Crosaire No 16919 by Crossheir – Friday, April 5th, 2019

Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication

Across:

8 Democracies missing codes (‘democracies’ missing ‘codes’ = mracie = CRIMEA) in Ukraine, or is it Russia? (CRIMEA),

9 Lively type (ANIMATED) made it an (made it an = ANIMATED) order (= anagram indicator),

10 Leave one’s mark on something (SIGN) similar to 2 down (‘omen’ is similar to SIGN),

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11 They’ll get you thinking (BRAIN CELLS) of most of those from 1 down (most of ‘brains’ = BRAIN) in prison (CELLS) (BRAIN CELLS),

12 Oops (oops = -SOPO-) – criminal (= anagram indicator) in papers (ID papers = I-D) (ISOPOD) is a little crawler (ISOPOD),

14 Opens 15 across (opens ‘brain specialist’ = BRAIN-) to fight (-BOX) (BRAINBOX) intelligent character (BRAINBOX),

15 Expert attending to 11 across (expert attending to ‘brain cells’ = BRAIN SPECIALIST) knows a swelled head when they see it (BRAIN SPECIALIST),

18 Bed (-COT-) is large (-L-) in ocean liner (ocean liner = S-AND) (SCOTLAND) produced in the UK (SCOTLAND),

20 Sounds like (= homophone indicator) the Arabians perhaps (Arabian horses = ‘mares’ = ‘MAYORS’) running a number of cities (MAYORS),

22 Her career’s (her careers = RESEARCHER) disrupted (= anagram indicator) by investigator (RESEARCHER),

24 Bad-mannered (RUDE) crusader dismisses scar (‘crusader’ dismisses ‘scar’ = rude = RUDE),

25 Making the most sense (BRAINIER) of leader in 15 across (leader in “brain specialist” = BRAIN-) losing the head (p) on waterfront (‘pier’ without ‘p’ = -IER) (BRAINIER),

26 View (ASPECT) of a (A-) small (-S-) leaderless (O) bunch of oil producers (‘OPEC’ without ‘O’= -PEC-) from half of Texas (half of ‘TX’ = -T) (ASPECT).

Down:

1 Minds (BRAINS) what’s covered in algebra in school (what’s covered in ‘algebra in school’ = BRAINS),

2 Some of the ghetto mentality (some of the ‘ghetto mentality’ = OMEN) can be read as a warning (OMEN),

3 Graduate (-BA-) party (-DO-) in public houses (BAR-S) (BARBADOS) for the islanders (BARBADOS),

4 Great Dane releases Green (‘great dane’ releases ‘green’ = atda = DATA) facts and figures (DATA),

5 Anne IV (Anne IV = VIENNA) retires (= reversal indicator) to European city (VIENNA),

6 Typical of a mother (MATERNALLY) and wife (MATE-) to mobilise (-R-ALLY) over last altercation (last ‘altercation’ = -N-) (MATERNALLY),

7 Old magazine (BELL-) section in department store (-BOYS) (BELLBOYS) for runners in American hotels (BELLBOYS),

13 Misfit (= anagram indicator) painted rim (painted rim = PRINT MEDIA) of press (PRINT MEDIA),

14 Side bar is missing (‘side bar’ ‘is’ missing/without ‘is’ = debar = BREAD) something to put the butter and marmalade on (BREAD),

16 Produces the hits that are out of this world (rocket science = ROCKETRY) for those aiming for the stars (ROCKETRY),

17 One (I-) Frenchman (Monsieur = -M-) is a type of enemy (-MORTAL enemy) (IMMORTAL) here to stay perhaps (IMMORTAL),

19 American (A-) loud music (forte = -F-) – Rob (rob = -RAID) (AFRAID) is shaking in his boots (AFRAID),

21 Edit (REDUCE) crude (Crude = REDUC-) novel (= anagram indicator) giving it direction (east = -E) (REDUCE),

23 Douglas leaves shoulder bag (‘Douglas’ leaves ‘shoulder bag’ = herb = HERB) for Rosemary (HERB),

24 Included by retrograde (= reversal indicator) software pirates (included by retrograde ‘softwarepirates’ = epir = RIPE) – the mature variety (RIPE).