Solving time: 41 minutes. There were some tricky clues here but I worked my way through it steadily and was reasonably satisfied with my solving time.
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]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
| Across | |
| 1 | Bess’s mate quietly quits unbridled love-in (4) |
| ORGY | |
| (p)ORGY ( Bess’s mate) [quietly – p – quits]. Porgy and Bess is a folk opera by George Gershwin. Here’s an early recording of its most famous song Summertime preceded by a short overture. There are many more famous recordings in which performers put their own stamp on it, but this one by Anne Brown, the original Bess on Broadway in 1935, demonstrates how the song was intended to be sung. |
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| 3 | Cheap product that reflects one snug home in river (10) |
| RHINESTONE | |
| I (one) + NEST (snug home) contained by [in] RHONE (river). I think this was my last one in. I was delayed considering ‘reflects’ as a reversal indicator and ‘Rhine’ as the river. |
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| 9 | Gospel turns on church body (7) |
| EVANGEL | |
| LEG (on – cricket) + NAVE (church body), all reversed [turns]. I don’t recall meeting this word before and I arrived at the answer only from wordplay. Strange, because I’ve known ‘evangelism’ and ‘evangelist’ since childhood and indeed the parish church I attended in those days was dedicated to St John the Evangelist. |
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| 11 | Flimsy paper kept in folder (7) |
| FRAGILE | |
| RAG (newspaper) contained by [kept in] FILE (folder) | |
| 12 | Evergreen tree somehow hides each stage performer (4-5) |
| FIRE-EATER | |
| FIR (evergreen), then anagram [somehow] of TREE contains [hides] EA (each). At least we were spared yet another reference to the long-dead actor/manager. |
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| 13 | Mock group running football at city university (5) |
| FALSE | |
| FA (group running football – The Football Association), LSE (city university – London School of Economics). The LSE is located in the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden. ‘Mock’ in the sense of ‘sham’ or ‘imitation’. |
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| 14 | Motor club’s loco controller (6,6) |
| ENGINE DRIVER | |
| ENGINE (motor), DRIVER (golf club) | |
| 18 | It helps Browning saluting on behalf of king (8,4) |
| TOASTING FORK | |
| TOASTING (saluting), FOR (on behalf of), K (king). More memories from childhood here; I wonder why toast made on a fork in front of a roaring open fire always tasted better than when grilled or prepared in a toaster. A nice diversion mentioning the poet in the clue gives some meaning to the surface reading. |
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| 21 | Urge lady of the house to scrap first two tablets (5) |
| PRESS | |
| P{ee}RESS (lady of the house – House of Lords) [scrap first two tablets – e’s – ecstasy pills] | |
| 22 | A Republican ready with large cold port (9) |
| ARCHANGEL | |
| A, R (Republican), CHANGE (ready cash), L (large). It’s in Russia. | |
| 24 | Current game finishes early (7) |
| DRAUGHT | |
| DRAUGHT{s} (game) [finishes early] | |
| 25 | Draw a time-consuming flyer (7) |
| ATTRACT | |
| A, then TRACT (flyer – short notice or pamphlet for distribution ) containing [consuming] T (time) | |
| 26 | Trio’s playing beside small lake that has a spit (10) |
| ROTISSERIE | |
| Anagram [playing] of TRIO’S, then S (small)], ERIE (lake) | |
| 27 | Indicate area circled by hands (4) |
| MEAN | |
| A (area) contained [circled] by MEN (hands – manual workers, ship’s crew etc) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Stuff concerning payment given to duke (8) |
| OVERFEED | |
| OVER (concerning – e.g. arguments over money), FEE (payment), D (duke) | |
| 2 | Jokes about juvenile Romeo’s Sunday best (4,4) |
| GLAD RAGS | |
| GAGS (jokes) containing [about] LAD (juvenile) + R (Romeo – NATO). I looked for the origin of this slang expression but was unable to find one. |
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| 4 | Former slave the Spanish must have smuggled outside (5) |
| HELOT | |
| HOT (smuggled – illicit) containing [outside] EL (the in Spanish). SOED advises that helots were members of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, intermediate in status between slaves and citizens. |
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| 5 | Old queen‘s English hat mounted in part of UK (9) |
| NEFERTITI | |
| E (English), then TITFER (hat) reversed [mounted], both contained by [in] NI (part of UK – Northern Ireland]. A Queen of Egypt. ‘Titfer’ (tit-for-tat) is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘hat’. Edit: Thanks to those who pointed out that TITFER reversed doesn’t give us FERTIT. I compounded the error in the clue by seeing what I wanted to see. |
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| 6 | Pole, Frenchman, colonist and soldier (5,8) |
| STAFF SERGEANT | |
| STAFF (pole), SERGE (Frenchman), ANT (colonist) | |
| 7 | After overture to opera I put in part for songster (6) |
| ORIOLE | |
| O{pera} [overture to…], then I contained by [put in] ROLE (part). I thought the bird might have a more familiar alternative name, but apparently it doesn’t. |
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| 8 | Cross with one representative of this cricket side (6) |
| ELEVEN | |
| A straight definition preceded by a cryptic hint: X (cross – ten) + I (one) in Roman numerals = XI | |
| 10 | Agrees enough’s converted into methane maybe (10,3) |
| GREENHOUSE GAS | |
| Anagram [converted] of AGREES ENOUGH’S. ‘Maybe’ because the definition is by example. | |
| 15 | Strip down poor piece finally about conservationists (9) |
| DISMANTLE | |
| DISMAL (poor) + {piec}E [finally] containing [about] NT (conservationists – National Trust) | |
| 16 | Surfers enjoy this band (4,4) |
| LONG WAVE | |
| A cryptic defintion and a straight one. A ‘band’ in physics can be a range of frequencies or wavelengths between two limits, and as applied to radio technology it’s a range allocated to a particular broadcasting station or service. Old-fashioned wireless sets used to have long and medium wave bands as standard, and some had short wave too. Devices these days are mostly digital, but the old wave bands still exist. |
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| 17 | Outline Klee’s absurdly fashionable style (8) |
| SKELETON | |
| Anagram [absurdly] of KLEE’S, then TON (fashionable style). ‘Ton’ has been given a new lease of life with the arrival of Bridgerton. |
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| 19 | Second mole eating daughter’s creepy-crawly (6) |
| SPIDER | |
| S (second), then PIER (mole – breakwater, jetty) containing [eating] D (daughter) | |
| 20 | Concerned with tense series of courses (6) |
| REPAST | |
| RE (concerned with), PAST (tense) | |
| 23 | Doctor abandons fight with current mammal (5) |
| COATI | |
| CO{mb}AT (fight), [doctor – MB – abandons] | |
My newspaper had the right clue for NEFERTITI which is very good on that basis.
Yet another good clue for ORGY but my favourite was ROTISSERIE. Very pleased to remember COATI.
David