Crosaire No 17018 by Crossheir – Tuesday, July 30th, 2019

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

Across:

1 No liberals in social climber’s (no ‘liberals’ in ‘social climbers’ = ocicms = COMICS) childish magazines (COMICS),

4 What the minister for finance did (BUDGETED) in retrospect (= reversal indicator) put off (deter), for the most part (r) (‘deter’ without ‘r’ = dete = -ETED), great (-G-) person living in The East (Dub = BUD-) (BUDGETED),

9 Isn’t left restrained (‘isnt’ left ‘restrained’ = reraed = READER) by what’s in the library (READER),

10 Swift (FAST), Furlong (F-) and Ring (-O-) at party (DO = -OD) (FAST FOOD) served up (= reversal indicator) burgers and chips (FAST FOOD),

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12 Needing a hint (STUCK), a (A-) bird (tit = - T IT) (STUCK AT IT) didn’t give up (STUCK AT IT),

13 Order (O-) from judge (-RATE) (ORATE) to speak up (ORATE),

14 Clarifying statements (EXPLANATIONS) by old lover (EX-) and pal (pal = -PLA-) travelling (= anagram indicator) in Europe (-NATIONS) (EXPLANATIONS),

18 It’s fairly (half of) easy (half of ‘EAsy’ = EA-) for young leader (‘Young’ leader = -Y-) in Tour (tour = -T -OUR) having quarrel (having WORDS) (EAT YOUR WORDS) to take it back humiliatingly (EAT YOUR WORDS),

21 Record (ALBUM) of Columbian icon going missing (‘Columbian’ ‘icon’ going missing/without ‘icon’ = lumba = ALBUM),

22 The Observer (EYE) intro (OPENER) (EYE-OPENER) is a revelation (EYE-OPENER),

24 Heartless (remove centre) riddle (‘sieve’ without ‘e’= -SIVE) following (= positional indicator) Arab (Arab = ABRA-) Spring (= anagram indicator) (ABRASIVE) sounds harsh (ABRASIVE),

25 A (A-) leading entertainer (leading ‘entertainer’ = -E-) in The Wild Bunch (mob = -MO-B-) is a (-A) (AMOEBA) parasite (AMOEBA),

26 Consider in new light (REASSESS), unfinished (l) genuine (‘real’ without ‘l’ = REA-) ships (-SS-SS) on both sides of Spain (-E-) (REASSESS),

27 Flipping (= reversal indicator) pilot study (test = TSET-) gets most of (t) the set (‘set’ without ‘t’= -SE) (TSETSE) to fly (TSETSE).

Down:

1 Showed affection (CARESSED) on The Road (CAR-) for director (-D) behind (= positional indicator) clip of (n) German city (‘Essen’ without ‘n’ = -ESSE-) (CARESSED),

2 Paul came (Paul came = MEA CULPA) out (= anagram indicator) to acknowledge one’s guilt (MEA CULPA),

3 Corroborate (CHECK) in European (‘Czech’ = ‘CHECK’) state (= homophone indicator),

5 A foreign (a = UN-) element (-ATTRIBUTE-) reaching bad end (bad ‘enD’ = -D) (UNATTRIBUTED) came from God knows where (UNATTRIBUTED),

6 Spend time watching brand new Friends (GET TO KNOW) and become familiar with (GET TO KNOW),

7 What a shame (TOO BAD) it describes the man downstairs (devil = TOO BAD),

8 Tremble walking (totter / DODDER) and running through Dublin (DODDER river),

11 Support (STEADY) butterflies (NERVES) (STEADY NERVES) to put your mind at rest (STEADY NERVES),

15 A mistral’s (a mistrals = ALARMISTS) force (= anagram indicator) can unnecessarily shock people (ALARMISTS),

16 New (= anagram indicator) parents (parents = TRANSEP-) first time (first ‘Time’ = -T) (TRANSEPT) in the chapel (TRANSEPT),

17 Consumer (USER-) brand (-NAME) (USERNAME) required by surfer (USERNAME),

19 Fundraiser (BAZAAR) in very strange (‘bizarre’ = ‘BAZAAR’) state (= homophone),

20 Spain and Portugal (IBERIA) and more than half of Russia (Siberia) is leaderless (s) (‘Siberia “without ‘s’ = IBERIA),

23 Big cats (PUMAS) tore away from mousetrap (‘tore’ away from ‘mousetrap’ = musap = PUMAS).