Sometimes lack of challenge makes me grumpy but actually I thought this grid was alright, suitably Timesish of both vocab and reference. I think its only “problem” is that it’s a puzzle that is full of old friends for those of us who have done many thousands of crosswords. 18ac, 25ac, 27ac, and the 24ac that seems to have been in 50% of all puzzles lately somehow, 17dn! And see also (pun intended) 8dn. I thought 10ac was rather familiar too but with hindsight I might have been thinking of COPAL? So I’ll give that one the benefit of the doubt.
Add this to write-ins like 21ac and an extraordinary number of biffables (the shape of the words, combined with pretty transparent definition parts, meant that I confidently bunged in 9ac, 11ac, 1dn, 4dn, 7dn, 12dn, to be full parsed afterwards) and you end up with a very quick solve. But let us grizzled old warhorse think of it as a nice reward for all the hours we’ve put in, a chance for our experience to show its worth. Thanks to the setter from this ageing veteran!
FOI 4ac, LOIs inevitably the short ones at 19ac and 26dn, both excellent clues that took a bit of puzzling over to reach the penny-drop. Most embarrassing stumbling block was getting it into my head that the “fulminate” at 6dn was definitely RANT and trying to remember if RANGTHIT or similar was a Thai or possibly Burmese lemur. No, I don’t understand my brain either…
Across
1 African city finally investing in Asian country (5)
LAGOS – {investin}G in LAOS
4 Tyneside vicar backing humanist? Not again, not at any time! (9)
NEVERMORE – NE + REV reversed + (Thomas) MORE
9 Threadbare Missouri girl, not quite eleven (4-5)
MOTH-EATEN – MO + THEA + TEN
10 Prickly type — certainly not a friend! (5)
NOPAL – “NO PAL”
11 Propeller of vessel absent managers tie up outside back of hut (8,5)
OUTBOARD MOTOR – OUT BOARD + MOOR outside {hu}T
14 Naked belligerence ultimately shown by retired debt-collector (4)
NUDE – {belligerenc}E shown by reversed DUN
15 Concern distributing most of dues after petition (10)
SOLICITUDE – (DUE{s}*) after SOLICIT
18 Sea cook’s fish? Fish or beef (10)
SILVERSIDE – (Long John) SILVER’S IDE
19 Pie, for example, that may be served inside (4)
BIRD – double definition, as in magpie, and “doing bird” respectively
21 Fairground attraction — vessel on big wave (6-7)
ROLLER-COASTER – ROLLER on COASTER. Bit of a chestnut, this one?
24 Nip back to lock up commander’s dog (5)
POOCH – HOP reversed, to lock up CO
25 A woman’s journal exhibited at first outside Italian museum? (9)
HERMITAGE – HER MAG E{xhibited}, outside IT
27 Organised medevac with little hesitation, producing handbook (4-5)
VADE-MECUM – (MEDEVAC*) + UM
28 Soil constituent reeks, overwhelming university (5)
HUMUS – HUMS, overwhelming U
Down
1 One sends up pilots on manoeuvres involving America (10)
LAMPOONIST – (PILOTS ON*) involving AM
2 Leaders of group using Telemann’s material for strings (3)
GUT – G{roup} U{sing} T{elemann’s}
3 Way traditions upset compound (6)
STEROL – ST + LORE reversed
4 Flagrant lack of right-wingers mostly out to replace English (9)
NOTORIOUS – NO TORIES, OU{t} to replace E
5 Spite of small number married after Victory in Europe (5)
VENOM – NO M after VE
6 Fulminate about awful night husband dispatched lemur? (8)
RINGTAIL – RAIL about (NIG{h}T*)
7 Seizer of chances left spades in one after work (11)
OPPORTUNIST – PORT + S in UNIT, after OP
8 Reportedly see like some ocean-breeding creatures? (4)
EELY – homophone of ELY
12 Extreme youth — time lad initially wears stranger headgear (11)
TODDLERHOOD – T + L{ad} wears ODDER HOOD
13 Sensitivity is inclined to restrict some high-flyers (10)
TENDERNESS – TENDS to restrict ERNES
16 Trendy style of art with strange unseemliness? (9)
INDECORUM – IN DECO with RUM
17 She may drunkenly set about a large dog (8)
SEALYHAM – (SHE MAY*) set about A L
20 Administrative area identified by capital H? (6)
PARISH – PARIS [capital] + H
22 Set of moral principles, and so on, covering Hawaii (5)
ETHIC – ETC covering HI
23 Wide boy’s odds on girl getting rise (4)
SPIV – SP (starting price) on VI reversed
26 Single male trapped under a train? (3)
AIM – I M trapped under A
Edited at 2016-08-12 10:48 pm (UTC)