My clue of the day was 11ac. I found it amazingly hard to accept that “round” was part of a definition rather than a wordplay instruction. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.
Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, with the anagram indicator in bold italics. Deletions are in [square brackets].
Across
1 25 tango in posh wedding attire? (5,4)
FANCY THAT: put T for tango inside FANCY HAT. Definition is “imagine”. I know fancy hats can be worn to race meetings. Weddings too, apparently.
6 See in comic Mr Man champion of social justice (5)
BEVAN: V for “vide” inside BEAN (Mr Bean, the comic, that is). Nye Bevan introduced the National Health Service.
9 Fed nothing, arboreal animal showing fatigue (7)
LANGUOR: O inside LANGUR.
10 Feature ’ackney intellectual overheard (7)
EYEBROW: sounds like [h]IGHBROW.
11 Pack round a US city (5)
TAMPA: TAMP (pack round) plus an A. I could hardly bring myself to write this in – surely “round” had to be a wordplay indicator, not part of a definition?
12 Around fifty ain’t wise to get flabby — so watch it? (9)
WAISTLINE: (AINT WISE*) around L (fifty). A literal definition, more or less.
13 Scorer from Cape Town v Johannesburg, say? (5)
SATIE: a South African derby game, or S.A. TIE, geddit? A composer unknown to me apart from his appearances in crosswords.
14 Fasteners securing both sides of fence, huge thing pulled back (4,5)
REEF KNOTS: STONKER (huge thing) around F[enc]E, all reversed (“pulled back”).
17 All kicking off in football game? That’s rugby’s line! (6-3)
TWENTY-TWO: 22 players in a soccer game, 22 metre line on a rugby field. An odd measurement, but only because it used to be the 25 yard line pre-metrification. I’d like to see it replaced by a 20 metre line, but I digress!
18 Gathered in clumps, first bits of thread ultimately fluffier than yarn (5)
TUFTY: first letters of each word.
19 Think of putting bible class with prayer (9)
RECOLLECT: RE (bible class), COLLECT (prayer).
22 People now lost, if briefly (5)
INCAS: “if” could be IN CAS[e].
24 Sloth in a tree almost stirred, one having poked it (7)
INERTIA: insert I=one in the anagram (IN A TRE-*). Drop the last E from “tree” to make it briefer.
25 Old number picture (7)
IMAGINE: double definition. The first is the song by John Lennon, 1971. How old is “old”?
26 Skill required to load what? Massive revolver (5)
EARTH: ART in “EH?” Nicely disguised definition.
27 Appreciation of music inspiring Irish author, someone from 8 down say? (9)
EASTERNER: STERNE in EAR.
Down
1 Smoother tail of coat cut (5)
FILET: FILE (smoother, as in nail file), followed by [coa]T.
2 Ornament replaced on end of mantelpiece that’s very short (9)
NANOMETRE: (ORNAMENT*), then [mantlepiec]E.
3 What to do with new baby? Anything’s possible! (3,4,2)
YOU NAME IT: double definition.
4 Old rebel now fighting king in the clutches of death, we suspect (8,3,4)
HEREWARD THE WAKE: HERE (now), WAR (fighting), then K in (DEATH WE*). Not altogether an unknown, but until I met him in an earlier crossword, I didn’t know he was a rebel.
5 Ten heroes within? That’s not quite right! (3,4,8)
THE NINE WORTHIES: (TEN HEROES WITHIN*). Glorious literal definition. I’d never heard of them, but after guessing the first two words, the third dropped out of the anagram.
6 Source of nourishment lacking in a French port (5)
BREST: nourishment could be BRE[a]ST, whether mammalian or of chicken for example.
7 Having picked up papers, minister notes his business (5)
VERDI: ID (papers), REV (minister), all “picked up”. Another nice definition.
8 Where Princeton is top without blemish? (3,6)
NEW JERSEY: NEW (without blemish), JERSEY (top). No doubt our North American fellows wrote this in instantly.
13 With sound outside, one overcome by fright in dark (9)
SATURNINE: SANE (sound), outside TURN (fright, as in “it gave me quite a turn”), then I (one).
15 Stuff to carry round island with bird (9)
KITTIWAKE: KIT (stuff), TAKE (carry), around I (island) W (with).
16 Sense conclusion dismissed by former group (9)
OLFACTION: OL[d] FACTION. “Olfactory” is a familiar word, so this unfamiliar form must be OK surely.
20 Egg on starter of chicken, he starts to eat ramen (5)
CHEER: C[hicken], HE, E[at] R[amen].
21 Closer final at chess is gripping (5)
LATCH: well hidden answer.
23 Simple to deviate (5)
SHEER: double definition.
I hesitated forever to put in TAMPA, for the same reason as our blogger.
Is TUFTY really a word people use?
SATIE is one of my all-time favorite composers.
Edited at 2018-09-29 04:47 am (UTC)
I’d heard of “THE NINE WORTHIES”, but it turns out I wouldn’t be able to name any of them: I might have guessed some obscure film (2 extra Samurai, perhaps) or more likely something like the Burghers of Calais.
Tough enough for a Saturday, well blogged.
We seem to be having cross-references more frequently these days, and I wish someone would instruct the setters NOT to put them in. We could do the Guardian puzzle if we wanted them.
Edited at 2018-09-29 06:35 am (UTC)
Thanks for the blog.
PS Is it just me or are the breast references getting a bit over-frequent?
Edited at 2018-09-29 09:43 am (UTC)
Score one for low culture, too: I knew Princeton is in NEW JERSEY because House is set in Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (Princeton U’s First Campus Centre is the building you see standing in for PPTH in the credits.)
FOI 1a FANCY THAT, LOI 4d the aforementioned HEREWARD. Liked 6a BEVAN, 1d FILET, 3d YOU NAME IT.
Well done on finding this one middling, Bruce! Thanks for the many explanations I needed 🙂
I managed to finish this puzzle over not too long a period. I did have a few unparsed and unknown. DNK The Nine Worthies but it emerged without too much trouble. I thought of Ivy League but happily did not write it in because of parse failure.
My two problems at the end were 1d and 11a. I thought 1d was probably Filer; Pack could be Ram and insert an A etc; so time lost looking for suitable cities. Tampa was eventually bunged in after Filet seemed to fit better. Thanks for the parsing of that one. Saturnine also unparsed.
I’m sure I remember a railway engine called Hereward The Wake.
David
I hesitated over TAMPA because to me ‘tamp’ means specifically to pack down rather than round. This meaning is in Chambers but not the other usual dictionaries (Collins, ODO).
Edited at 2018-09-30 02:16 pm (UTC)
# Two composers – VERDI and SATIE
# Two US places – NEW JERSEY and TAMPA
# Two planets – EARTH and SATURNine
# LANGUOR and INERTIA
# SHEER and CHEER
# FANCY THAT and IMAGINE
# saTIE REEF KNOTS across the middle…