Certainly a less exquisitely convoluted puzzle than last week’s, with a number of borderline chestnuts. But I did very much like “the right-of-centre putsch against Washington” (22ac very much my COD), and also the “ruler holding on to France”, the “country rejecting centre ground”: a little bit of politics goes a long way, especially when incorporated seamlessly into surfaces like these. Very good work, setter!
Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
Across
1 Feed dung, spread by back of bush — its growth could prove fruitful (5,4)
HEDGE FUND – by {bus}H, (FEED DUNG*)
6 Dispatched casually: certainly laid back (5)
OFFED – reverse of DEFFO, a *very* casual way of saying “certainly”
9 A sin to grasp at riches, primarily (7)
AVARICE – A VICE “grasping” A{t} R{iches}, &lit
10 Target of this perhaps bit sailor from behind? (3,4)
RAT TRAP – reversed PART TAR [bit | sailor], semi-&lit
11 Artist to take the air? (5)
DEGAS – or DE-GAS, take away a gas
12 Wet weather during break time is a limitation (9)
RESTRAINT – RAIN during REST T
13 Element of ringtone jangled (8)
NITROGEN – (RINGTONE*)
14 Being responsible, deduct billions from payout (4)
ONUS – {b}ONUS
17 Easily impressed, possibly, by inside track (4)
WAXY – X [= times = by] inside WAY
18 Staff cut laid out (8)
POLEAXED – POLE AXED [staff | cut]
21 Spending money in a new local, getting drunk (9)
ALLOWANCE – (A NEW LOCAL*)
22 Right-of-centre putsch against Washington — sound of America’s extremists? (5)
SCHWA – {put}SCH (everything right of the middle of the word) against WA. The first and last letters of “America” are schwas, that is, unstressed vowels
24 Hide issue with family (7)
KIDSKIN – KIDS with KIN
25 Not stopping with others to accept errand, oddly (7)
ETERNAL – ET AL “accepting” E{r}R{a}N{d}
26 Relationship ends (5)
TERMS – double def
27 Interim ruler holding on to France, mounting a comeback (9)
RESURGENT – REGENT “holding” SUR [on, in French]
Down
1 Difficult, possessing nothing, to save (5)
HOARD – HARD “possessing” 0
2 One often seen lying in doorway is teetotaller? (7,8)
DRAUGHT EXCLUDER – double def with the humorous idea that a “draught excluder” might be one who excludes draught (beer) from the temple of their mouth
3 Discharge key errand (8)
EMISSION – E MISSION [key | errand]
4 Almost indefinite number in university education like money for old rope? (8)
UNEARNED – NEAR N [almost | indefinite number] in U ED
5 Coercion to get you in gear (6)
DURESS – U in DRESS
6 Country rejecting centre ground’s protest (6)
OUTCRY – (COU{n}TRY*)
7 A French ex going crazy with energy, getting ready for holiday? (7,8)
FOREIGN EXCHANGE – (A FRENCH EX GOING*) + E. Ready as in cash
8 Was standing in exercise the wrong way, caught in act (9)
DEPUTISED – reversed SIT-UP in DEED
13 Track emerging trade opportunity (9)
NEWMARKET – double def with NEW MARKET
15 Cold — 0 and below! (8)
LOVELESS – LOVE [0] + LESS [below]
16 Soldiers behave like troopers in jacket and tie? (8)
MENSWEAR – or MEN SWEAR
19 To that extent, holding vigil is stirring (6)
AWAKES – AS “holding” WAKE
20 Where you might find a US MD getting increasingly silly (6)
INANER – or IN AN E(mergency) R(oom)
23 Divide up complete set of Genesis Numbers etc? (5)
ALLOT – or ALL O(ld) T(estament). Shame about the necessary capitalisation of Numbers really
And I couldn’t convince myself that TERMS meant either ends or relationship, so I thought there might be another possibility (but TORUS, TYRES, and the rest were even less likely). So I put it in and was pleased to see an all-green grid.
Edited at 2021-07-23 04:53 am (UTC)
5m 57s, with LOVELESS the LOI after I realised it didn’t being CO-. As you say, on the easy side for a Friday.
Back in my somewhat less high-powered world, I thought I was going to get my first Friday completion since becoming a regular solver – and I was one clue away at around 38m: 15d
-O-ELESS. After trying every possible CO_ELESS variant, felt my head was about to explode, so I reseorted to a missing-letters solver. 45:50
Some nice touches. Not sure I see why ‘Target of this’=Rat Trap.
Thanks setter and V.
Edited at 2021-07-23 06:37 am (UTC)
Thanks verlaine and setter.
But just wouldn’t say, like deffo
Words like OFFED seldom are
Used in discourse, and SCHWA
Wastes neurons i shouldn’t let go
Dave W
Like others, including johninterred and boltonwanderer, I cannot equate TERMS with relationship.
Nevertheless, there were some very pleasing clues/solutions:
UNEARNED, DEGAS, SCHWA and OUTCRY for example; but my COD to WAXY.
Was not too sure about terms = relationship, but Collins says: “(usually preceded by on) a mutual relationship or standing, eg
they are on affectionate terms.” .. which seems near enough for me. But then I am easily pleased
E.g. They have a good relationship / they are on good terms.
Edited at 2021-07-23 10:16 am (UTC)
DEPUTISED and UNEARNED were biffs.
I put in TERMS thinking I might have to refer to VAR: I could smudge both definitions but quite expected there to be another, blindingly obvious version.
SCHWA was fun — a word I learned studying Hebrew — though I initially believed the setter had pulled of the impressive feat of left of centre letters from a succession of words. SNGNI fortunately didn’t fit.
My last in was OUTCRY, confused by which letters to grind: could OPTERS mean country somehow? Connected to the Grand Ole Opry?
The “getting sillier” INANER managed to tickle most, but as V says there were some very fine clues/surfaces mixed in with some more trivial offerings.
I’ll go with others in liking SCHWA and thought WAXY was a good example of an easy four letter answer which isn’t so easy after all.
Thanks to Verlaine and setter
Peter Giles
Nice little puzzle. Great blog.
Thanks, v and setter.
FOI NITROGEN
LOI TERMS
COD DEGAS
TIME 7:13
Good puzzle. Thanks.