This was a brilliant crossword whose extra-imaginative wordplay reminded me of the Club Monthly Special, though of course the words here are a little less obscure (but only a little, in a couple of cases!). My FOI was 11ac, followed by 14ac; but that was it on the first pass of the across clues. My big problem came when I put in WING for 21ac – thinking that “to take” could be WIN, “home” IN, “trap” GIN, and (here’s the weak link) “picked up from” a subtraction indicator, the whole being some kind of synecdoche for a bird. And that slowed me down a lot at the end, but it is a mark of the type of crossword this was that I genuinely thought such a tortuous route was plausible.
So many great clues, the pick of which for me were 17ac (I saw Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe only last month!) and 18dn (matron!), but there were many others that seemed completely impenetrable until their secrets suddenly swim into focus, and that’s just the way I like it of course. LOI 23ac which is the kind of clue that is really hard to get unless you just biff it from the enumeration and the A, and for some reason I didn’t for a very long time. I’m off the boil! Can I get back on it within about a fortnight? Watch this space!
ACROSS
1 Refusing to give in the end natural (8)
STUBBORN – STUB BORN [the end | natural]
9 Items plucked from French article repeatedly probing transatlantic allies (8)
UKULELES – LE LE [French article, repeatedly] “probing” UK US [translatlantic allies]
10 Person looking round briefly to annul or lower offer (8)
GAZUNDER – GAZER [person looking] “round” UND{o} [“briefly”, to annul]
11 Taxi sent with gear as a favour (2,6)
EX GRATIA – (TAXI + GEAR*) [“sent”]
12 A bit of late drama as pacifist is speaking out? (10)
AFTERPIECE – homophone of AFTER PEACE [as pacifist is].
An afterpiece is a short dramatic entertainment performed after the principal play.
14 Ditch cheeky Dadaist exhibits, upon reflection (4)
DYKE – hidden reversed in {che}EKY D{adaist}
15 Projecting course with appreciative exclamation (7)
CORNICE – double def with COR, NICE! [appreciative exclamation]
17 Quickly, for one round, the three of spades is played (7)
HOSTESS – (O THE S S S) [“played”]. Mistress Quickly from the same Shakespeare plays in which you’ll find Falstaff.
21 Bird to take home picked up from trap? (4)
ERNE – homophone of EARN [to take home]. Trap being a mouth here.
22 Despot employing muscle, hence someone pulling the strings? (10)
ABSOLUTIST – AB SO LUTIST [muscle | hence | someone pulling/plucking the strings]
23 Checking short cuts using vision aid (7,1)
VITAMIN A – TAMIN{g} [checking, “short”] “cuts” VIA [using]
25 Pulled — hard — leg of the setter about taxonomic term (8)
TAUTONYM – TAUT [pulled – hard] + ON [leg] + reversed MY [of the setter]. A tautonym is eg Gorilla gorilla, where genus and species name are the same.
26 Old pantomime actor threatening odd couples in Aladdin (8)
GRIMALDI – GRIM [threatening] + AL{ad}DI{n}. Joseph Grimaldi of Victorian times.
27 Depression and fuss, with men getting in a state (8)
COLORADO – COL [depression] and ADO [fuss], with OR [men] “getting in”
DOWN
2 Ferries go so far and do not interfere with each other (2-3-3)
TO-AND-FRO – (FAR + DO NOT*) [“interfere with each other”]
3 Shift working interrupted by large strike (8)
BLUDGEON – BUDGE ON [shift | working], “interrupted by” L [large]
4 Detective goes after taking too many chances (4)
ODDS – D.S. [detective] goes after O.D. [taking too many]
5 Dancer’s very visual awareness directed upwards (7)
NUREYEV – reverse all of V EYE RUN [very | visual awareness | directed]
6 Psychologist fellow mistreated bird (6,4)
JUNGLE FOWL – JUNG [psychologist] + (FELLOW*) [“mistreated”]
7 Some empty praise offered up for one that’s been let down? (4,4)
FLAT TYRE – take FLATTERY [empty praise] and reverse some of it, the last three letters to be precise.
8 Fugitives better stopping close to trouble spots (8)
ESCAPEES – CAP [better], “stopping” {troubl}E + SEES [spots]
13 Relish film about boxer, badly brought up (10)
PICCALILLI – PIC C ALI [film | about | boxer] + reversed ILL [badly]
15 Visible split in chest, or short split in coop (8)
CLEAVAGE – LEAV{e} [“short” split] in CAGE [coop]
16 Lemur’s call when encountering shadow (8)
RINGTAIL – RING [call], when encountering TAIL [shadow]
18 Needleworker cheers dry reaction to double entendre? (8)
TATTOOER – TA TT OO-ER! [cheers | dry | reaction to double entendre?]
19 Paraded with a Yankee, in a band, all round (8)
SASHAYED – A Y, with SASHED [in a band] all round
20 It is a cat mostly mistaken for a type of lion (7)
ASIATIC – (IT IS A CA{t}*) [“mistaken”]
24 Case for English port (4)
HULL – double def
Regarding tautonyms, if you go as far as subspecies there are many triple examples. Not only is there a Gorilla gorilla gorilla, but also Lynx lynx lynx, Caracal caracal caracal and Bison bison bison. Pleasingly, the common names of all of these are also, respectively, gorilla, lynx, caracal and bison.
Edited at 2019-11-23 12:33 am (UTC)
Got about halfway in 45 mins, but too many unusual words (TAUTONYM, GAZUNDER, AFTERPIECE) and overcomplicated clueing – and no idea about Quickly for it to be fun.
Gazunder is on old word for a chamber pot.