This felt pretty straightforward, taking me 6 minutes on the dot, but there were certainly a few very cute clues in the mix. I very much liked 10ac, my COD, and 26ac was a model of how to conceal a definition part. 1dn was pretty devious (or perhaps it was just me being too fixated on HOLLANDAISE?) and I’m sure people will have plenty of opinions on 22dn. I’d be surprised if many people knew the name Jill Masterson straightaway, but hopefully, like me, you worked out what was going on pretty quickly. Bonus points because I’m enjoying reading Goldfinger quotes on the internet now. “Bond always mistrusted short men. They grew up from childhood with an inferiority complex. All their lives they would strive to be big – bigger than the others who had teased them as a child. Napoleon had been short, and Hitler. It was the short men that caused all the trouble in the world.”
So true! Thanks for this one to the no-doubt tall and strapping setter. And have a nice weekend everybody…
ACROSS
1 Cold suddenly affected pert young woman (4)
CHIT – C HIT [cold | suddenly affected]
4 Saw what might be easily done (4,4,2)
LAID EYES ON – (EASILY DONE*) [“what might be…”]
9 Business of bandits dressing to conceal equipment (10)
BRIGANDAGE – BANDAGE [dressing] to “conceal” RIG [equipment]
10 Employed engineers initially in Bucks? (4)
USED – E{ngineers} in USD, ie American dollars, the currency also known as “bucks”
11 Coastal road announced for port (6)
BEIRUT – homophone of BAY ROUTE [coastal | road]
12 Bag sent back — ecstasy widespread in island (8)
TENERIFE – reversed NET [bag] + E RIFE [ecstasy | widespread]
14 Just one dropped round for gambling game (4)
FARO – FA{i}R [just, with I “dropped”] + O [round]
15 Try to stop Southern Ocean bird (10)
SHEARWATER – HEAR [try] to “stop” S WATER [southern | ocean]
17 Serving flyer has sorties to rearrange (3,7)
AIR HOSTESS – (HAS SORTIES*) [“to rearrange”]
20 Virtuoso on piano to establish tempo (4)
PACE – ACE [virtuouso] on P
21 Dealer caught by dogged police officer? (8)
CHANDLER – C [caught] by HANDLER [police offer with a dog]
23 Wholesome? Worth buying? Credit refused! (6)
EDIBLE – {cr}EDIBLE [worth buying, where buy = believe, minus CR = credit]
24 Military detachment to come together shortly (4)
UNIT – UNIT{e} [to come together, “shortly”]
25 Mole finally quits a Baltic base, prepared for leave (10)
SABBATICAL – (A BALTIC BAS{e}) [“prepared”]
26 Handle we use to split explosive open? (10)
TOURNAMENT – OUR NAME [handle we use] to “split” TNT [explosive]
27 Desire to handle dough is expressed (4)
NEED – homophone of KNEAD [to handle dough]
DOWN
2 Almost set to tuck into chestnuts maybe with hot sauce? (11)
HORSERADISH – RADI{o} [“almost” set] to “tuck” into HORSES [chestnuts maybe] + H [hot]
3 Chap briefly shown round German plane (5,4)
TIGER MOTH – TIMOTH{y} [chap “briefly”] shown “round” GER [German]
4 Special formulation was our bond they say (7)
LINCTUS – homophone of LINKED US [was our bond]
5 One with rather evil bent cast as tyrant (4,3,8)
IVAN THE TERRIBLE – I [one] + (RATHER EVIL BENT*) [“cast”]
6 Woman beginning to encourage and tend soldiers (7)
ELEANOR – E{ncourage} + LEAN OR [tend | soldiers]
7 American in boat that’s cut fare from Japan (5)
SUSHI – US [American] in SHI{p} [boat “that’s cut”]
8 Going in starkers is good way to attract attention (5)
NUDGE – going in NUDE [starkers] is G [good]
13 Protecting name, reveal chef sacked for unauthorised absence (6,5)
FRENCH LEAVE – “protecting” N [name], (REVEAL CHEF*) [“sacked”]
16 Swimmer able to do the crawl? (9)
AMPHIBIAN – cryptic definition for a creature that can swim in water, and crawl on land.
18 Region in small French islands excellent for climbing (7)
SILESIA – S ILES [small | French islands] + reversed A1 [excellent]
19 Scottish clan with the skills to produce great gumbo? (7)
STEWART – or STEW ART [gumbo-making skills!]
21 Limerick perhaps shortened to make an impression (5)
COUNT – Limerick is an Irish county; shorten to COUNT{y}.
22 Share Jill Masterson’s fate? Cheerio! (5)
ADIEU – a cheeky little clue this one. Jill Masterson is the girl (played by Shirley Eaton) who memorably dies in the James Bond film Goldfinger, from being painted gold. So her fate is to DIE in AU [gold].
Defeated by TOURNAMENT so thanks for explaining that one.
Pleased to get BEIRUT today after not getting AUCKLAND earlier in the week. I see BEIRUT isn’t listed under PORTS in Bradford’s 8th edn! Have annotated my copy.
FOI 3dn TIGER MOTH
LOI 21dn COUNT
COD 22dn ADIEU
WOD 2dn HORSERADISH
Good to see Mr. Snitch alive and well. I’m heading for Singapore for a week – to avoid the Club Monthly Special and catch up on Dr Fu Manchu. Cheers!