This was a good one, full of unusual words and looking like it was going to be a pangram, with all those Js, Qs and Zs, but I can’t see a V so it’s not. EDIT as johninterred points out below, I missed the V in preview and it is a pangram.
I had to take the wordplay on trust for 27a DITZY, my only unknown word. Some trains of thought going on here, with ‘baptismal’ and ‘font’, and ‘Bakewell’ and ‘tartlet’, but not really a theme, unless a plethora of Zs constitutes a theme.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | Lambasted delinquent youth about skin condition (7) |
| TRASHED – TED (delinquent youth, some would say) with RASH inside. | |
| 5 | Rudimentary airline? That’s not my fault! (5) |
| BASIC – BA (an airline) SIC (Latin, meaning “unedited, as written, although it might look odd it’s not my error”). | |
| 9 | Writer briefly pens a flyer (5) |
| QUAIL – QUIL[L} has A inserted. Lots of them around our area, and they are so stupid, they stand in the road waiting to be run over instead of being “flyers”. | |
| 10 | Tasteless dwelling from 1900 soon occupied by Spanish agreement (9) |
| MCMANSION – MCM (Roman numerals for 1900), ANON (soon), insert SI (Spanish for yes). A large modern house not in keeping with its more tasteful surroundings; Collins says the derivation is from McDonald’s restaurants being ubiquitous and tasteless, which seems a bit harsh to me. | |
| 11 | Ready to cook a starter of duck after lying down (7) |
| APRONED – A, PRONE (lying down), D[uck]. | |
| 12 | Go around Australia with a philosopher (7) |
| SPINOZA – SPIN (go around), OZ, A. | |
| 13 | Playing gig, we munch sticky food (7,3) |
| CHEWING GUM – (GIG WE MUNCH)*. Is it really food? | |
| 15 | Auntie‘s book on queen, perhaps (4) |
| BEEB – BEE (queen) B[ook]. | |
| 18 | Stand up again when hearing wedding, say (4) |
| RITE – it sounds like RIGHT, if something has fallen over you can “right” it. | |
| 20 | Monster yak caught in pan (10) |
| JABBERWOCK – JABBER (yak), WOK (pan), insert C for caught. Fortunately I’m a big L.C. fan, I can recite most of Jabberwocky and he cropped up in Monday’s cryptic as a pseudonym. | |
| 23 | Red team’s in reversing vehicle (7), |
| MARXIST – TRAM is our vehicle, reverse it (MART) and inset XI’S for team’s. | |
| 24 | Trailer to run over piano initially (7) |
| PREVIEW – P (piano), REVIEW (run over). | |
| 25 | In America, check a pipe for crack producing pool of water? (9) |
| BILLABONG – BILL (called a check in USA), A, BONG (pipe for smoking, usually through water). | |
| 26 | Song close to baptismal font (5) |
| ARIAL – ARIA, [baptisma]L. | |
| 27 | Twilight Zone at first featured in homework? That’s silly (5) |
| DITZY – DIY being do-it-yourself or homework, insert T Z the initial letters of Twilight Zone. | |
| 28 | Resident of lair associated with eastern school on island (7) |
| DENIZEN – DEN (lair), I (island), ZEN (eastern school of philosophy). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Hard to escape drama over energy and oil producer (3,4) |
| TEA TREE – T[h]EATRE, E[nergy]. | |
| 2 | What sank Liberal opposition after a time? (8) |
| ATLANTIS – A, T[ime], L[iberal], ANTIS = those against. Atlantis was mentioned by Plato as a fictional island “in the West”, supposedly in the Atlantic Ocean, which sank. | |
| 3 | Close concealed bags I’m thinking (5) |
| HUMID – HID (concealed) with UM (“I’m thinking”) inside. | |
| 4 | Queen’s Head pub is mad to change — it’s a big disappointment (4,5) |
| DAMP SQUIB – (Q PUB IS MAD)*. | |
| 5 | Bank robber is pretty Scottish (6) |
| BONNIE – double definition, Bonnie as in &Clyde, bonnie as in Scotland. | |
| 6 | Almost take top off European sports accessory (3,4) |
| SKI POLE – SKI[M] = take top off, almost; POLE a European. | |
| 7 | Working with heads of government agency to support Conservative party line? (5) |
| CONGA – CON[servative], G A (heads of government agency). | |
| 8 | Mark circling yard in eg NYPD vehicle (5,3) |
| SQUAD CAR – SCAR circles QUAD. | |
| 14 | Large amphibian with tag on it aroused notice (5,4) |
| GIANT TOAD – (TAG ON IT)*, AD = notice. | |
| 16 | One ringing about a garden in Derbyshire town (8) |
| BAKEWELL – BELL (one ringing) has A KEW (Garden) inserted. A nice little town famous for its Bakewell Tart. | |
| 17 | Heading north in piazza, jeer flautist’s improvised music (4,4) |
| FREE JAZZ – hidden reversed, as above. | |
| 19 | Surprise — no topping on top of the pastry (7) |
| TARTLET – [S]TARTLE = surprise, no topping, T[he]. | |
| 21 | Operation privy to pocketing one or two-pennyworth? (7) |
| OPINION – OP[eration], IN ON (privy to), insert I (one). | |
| 22 | Times covers wise guys set up for crime (6) |
| BIGAMY – BY (x, times) with MAGI reversed inside. | |
| 23 | I’m responsible by turning up in crazy clothes? (2,3) |
| MY BAD – MAD (crazy) with BY reversed inside. An Americanism which has sadly reached our shores recently. | |
| 24 | Composer not at home with one idol worshipper (5) |
| PAGAN – Nicolo Paganini, the composer, famous for other composers writing variations on his themes. He loses his IN and I. | |
34.27 This was very enjoyable. APRONED, TEA TREE, TRASHED and HUMID took a good chunk of time at the end. Thanks piquet.
Despite all the Americanisms I quite enjoyed this and romped home in 28 minutes. NHO BONG, McMANSION or FREE JAZZ, but the clueing left no option. Unusually I spotted this was a pangram quite early, not that it helped.
FOI – SPINOZA
LOI – OPINION
COD – McMANSION (not being a fan of McDonalds)
Thanks to piquet and other contributors.
I got all but RITE and I’ve heard of all the answers but only vaguely of McMansion. Took a while to recognise APRONED as a word as I heard it as ‘u-PRONED’ in my internal monologue rather than ‘APE-rund’. Of course there’s also ‘McMafia’ not just ‘McJob’ and ‘McMansion’. Did anyone else first think of ‘Bolsover’ before working out ‘Bakewell’?
A bit late in the day now, but I forgot that I was going point out a problem with 16dn in that KEW is not a ‘garden’. The clue’s in the name, which is either ‘Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’ or more simply ‘Kew Gardens’ – also a name for the area of SW London and of its railway station.
This was absolutely delightful, all 39 minutes of it, full of tricky clues and unexpected turns of meaning (such as “ready to cook” being APRONED, when I was expecting a currency clued by an anagram). MCMANSION was quite good, too, and I was very pleased to see what the role of 1900 was in the clue. OPINION’s twopennyworth was another highlight.
As hydrochoos above, I found this a delightful solve, and have no objections to modern, seemingly ghastly phrases or words (“my bad, McMansions) being introduced for a bit of fun. Btw, I never did get MCMANSIONS , even though I’ve often had a shiver down the spine when passing them in the Melbourne suburbs, and thought “How tasteless!”. That wasn’t the only one to hold me up, however: I couldn’t see APRONED for “ready to cook” (D’oh), and hadn’t realised that the JABBERWOCK was a monster. But had fun solving the rest, even though OPINION held me up for a while, as I expected the “privy” to be lav or loo ( but is that privvy?). The whole puzzle reinforced for me the need to slavishly follow the cryptic, and the reward ‘should’ follow. 😉