I’ve no solving time to offer for this one but it was somewhere off the scale, though not as far off it as yesterday’s. All the clues seem fair enough in retrospect with only two unkown words that were getable from wordplay, so I really don’t know what gave me such difficulty.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Like a film perhaps / lacking audience (2,6) |
| IN CAMERA – Two meanings, the first vaguely cryptic and the second not strictly accurate. SOED: In a judge’s private chambers, not in open court; gen. in secret or private session, not in public – however there is still an audience, even if it’s somewhat restricted. | |
| 5 | Solid eggs almost smashed (6) |
| ROBUST – RO{e} (eggs) [almost], BUST (smashed) | |
| 8 | One’s charged over breaking into home (3) |
| ION – O (over) contained by [breaking into] IN (home) | |
| 9 | Writer’s material still to be read out (10) |
| STATIONERY – Sounds like [to be read out] “stationary” (still) | |
| 10 | Foreign accents, not English, retaining appeal and a dignity (8) |
| GRAVITAS – GRAV{e}S (foreign accents) [not English] containing [retaining] IT (appeal) + A | |
| 11 | Letter and article to develop orally (6) |
| TEETHE – TEE (letter), THE (article) | |
| 12 | Single room where Arabs dwell (4) |
| ADEN – A (single), DEN (room) | |
| 14 | Empty blowlamp filled by one craftsman joining sides (10) |
| BIPARTISAN – B{blowlam}P [empty] containing [filled by] I (one), ARTISAN (craftsman) | |
| 17 | What’s on TV, top sportsperson (10) |
| SHOWJUMPER – SHOW (what’s on TV), JUMPER (top). | |
| 20 | Brand leaders for sales, effectively, and retailing (4) |
| SEAR – S{ales} E{ffectively} A{nd} R{etailing} [leaders] | |
| 23 | Pounds, a single one of them in cash (6) |
| LIQUID – L (pounds), 1 QUID (a single one of them). I suppose a ‘cash asset’ is a ‘liquid asset’ and in that context the words are synonymous, but maybe others can suggest a better example? On edit: Vinyl1 (below) suggests the definition in cash sits better but I still find it a bit of a strain. | |
| 24 | Carpet‘s a beauty, laid over a day (8) |
| ADMONISH – A, DISH containing [laid over] MON (a day) | |
| 25 | Lace pants put on along with lingerie offering light support (10) |
| CANDELABRA – Anagram [pants] of LACE contains [put on] AND (along with), BRA (lingerie). ‘Support’ not clueing ‘bra’ for once! The pianist and showman (Wladziu Valentino) Liberace was famous for his candelabra and is also credited with inventing the expression “I cried all the way to the bank” as a response to critics who sneered at his act. Some years later when asked about this in an interview he replied, “I don’t cry my way to the bank any more; I bought the bank”. | |
| 26 | Getting in round, not drinking drink (3) |
| TOT – O (round) contained by [getting in] TT (not drinking) | |
| 27 | Sparkling imitation of German composer university released (6) |
| STRASS – STRA{u}SS (German composer – Richard) [university released]. A word meaning paste jewellery unknown to me before today. This seems to be its first appearance in a Times cryptic although it has turned up in a Mephisto or two. | |
| 28 | Fox to show increasing savagery (8) |
| BEWILDER – BE WILDER (show increasing savagery) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Fishy product gets stored by schooner, say (9) |
| ISINGLASS – IS IN (stored by), GLASS (schooner, say). Used in the manufacture of beer, wine, glue and curtains for surreys with fringes in top. | |
| 2 | Depressed politician given cold welcome (7) |
| CONCAVE – CON (politician), C (cold), AVE (welcome) | |
| 3 | Service provided in range (6) |
| MASSIF – MASS (service), IF (provided). I’m not sure whether ‘massif’ and ‘range’ are exactly the same in the context of mountains, but I bunged in the answer and moved on. | |
| 4 | Manager is spreading president’s policies (9) |
| REAGANISM – Anagram [spreading] of MANAGER IS. Looking back now it seems like a golden era. | |
| 5 | Aussie native behind tailless bird (7) |
| ROOSTER – ROO (Aussie native), STER{n} (behind) [tailless] | |
| 6 | Dairy product’s around jug where drinks come from (9) |
| BREWERIES – BRIE’S (dairy product’s) contains EWER (jug) | |
| 7 | Yacht is travelling around ancient region (7) |
| SCYTHIA – Anagram [travelling around] of YACHT IS. Now part of Ukraine, apparently. | |
| 13 | Island city raised with old money (3,6) |
| NEW GUINEA – WEN (city) reversed [raised], GUINEA (old money). I only knew WEN as ‘city’ because it came up a couple of weeks ago when I took a rare excursion into Jumboland. As penfold_61 wrote in his blog: The Great Wen is supposedly a disparaging nickname for London, coined by William Cobbett. | |
| 15 | Willing to clothe daughter liable to get changed (9) |
| AMENDABLE – AMENABLE (willing) contains [to clothe] D (daughter) | |
| 16 | Leading light, note, playing short on pitch (5,4) |
| NORTH STAR – N (note), anagram [playing] of SHORT, TAR (pitch) | |
| 18 | Broadcast about boring building style seen in Barnet (7) |
| HAIRCUT – AIR (broadcast) + C (about) is contained by [boring] HUT (building), with Barnet (Fair) being CRS for ‘hair’. | |
| 19 | Cleaner scrubbing US city strip (7) |
| UNDRESS – {la}UNDRESS (cleaner) [scrubbing US city – LA] | |
| 21 | Was Sierra left outside? (7) |
| EXISTED – EXITED (left) contains [outside] S (sierra) | |
| 22 | Really, place in Africa is African (6) |
| SOMALI – SO (really), MALI (place in Africa) | |
Edited at 2018-05-01 04:34 pm (UTC)
LOsI were TEETHE, and ROOSTER (I did spend a while wondering if there was such a thing as a ‘roorear’ before untangling the parsing).