10:28. Lovely puzzle from Harry this week. A notable number of definitions by example indicated by question marks.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, deletions like this, anagram indicators are in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | European tuning a Cortina |
| CROATIAN – (A CORTINA)*. | |
| 5 | Dog food |
| CHOW – DD. | |
| 8 | Thugs primarily regret being honest |
| TRUE – T |
|
| 9 | A pinko brat upset office temp? |
| PORTAKABIN – (A PINKO BRAT)*. | |
| 11 | Snooker player wants these rests |
| BREAKS – DD. A very tidy clue. | |
| 13 | Oscar-holding group on about those in MASH? |
| POTATOES – reversal (about) of SE(O)T, ATOP (on). Not Alan Alda then. | |
| 14 | Cute, undersized mountain climber |
| SWEET PEA – SWEET, PEA |
|
| 16 | Superhero-outfitted knight by a sofa |
| CANAPE – CA(N, A)PE. As always, N is chess notation for ‘knight’, because the K is already taken. | |
| 17 | Europeans importing carbon balls? |
| DANCES – DAN(C)ES. | |
| 19 | On which line’s dropped by Pole with spade? |
| POSTCARD – POST (pole), CARD (spade, DBE indicated by the question mark). Nice definition! | |
| 21 | Cruelty of Ohio judge upset Columbus? |
| FEROCITY – reversal of O, REF, then CITY. Columbus is, appropriately, a city in Ohio, famous for… not very much. | |
| 22 | Coffee-maker unpacked by old lady? |
| ARISTO – |
|
| 23 | A bend hiker negotiated in town |
| BIRKENHEAD – (A BEND HIKER)*. A town in England famous for about as much as Columbus Ohio. | |
| 24 | Potty or bowl over on the counter? |
| NUTS – reversal of STUN. | |
| 26 | Rounds of drinks |
| LAPS – DD. | |
| 27 | Singer taking long look around Lima |
| STARLING – STAR(L)ING. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Jesus makes appearance in Runcorn |
| COR – contained in ‘Runcorn’. | |
| 2 | Work training delivered in talk |
| OPERATE – O(PE)RATE. I got a bit sidetracked here: ‘work is obviously OP… | |
| 3 | Snacks, milk and a slice of salami |
| TAPAS – TAP (milk), A, S |
|
| 4 | Roman general with a hold over father |
| AGRIPPA – A GRIP, PA. | |
| 6 | Try old wine mostly and become happy |
| HEARTEN – HEAR, TEN |
|
| 7 | Pale soul gets thinner |
| WHITE SPIRIT – WHITE (pale), SPIRIT (soul). | |
| 10 | A stack battered over time in storms |
| ATTACKS – (A STACK)* containing T. | |
| 12 | Basic ingredients cooked up alarm waiter |
| RAW MATERIAL – (ALARM WAITER)*. | |
| 15 | One blocking exit in anger? |
| PASSION – PASS(I) ON. ‘Exit’ as in ‘die’, I think. Once again, DBE indicated by the question mark. | |
| 18 | Record essentially filed in error |
| CLOCK UP – C( |
|
| 19 | Unknown soldiers in mass advance? |
| PAYMENT – PA(Y, MEN)T. And yet another DBE indicated by a question mark. | |
| 20 | Lunchtime worker opens energy drink |
| CHIANTI – CH(I, ANT)I. I here being 1 o’clock. | |
| 22 | One with wind steps out of line |
| ADDER – |
|
| 25 | Yank in corporation getting a rise |
| TUG – reversal of GUT. | |