Crosaire No 16565 by Crossheir – Tuesday, February 13th, 2018

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

ACROSS:

1 Wit (HUMOUR) seems to be missing from summer house ('seems' missing from 'summer house' = umrhou = HUMOUR),

4 Salami (salami  =A-LAIMS) spreads (= anagram indicator) over tops of cold cuts (tops of cold cuts  = -CC-) (ACCLAIMS) and toasts (ACCLAIMS),

9 Meter (M-) reading (from the 3Rs = -R-) in moving (= anagram indicator) Taxi (-AT-IX) (MATRIX) offering array of numbers in rows and columns (MATRIX),

10 Straight away (IN A FLASH) Irish (I-) supporter (fan = -N A F-) upset (= reversal indicator) at getting beat (beat = -LASH) (IN A FLASH),

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12 Father’s (POPE’S) sixth sense (NOSE) (POPE’S NOSE) for a bit of chicken (POPE’S NOSE),

13 Old (O-) friends (-PALS) (OPALS) of The Stones (OPALS),

14 Most of (s) the produce (‘goods’ without ‘s’ = GOOD-) indulged (-HUMOURED) (GOOD- HUMOURED) in local chipper (locally ‘chipper’ = cheerful = GOOD-HUMOURED),

18 Get a grip (KEEP ONE’S COOL) and hold onto (KEEP) individual (ONE -) going to school (school) without a second thought (‘second thought’ = h) (‘school’ without ‘h’ = -S COOL) (KEEP ONE’S COOL),

21 Capuchin drops cup (‘Capuchin’ drops ‘cup’ = achin = CHINA) of high-quality porcelain (CHINA),

22 Kill resident perhaps (Lilywhite = LILY-WHITE) with fleur-de-lis (LILY -) opening chess match (white side opens in game of chess = -WHITE) (LILY-WHITE),

24 Incited a (incited a = INDICATE) disturbance (= anagram indicator) for show (INDICATE),

25 Missing the first conversation (missing the first conversation/ ‘talk’  = -ALK) on the greatest (‘the greatest’ = Mohammad Ali = -ALI) (ALKALI) chemical base (ALKALI),

26 Looking back (= reversal indicator), envoy (envoy) lacks heart (without heart/centre = ‘v’) ('envoy' = lacks 'v' = enoy = -YONE) meeting father (Rev = -VER-) figure finally (figure finally = E-) (EVERYONE) in public (EVERYONE),

27 Holy cow! (OH DEAR!) Head Office (HO = OH) goes back (= reversal indicator) on word to open letter (DEAR) (OH DEAR).

DOWN:

1 Record (extended-play record = -E P-) by attorney general (-AG-) in The House (HOM- -E) (HOME PAGE) can be seen by opening Internet site (HOME PAGE),

2 Symbolic type (METAPHOR) of team (team = META-) playing (= anagram indicator) with power (-P-) and fair amount of (half of) horror ('horror' = -HOR) (METAPHOR),

3 Quantities (UNITS) of cod not part of discount (‘cod’ not part of ‘discount’ = isunt = UNITS),

5 As a result (CONSEQUENTLY), chess opening (chess opening = C-) only (-ON-LY) covers queen’s (queens = -SEQUEN-) remarkable (= anagram indicator) gambit ultimately (gambit ultimately = -T-) (CONSEQUENTLY),

6 The scraps (LEFTOVERS) in the French (the = LE-) paper read by the English (Financial Times = -FT-) referring to the bowlers’ sessions (-OVERS are when the bowlers bowl the ball)   (LEFTOVERS),

7 To a certain extent (IN A WAY), it's fashionable (IN) on holiday? (away = A WAY) (IN A WAY),

8 Take on/off mackintoshes (‘take on’ off ‘mackintoshes’ = mcishs = SCHISM) in Split? (SCHISM),

11 Most of (s) Daisy's relatives ('Cosmos' without ‘s’ = COSMO-) endlessly (e) gracious (‘polite’ without ‘e’ = -POLIT-) to a (-A-) new (-N) (COSMOPOLITAN) international traveller (COSMOPOLITAN),

15 Church leaders (HIERARCHY) greet (HI-) rare (rare = -ERAR-) review (= reversal indicator) that's a fair bit (half of) touchy (half of 'touchy' = -CHY) (HIERARCHY),

16 Consider (COGITATE) disembowelled (without centre/middle = ‘r’) dog (‘corgi’ without ‘r’  = COGI-) from foreign museum (-TATE museum) (COGITATE),

17 Deliberately concealed (ULTERIOR) there’s no initial sense (initial sense  = s) in Ulster- (‘Ulster’ without ‘s’ = ULTER-) -Irish (-I-) alternative (-OR-) (ULTERIOR),

19 Energetic (ACTIVE) part of the play, for example (Act IV = ACTIV-), linked to direction (direction east = -E) (ACTIVE),

20 Doctor (FIDDLE) and theologian (Doctor of Divinity = -DD-) mentioned in column (FI-LE) (FIDDLE),

23 Englishwoman dismisses moaning (‘Englishwoman’ dismisses ‘moaning’ = elshw = WELSH) from family living in Cardiff  (WELSH).

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