A pleasant Wednesday challenge. Only one unknown, 20a, which, faced with T*Y* and a hidden word of that ilk visible, wasn’t hard to guess. Oddly enough, thinking of the LAND part of 26a took me the longest even though I had bridge written in. The anagram of in Bedford gets my vote for CoD.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, DD = double definition, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | Salient point from Conservative leaving sales talk (4) |
| PITH – PITCH loses its C for Conservative. | |
| 4 | Peter hit cops extremely tentatively in protective gear (6,4) |
| SAFETY BELT – SAFE = peter (slang), BELT = hit, insert (“cops”) the ends of T[entativel]Y. | |
| 9 | Barman’s driven me to Barking (10) |
| MONTEVERDI – (DRIVEN ME TO)*. A barman being crosswordese for a composer of music. | |
| 10 | Vaunted team (4) |
| CREW – DD. | |
| 11 | Impressionist in US city starts to impersonate Romney (6) |
| RENOIR – RENO (in Nevada), initial letters of Impersonate Romney. | |
| 12 | Great time to enter base (8) |
| IMMORTAL – T inside IMMORAL = base. | |
| 14 | Tennis legend finishing early for nothing (4) |
| NADA – Rafael NADA[l], a legend indeed. | |
| 15 | Light source shone out, constraining very exposed part of Tyrolean ensemble? (10) |
| LEDERHOSEN – LED (light source), (SHONE)*, insert [v]ER[y]. | |
| 17 | Clergyman’s trifling argument against accepting article (5,5) |
| MINOR CANON – MINOR = trifling, CON (argument against) with AN inserted. I know about such clergymen from reading Barchester novels. | |
| 20 | In Kyoto, your hat might be made of this (4) |
| TOYO – hidden word, Japanese straw like material used for hats. Guessed by me. | |
| 21 | Elegant socialite broadcasting (8) |
| DEBONAIR – a DEB ON AIR would be a socialite broadcasting. Think I’ve seen this before. | |
| 23 | Arrive at nursing home, to begin with, in distinct part of town (6) |
| GHETTO – GET TO = arrive at, insert H[ome]. | |
| 24 | Some sleazy groper lying about in meeting of Congress (4) |
| ORGY – hidden reversed, a meeting of that sort of congress. | |
| 25 | Unknown number in Scotland know cycling in High Peak (5,5) |
| MOUNT KENYA – AMOUNT (number) “cycles” to give MOUNTA, insert KEN (Scottish for know) Y (unknown). | |
| 26 | Win card game in Panama? (4,6) |
| LAND BRIDGE – win = LAND, BRIDGE a card game, Panama being a “land bridge” between N and S America. | |
| 27 | After party, nearly obtains port in Qatar (4) |
| DOHA – DO = party, HA[s]. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Musical agent dealing with Topsy-Turvy supports one not working (11) |
| INOPERATIVE -EVITA (a musical) REP (agent) ON (dealing with) I (one) all reversed (“topsy-turvy”). | |
| 3 | Fiery primate conceals archbishop’s first difficult issue (3,6) |
| HOT POTATO – HOT = fiery, a POTTO is a lemur type primate; insert A from archbishop. | |
| 4 | Some fail regularly following split (7) |
| SEVERAL – SEVER = split, [f]A[i]L. | |
| 5 | This topic should be avoided in Bedford (9,6) |
| FORBIDDEN GROUND – FORBIDDEN is an anagram of IN BEDFORD, so it’s “forbidden, ground”. | |
| 6 | More neat French gentlemen in German city (7) |
| TRIMMER – two French Monsieurs go into TRIER a German city. | |
| 7 | Bird, say, on top of tree (5) |
| EGRET – EG (say) RE (on) T[ree]. | |
| 8 | Dryer in tall building changing hands (5) |
| TOWEL – TOWER changes Right to Left. | |
| 13 | Why battery’s replaced in holiday resort (11) |
| ABERYSTWYTH – (WHY BATTERYS)*. An unlikely-looking anagram, but it works. I don’t think of Aberystwyth as a holiday venue, more a university town but it is on the coast. | |
| 16 | Getting better of those people interrupting continuously (2,3,4) |
| ON THE MEND – THEM = those people, inside ON END = continuously. | |
| 18 | Smooth-talker in good spirits losing heart to member (7) |
| CHARMER – CHEER (good spirits) loses its central letter replaced by ARM a member. | |
| 19 | Close match one’s seen in bed (7) |
| NIGHTIE – NIGH (close) TIE (match). | |
| 21 | Doctor can up quantity of saliva (5) |
| DROOL – DR (doctor) OOL = LOO (can, toilet) reversed (up). | |
| 22 | Start living, having raised grand (5) |
| BEGIN – BEING = living, move the G upwards. | |
Obviously missing the point, had Fruits as the second word after FORBIDDEN, which threw me for the cycling clue and the LAND BRIDGE (another NHO, along with TOYO and MINOR CANON, of which I had the CANON part for a while.). FOI DEBONAIR (rather liked), struggled to place the word after SAFETY, liked TRIMMER, forgot poor old MONTEVERDI ( though knew I was looking for a composer) and no other words were obscure, even ABERYSTWYTH; though MOUNT KENYA was vague. Thoroughly enjoyed, though a couple of look-ups to keep me going.