Club Monthly 20170 November 2014 – On The Easy Side?

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as *(–)

ODO = Oxford Dictionaries Online, OED = Oxford Dictionary, etc.

Across
1. Burly thief no longer to steal from Cockney drover (10)
roberdsman – ROB + ‘ERDSMAN, the sort of herdsman our East End cousins discuss incessantly
6. Society in central London area becomes British arty type (4)
boho – SOHO, with the S(ociety) replaced by B(ritish)
8. Some recalled recital, live, of Hamlet for old poet (8)
villatic – hidden, rev. in reCITAL LIVe. I do not like clues where a capital letter is used where it should not have been, in this case the H in hamlet which refers merely to a small village. It feels like lying to me, rather than a simple misdirection. How much more elegant, to put the word somewhere it can properly deploy a capital, at the beginning of a sentence or a quotation for example. Even Ximenes felt guilty about doing otherwise, though he allowed it “At a pinch.”
9. Maori land at the time that returned to the French (6)
whenua – WHEN (at the time that) + AU (French for to) rev.
10. Orphan has this hungry child’s affliction (4)
noma – a dd.
11. Out-of-this-world life study trounced mostly good oil by ex (10)
exobiology – *(GOO(D) OIL BY EX)
12. Second in college trophy, one departs with a single point (9)
unicuspid – S(econd) in UNI CUP, + I + D(eparts). I had heard of bicuspids, which some of our teeth are. Unicuspid only a short step away
14. Strut around Hamilton with pasty-eating top executive (5)
d wang – WAN (pasty) in DG, for director general. The Hamilton in question being in this case – from quite a wide choice of locations – the Scottish one, where the Academicals come from..
17. A rabbit, tail to the fore, gets measure of moles in time (5)
katal – A TALK (a rabbit) with the K transferred to the front.. the katal is the SI unit of catalytic activity, and 1 kat – 1 mole per second
19. Tips for runner in a Middle East country, one replacing energy bar (5,4)
arris rail – R(UNNE)R in A ISRAEL, with the E(nergy) replaced by I
22. Offer a pub dancing area and light show (5,5)
opera buffo – *(OFFER A PUB) + A. Slowed myself up a bit by initially putting buffo
23. Wine and ouzo, uncased, repelled native’s tongue (4)
Zuni – wINe + oUZo, rev.
24. Condition of viewer and also listener comes in for scrutiny initially (6)
albugo – ALSO, with the S(CRUTINY) replaced by BUG (listener, as in “planted a bug in the flat”)
25. State of old thoroughfare more manageable, so some say (8)
Rhodesia – sounds like “Road easier”
26. Base poem on retracting Islamic law (4)
fiqh – HQ (base) + IF (poem by Kipling) both rev.
27. Was I making cipher having pinched German instrument? (10)
didgeridoo – GER(man) in DID I DO O

Down
1. Stand around to sell posh material for the Royals? (5-4)
raven-duck – VEND (to sell) + U (posh) in RACK (stand). Raven’s-duck was a sailcloth, and royals are sails. As such, there should not be a capital R for royals (see 8ac above)
2. After lifting, every so often big bomb is laid by fruit tree (7)
bilimbi – hidden, rev. in b I g B o M b I s La Id By
3. Article is probing scarcely enlightened religious doctrine (8)
ditheism – THE (article) + IS, in DIM (scarcely enlightened)
4. Comic ram-raid of bazaar ultimately damaged tiny fraction of storage unit (disused) (15)
micromicrofarad – *(COMIC RAM RAID OF (bazaa)R)
5. Perhaps a person of St John’s extreme wisdom originally in fine novel (6)
Newfie – E(xtreme) W(isdom) in *(FINE)
6. Grumble and scowl: plant needing fertiliser flown in (3-6)
bee-flower – BEEF (grumble) + LOWER (scowl)
7. Suspended and endlessly set about old voodoo priest (7)
houngan – O in HUNG (suspended) + AN(d). This word is not in Chambers, but is in the OED
13. Chaucer surprisingly getting name right in Caledonian rime (9)
cranreuch – N(ame) + R(ight) in *(CHAUCER)
15. Grand spent by ace animal establishment getting tailed vulture (9)
gallinazo – G(rand) + ALL IN (spent) + A(ce) + ZO, that most wonderful Himalayan animal, so beloved of scrabble players. If you look up zho in Chambers, it gives no less than 11 different alternative spellings
16. Serving American artist fish, one that apparently burns (8)
girasole – GI (serving American) + RA (artist) + SOLE (fish). A girasole in this context is a fire opal
18. Key one supports feature of mobile phone contracts (7)
appalti – APP (mobile phone feature) + ALT (key) + I
20. Grey clothing current in America is old fashioned (7)
aguised – I (current) in US, in AGED (grey). The def. is meant to indicate an old word meaning “fashioned”
21. Birthday’s coming up: look to stop that old person’s curse!
‘sblood – LO (look) in DOB’S (birthday) rev. Not a common swearword nowadays, but familiar enough to (eg) us Georgette Heyer fans