My solving time was 33 minutes, so on the easy side but nevertheless a technical DNF for me as I gave up on my LOI at 1dn and resorted to aids.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Charity event involved no perk? Sod’s law! (9,4) |
| SPONSORED WALK – Anagram [involved] of NO PERK SOD’S LAW | |
| 8 | Frozen piece of Arctic lake captured by enemy (4) |
| FLOE – L (lake) contained [captured] by FOE (enemy). I don’t think that ice floes are restricted to the Artic ocean so there’s a hint of a DBE going on here. | |
| 9 | About to fetch round joiner for new launch (10) |
| REBRANDING – RE (about), BRING (fetch) containing [round] AND (joiner – conjunction). A product can be rebranded and given a new launch. | |
| 10 | Weakness regularly found in ship and other vessel (4,4) |
| SOFT SPOT – OFT (regularly) contained by [found in] SS (ship), POT (vessel – other than ship) | |
| 11 | Hence Francis is one after church service, not the first (6) |
| ASSISI – {m}ASS (church service) [not the first], IS, I (one). I’m not entirely au fait with the semi-archaic usage, but I think the setter means ‘whence’. | |
| 13 | Militant American GP thrown out (10) |
| CAMPAIGNER – Anagram [thrown out] of AMERICAN GP | |
| 16 | Ocean floor, where first couple aren’t lying (4) |
| ABED – {se}ABED (ocean floor) [where first couple aren’t] | |
| 17 | Stand German ale (4) |
| BIER – Two meanings, first a support for a coffin and the German word for beer. I’m not sure if there is such a thing as a German ale (as opposed to lager) but anyway that’s not really relevant to workings of the clue. | |
| 18 | Spits at hat? Sweet (10) |
| GOBSTOPPER – GOBS (spits), TOPPER (hat). I understand these are known as ‘jawbreakers’ across the Pond. | |
| 20 | Wizard killing fifty old sheep (6) |
| MERINO – MER{l}IN (wizard) [killing fifty], O (old). The sheep originated in Spain but it’s the wool they produce that’s brought the name of the breed to the fore. | |
| 22 | Boy grabbing bear by the ears? Watch it! (6,2) |
| STEADY ON – SON (boy) contains [grabbing] TEADY which in this context sounds like [by the ears] “Teddy” (bear) | |
| 24 | Swimmer bloody thoughtless? Not Ned (10) |
| DAMSELFISH – DAM{ned} (bloody – another oath, anyway) [not Ned], SELFISH (thoughtless). After ‘silverside’ yesterday here’s yet another fish not known to me*, but it looks very beautiful in the pictures on Wiki. *Pleased to find that this has not appeared before other than once in a Mephisto in 2012. It was blogged by Jim, so he may have a head-start on the rest of us with this one! | |
| 26 | Chap that helps speaker to be heard (4) |
| MIKE – A definition (today’s random bloke) and a cryptic hint with reference to ‘microphone’ | |
| 27 | Ready for play? Second drama, old college one in my case (8,5) |
| MONOPOLY MONEY – MO (second), NO (drama), POLY(old college), then ONE contained by MY [in my case]. The definition is cryptic. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Restorative ointment to wrap round tail, smeared and left (3,8) |
| SAL VOLATILE – SALVE (ointment) containing [to wrap] O (round) + anagram [smeared] of TAIL + L (left). Smelling salts. As mentioned in the intro I gave up on this one and resorted to aids when I realised from checkers that I wouldn’t know it. I had spotted SALVE but thought it was clued by ‘restorative ointment’ and I was then unable to unravel the remainder. As happens quite often, if I’ve found a puzzle quite easy but then get stuck on the last one or two answers I’m less likely to summon reserves of energyto persevere than if I’ve been battling for answers throughout. | |
| 2 | Open secret Charlie let out (5) |
| OVERT – {c}OVERT (secret) [Charlie – NATO alphabet – let out] | |
| 3 | Youngster, small, getting much bigger (9) |
| STRIPLING – S (small), TRIPLING (getting much bigger). ‘Doubling’ is ‘getting much bigger’ too as some subscribers to The Times are currently finding out! | |
| 4 | Unkindly emphasise bankruptcy, putting in small coin (3,2,2) |
| RUB IT IN – RUIN (bankruptcy) containing [putting in] BIT (small coin) | |
| 5 | Finally did ritual dance in capital (5) |
| DHAKA – {di}D [finally, HAKA (ritual dance). The capital of Bangladesh. | |
| 6 | Hence flashes with meaning of religion after day in mountain (5,4) |
| ALDIS LAMP – D (day) + ISLAM (religion) contained by [in] ALP (mountain). Designed for transmitting Morse code by visual means. | |
| 7 | Relations are almost friendly (3) |
| KIN – KIN{d} (friendly) [almost] | |
| 12 | Part of medical studies very important; it opens many doors (8,3) |
| SKELETON KEY – SKELETON (part of medical studies), KEY (very important) | |
| 14 | Lawman leaving car briefly with child (9) |
| PARKINSON – PARKIN{g} (leaving car) [briefly], SON (child). Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. | |
| 15 | Town drive takes in different hotel (9) |
| ROTHERHAM – RAM (drive) contains [takes in] OTHER (different) + H (hotel). Today’s random town. | |
| 19 | As an animal one is in poor stable (7) |
| BESTIAL – I (one) contained by [is in] anagram [poor] of STABLE | |
| 21 | Men cut and hold covering (5) |
| ORLOP – OR (men), LOP (cut). I’ll just quote Chambers: orlop and orlop deck – in a ship with four or more decks, the lowest deck, forming a covering for the hold. | |
| 23 | Ace performer’s way of working in study (5) |
| DEMON – MO (way of working – modus operandi) contained by [in] DEN (study) | |
| 25 | Not hard to damage sleeve (3) |
| ARM – {h}ARM (damage) [not hard] | |
CoD to the excellent 24ac, I think.
Starting to get good enough at these to wrangle unknown words from the cryptic elements alone, which is very satisfying – the damselfish and orlop were unknown to me.
Liked the clue for Monopoly Money very much, but couldn’t work out why drama = no. Random Googling suggests “no” form of Japanese drama which can also be spelt “Noh” – is that the right explanation?
Found this quite difficult and pushed over the hour to get it done in three sittings. Had heard of most of the words that others hadn’t here – ORLOP has featured in many puzzles that I have done over the years – have never seen it used outside this space though. The fish was a popular aquarium fish and the HAKA was pretty much a gimme down here. Hadn’t heard of ROTHERHAM before and that was my last one in after checking. Had to resort to aids to get SAL VOLATILE and regretted having to – they were used to bring me to in a spiteful U19 Grand Final a very long time ago !