Weekend Australian, Sunday Times 627
The Last One Ever!
Five bad puns masquerading as cryptic defs. An obscure criminal, an obscure seaport and an obscure flower. You can have a lot more fun with a dirty book and a box of tissues.
Across
1. THUMBSCREW. The dreaded two-worder that's not a double def but just a bad pun. (#1)
7. GOTH. GOT + H.
9 & 15. MARGARET CATCHPOLE. Anag of GEAR in MART + CATCH (surprise) + POLE (European). Woman transported in 1801 and subject of a fictionalised biography.
10. KITTEN. KIT (gear) + TEN (cardinal [number]). Might have more usefully used the clue number itself.
11. USED-UP. "Up" as in "before the beak".
13. AIRPORTS. A1 REPORTS minus E.
14. CAUSE CELĂBRE. CA (about) + USE ("employ[ed]" again] + anag of REBEL in CE (church). This is the secondary meaning of the term. It's more usually a notable trial. Might have been better to go with the usual version given the legal refs in 11 and ....
17. WITCHING HOUR. Anag.
20. HERSCHEL. SCH (school) inside HERE + L.
21. TARGET. Second bad pun. Esp. since Target ain't a supermarket and doesn't really discount much. Doubt the Maidenhead "dudes" have one.
22. GAZEBO. Bo is a bloke again.
23. BOYDTOWN. Anag of NOBODY and first letters of T(rim) W(hales). Attempted &lit-ish thing for the def.
25. LOTS. Third bad pun.
26. ENTREATING. E(ast) + N(orth) + TREATING. Not quite right since "entreating" = "appealing to" and "treating" = "dealing with".
Down
2. HEADSMAN. ADS inside HE-MAN.
3. MUG. Reversal.
4. SCRAP. Reversal of "parcs".
5. RAT-TAIL. Reversal of TAR (sailor) + TAIL (follow). It's a fish aka the grenadier. Doesn't usually have a hyphen.
6. WAKE ROBIN. WAKE + ROB + IN. Not sure whether "Nick" with a cap is OK. It's a flower.
7. GET TOGETHER. TT (non-drinkers) + anag of THE GEORGE.
8. TREATY. TREAT (cure) + (homeopath)Y. We normally have an extra O in the latter, though the septics don't. Another TREAT (see 26), but not for solvers.
12. DISHWASHERS. Fourth bad pun ("course" = "meal").
16. MUTE SWAN.
18. HALIBUT. (Prince) HAL + I (single) + rev of TUB.
19. LEGATO. Fifth bad pun.
21. THYME. Inclusive.
24. TOT. Ref to palindrome.
