Time taken: 8:03. I thought this was going to be the a lightning round and a biff-fest, but I had to have a couple of passes at some answers in the bottom half.
All the wordplay works out, except for the one cryptic definition I will get to in good time. How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Faction involved in exploit did a runner (8) |
| DECAMPED – CAMP(faction) inside DEED(exploit) | |
| 5 | Musical effect always featuring in R&B (6) |
| REVERB – EVER(always) inside R and B | |
| 10 | Within a couple of minutes, one senior journo acted dumb (5) |
| MIMED – M and M(a couple of minutes) containing I(one), then ED(senior journo) | |
| 11 | Relinquish valuable item, mostly for drink (9) |
| DEMITASSE – DEMIT(relinquish) then ASSET(valuable item) | |
| 12 | Buzz in the neighbourhood? (5,4) |
| LOCAL CALL – cryptic definition, that I needed all the other letters to see. I last had a land line in 2004, are these still a thing? | |
| 13 | A lack of established routine in your dreams (2,3) |
| NO WAY – double definition | |
| 14 | Offensive racket outside room periodically (7) |
| NOISOME – NOISE(racket) surrounding alternating letters in rOoM | |
| 16 | Shortage holding physical education back to intensify (6) |
| DEEPEN – NEED(shortage) containing PE(physical education) all reversed | |
| 18 | You start to stagger after immediately standing (6) |
| STATUS – U(you) and the first letter of Stagger after STAT(immediately) | |
| 20 | Boycott maybe in favour of lengthy cricket match (7) |
| PROTEST – PRO(in favour of), TEST(lengthy cricket match) | |
| 22 | Pack from stockpile picked up (5) |
| HORDE – sounds like HOARD(stockpile) | |
| 23 | Donut cried out to be covered in fudge (9) |
| FRIEDCAKE – anagram of CRIED inside FAKE(fudge as a verb) | |
| 25 | Extremely strict director enters animal refuge (9) |
| NARROWEST – ARROW(director) inside NEST(animal refuge) | |
| 26 | Elite players had a mare at the outset (1-4) |
| A-TEAM – ATE(had), A, then the first letter of Mare | |
| 27 | Do cats roam in smallish groups? (6) |
| OCTADS – anagram of DO,CATS | |
| 28 | Don’t forget about any plant in a group (8) |
| REMEMBER – RE(about), MEMBER(any plant in a group) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Get rid of fish and gyoza? (8) |
| DUMPLING – DUMP(get rid of), LING(fish) | |
| 2 | Funny pear with bottom sliced off (5) |
| COMIC – a COMICE pear minus the last letter | |
| 3 | Unremarkable, misguided hero faded, I’m told (6-2-3-4) |
| MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD – anagram of HERO,FADED,I’M,TOLD | |
| 4 | Time involving checks of wild animals following death (7) |
| ENDGAME – GAME(wild animals) after END(death). Nice trickery with the definition! | |
| 6 | Decline to enter a newly-written, amicable agreement (7,8) |
| ENTENTE CORDIALE – anagram of DECLINE,TO,ENTER,A | |
| 7 | Changed wheels before getting to another place (9) |
| ELSEWHERE – anagram of WHEELS, then ERE(before) | |
| 8 | All the best extras? (3-3) |
| BYE-BYE – BYE and BYE(extras in cricket) | |
| 9 | Walked a mile, then ran (6) |
| AMBLED – A, M(mile), BLED(ran) | |
| 15 | Explain the meaning of painter prettifying frames (9) |
| INTERPRET – hidden inside paINTER PRETtifying | |
| 17 | Vessel bearing King’s flag (8) |
| STREAMER – STEAMER(vessel) containing R(King) | |
| 19 | Cushion sags at the back again and again (6) |
| SOFTEN – the last letter of sagS, then OFTEN(again and again) | |
| 20 | Type of coffee, according to hearsay, that can stimulate desire (7) |
| PHILTRE – sounds like FILTER coffee | |
| 21 | Silence a fan of religion (6) |
| SHINTO – SH(silence), INTO(a fan of) | |
| 24 | Sour berries primarily found beneath tree (5) |
| ACERB – first letter of Berries under ACER(tree) | |
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD were the group who sang that monstrosity of a best-selling single from the early 70s CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP. Allegedly they were an inspiration to ABBA. 20’04”, so a bit under my average. My short-term aim is to get average below 20. LOI PHILTRE (like just about everyone else).
I enjoyed this until I didn’t. Eventually gave up and went to bed with 19d, 20d and 23a unsolved. Resorted to a bit of cheating in the morning and discovered PHILTRE (NHO), FRIEDCAKE (WTF? NHO). I suppose the spelling of “donut” in the clue did tell me it was an Americanism I’d never heard of so maybe I gave up too soon. But I was looking at it for a lot of the evening. Should have got SOFTEN earlier I suppose which might have helped with these two.
Also, 12ac. I’m 51 and I don’t think I’ve had a landline since I moved in with my (now ex) wife before we got married in about 2004. Would this clue not have been better if it was “Historic buzz in the neighbourhood?” Surely there must be a reasonable cohort of crossword solvers who have NEVER had a landline and thus would have no idea of the concept?
Completed this one in about 20 minutes while watching Spurs labour to a draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Some of it I enjoyed, but some of it I just found irksome. The use of obscure Americanisms in clues and answers is getting, for me anyway, a tad tedious. I had never heard of “FRIEDCAKE” and I suspect that goes for the majority of Americans as well. I got it, having all the checkers, because it occurred to me that a doughnut is literally a fried cake and I could see how it parsed, although I was still left wondering why it was one word and not two.
I couldn’t parse STATUS either, so I’m grateful for the explanation in this blog. Presumably the ‘stat.’ on prescriptions is short for ‘statim’.
I knew “philtre” for aphrodisiac though, must have cropped up in some of the very old literature I studied at school/uni.
Sailed through the NW quarter, thinking all would be remarking on its simplicity. Had all the required GK, so no problem there, but I have to say from donut to FRIEDCAKE ( in one word too!) was a stretch too far. Only hold-ups were the second word after LOCAL, which I’d determined was HERO ( thought the clue was referring to Buzz Lightyear, hero of Toy Story fame! ). Stubbornness on my part then made 4 and9 down impossible. Nevertheless I was happy to romp through the rest of this ( with the exception of PHILTRE) and with less than half my usual wrong’uns. My level of crossword this: more please!