Times 26473 – Sting in the head

I don’t do targets (well, finishing without cheating is my basic ambition), but today I was left shaking my head like people who don’t know much about cricket shaking their heads at a decision of no moment about whether to enforce a follow-on with more than two days of a Test match remaining…

ACROSS

1. IAMBS – because I cocked up on 1 down (plenty more on this supra and infra), I was stymied on this until near the end. It’s the not incredibly difficult I[ncised] + AM + BS (Bachelor of Surgery, though I think I prefer the uber-pretentious ChB, Chirurgiae Baccalaureus – try saying that when you’re half seas over).
2. ANAEROBIC – I in an anagram* of A CRAB ONE.
9. CARPET BAG – CARPET (reprimand) + BAG (ugly female). This clue provoked me to a do a little research into English slang terms for ugly men, and – you know – I couldn’t find any. On the other hand, I found some pretty stupendous ones for the distaff side…
10. CORAL – COR (my – as in ‘My, what a swamp donkey!’) + AL (as in a generic ‘boy’, who you can call Al, if you don’t remember if he’s an Alan, an Albert or an Alfred). I think the idea of ‘girlfriend, possibly’ is that if you went out with enough women, you might eventually find one called Coral.
11. DETAIL – literal ‘feature’; our old friend E.T. in DAIL (the Irish parliament, to be sure).
12. NO MATTER – MO (medical officer) reversed in NATTER.
14. NEIGHBOUR – NEIGH (sounds like ‘nay’) + B[othered] + OUR.
16. MINED – E in MIND (as in ‘I object to your sexist comments’, or, more accurately, ‘Who minds about his sexist comments?’ / ‘I object’).
17. ARTIC – AR[c]TIC – one of the two ‘abouts’ leaves the word – geddit?
19. DISGUISES – GUISE (sounds like ‘guys’) in DISS (a town in the sticks somewhere between Bury St Edmunds and Great Yarmouth).
21. MARYLAND – MD (yet another medic – I hope it’s not making you sick) around A + RY + L + A + N.
22. GLOWER – L[ost] in GOWER, see?
26. EMANATION – literal ‘discharge’ – moving on swiftly…E + MA + NATION.
27. CHEONGSAM – this tight-fitting number is fast becoming Crosswordland’s favourite item in the ladies wear department. HE + SONG* in MAC reversed.
28. HADES – HA[r]D + E +S[old]. You know, I don’t think I’d ever have known that had I not been blogging.

DOWN

1. INCIDENTAL MUSIC – okay, I had first ‘orchestral parts’ and then ‘incidental parts’. It’s just a cryptic definition – a very pesky one…
2. MERIT – ER (you can have any of eight) in MIT (‘US research institute’ is very good, but personally I prefer ‘college’ for all the heat it generates).
3. SWEDISH – ED in SWISH.
4. AMBO – according to the dictionaries this is a raised pulpit – and there was I thinking they were all raised. Anyway, it’s hidden in the school against which I once hit 91* in the traditional two-day fixture between our schools. I believe Jonathan Agnew was playing for them. He always is whenever I tell the story. That year – 1976 – was the first time the match hadn’t ended in a draw in living memory. I received my colours after the game. Memories, memories.
5. ANGLO-IRISH – HANOI GIRLS*. This phrase is rather all encompassing, as it can mean both – as here – of mixed Irish and English parentage and also of English descent but born or resident in Ireland.
6. RECLAIM – RE (Royal Engineers) + CLAIM (‘mining area’).
7. BARITONES – IT in BAR ONE (beginning of piece – nice) + S[cored]. Prime biffing material.
8. COLORADO SPRINGS – COL + OR (‘other ranks’ – always on parade in Crosswordland) + ADO + SPRINGS.
13. WOODENNESS – O in WODEN + NESS. Woden was more his Old English name; he was typically Odin in Norse mythology. His other half was called Frigg, which must have led to a few jokes, though not when she was around.
15. INTERFERE – the literal is ‘meddle’, but, unless I’m missing something , something seems to be missing here. We have IN (home) and ERE (before), but what I can’t see is how ‘coastal mist lifts’ can legitimately indicate both that FRET should be reversed and that it should be placed where it is (between IN and ERE). I was – it’s IN (home) + TERF ERE (reversal of ‘before coastal mist’).
18. COLLEEN – CO-LL are your fellow liberals while EEN are various points of the compass (quarters) randomly assembled. Not my favourite clue, but I am reminded of the Nolan sisters, who I saw with my Irish belle at the Crawley Leisure Centre in 1980. It doesn’t get a lot more romantic than that. Ooh, I’m in the mood for dancing…
20. UNLEASH – UN + H around LEAS.
23. WEIRD – D[uke] after WEIR in its sense of an enclosure of stakes set in a stream as a trap for fish.
24. BALM – BALM[oral].