Barring one or two pieces of tricky vocabulary, this is all very straightforward. So much so, that I was disappointed with my time of 16 minutes. Not often will you hear me say that.
I expect PBs from not a few…
| Across | |
| 1 | Reportedly regret dig in simulated chatter on stage (7) |
| RHUBARB – sounds like’rue’ BARB (dig/ negative comment) | |
| 5 | Employed regularly at first in Surrey town (7) |
| WORKING -R[egularly] in WOKING; a nondescript railway town in Surrey put on the map by a pizza allegedly ordered by Andrew Windsor | |
| 9 | Disloyal ultimately thus to amend promissory notes (9) |
| SEDITIOUS – [thu]s EDIT IOUS; very difficult to avoid being jailed for this in Hong Kong these days if you disagree with the views of the unelected oligarchs on either side of the border (oops!) boundary | |
| 10 | Dull, but finally played minster organ (5) |
| DREAR -[playe]D [ministe]R EAR | |
| 11 | Exotic inn accommodating artist in Lambeth Palace area (5) |
| SERAI – RA in SEI; I guess a country pub in England would be exotic to someone from the middle-east, if they were just popping in for an orange juice | |
| 12 | Frantic burst of speed leading to charge (9) |
| DESPERATE – anagram* of SPEED RATE (charge – noun) | |
| 14 | See way lessee keeps place for crown representative (4,10) |
| LORD LIEUTENANT – LIEU (place) in LO (see) RD (way) TENANT (lessee) | |
| 17 | Eccentric English poet, he, transfixed by Irish county (14) |
| CAMBRIDGESHIRE – CAM (eccentric in a mechanical sense) [Robert] BRIDGES IR (IRrish) in HE | |
| 21 | Defame prudent woman hiding second pill (9) |
| DISCREDIT – DISCREET with the second E (pill as in ecstasy) replaced by DI | |
| 23 | Bid dyke-builder talked of (5) |
| OFFER – sounds like Offa, who only did one thing in his life, but what a thing! | |
| 24 | Stoneworker’s mother’s old name (5) |
| MASON – MA’S O N | |
| 25 | He scores one, oddly, but she succeeds jointly (9) |
| COHEIRESS – HE SCORES I* | |
| 26 | Spoilt daughters left in school (7) |
| CODDLED – DD L in COED | |
| 27 | Customer outside entrance to shop, a jocular type (7) |
| PUNSTER – S[hop] in PUNTER | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Oppose others touring islands (6) |
| RESIST – IS in REST; when I was studying at that hothouse of radicalism that is Lancaster Univerity, I took a Language & Feminism course, run by an assortment of very serious women and one bemused-looking man. They taught us the importance of ‘contesting and resisting the hegemony of powerful institutions’. A friend of mine attempted to resist theirs and barely passed the course. | |
| 2 | Endure French and German articles on energy (7) |
| UNDERGO – UN DER (articles in Frnech and German) GO (energy, as in ‘she has lots of go’) | |
| 3 | Legal process once secured, we’re told, by King Edward (9) |
| ATTAINDER – sounds like ‘attained’ ER (choose from any of eight) | |
| 4 | Looked after by American woman with liberal views (5-6) |
| BROAD-MINDED – BROAD (American woman – probably not one of the contesting and resisting persuasion) MINDED (looked after) | |
| 5 | Wrasse regularly used to be! (3) |
| WAS -W[r]A[s]S[e]; I used to say that this was the sort of clue that even an Australian could get, but I was subjected to a bit of cancel-culture, even though I was just trying to engage in a bit of banter. So, instead of saying that, I will toe the modern line, be sensitive to the needs of disadvantaged groups and merely say that this was quite a simple clue. Notwithstanding that, I applaud the setter for catering to the many different groups that attempt this crossword and not just to the middle-aged whi… [okay – enough of that, Ed.] | |
| 6 | Travel across top of Grampian elevation (5) |
| RIDGE – G[rampian] in RIDE (travel, on a bus etc.) | |
| 7 | Flower arrangement president originally admired propping up bar (7) |
| IKEBANA – BAN (bar) in IKE A (‘originally A[dmired]) | |
| 8 | Blokes adopting a jolly set of clothes (8) |
| GARMENTS – A RM (‘royal marine’) in GENTS (blokes) | |
| 13 | Fellow dropping art damages joint position at college (11) |
| STUDENTSHIP – STU[art] DENTS (damages) HIP (joint) | |
| 15 | African national primarily involved in playing the piano (9) |
| ETHIOPIAN – I[nvolved] in THE PIANO* | |
| 16 | Scholarly friend in Paris caught sheltering rebel (8) |
| ACADEMIC – CADE (crossword rebel – look him up in Wiki if he’s a NHO) in AMI C | |
| 18 | Badly-treated girl embracing aristocratic boy (7) |
| MISUSED – U (aristocratic, according to a silly system invented by toffs like the Mitfords) in MISS (girl) ED (a random boy who’s not Stuart) | |
| 19 | Think about French leader suppressing the French court (7) |
| REFLECT – RE (about) F[rench] LE (‘the’ in French) CT | |
| 20 | It expunges Times leader dismissing heavy metal (6) |
| ERASER – ERAS (times) [lead]ER; geddit? | |
| 22 | Like kidneys finally eaten in proper setting (5) |
| RENAL – [eate]N in REAL | |
| 25 | Ungentlemanly type originally courting publicity (3) |
| CAD – C[ourting] AD | |
16 mins but nearly had my chips when considering at-ta-in- ter , too obsessed with the spud version of King Edward. Fortunately, I live to fight another day.
If this is a simple 15, I’m never going to graduate from the QC. NHO SERAI or IKEBANA, wouldn’t have parsed DISCREDIT in a million years (had to read the blog three times to understand it!), couldn’t see DESPERATE despite being desperate. I think I have to reconcile myself to being a flat track bully.
Brilliant blog though! I chuckled a lot.
In which year did you graduate at Lancaster, and which college were you in Ulaca?
16.33
Late entry
Quite a few chestnuts and helped that I must have recalled the previous clue for CAMBRIDGESHIRE as that went straight in
STUDENTSHIP took a bit of teasing out even with a few checkers
Pleasant enough but no stand out clues
Thanks Ulaca and setter
Success at last! A fully completed and correct crossword in under the half-hour! So, amidst trying unsuccessfully to pat myself on the back ( too old to do it myself and no-one else around at this ungodly hour of the morning, as oldies tend to be late risers) and drinking my essential first cuppa of the day, I read with astonishment the, as usual, great blog by Ulaca, to find that I was even faster than some really good solvers! I thought this one was going to be trashed on the premise that it was far too easy…
Anyway, enough of this crowing: FOI straight away was RHUBARB ( many bit-parts in school plays assured this one), and I hardly paused thereafter, except perhaps for CAMBRIDGESHIRE, where I was toying with LEICESTERSHIRE for too long, and ATTAINMENT, a NHO, and SERAI, with forgetting the postcode of Lambeth Palace. I now look forward to tomorrow’s ( by Dean no doubt) stinker with a bit more hope …