3 down: He or I suggest stove ring (7)
I’m supposing stove ring = element. The rest?
26 across: Scoutmaster’s books not reviewed? (5)
Absolutely no idea. Apparently, the answer is tonto.
4 down: Daredevil retailed alloy (5)
Here, brash = daredevil, but I can’t explain anything else.
21 down: Love album spun into huge video download (7)
The answer is vodcast, which I suppose means spun into = cast, but why love album = vod?
22 down: Joke over tennis call (3, 2)
The answer: not up. What? Does that have something to do with joke = to pun? But when is not up ever said on the tennis court? What?
The only one I am fairly confident of is 4 down. alloy = brass. So retailed alloy = retailed brass =brash.
22 down: Actually I have heard “not up” on the tennis court. It means the ball has bounced twice before being hit. I’ll give that one to DA. I got this without realising the “to pun” anagram. Nice get.
21 down: If you are a 60s music fan like me, “Love album” has to be “Forever Changes” or perhaps “Da Capo”. But I don’t think either of these are going to work here, more’s the pity. However “huge” surely has to mean “vast”, in which case “love album” = “odc”. What?
No idea on the others yet.
Yeah, I was kind of hoping there was a reference to Forever Changes or Da Capo there as well, but nothing came of it.
The brass I should have gotten, and I should pay closer attention to the tennis next time round.
Thanks!
After giving it some thought, here is how I see 21 down working.
21 down: Love album spun into huge video download (7)
Love = O; album = CD; album spun = DC; huge = vast; into is the containment indicator.
Hence, “Love album spun into huge” = v O DC ast = VODCAST = video download.
Super top work, NC.
Thanks, AS.
I like to get my money’s worth out of each DA, but even I am nearly over this one. But at the risk of flogging a dead horse, just one more.
Re 26 across: Wikipedia reveals that while The Lone Ranger’s horse was named Silver, the horse of his Native American sidekick Tonto was named Scout. Hence Scoutmaster is the direct clue for Tonto.
Books = Old Testament = OT. So, books not = OTNOT. Reviewed is the backwards indicator, so books not reviewed = TONTO = master of Scout = scoutmaster.
OT for Old Testament?
My Google search says that’s a reasonable shorthand, but OT = Old Testament = books is quite a stretch.
Excellent DA mind-reading there, NC.
Not really a brainwave on my part. Books = OT (or NT) is on the Wikipedia cryptic shorthand list you have a link to from this blog. Worth reviewing from time to time!
He and I are both elements (He = helium; I = iodine), so it’s basically a double definition with a mask. And “over” is a typical marker for spelling something backwards, so I parse that clue as “put on” (= “joke”, as in “bunged on”) spelt backwards to give “not up”.