Across
1. OVID. O=ball. VID=film
4. BACKGAMMON. BACK=second. GAM=leg. MON.
9. PARANORMAL. Anagram of or an alarm
10. WORN. WO=without. RN=service.
11. VOLUME. Double def.
12. IMMODEST. I’m. MODES=manners. T=cross.
14. TOWN. Subtract HR=hour from thrown=cast.
15. PITCH BLACK. Pitch=dive. B=B[omber] Lack=want.
17. CORRESPOND. R in cores=hearts. Pond=Atlantic.
20. SUDS. Last letters of operas you would guess.
21. MADHOUSE. Mouse=retiring individual containing ADH=had confused (no I’m not sure I get it either). [On edit, see Pootle infra].
23. STEELY. STE=blessed female. ELY=see.
24. AWOL. A wol[f]=endless bolt.
25. FOOTBRIDGE. Anagram of get rid of bo.
26. HANKY PANKY. Rag=hanky. Change H to P[age] in second (repeated) one
27 GURU. Goo and rue – homophones.
Down.
2. VIA DOLOROSA. Anagram of OR=men with also avoid.
3. DO A RUNNER. AKA taking french leave.
4. BOOZE UP. Bop=jazz containing OZ and EU.
5. COME INTO ONES OWN. Come into one sow from pig farm with N from son.
6. GALUMPH. Lag reversed with U and mph.
7. MOOSE. Nope, didn’t see this one, thanks to John Interred for the parse. it’s ELK frpm feckless reversed.
8. NONET. Tenon-joint revesed.
13. SOCKDOLAGER. Looked this up finally – DNK the word. Sock=punch. Lager=beer containing Do=party.
16. LISTENING. Lenin=red containg IST=first with G[olf].
18. STUFF UP. Gorge=stuff. Hike=up.
19. DISOBEY. Cryptic.[Another one I missed. [On edit and thanks to John Interred – it’s an anagram of I=one does by.]
21. MEATH. Remove EAD (English ad) from meathead. Didn’t get this either. Thanks Sawbill.
22. DROWN. N Word=promise reversed.
Thank you very much to Olivia for filling in. Verlaine must be recovering (or celebrating) after his 15 min solve.
How hard. Well done Olivia. The trouble with 21dn was that it could also have been Louth if you couldn’t cope with the wordplay.
I knew sockdolager: wonderful word used by Horowitz in a chess book written probably around 1950.
Edited at 2021-07-16 12:55 pm (UTC)
DNF in two sessions of about 40 mins each – but much enjoyed except for 7dn MOOSE and 10ac WORN the latter I should have seen but never the former.
FOI 9ac PARANORMAL
LOI 24ac AWOL and my WOD!
26ac HANKY-PANKY, 4dn BOOZE-UP!, 14ac TOWN, 21ac MADHOUSE and 3dn DO A RUNNER were all rather neat.
13dn SOCKDOLAGER was a write in – even though it was never in my vocab. The VIA DOLOROSA at 2dn suddenly appeared
Thank-you Olivia
Edited at 2021-07-16 01:08 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2021-07-16 01:20 pm (UTC)
A major hold up was a double blunder at 7d, where I saw, the backward elk, and americanised it as BISON. Yeah, I know moose is an American elk and bison is a European buffalo, but I was already blitzed.
If SOCKDOLAGER hasn’t turned up in a CMS it will. It has been in a Mephisto in 2015, and I’d like to claim I remembered it, but I just went on the wp.
MEATH, AWOL and MADHOUSE on hit and hope, the first only from the wp, — I saw meathead — the other two from definition. DISOBEY I thought was a pretty poor CD, Missed the too-clever wp.
Not a whole lotta fun, but thanks Oliviaand Co for filling in.
I had to correct “Via Doloroso” in passing.
NHO SOCKDOLAGER, but the parsing was clear. My problems (solved by others !) was the inability to parse the crossing pair of STEELY (DNK the feminine of saint), and LISTENING (Lenin was rather clever !)
FOI OVID
LOI MOOSE
COD DO A RUNNER
TIME 24:55
Well beaten after my usual 30 minutes. Only because I was sat in a car helping out a friend did I have the time to work out some of those remaining.
Clever but too tough to be pleasurable.
Edited at 2021-07-16 01:06 pm (UTC)
Somehow I knew SOCKDOLAGER, I’ve no idea where from. It appeared in a Mephisto several years ago but I’m sure I’ve come across it more recently than that.
Edited at 2021-07-16 01:12 pm (UTC)
Fresh cods so large – whoppers (11)
Ste. f (plural Ste.) Abbreviation of sainte, the feminine form of saint.
FOI Suds
LOI Moose
COD Guru
Edited at 2021-07-16 04:56 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2021-07-16 05:32 pm (UTC)
The Chinese have a saying:- A dog may live in a stable – but that doesn’t make him a horse.
[winces in expectation of being expelled]
I found this really difficult but funnily enough I discovered that dipping in and out of the solving process meant that I could approach some clues afresh and suddenly see the light. Whereas when I’m concentrating 100% on a puzzle, I’m guilty of repetitive rather than flexible thinking when the going gets tough.
This was a highly original set of clues and thus very satisfying to solve, although in my case that process was incomplete, with 10 ac “worn” and 7 d “moose” refusing to budge. “Moose” is a superb clue now that I’ve worked it out!
CODs — most of ’em.
Thanks to Olivia for stepping into the breach with a most concise blog and to setter for a cracking puzzle.
As for the rest of the puzzle….
I did record it live if anyone is desperate to see how I solved it — https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1087958865, from 7m30 or so.
Edited at 2021-07-16 05:21 pm (UTC)
(Burnt out lorry, the queue went for miles)
Got home grumpy, I did
Solved that pig of a grid
Sense of triumph! And now I’m all smiles
43:05