It is possible that my view of this one is coloured by the discovery that I’m never going to win a spelling bee, the apparent disability nullifying what may yet prove to be a relatively slow time of 16.36. Because I’m blogging, I paused a couple of times to make sure everything was in order, but for the most part this felt rather formulaic: put A into B, turn C and D round. But there is a “cycling” clue to annoy some purists, and that rara avis a quadruple definition to keep us entertained. I did wonder if the first half dozen or so across clues, with the third being split in two, was a sly comment on American politics, but I’m probably not allowed to say that.
Definitions underlined in italics, exclusions enclosed in square brackets, positional and other indications in round ones.
| Across | |
| 1 | Movie containing most unlikely material (7) |
| PLASTIC – Movie is the generic PIC, which contains as most unlikely the LAST thing you’d expect. | |
| 5 | I’m surprised about backing a real outsider (2-5) |
| NO-HOPER – As ever I was thrown by that innocent a which produces PER to follow OH! I’m surprised and ON for about, together reversed (backing). | |
| 9 | Head doctor’s article is, in part, absurd (9) |
| THERAPIST – I’m not sure why the definition is qualified by head, but it is. THE article is followed by an anagram (absurd) of PART containing IS. | |
| 10 | See doctor to check skin condition having left hospital (5) |
| GRASP – Doctor G[eneral] P[ractitioner] contains RASH without the H[ospital]. Check is the containment indicator. | |
| 11 | Gives legal validity to condition in each statute (13) |
| AUTHENTICATES – An anagram (condition) of IN EACH STATUTE | |
| 13 | Prove sacked assistant spent more than necessary (8) |
| OVERPAID – An anagram (sacked) of PROVE plus AID for assistant. | |
| 15 | Repeat what causes standards to deteriorate? (6) |
| PARROT – Just as potato rot causes spuds to deteriorate, so PAR ROT whimsically causes standards to deteriorate. | |
| 17 | Continue to signal large vessel (6) |
| FLAGON – Continue to signal is FLAG ON | |
| 19 | Sad individual is more sensitive about argument (8) |
| SORROWER – More sensitive SORER encloses ROW for argument | |
| 22 | Half of brilliant people agree little by little (13) |
| INCREMENTALLY – I think the likely required word for brilliant is INCREDIBLE, from which you take the first half and add MEN for people and TALLY for agree. | |
| 25 | Secures protection for digital assets? (5) |
| NAILS – Two definitions, the second humorous | |
| 26 | Model had style (9) |
| DESIGNATE – Model is DESIGN, and had translates to ATE and the definition is verbal, to name. | |
| 27 | He takes coats from people attending in rotation (7) |
| SHEARER – The dreaded cyclical clue. People in attendance are HEARERS. You don’t need to cycle far to get the S from the back to the front. | |
| 28 | Diminish what’s left of attention span (7) |
| ABRIDGE – On the left of attention is A, span is BRIDGE. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Hot tap turns this way (4) |
| PATH – Just take the first six letters of the clue, abbreviate HOT to H, and turn them round. | |
| 2 | Moderate state argued on a regular basis (7) |
| AVERAGE – State is AVER, add the odd letters of ArGuEd | |
| 3 | Former partner avoiding more sex is characteristic (5) |
| TRAIT – I think more sex suggests EXTRA IT (you know, thingy) from which you remove your former partner or EX | |
| 4 | Fanciful style captures timeless quality (8) |
| CHIMERIC – Style is CHIC, and the captured timeless quality is MERIT without its T[ime] | |
| 5 | Nod head at introduction to empress (6) |
| NUTATE – Perhaps not the most familiar word for nod. Get it from NUT for head, AT and the first letter of Empress. | |
| 6 | Beehive possibly preserves constant location for feeding young (4,5) |
| HIGH CHAIR – As illustrated by the early Dusty Springfield the beehive is unquestionably HIGH HAIR. Insert a C[onstant] where it does most good. | |
| 7 | Pressure someone enduring wall-to-wall coverage? (7) |
| PLASTER – P[ressure] plus LASTER for someone enduring. | |
| 8 | Trooper is last in company to turn 18 (10) |
| REPOSITORY – So clue 18 provides the definition. For the wordplay, it helps if you realise there’s no A in the anagram (to turn) of TROOPER IS plus the Y from the end of companY. I didn’t. On edit: great embarrassment: I can’t even correct it properly! | |
| 12 | Relationships restricting development of fiery young men (10) |
| BOYFRIENDS – Relationships are BONDS in which you restrict an anagram (development) of FIERY. | |
| 14 | Iron and gold boxes belonging to academic (9) |
| PROFESSOR – Iron gives PRESS, gold gives OR. The two contain OF for belonging to. | |
| 16 | Noble argument against valuable item being returned (8) |
| CONTESSA – Argument against is CON, valuable item is ASSET which you reverse. | |
| 18 | Author’s supporting chief source of historical information (7) |
| ARCHIVE – Our self referential setter says author’s when meaning I’VE, and supports (it’s a down clue) ARCH for chief as in rival. | |
| 20 | Irregular method to attract backing (7) |
| WAYWARD – Method is WAY, to attract is to DRAW, which is then reversed | |
| 21 | Youthful nurse put forward a proposal (6) |
| TENDER – Quad definition, though I only counted two when solving. | |
| 23 | Cross and belligerent to some extent (5) |
| LIGER – Male lion and female tiger love each other very much (in Africa?!) and produce this offspring, hidden, to some extent, inside belLIGERent. The other way round, it’s a tigon: the male participant aways comes first. | |
| 24 | Present judge to auditor (4) |
| HERE – To judge, hear, sounds like this. | |
31:04
Interrupted during solve and never went back until this morning. Mostly OK, but wrote in and rubbed out NO-HOPER more than once as I couldn’t parse it nor satisfactorily solve 6d (had unparsed HAIR STYLE for beehive initially), 7d nor 8d. Eventually solved 4d and spotted that ‘condition’ in 11a was an anagram indicator! Also SORROWED (SO RED around ROW) at 19a meant I didn’t see that 8d was also an anagram…
Thanks Z and setter
Found this hard. Some rather nice word play. Gave up with just 12d and 17a to do. Very helpful blog and comments. Thanks to all.
19:11. COD: ABRIDGE
Overall, a win for me, despite having to have a leg-up for a couple: SHEARER and CONTESSA I’m looking at you. Started gamely with OVERPAID and AUTHENTICATES, and even the NHO NUTATES ( but had to be), and took a while to see NO-HOPER as I failed again to see a=per, (but enjoyed the PDM!)
An excellent challenge all round, I’d say, with a mix of new devices and possibly old chestnuts. COD to HIGH CHAIR, for reminding me of the fabulous Dusty.
Quite pleased that I almost completed without resort to the excellent blog. Am a relative newbie to cryptics, catching up on some back issues, not very well read, or particularly well educated, but there’s always something new to glean. Must have spent around two hours on and off on this one, but still an enjoyable challenge.