Across
1 ENCAMP – the first four letters are reversed (not all, as I thought); thus, A + C + NE (reversed) + MP.
4 PHEASANT – SHAPE* (anagram) + ANT; yes, that sort of game.
10 UNPERFORMED – UNFORMED around REP reversed.
11 OHM – MO reversed around H; the non-specificity of ‘unit’ held me up at first.
12 TROT OUT – TOUT (‘[to] market produce’) around ROT; the literal is ‘show’; my COD.
14 BENNETT – one to keep Keriothe happy: BENT = inclination (rather than gift) around NET (clear) for presumably Arnold Bennett (he of ‘Anna of the Five Towns’) – the subject of a themed Guardian puzzle recently.
15 ON THE OFF CHANCE – ON/OFF around THE + CHANCE.
17 FIELD AMBULANCE – A MEDIC B[attle] U[nit] FALLEN* (anagrind is ‘treated’) for a nice &lit.
21 BEER GUT – B[illions] + EER + TUG reversed.
22 INBREED – I’D + BEEN + R[ight]*; I will resist all jokes about denizens of the island off Australia.
23 AXE – [t]AXE[s].
24 CHARGE NURSE – I think how this works is as follows: CHARGE (order) + NURSE (minister to) with the quirky literal ‘tender for NHS services’. I am, however, open to tenders…
26 EXTOLLED – [v]EXED around TOLL (‘ringing of bell’).
27 SNIPER – it’s a reversal of REPIN[e]S missing its sixth letter.
Down
1 ERUPTION – I invented ‘eruction’ and wondered how cure = antiseptic; it’s PURE (reversed) + ON IT* to give the nasty skin condition.
2 CAP – I had to dig deep through the butter mountain of my mind for the Common Agricultural Policy.
3 MARLOWE – MARE (Latin sea is the lunar plain) around LOW (like my salary).
5 HUMPBACK BRIDGE – HUMPBACK + B[lack] + RIDGE.
6 ADDENDA – hidden.
7 ADOLESCENCE – A + DOLE + C[areer] in SCENE.
8 TOMATO – [a]TOM + ATO[m] for the formal fruit / functional vegetable.
9 PONTEFRACT CAKE – PACKET + OFTEN* around CAR reversed fro the sweets made of liquorice; other Yorkshire towns to look out for in Crossword-land include REDCAR (racecourse), RIPON (cathedral) and LEEDS (dump = only joking! One of my best friends is an oculist in Headingley).
13 OUTSIDE LEFT – OUTSIDE (‘in the open air’) + LEFT (‘flew off’) for the football position that would now be rendered as ‘wide man’ (and some people believe in progress as a natural law!); would you believe it, my last in?! (I was looking for a bird.)
16 HEADGEAR – HEAD (top) + GEAR (property); fortunately, BALMORAL as a hat had come up recently and I remembered it. (The meds must be working.)
18 LOGICAL – GI in LOCAL.
19 LEBANON – B[ritish] in LEAN ON.
20 AB+LAZE
25 [w]RAP
I misread your remark, ulaca, and thought that one of your best friends was an occultist in Leeds. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; live and let live, I say. In fact I felt slightly disappointed when I realised the truth.
I read 12a as TOUT (‘market’) and “produce for show” as the def. Either way, agree it’s the COD
I couldn’t find EXTOL = “magnify” in any of the usual sources but the SOED has “in a bad sense, make too much of, exaggerate” which I suppose makes it okay.
Off for a kip now after a busy night’s solving and blogging!
Edited at 2014-03-10 03:48 am (UTC)
Perhaps a tad too uncommon these days to feature in mainstream dictionaries, ‘magnify’ will be there in most of the thesauruses, I imagine.
Was determined not to have my usual (of late) WOE-ful experience, so spent the last 5 minutes on TROT OUT, rather than chucking in took out. That took my time to 35 mins or so all told. Read the clue in same way as Sotira.
Couldn’t parse SNIPER (was looking for a missing VI somewhere…), so thanks for sorting that out.
Similar experience to others reported here: last two were OUTSIDE LEFT (a tribute to the great and recently late Tom Finney?) and TROT OUT. Like ulaca, I was looking for a bird/insect for the former, and toying with anagrams of “open air left” until crossers made it impossible. Alewife porn, anyone?
Hesitation over HEADWEAR/GEAR compounded by a persistent prompt from the lower depths that a Balmoral was a coat not a hat. Chambers says it’s also a petticoat and a boot.
Slow on the poet and the writer, too. Had I missed Alan Bennett’s obituary, perhaps, as he was the only writer I could think of of that ilk? Glad to report he’s not eligible, still not on the cart.
Thought TOMATO was very clever – so clever I needed ulaca’s explanation to understand it fully, for which many thanks.
WEAR is defined in SOED as the ability to be worn further or over a (specified) period of time; degree of resistance to the effects of being worn, and this to me is a perfectly valid property to be considered when choosing to buy a garment, carpet or any other applicable item. So I claim a legitimate alternative, assuming that -GEAR is the given answer.
Edited at 2014-03-10 02:04 pm (UTC)
The previous crossword editor told me he was quite bemused by the belief that Monday’s crossword was easier than usual, since he had never set out to do that.. but he also said he found it very hard to tell which grids solvers would find easy, and which hard.
P.S. I should already have realised my brain hadn’t woken up when I spent some time trying to convince myself that the hidden word in 6dn was DENDATA.
Edited at 2014-03-10 12:24 pm (UTC)
I also managed to type in ADOLESCWNCE, but I’m going to be kind to myself and call that an iPad error.
I was unsure about HEADGEAR. “Property” for “gear” seems loose to me, but I suppose “property” for “wear” would be even looser.
Re grids, there seem to be some at The Times which, even when I’m solving well, don’t necessarily offer generous access to other areas, usually corners, of the pattern. This always makes me feel cheated after that elusive thing called ‘a good start’. I’m sure you know the feeling.
I had a few QMs:
– at 24 where I wasn’t sure about order and charge being synonymous;
– at 27 where, like others, I couldn’t “see” the missing six;
– at 2d as the policy reference passed nme by; and
– at 5d as I can’t see what “a little effort” is doing in the clue.
I haven’t been able to try the quick cryptic since I’m in the odd position of having access to the crossword club but not the paper.
Thought the clue for TOMATO was top notch and also liked the clueing of BEER GUT as a large corporation.
I believe you just highlight the part of the post you want to conceal then click the “Insert Cut” icon to wrap the main body of the post in tags which produce a “Read more …” message after the intro.
This would allow a lot more posts to fit onto the home page.
Just a suggestion ….
Nice to see “repine” now and then. I’ve been re-reading P&P recently: “I will not repine” says Jane, “I’m gonna wash that Mr Bingley right out of my hair”. Or something like that.
With 10ac (UNPERFORMED) and 1dn (ERUPTION), I was expecting key words in the wordplay (“theatre” and “rash”) to have no connection with the definitions (“as a fresh play” and “antiseptic”), and was surprised to find this wasn’t so.
Edited at 2014-03-10 11:06 pm (UTC)
I liked today’s puzzle – slightly chewy, but not too much so; took me about 40min. Did this one on paper for a change, which reminded me to make an optician’s appointment.
My COD was 8d (TOMATO), which I thought was neatly done. I’m not really a fan of the long anagrams (such as 9d or 17ac) – there’s very little crypticity to them, and I much prefer shorter anagrams that are craftily hidden.
Quite a lively day here, for a Monday. Accident Of The Day almost went to a motorist injured by a cyclist, which made a pleasant change. However, he was pipped at the proverbial by a gentleman with a broken finger. It’s not that the broken finger was particularly exciting but, after waiting for about 20min, the owner of the finger came to the desk and said “excuse me, but I think I’m having a heart attack”, and then proceeded to do so. Now, that’s what I call panache. Frankly, we could do with more of that class of customer.
Good night, and best wishes to all.
I’m just glad I’m not the blogger this week and didn’t have to put this time at the top of the blog.
Edited at 2014-03-11 01:29 am (UTC)