Solving time: 27 minutes although the last 4 of these were spent on a single clue at 23ac, a word I didn’t know. A very enjoyable puzzle with mostly great surfaces and some ingenious wordplay.
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 | Survey of a number of deliveries to struggle with (8) |
| OVERVIEW | |
| OVER (a number of deliveries), VIE (struggle), W (with). In cricket, an over consists of six correctly delivered balls. | |
| 9 | Left prince accepting university examination (8) |
| OVERHAUL | |
| OVER (left), HAL (prince) containing [accepting] U (university). Examine, then repair if necessary. | |
| 10 | Make a temporary stop using enclosed chart with motorway going east (6) |
| ENCAMP | |
| ENC (enclosed), MAP (chart) becomes AMP [with motorway – M – going east] | |
| 11 | Abandonment of ski harness on the run (10) |
| RAKISHNESS | |
| Anagram [on the run] of SKI HARNESS. Abandonment, a complete lack of inhibition or restraint. | |
| 12 | Lead actor’s prompt about line (4) |
| CLUE | |
| CUE (actor’s prompt) containing [about] L (line) | |
| 13 | What’s triggered by burning cooked korma meals (5,5) |
| SMOKE ALARM | |
| Anagram [cooked] of KORMA MEALS. Great surface! |
|
| 16 | Ingredient of salad that’s cold in the main (7) |
| ICEBERG | |
| Two meanings. The first is a type of lettuce. | |
| 17 | Youngster born under Leo? (4,3) |
| LION CUB | |
| Cryptic | |
| 20 | Formerly present until late afternoon broadcast? (10) |
| HERETOFORE | |
| HERE (present), TO (until), then aural wordplay [broadcast] FORE / “four” (late afternoon) | |
| 22 | Came out with it one day (4) |
| SAID | |
| SA (it – sex appeal), I (one), D (day) | |
| 23 | Expert in smut, say, mostly I go dancing around clubs (10) |
| MYCOLOGIST | |
| Anagram [dancing] of MOSTLY I GO containing [around] C (clubs). Having derived the answer from wordplay with some difficulty I learned that a mycologist studies fungus. That made sense as I already knew of smut as a fungal disease affecting cereal. | |
| 25 | I am left message (6) |
| IMPORT | |
| I’M (I am), PORT (message). Easy to solve but I struggled to understand the definition here until I found this amongst other examples: “The import (message) of his words was clear.” | |
| 26 | Case of intolerable situation for teacher’s union? (8) |
| NUTSHELL | |
| NUT’S HELL (intolerable situation for teacher’s union – National Union of Teachers) | |
| 27 | One may react against this chap of greater stature stripped (8) |
| ALLERGEN | |
| {t}ALLER GEN{t} (chap of greater stature) [stripped] | |
| Down |
|
| 2 | Army’s foremost youth turned up in charge of Germanic raiders (8) |
| VANDALIC | |
| VAN (army’s foremost), then LAD (youth) reversed [turned up], IC (in charge). The Vandals were notorious as raiders! | |
| 3 | Get together again concerning mounting chaos in island (10) |
| REASSEMBLE | |
| RE (concerning), then MESS (chaos) contained by [in] ELBA (island) both reversed [mounting] | |
| 4 | Devil back grabbing saint, one old one receiving help from angels (10) |
| IMPRESARIO | |
| IMP (devil), REAR (back) containing [grabbing] S (saint), then I (one), O (old). Angels are financial backers of theatrical productions, possibly enlisted by an impresario. | |
| 5 | Factory work in town near Doncaster (7) |
| WORKSOP | |
| WORKS (factory), OP (work). A shame that ‘work’ appears in both clue and answer but at least it’s not clueing itself. | |
| 6 | Not as much to be thankful for having lost billions (4) |
| LESS | |
| {b}LESS (be thankful for) [having lost billions] | |
| 7 | What’s used in the studio of advanced artist (6) |
| CAMERA | |
| CAME (advanced), RA (artist). I felt most of the clue was needed for the definition, though maybe not ‘advanced’. | |
| 8 | Members of Balliol initially supporting gaudy meet for a purpose (5,3) |
| FLASH MOB | |
| FLASH (gaudy), M{embers} + O{f} + B{alliol} [initially]. I’m not sure of the grammar here. If ‘flash mob’ can be used as a verb, that works, or perhaps ‘meet’ is as a noun as it is e.g. in hunting. | |
| 14 | Tending to prove event Iliad misrepresented (10) |
| EVIDENTIAL | |
| Anagram [misrepresented] of EVENT ILIAD | |
| 15 | Brown perhaps touches the earth before spring (10) |
| LANDSCAPER | |
| LANDS (touches the earth), CAPER (spring). Lancelot “Capability” Brown was a famous eighteenth century landscape architect. | |
| 16 | Cruel, being puerile round unpleasant smell (8) |
| INHUMANE | |
| INANE (puerile) containing [round] HUM (unpleasant smell) | |
| 18 | Creation of educational poetry? (8) |
| UNIVERSE | |
| UNI VERSE (educational poetry?) | |
| 19 | Heavily-set man, soldier keeping men all back (7) |
| GORILLA | |
| GI (soldier) containing [keeping] OR (men), then ALL reversed [back] | |
| 21 | Perform ceremony outside Mecca regularly (6) |
| RECITE | |
| RITE (ceremony) containing [outside] {m}E{c}C{a} [regularly] | |
| 24 | Warning females to lose weight (4) |
| OMEN | |
| {w}OMEN (females) [to lose weight] | |
Wot they all sed….