I thought this was a jolly good MCS, with playfulness and inventiveness throughout. Loved the surface of 1ac, the 25-character definition of a single letter in 2ac, “these rodents bound”, Anthony & Thomas, the ingenious “Manx cat”, the silly definition at 27ac: lots to enjoy, really. And loads of clues that could happily have graced a standard-strength 15×15, which is probably for the best really! COD to 26ac, combining well-concealed definition, fun cluing of “quiff” and being a crossword clue about crossword clues into one succinct and pleasing package. Thanks setter!
ACROSS
1 Gang of thirteen youths, initially five, turning into ninety-nine? (6)
COVYNE – Y{ouths} + V [five], reversed inside CONE [ninety-nine? (i.e. an ice cream)]
4 Character making central dip in grass, in order to see antelope (7)
BLAUBOK – U [character making central dip] in BLAB [grass], + OK [in order]
9 Nick in Muslim country, close to the Baltics, oddly (5)
EBLIS – {th}E + B{a}L{t}I{c}S
10 Once all over, we cheer a first for Henry wildly (9)
EACHWHERE – (WE CHEER A H{enry}*) [“wildly”]
11 These rodents bound to strike, turning a tragic old queen bee’s wing (9)
ZAPODIDAE – ZAP [to strike] + A DIDO reversed [“turning”, a tragic old queen] + {be}E
12 Worry about appeal to umpire peeling off hat, note
TOWZE – about {h}OWZ{at} [appeal to umpire, “peeling off HAT”], TE [note]
13 Force to cut down old NZ tree (4)
MAKO – MAK{e} [force to, “cut down”] + O [old]
14 Old king’s craft: one firing, the other reversing (10)
ARTAXERXES – ART [craft] + AXER [one firing] + reversed SEX [the other, “reversing”]
18 Source of drug not quite enough for Anthony or Thomas (10)
QUINAQUINA – QUIN{n} AQUINA{s}
20 What an orphan might wish for individually (1,3)
A POP – double def
23 Windows computer upgrade — Linux originally — interrupting you there! (5)
OCULI – C{omputer} U{pgrade} L{inux}, interrupting OI! [you there!]
24 Angus’s riotous behaviour gave a girl spasms (9)
GILRAVAGE – (GAVE A GIRL*) [“spasms”]
25 Militia, after a month, were going on to tour east (9)
JANJAWEED – after JAN [a month], JAWED [were going on] to “tour” E [east]
26 Something to brush up on taking answer for one down (5)
QUAFF – QU{i->A}FF [something to brush up on, taking A instead of I (“answer for one”)]
27 Poor Roy: he is the object of much leg-pulling (7)
HOSIERY – (ROY HE IS*) [“poor”]
28 Unlucky former Northern Ireland radio presenter hosts retrospective (6)
JINXED – EX NI [former | Northern Ireland] that DJ [radio presenter] “hosts”, the whole reversed [“retrospective”]
DOWN
1 Since informally retaining French in speaking, the writer’s signal is complex (8,1)
COENZYME Q – COZ [since, informally] “retaining” EN [French in] + homophone of I’M CUE [the writer’s | signal]
2 Short work a Manx cat’s tongue made! (7)
VOLAPUK – VOL [short work] + A + PUK{e} [cat, as in to vomit, but “Manx”, i.e. tailless]
3 Treatment of numbers and lines of address (6)
NOSODE – NOS [numbers] + ODE [lines of address]
4 Clubs in green and black, up for Italian game (5)
BOCCE – C [clubs] in ECO + B [green + black], the whole reversed [“up”]
5 Engaged in comic expression, mostly very chirpy? (8)
ATWITTER – AT [engaged in] + WIT [comic] + TER{m} [expression, mostly]
6 Polish working party, small, to increase in size (7)
BEESWAX – BEE S WAX [working party | small | to increase in size]
7 Holder of invitation initially shunning President and First Lady (5)
KEEVE – {i}KE [I{nvitation} shunning Ike (President Eisenhower)] + EVE [the first ever lady]
8 Red flag flying over uniform that was once worn by German soldier (8)
FELDGRAU – (RED FLAG*) [“flying”] over U [uniform]
15 Top: article sat on by girl in class with numerous rings (5)
ANNELIDA – LID A [top | article] sat on by ANNE [girl]
16 Pest fed first of marigolds — I specially like the summer gentian! (9)
SEPTEMFID – (PEST FED M{arigolds} I*) [“specially”]
17 Foolhardy spirit climbing Himalayan mountain in state of confusion (8)
KAMIKAZE – KA [spirit] + K1 reversed [“climbing” Himalayan mountain] in MAZE [state of confusion]
19 Monitors briefly dropping in heading off prejudice (7)
IGUANAS – GUAN{o} [“briefly” dropping] in {b}IAS [“heading off” prejudice]
21 Friend, concerned to conceal evidence of debts, getting round hospital body (7)
PHALANX – PAL [friend] + ANX{ious} [concerned, “concealing” its IOUs (“evidence of debts”)], getting round H [hospital]
22 Refusal to rear child of five, nameless Spanish American (6)
YANQUI – reversed NAY [refusal “to rear”] + QUI{n} [child of five, without N for name]
23 Thingummy, sound representative of military brass, taking judge for politician (5)
OOJAH – OO{mp->J}AH [sound representative of military brass, with a J instead of an MP]
24 Boy Belgian holds up no more like a clod (5)
GLEBY – hidden reversed in {bo}Y BELG{ian}
First I’m hearing of it and the answers are making my head spin.
The current Monthly is on the Club site right now. This is your big chance to expand your vocabulary….
What sorts of dictionaries does one use for such puzzles?
I love this crossword though it is clearly not to everyone’s taste. It teaches you to rely on the wordplay and not just guess or biff, and you might be suprised how many clues you can solve by just following the wordplay precisely, and looking up the answer, however unlikely it may seem.
I’m less of a biffer and more of a wordplay solver, but the problem is knowing what the pieces mean!
As ever, many more words in the jamais couché avec category than not, but for the most part the wordplay, carefully followed, gave you a chance.
I don’t recall working out where the U in BLAUBOK came from nor the back end of ENZYME Q, but the rest worked for me.
Having “one down” in the clue for QUIFF was fiendish.
Thanks to V for unravelling everything, and to the setter for a work of art.