i Cryptic Crossword 3408 Alchemi

Difficulty rating (out of five): 🌟🌟

An enjoyable and accessible start to the working week. This will not have held up many solvers for too long. Just right for Plough Monday, at the start of the first full working week after the festivities.

Just a couple of things needed checking online: an unfamiliar bird, and a less well-known Spanish name. Both were very clearly clued, though, with helpful crossing letters, so it was really a question of checking my guesses rather than consulting lists.

Only one bit of parsing eluded me, which was PUGILISTS. It was another entry with useful crossing letters and a straightforward definition, but the word-play eluded me, largely because I never thought of IS for “terrorists”. I mistakenly fell for the misdirection in 17ac, and overconfidenty entered “Go to sea” and had to correct it when the anagram for EARDROP failed to yield. For a moment or two, as well, I failed to notice the old trick of “es” from “French art” in REDESIGN. These, I think, push this otherwise very accessible puzzle up into two-star territory.

Clue of the day goes to the humorous and nicely done hidden inclusion in 2d: “Johnson’s laughter seen partly as an attack (9)”.

Here’s the link for the answers and explanations: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2017/10/23/independent-9681-by-alchemi/