An entertaining puzzle which took me twenty minutes to fill in all the answers, but with a couple of clues I wasn’t 100% comfortable with when it came to parsing them fully. EDIT see below re 18a.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics
| Across | |
| 1 | Appreciating notes left after American’s probed glass substitute? (7) |
| MUSICAL – MICA being a (sort of) glass substitute, insert US and add L for left. | |
| 5 | Stink filling middle of dustbins is something in hand (5) |
| THUMB -HUM (stink) inside TB the middle of dusTBins. | |
| 9 | Army soldiers ousting one from concealed position (5) |
| HORDE – OR (soldiers) replaces the I in HIDE. | |
| 10 | Bridge player, say, engaged in some work, producing unexpected feature (6,3) |
| EASTER EGG – EAST (bridge player) EG (say) insert ERG (some work). I don’t quite see the unexpected aspect, I was expecting one and it arrived! EDIT I have now found it is in Collins, “Easter egg – a bonus or extra feature hidden inside a website, computer game, or DVD, that is only revealed after repeated or lengthy viewing or playing.”. As I don’t do video games or watch DVDs I was unaware of it. Obviously, the setter was more au fait. | |
| 11 | Wet season securing island fruit (7) |
| RAISINS – RAINS (wet season) with IS inserted. | |
| 12 | Acquisitive King invading this territory’s borders (7) |
| THIRSTY – R (king) inside THIS, TY (territory’s borders). | |
| 13 | Major work getting OUP excited, investing in lots of champagne (6,4) |
| MAGNUM OPUS – MAGNUMS of champagne, insert (OUP)*. Latin for great work. | |
| 15 | Obscure publicity material ignoring second book (4) |
| BLUR – BLURB drops its second B. | |
| 18 | Reputation held by pair of Americans? (4) |
| NAME – I don’t see how this works. I think it is an error, supposed to be a hidden word but perhaps LatiN AMEricans was intended? Or perhaps the answer should be FAME not NAME, as FAME is hidden? There isn’t another hidden word clue and there is usually one. EDIT it seems, as was spotted below, that the setter knows what he is doing and I didn’t spot the correct parsing. I’d never seen the “indirect hidden word” trick before, apparently not used since 2007, so the AMERICA[N AME]RICAN idea wasn’t on my radar. I’ll be ready for it next time. |
|
| 20 | Rational to accept house standard? Try several places (4,6) |
| SHOP AROUND – SOUND = rational, insert HO (house) PAR (standard). | |
| 23 | Hydrogen lost in explosion about to circulate in rod casing? (7) |
| HOLSTER – H (hydrogen) then (LOST)* then RE (about) reversed. ROD as in gun, not as in nuclear reactor. | |
| 24 | Up-to-date tent, with electric current, mostly cool (7) |
| TOPICAL – TOP (big top, tent), I (current) CAL[M] = mostly cool. | |
| 25 | Thin time acquiring Volume One’s opening? Good luck as you go (3,6) |
| BON VOYAGE – BONY (thin) AGE (time) with V, O[ne], inserted. | |
| 26 | Control sword, switching hands (5) |
| STEER – STEEL (sword) changes L for R. | |
| 27 | Limits of truce probed by border topic (5) |
| THEME – TE (limits of truce) with HEM (border) inside. | |
| 28 | Fine source of confusing statements but not primarily a cheat (7) |
| FIDDLER – F (fine) then RIDDLER loses its initial letter (I think). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Observing vessel entering China (7) |
| MARKING – ARK (vessel) inside MING (variety of China). | |
| 2 | Small and highly-regarded, though not right and not accurate (8) |
| SPECIOUS – S (small), PRECIOUS (highly regarded) loses its R for right. | |
| 3 | That fellow’s blocking Civil Service game (5) |
| CHESS – HE’S (that fellow’s) inside CS (Civil service). | |
| 4 | What may help you make slam or blast? (4,5) |
| LAST TRUMP – I think this is best described as a double definition, one related to bridge and one meaning blast or trumpet. | |
| 5 | Article poses timeless item for debate (6) |
| THESIS – THE (article) SITS (poses) losing its T (timeless). | |
| 6 | University prepared to be stretched, having disposed of latest device (7) |
| UTENSIL – U (university) TENSIL[E]. | |
| 7 | Vehicle with problems? (5) |
| BUGGY – cryptic definition. Or double definition, if you prefer. | |
| 8 | Fielder sees large number of people reduced after interval (5,3) |
| THIRD MAN – THIRD (musical interval), MAN[Y]. | |
| 14 | A second drink for the wife? (5,4) |
| OTHER HALF – witty double definition. | |
| 16 | Radio’s studied later, after accident or crisis? (3,5) |
| RED ALERT – RED sounds like READ = studied, then (LATER)*. | |
| 17 | Revision of poor plan’s outputting new suggestion (8) |
| PROPOSAL – (POOR PLA S)*, where PLAN’S loses its N (outputting new). | |
| 19 | The writer with viewpoint promoting Liberal mix (7) |
| MELANGE – ME (the writer) then ANGLE (viewpoint) has its L moved up. French for mixture. | |
| 21 | Relative harm after undressing in the dark (7) |
| UNCLEAR – UNCLE (relative) then [H]AR[M]. | |
| 22 | Straight man mostly to halt rise of self-assertiveness (6) |
| STOOGE – STO[P] = mostly to halt, then EGO reversed. | |
| 23 | Clothing is hot, to some extent (5) |
| HABIT – H (hot) A BIT (to some extent). | |
| 24 | Scots not great between banks of turbid river (5) |
| TWEED – WEE (small in Scottish) inside the outer letters (banks) of TurbiD. | |
Can someone explain why ERG = some work? I’m getting used to all the common crossword land shortcuts and some of them I can’t see how they relate. Thanks.
A technical DNF, as I had to cheat on HOLSTER, my LOI. Started off well (oddly, in the NE corner) with no hesitation for THUMB, BUGGY, and UTENSIL, which gave me the unlikely-looking second word for EASTER EGG. Bunged it in anyway, without knowing that meaning, and LAST TRUMP (hope so!) revealed itself. From there on, harder work, often needing resort to aids (looking up the types of cricket positions, eg). An hour later was stumped by HOLSTER – so DNF. Much more enjoyable than yesterday’s, where I was completely befuddled.