying revolutionary bladed weapon MACHETE: MATE (friend) carrying/holding CHE (our stock revolutionary, Che Guevara) |
| 7 | Device a shoemaker usesafter everything else? LAST: double definition, the first one being the model/mould around which shoes are shaped. News to me. Derives from the Old English, where a "last" was something along the lines of a footprint. |
| 8 | Posh bird, some say, in East African state UGANDA: U (posh, short for upper class) GANDA can sound like GANDER (bird). |
| 13 | Raucous start to squabble over ballistic missile STRIDENT: S (start to Squabble) over/above TRIDENT (ballistic missile) |
| 15 | Clever Dick takes risk ultimately climbing on barrier KNOW-ALL: K (risK, ultimately), NO (on, climbing - same as reversing in an across clue), WALL (barrier). "Takes" is a link-word between the definition and cryptic parts of the clue. |
| 16 | Girl describing a run or a martial art KARATE: KATE (girl) describing/being written about A R (a run). |
| 18 | Book of maps finally almost finished ATLAS: AT LAST (finally, almost finished = missing the last letter) |
| 20 | Large circle adopting northern game BINGO: BIG O (large circle) adopting/taking on N (northerm) |
| 21 | Basil, perhaps— a girl’s boyfriend at first HERB: HER (a girl's) B (boyfriend, at first) |