Crosaire No 16904 by Crossheir – Tuesday, March 19th, 2019

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

Across:

1 Work (W-) in the forest (-HOLLY) (WHOLLY) without reservation (WHOLLY),

4 With those types of blocks, it’s a cold place (ICEHOUSE) for Church (Church of England = -CE-) building (house) for the most part (e) (‘house’ without ‘e’ = HOU-) in Ireland (Ireland domain = .ie. = I-E) (ICEHOUSE),

9 Assign new actors to (RECAST) hub out of Bucharest (‘hub’ out of ‘Bucharest’ = carest = RECAST),

10 Attractive (ENGAGING) bride-to-be (hen) loses the head (h) (‘hen’ without ‘h’ = EN-) with legend (‘leg’ end = -G-) getting on (aging = -AGING) (ENGAGING),

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12 Best price (TOP DOLLAR) for setting up (= reversal indicator) bank (pot = TOP) with overseas capital (DOLLAR) (TOP DOLLAR),

13 Prickly type one associates with rosé (prickly type one associates with rosé/rose = THORN) from summit on The (summit on ‘The’ = T-) Cape (Cape -HORN) (THORN),

14 Concoct a story for one’s time up in front of the judge (PREPARE A CASE) or arrange things for a long stretch away perhaps (PREPARE A CASE),

18 Cook someone’s goose (PREPARE A MEAL) starting 14 across (“prepare a case” = PREPARE) with a (A) male (male = MEAL) model (= anagram indicator) (PREPARE A MEAL),

21 Greek character (Greek character/letter = Rho = RH-O) captures popular (-IN-) (RHINO) wild animal (RHINO),

22 Grease (OIL) portrays (PAINTS) (OIL PAINTS) those favourites of some of the old masters (OIL PAINTS),

24 Colourful type (BLACK) seen on the beach (SEA) (BLACK SEA) on the shores of Istanbul and Odessa, among others (BLACK SEA),

25 Pussy foot (paw = WAP-) around (= reversal indicator) centre with (centre ‘with’ = -IT-) one (-I) (WAPITI) buck (WAPITI deer /stag),

26 States Mr (states mr = SMARTEST) Spring (= anagram indicator) is the best turned out (SMARTEST),

27 Hound (BEAGLE) flighty type (-EAGLE) after (= positional indicator) bad start (‘bad’ start = B-) (BEAGLE).

Down:

1 Pat Weir’s (Pat Weirs = WIRETAPS) affected (= anagram indicator) by bugs (WIRETAPS),

2 Suggests someone in the little boys’ room (OCCUPIED) has something on their mind (OCCUPIED),

3 Amidst motocross alternatives (amidst ‘motocross alternatives’ = ossal) set up (= reversal indicator) (ossal = LASSO) by stockholder? (LASSO),

5 Where it all kicks off (CENTRE CIRCLE) for rugby player (CENTRE) and the crowd (CIRCLE) (CENTRE CIRCLE),

6 Place for the losers (HEALTH SPA / weight) lost (-L-) in wasteland (heath = HEA-TH) near spring (SPA) (HEALTH SPA),

7 A nice article (Nice/French ‘article’ = a = UN-) is (-IS-) broadcast (-ON) (UNISON) in complete agreement (in UNISON),

8 Internet search (search ENGINE) for The Mechanic (ENGINE),

11 St Brendan and Columbus (OLD EXPLORERS) – who said they discovered America? (OLD EXPLORERS),

15 Sounds like (= homophone indicator) heir (‘heir’ = AIR) on the snooker table (POCKET) (AIR POCKET) is just as scary as The Hurricane and The Whirlwind for the high flyers (AIR POCKET),

16 Bluffing it (FEINTING) by passing out (“fainting” = “FEINTING”) reports (= homophone indicator),

17 Drunk (= anagram indicator) special (special = AL-SPICE) port (port/left = -L-) (ALLSPICE) with Jamaican seasoning (ALLSPICE),

19 Investigates (PROBES) The Last Word (postscript = P-S) over cover-up (-ROBE-) (PROBES),

20 Last of the cumin (last of the ‘cumin’ = -N-) in Raita (Raita = TIRA-A) mixture (= anagram indicator) (TIRANA) from European capital (TIRANA),

23 Some characters in Ottawa keeping (some characters in ‘Ottawa keeping’ = AWAKE) up (AWAKE).