Thanks Felix, for a nice puzzle. The only unusual word was 14A which may hold up some, there was a bit of general knowledge required (1D, 12A, 21A, 22D), but nothing too taxing.
Across
1 Cold barely affected contest between neighbours (5,5)
LOCAL DERBY – A nice gentle anagram to get us started, that I spotted straight away, possibly something to do with the FA Cup LOCAL DERBY that was played between Leicester City and Derby last night, and which formed most of my entertainment for the evening. The anagrind is ‘affected’ and the anagrist is [COLD BARELY]
7 A piece of cake, perhaps, offering very little comfort (5)
CRUMB – after the well known saying ‘to offer a crumb of comfort’. Other types of crumb are available, hence the ‘perhaps’.
8 Entering street, the Spanish charge again (6)
RELOAD – The street is ROAD with the (Spanish), i.e. EL inserted. Charge as in to charge a weapon, or load it.
10 One who’s often been given time delay (3)
LAG – Double definition, a LAG being a common term for a repeat offender or prisoner, and also a delay
12 Literary hero’s cat spotted you by river (3,6)
TOM SAWYER – The cat is a TOM, spotted is SAW, you is YE and finally, R{iver}. Thomas “Tom” Sawyer was the title character in the Mark Twain novel, ‘The Adventures of …’, and a friend of the marvellously named Huckleberry Finn.
13 Contemporary fashion employed by sailors (6)
MODERN – The fashion gives us the MODE, and the sailors make up the R{oyal} N{avy}
14 Note falsehood with universal setting (6)
MILIEU – MI is the note, as in Do-re-mi, with LIE for the falsehood and U{niversal}
17 Mixed half a G&T in and left for end of the day (9)
NIGHTFALL – Another relatively benign anagram, clearly signalled by ‘mixed’, with the anagrist being [HALF G&T IN] and L{eft}. The ampersand can be ignored. Strangely, a G&T or two also added to my entertainment last night, whilst I was watching the footie.
19 Understand a bishop’s responsibility (3)
SEE – Another double definition, with SEE being to understand (as in to see the point), and the name for a bishop’s area of responsibility, or his (or her maybe) parish.
20 Nothing very loud and important: out of tune (3,3)
OFF KEY – Nothing gives O, FF for very loud, and KEY is important
21 State one’s a friend from Durham? (5)
NEPAL – A friend from Durham might be referred to as a N{orth} E{astern} PAL. NEPAL is officially a Federal Democratic Republic, but is also the largest, and a landlocked, sovereign Himalayan state.
23 Living together could be so exciting (10)
COEXISTING – Our third anagram, neatly clued by ‘could be’, of [SO EXCITING]. I think I prefer coexistent, but maybe there is a case for COEXISTING
Down
1 Scottish lake’s mysterious hold on Colm (4,6)
LOCH LOMOND – Another anagram that was a write-in for me, this time clued by ‘mysterious’ of [HOLD ON COLM]. I was there last year for a Navy reunion, and it is very pretty.
2 Vineyards seen up in Murcia (3)
CRU – A reverse hidden in {m}URC{ia}. ‘Seen up’ indicates that it is reversed, which is acceptable in a Down clue. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, but a CRU or similar also featured in my entertainment last night. Less of a CRU and more of a plonk really.
3 Seafood to throw up on back of boat, briefly (7)
LOBSTER – To throw is to LOB, and that is on top of STER{n}, the back of the boat. I wonder about the redundant ‘up’. Wouldn’t the clue have worked just as well without its addition?
4 Strasbourg politician shaking up Rome (4,2)
EURO MP – Another anagram indicated by ‘shaking’ of [UP ROME]
5 Some cannibals appearing in wood (5)
BALSA – Hidden answer in {canni}BALS A{ppearing}. BALSA (or Ochroma pyramidale) is a very lightweight wood that has multiple uses, and also appears surprisingly often in crosswords
6 Tends to child, black hole having engulfed it (4,4)
BABY SITS – B{lack}, with ABYSS for the hole, which engulfs IT (it). I wonder how much baby sitting is done by adults at below the minimum wage?
9 Lou regrets ruining this part of his attire? (7,3)
TROUSER LEG – Anagram again, clued by ‘ruining’ [LOU REGRETS]
11 Ideal person from gallery present (4,4)
GODS GIFT – The GODS is often used to refer to the upper levels of a theatre (Gallery), with GIFT meaning a present.
15 Scottish girl’s crossing North Dakota – and Hawaii, say? (7)
ISLANDS – Hawaii is a group of islands (other groups are available, hence the ‘say?’. In this case, it is derived from ISLA’S and N{orth} D{akota}. Isla is a feminine given name of (mostly) Scottish useage, and US State abbreviations are extremely useful tools in crossword clues
16 A rupee trapped in wild cat’s windpipe (6)
LARYNX – The LYNX is the wild cat, trapping A R{upee}
18 Capital to put out, keeping last of money (5)
TOKYO – To put out is TO KO (as in K{nock} O{ut}), insert the last letter of {mone}Y
22 Quietly greeting letter from Greece(3)
PHI – Quietly is P (as in P{iano}) and the greeting is HI. PHI is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet, not as famous as its near relative, PI.
Didn’t think much of 9dn TROUSER LEG why are trousers so dull!?
5dn BALSA (from Ecuador) probably helped us win WII (Mosquitos) (German spies on the Panama Canal thought the balsa boats were empty as they rode high in the water!) thus my WOD.
COD 4ac EURO MP.
I venture, Man United V LIVERPOOL is a DERBY not not a LOCAL DERBY. Man United v EVERTON is not even a DERBY!
Edited at 2017-02-09 10:25 am (UTC)
to “lob” is to “throw up”…a ball in tennis for instance
Problems started with 16d, I was trying to fit ARY (a rupee) inside (CAT)*, but taryca just didn’t look right…
Taryca would mean cohabiting fitted for 23a, which meant islandi for 15d, latin for the plural of island?!
For 1a I had local _e_b_ and was preparing for a dnf until I finally saw it was an anagram clue.
Some of the parsing also held me up:
18d – to put out = ko in boxing
12a – You = ye
15d – Scottish girls name = isla
COD 6D Baby sits or 3d lobster for the funny surface.
As far as I’m aware the windpipe is termed “trachea” and the “larynx”, sometimes colloquially called the “voicebox”, is only the upper part of it where the vocal chords are located, so I’m not entirely happy with the definition “windpipe”.
I agree with the anon comment about “up” in 3d although it’s perhaps not illustrated with the best example as in tennis a “throw up” is something quite different from a lob which is stroke that hits upwards.
Edited at 2017-02-09 11:13 am (UTC)
PlayupPompey
No major hold-ups. 18 minutes. David
No major hold-ups. 18 minutes. David
17:57, which is about as fast as I ever get, so a good end to the week. Still more single letter abbreviations I haven’t come across before such as R-upee and B-lack ( chess I suppose). MILIEU was a word I had seen but never new the definition.