It was all rather jolly though, thanks for which to the setter – COD to 20ac for the nice play on “Fiat” – and I only hope I will be able to get back up to cryptic speed again in time for November. Additionally! I think I may actually be flying next Thursday evening and Friday morning – would anyone be able to take over my blogging duty in a week’s time? Very happy to swap for a different blog the following week… or just take a week off after my long and arduous holiday!
ACROSS
1 Fine letting on quietly (8)
PLEASING – LEASING [letting] on P [quietly]
9 Journey round old trailers along the way (8)
ROADSIDE – RIDE [journey] round O ADS [old | trailers]
10 Scraped a result worse than an F (6)
GRATED – a result worse than an F is G-RATED (I think)
11 High society leading couple away from sink with constant decay (5,5)
UPPER CRUST – {sc}UPPER [“leading couple away from” sink] with C RUST [constant | decay]
12 Work with a large gem (4)
OPAL – OP [work] with A L [a | large]
13 Sign of maturity? Comparatively less lustrous nous (4,6)
GREY MATTER – GREY [sign of maturity] + MATT-ER [comparatively less lustrous]
16 Sibling with problem returning shoes (7)
BROGANS – BRO [sibling] with reversed SNAG [problem “returning”]
17 What constitutes danger, when exploding close to one? (7)
GRENADE – (DANGER*) [“when exploding”] + {on}E, &lit
20 Fiat for the time being desire nice motoring (6,4)
DECREE NISI – (DESIRE NICE*) [“motoring”]
22 With Conservative ousted, pack in facility (4)
EASE – {c}EASE [“with C ousted”, pack in]
23 Hype needing a thorough looking at, we hear (10)
PROPAGANDA – homophone of PROPER GANDER [thorough looking at, “we hear”]
25 Can former nurse let go? (6)
LOOSEN – LOO SEN [can | former nurse]
26 Courses in which you’ll get soup in some otherwise unhelpful places? (8)
STARTERS – a starter is definitely the course of a meal in which one is most likely to get soup. Ashamed to say I haven’t worked out the second half of the clue at all… but I’m not going to worry too much, I am on holiday!
27 Briefs look carefully at couples (8)
SCANTIES – SCAN TIES [look carefully at | couples]
DOWN
2 Mess about with branch in flower (8)
LARKSPUR – LARK [mess about] with SPUR [branch]
3 Realtors go crazy for expert on houses (10)
ASTROLOGER – (REALTORS GO*) [“crazy”]
4 Favour clue ending in anagram (10)
INDULGENCE – (CLUE ENDING*) [“in anagram”]
5 Grand drunk getting excited (7)
GRIPPED – G RIPPED [grand | drunk]
6 Just one entering distant expo (4)
FAIR – I [just one] entering FAR [distant]. Or possibly a double definition sandwiching some wordplay in the middle…
7 High time embracing Greek character’s dance (6)
MINUET – (TIME*) [“high”] “embracing” NU [Greek character]
8 Scripture lesson books to deliver without regular charge (4-4)
RENT-FREE – R.E. NT FREE [scripture lesson | New Testament = books | to deliver]
14 Notes ruin, mother’s ruin, a mounting trouble (10)
MARGINALIA – MAR GIN A [ruin | mother’s ruin | a] + AIL reversed [“mounting” trouble]
15 Guide once to extend by several inches (10)
TENDERFOOT – TENDER [to extend] by FOOT [several (12) inches]
16 City growth — a blight (8)
BUDAPEST – BUD A PEST [growth | a | blight]
18 Separate record and notes (8)
DISCRETE – DISC [record] + RE TE [(two) notes]
19 Liberal turning to name in stupid testimony (7)
WITNESS – L [Liberal] turning to N [name] in WITLESS [stupid]
21 What’s sung in church examination? (6)
CHORAL – CH ORAL [church | examination]
24 Delight in single entry (4)
GLEE – hidden in {sin}GLE E{entry}
Under normal circumstances, V., I’m sure you would have blazed right thru this one.
I took FAIR to be a double definition interrupted by a charade, because otherwise “Just” is extraneous filler.
Edited at 2018-08-10 05:46 am (UTC)
Otherwise fairly straightforward, starting with FOI 1a PLEASING and progressing steadily. DNK BROGANS or SCANTIES and was very glad I’d heard of a DECREE NISI despite never having been married, let alone divorced!
An excellent if somewhat challenging puzzle that took me exactly an hour to complete. I didn’t know BROGANS and was only vaguely aware that TENDERFOOT had something to do with the Girl Guide movement. Wasted far too long trying to make 1ac start with F (for ‘fine’).
I agree that 2dn has to be a double definition but it’s certainly unusual to have wordplay between the two.
V, I have sent a message to your LJ account. Please just ignore if it doesn’t suit.
Edited at 2018-08-10 05:57 am (UTC)
Took 6dn as a sort of triple and couldn’t parse 26ac.
DNK Brogans and I think several inches are five short of a foot.
Mostly I liked, COD, Proper gander.
Thanks setter, V and J.
I’m wearing a pair of DB’s at the moment – the original of course, from Street in Somerset, only they’re made in Vietnam. I wonder if they count as the previously unheard of BROGANS?
Finished in 54 minutes. GREY MATTER was my favourite.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Off the wavelength for the puzzle, not helped by considering and rejecting PROPAGANDA as not being hype (and not seeing GLEE), and then it didn’t fit anyway, because I misparsed and misspelled CORALE (sic). Went away to clear the mind then came back, so probably more than 2 hours elapsed start to finish. Thank’s Jack for STARTERS about which I was nonplused, otherwise a typically elegant Times puzzle. Liked the GRENADE, the DECREE NISI and the ASTROLOGER, didn’t know TENDERFOOT.
Edited at 2018-08-10 10:45 am (UTC)
Never having been a Girl Guide, I thought TENDERFOOT was a kind of wild west lubber, so couldn’t make that clue work prettily either. But heigh ho.
I thought the Fiat clue was clever, though I thought fiats were normally papal (when they’re not scuppered by rust), and to get his holiness to issue a decree nisi I think you have to be Henry VIII.
My BROGANS were BROGUES until I fathomed the brilliantly disguised anagram of 4d. Who’d have thought “anagram” meant “mix up the letters”?
Good stuff, made you think.
😀
However I fell foul of 26a so DNF.
Drat!
Edited at 2018-08-10 08:25 am (UTC)
Thank you, Jack for explaining 26ac. It had to be STARTERS but why?
An unusual puzzle in that anagrams were indicated by ‘high’, ‘motoring’ and…’anagram’!
PROPAGANDA was not a problem as we have had PROPA…before, notably in PROPAGATE, a real scandal!
I, too, initially put BROGUES but am wondering if BROGAN is in any way related to the Aussie word, BOGAN. ODO defines the former as “A coarse stout leather shoe” and the latter as “An uncouth or unsophisticated person”. Perhaps the latter wear the former. Incidentally, the ODO also tell me that a “Bogan shower” is Aussie for a dust storm!
COD to MARGINALIA. That took a little working out.
BTW, Thus far I have not been able to comment on The Times Crossword Club site. The online paper has ‘upgraded’ the way in which readers can comment. In this case, for ‘upgraded’, read removed.
I was absolutely certain that TENDERFOOT was a word to describe a generic Tonto or Man Friday — you know, rattlesnakes, machetes, walkabouts and pith helmets — but Girl Guides?!!? Pah!
Edited at 2018-08-10 11:13 am (UTC)
Some very easy fare for a Friday IMO. So I was home in 29min and 59 seconds – talking of which I did not parse 26ac STARTERS. Alphabetti spaghetti is made up of letters too, I’m informed.
LOI 27ac SCANTIES and am familiar, having had two 20acs –
COD thus DECREE NISI
WOD 16ac BROGANS
12ac OPAL!! Evening Standard Award!
Lord V. – whilst in Vancouver, pop into the Cricket Ground – it was John Arlott’s – favourite in all the world! His favourite tipple – Krug.
Victor Meldrew is on holiday for a fortnight.
Edited at 2018-08-10 12:14 pm (UTC)
FOI OPAL (what a giveaway !)
LOI MINUET (not sure why this added two minutes leaving my finish at 14:45)
Thanks to Jack for parsing the pesky STARTERS, which I now award COD. Also liked WITNESS.
My two helpings of DECREE NISI were in many ways more enjoyable than much of the combined 27 years of my life that I’ll never get back.
DNK BROGANS (I’m another to have biffed “brogues”)
12:01, and like many, didn’t appreciate the clue for STARTERS until later. All great fun!
Edited at 2018-08-10 04:10 pm (UTC)
I was another non-STARTERS-parser. In the end, the closest I could get was the notion that “for starters” means you haven’t got very far. Thanks to Jack for the explanation. I think this was one of those clues that was just over-engineered. Apart from that one, excellent clues overall.
I’d offer to take over your blogging duties next week, v, but I will be flying back to London at exactly the same time!