Solving time: 23 minutes, which is well within my target half-hour. The answers went in easily enough but some wordplay was missing until I came to write the blog.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Distressed husband inquires about Liberal surrender (10) |
| RELINQUISH | |
| Anagram [distressed] of H (husband) + INQUIRES containing [about] L (Liberal) | |
| 6 | City’s first to abandon support for Bank of Scotland (4) |
| BRAE | |
| BRA{c}E (support) [city’s first to abandon]. In Scottish English, a steep bank or hillside. | |
| 10 | Naval officer celebrated defending west following hostilities (4-3) |
| POST-WAR | |
| PO (naval officer – Petty Officer), then STAR (celebrated) containing [defending] W (west) | |
| 11 | Constituent’s got teeth into first minor role (3,4) |
| BIT PART | |
| BIT (got teeth into), PART (constituent). ‘First’ is a juxtaposition indicator. | |
| 12 | Time to replace female in flawed investigative role (9) |
| DETECTIVE | |
| DE{f}ECTIVE (flawed) becomes DETECTIVE when T (time) replaces f (female) | |
| 13 | Lout rounds on upper-class Brit (5) |
| YAHOO | |
| YAH (upper-class Brit), OO (rounds). Yah = yes when used in representations of British upper-class speech, e.g. “We can go right now, ok, yah”. From that, in British slang ‘yah’ can mean an upper-class person. | |
| 14 | Man of the cloth shot at table, I hear (5) |
| CANON | |
| Aural wordplay (I hear): “cannon” (shot at a billiards or snooker table). A cannon is a stroke in which the cue ball strikes two balls successively. | |
| 15 | Hangers-on left without whiskey today (9) |
| ENTOURAGE | |
| {w}ENT (left) [without whiskey] OUR AGE (today) | |
| 17 | Election official hosting party briefly — she’s off to foreign parts (9) |
| TRAVELLER | |
| TELLER (election official) containing [hosting] RAV{e} (party) [briefly] | |
| 20 | Ignore fool on vacation abroad (5) |
| FLOUT | |
| F{oo}L [on vacation], OUT (abroad) | |
| 21 | Earlier I fled, carrying weapon (5) |
| RIFLE | |
| Hidden in [carrying] {earli}R I FLE{d} | |
| 23 | Pull Danes out completely (3,4,2) |
| ALL ENDS UP | |
| Anagram [out] of PULL DANES. I checked it’s in Collins. | |
| 25 | Accra poorly placed as capital (7) |
| CARACAS | |
| Anagram [poorly placed] of ACCRA, then AS | |
| 26 | A right lot of wets reportedly in charge (7) |
| ARRAIGN | |
| A, R (right), then aural wordplay [reportedly] “rain{s}” (wets) [lot of…] / RAIGN. Tricky goings on here which took me ages to spot. The surface reading refers to ‘Wets’ as Conservative politicians with liberal tendencies. I can’t remember now which PM labelled them this, but it may have been Mrs T. | |
| 27 | Goes back to well (4) |
| SEEP | |
| PEES (goes) reversed [back]. A liquid may well / seep. | |
| 28 | Final part of scene omitted from terribly sentimental episode (10) |
| INSTALMENT | |
| Anagram [terribly] of SENTIM{e}NTAL [final part of scene omitted] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Express first to run article on slump being over (5) |
| RAPID | |
| R{un} [first to…], A (article), then DIP (slump) reversed [being over] | |
| 2 | Reconstruction of US–Italian boat that sank (9) |
| LUSITANIA | |
| Anagram [reconstruction of] US ITALIAN. The sinking of the passenger liner by a German U-boat in 1915 played a part in gathering support for the USA to enter the war, which happened in 1917. |
|
| 3 | Press here for further information? (4,10) |
| NEWS CONFERENCE | |
| Cryptic definition | |
| 4 | State of university weightlifter announced (7) |
| UKRAINE | |
| U (university), then aural wordplay [announced] KRAINE / “crane” (weightlifter) | |
| 5 | Hidden meaning of message from Times staffer? (7) |
| SUBTEXT | |
| SUB (Times staffer – subeditor), TEXT (message) | |
| 7 | Contact that woman about checking account (5) |
| REACH | |
| HER (that woman) reversed [about] containing [checking] AC (account) | |
| 8 | Sociable former leftie welcoming vicar from down under (9) |
| EXTROVERT | |
| EX (former), TROT (leftie) containing [welcoming] REV (vicar) reversed [from down under] | |
| 9 | This won’t end well, as undertaker might put it (3,4,7) |
| IT’S YOUR FUNERAL | |
| A cryptic hint supports the clue to the well-known saying | |
| 14 | Falls that may affect your vision? (9) |
| CATARACTS | |
| Cryptic. Only last Wednesday in the QC we had Water feature that blocks one’s view? (8) | |
| 16 | Biography of a setter? It’s not much fun (1,4,4) |
| A DOG’S LIFE | |
| A cryptic hint leads us to another well-known saying | |
| 18 | Raised current trouble with offspring’s affair (7) |
| LIAISON | |
| I (current) + AIL (trouble) reversed [raised], SON (offspring) | |
| 19 | It’s dependent on soldier getting hold of £1 (7) |
| RELIANT | |
| RE (on) + ANT (soldier) containing [getting hold of] L I (£1). L as in £sd – pounds shillings and pence. | |
| 22 | Enemy capturing retreating king’s army (5) |
| FORCE | |
| FOE (enemy) containing [capturing] CR (king – Charles Rex) reversed [retreating] | |
| 24 | Wine producer’s drink? There’s nothing in it (5) |
| PINOT | |
| PINT (drink) containing O (there’s nothing in it) | |
Klaxon time as I complete the 15×15 two days running for the first time*. Yes I know I am in the company of those for whom not completing it is the rarity and yes it took 30 minutes but all done, and all sort of parsed too, though I join the many – on both sides of the Atlantic it seems – for whom Yah is not exactly familiar. Indeed I half wondered if the setter was mixing it up with Rah, which my dictionary also has as “informal, British – upper class person”.
* Actually I don’t even try it two days running very often. But Mrs S said “you managed yesterday’s, this one might also be up your street” as she knocked it off faster than I was doing the QC. And if enough of them are at this level I could aim to become more of a regular.
Many thanks Jack for the blog.
I’m almost joining you for the two-in-a-row Cedders. 32mins today, 28 with corrections yesterday.
I was two off completing yesterday’s – one of which was an anagram for a NHO I inexplicably put the wrong starting letter in for – think I’d written the anagrist on my pad and then glanced awaya and looked at letters I’d scribbled on their earlier in the day. That then messed up its intersecting Down clue which was a vaguely heard of jar which I only remembered once I had corrected the Across.
Would like to find the time/willing to do these more often as there is a greater range of vocab/GK which we don’t see in the QC
15:29 – with LOI SEEP and I see i’m not alone there!
Thanks setter and blogger
30:13
L2I were SEEP and BRAE.
Thanks Jack and setter
27 mins. How anyone can solve these in five or seven mins is beyond me – I wouldn’t be able to fill the grid in that time even if I knew the answers in advance! I wasn’t familiar with the expression ‘all ends up’, but got it from the anagram.