ACROSS
1 QUARANTINE Ins of AN (article) in QUART (volume) + IN E (English)
6 BUFF dd and if he were not wearing anything, he would be in the buff
10 EQUATOR The Republic of ECUADOR (Spanish: República del Ecuador, which literally translates to the “Republic of the Equator”) is a representative democratic republic in South America and of course, it straddles the equator.
11 SANDBAR Ins of AND (moreover) in S (small) BAR (tavern)
12 TAILORING *(Thackeray ORIGINAL) with novel as indicator
13 ITALY Acrostic, first letters of in the autumn last year. In the wake of the Italian debt crisis, Mario Monti, an Italian economist and academic became the 54th Prime Minister of Italy in November 2011; making this clue an &lit and my COD
14 IRISH IRIS (name of girl & name of flower) + H (hot) for whiskey. Worth remembering that the American and Irish version of this elixir has an E whereas Scotland and the rest of the world enjoy WHISKY
15 HOYDENISH *(DISH HONEY) new word to me meaning tomboyish
17 TIMESAVER TIMES (this newspaper) AVER (state or claim)
20 SEPIA Ins of P & I (first letters of photographic images) in SEA (ocean)
21 MEDIC MEDICI (Florence’s family) minus I – The House of Medici or Famiglia de’ Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de’ Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century
23 NEWSINESS Ins of I (current in physics notation) in a combination of N,S,E & W (points on the compass)
25 THIRSTY THIS TRY with R moved two places to the left
26 REALIGN Ins of A L (large) in REIGN (rule)
27 DATA Rev of AT + AD (advertisement or notice)
28 BEDSITTERS Ins of SITTER (model) in BEDS (Bedfordshire)
DOWN
1 QUEST QUI EST (French for who is) minus I
2 ALUMINIUM Ins of I (one) in ALUMNI (former students) + UM (hesitation)
3 ASTROPHYSICIST Cha of A S (second) TROPHY (prize) SIC (as stated) IS T (last letter of right) for an expert in the branch of astronomy which applies the laws of physics to the study of the stars and interstellar matter
4 TARNISH *(TRAINS) + H (hard)
5 NOSEGAY Ins of EG (exempli gratia, for example, say) in NO SAY (lack of influence) Very neat
7 UMBRA UMBRIA (part of Italy, answer to 13A) minus I (one)
8 FORSYTHIA Ins of O (old) in *(HAY FIRST) shrub of the genus Forsythia, a popular garden plant producing clusters of yellow jasmine-like flowers in the spring named after William Forsyth (1737-1804), Scottish botanist
9 ANTIPERSPIRANT *(REPAIR PANTS IN Time)
14 INTIMATED Ins of TI (rev of IT) in INMATE (prisoner) + D (last letter of guard)
16 IMPRECISE Ins of MP (Member of Parliament, politician) in IRE (rage) + ins of IS in CE (Church of England)
18 VANDYKE VAN (vehicle) DYKE (embankment) for Sir Anthony van Dyck, (1599–1641), Flemish-born painter
19 REWARDS Ins of WAR (fighting) in REDS (revolutionaries)
22 DRIFT dd
24 ha deliberately omitted
++++++++++++++
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Much of this went in on definition alone and this accounted for another error at 23ac where I had originally gone for NEWSITEMS. On further reflection I realised it didn’t fit all the wordplay and it’s probably two words anyway.
No unknowns for me today.
Of the usual sources, Collins is the only one that lists NEWSINESS and it’s also the only place I could find VANDYKE as an alternative spelling of van Dyck.
Edited at 2012-08-09 01:51 am (UTC)
All correct today, with the only unknown being HOYDENISH, but that was all it could be, so in it went.
My LOI was IMPRECISE. Not come across it meaning ‘not very nice’ before.
Liked IMPRECISE, enjoyed 1dn’s ‘Not I’ after yesterday’s discussion of pronominal prescriptivism, but wasn’t so enamoured of VARNISH (= ‘not looking good for cup’, or am I missing something?).
According to the Wikipedia entry for the pointy beard, the facial growth enjoys ‘Van Dyke’, ‘Vandyck’ and ‘Van Dyck’ as variant spellings, and, according to the entry for the man himself, the growth is also called a ‘vandyke’ or ‘Van dyke’. So, five variants for the growth, and no doubt some source will confirm the odd looking, to me, ‘Vandyke’ for the Charles I lookalike.
After yesterday’s overlong exchange, I hesitate to say that when my brother came in this afternoon (I’m staying at his place at the moment), he announced, “It is I.” But of course he was being facetious. Really.
As for the awkwardness and unnaturalness of ‘It is I’, that it was put into the mouth of a clueless foreigner (French, to boot) in the comedy ‘Allo ‘Allo says it all. Here is the master of disguise, LeClerc, in all his 5-second glory.
Edited at 2012-08-09 03:25 am (UTC)
We’d better think a little sharper when it’s our turn. ‘Newsitems’ indeed, it’s probably not even in the dictionary.
Edited at 2012-08-09 08:44 am (UTC)
I remembered HOYDENISH, at least when I had most of the checkers, but for some reason TAILORING refused to surface until I had all of them, with new words triagonal and trigonial being early essays. The latter nearly exists, the former should.
ALUMINIUM called to mind a tongue twister I can’t do: “Are you copper-bottoming ’em my man?” “No, I’m aluminiuming ’em ma’am.”. Is it easier in American English?
BUFF’s clue made me smile most, so it’s my CoD.
Two unknowns clued by anagrams today: FORSYTHIA and HOYDENISH. This sort of clue can be dangerous but fortunately there were no alternatives today.
Edited at 2012-08-09 12:31 pm (UTC)
And he’s a man who knows how to run the world.
Enigma
I have always spelt it Vandyck, but evidently wasn’t consulted…
Not bad for a lad in the colonies.
REgarding 23A I wondered if the second part NESS was a single point rather than a medley of points. It would improve the clue. COD 1d
Mike and Fay
Isla