Solving time: 34 minutes
An enjoyable puzzle, with many clues not very difficult but still of high quality. Some of the wordplay was interesting and inventive with some variations on traditional devices, but there’s one answer (15dn) that gave me terrible trouble when I came to parse it for 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 | Country song about surrounding country (7) |
| ROMANIA | |
| AIR (song) reversed [about] containing [surrounding] OMAN (country) | |
| 5 | After reflection, get a repository to store work (7) |
| OPERATE | |
| Reversed and hidden [after reflection… to store] in {g}ET A REPO{sitory] | |
| 9 | Women’s interests unfortunately blocked by male in parliament (11) |
| WESTMINSTER | |
| W (women), then anagram [unfortunately] of INTERESTS containing [blocked by] M (male). In news and current affairs reports Westminster and parliament are often interchangeable. | |
| 10 | Put away jumper having removed two coats (3) |
| EAT | |
| {sw}EAT{er} (jumper) [having removed two coats]. A nice variation on the standard ‘top-and-tail’ device. | |
| 11 | Singer breaks rules (6) |
| REIGNS | |
| Anagram [breaks] of SINGER | |
| 12 | Regularly targeted by FA, Roberto Mancini originally managed Forest (4,4) |
| TREE FARM | |
| T{a}R{g}E{t}E{d} [regularly], FA, R{oberto} + M{ancini} [originally]. ‘Managed’ in the definition is adjectival. The surface relies on references to football, a subject on which I know very little, but for those in a similar position: FA = Football Association, Roberto Mancini is an Italian former player turned manager, and Forest = Nottingham Forest Football Club. Mancini never managed Forest but did run Manchester City FC for a while. | |
| 14 | Tense optimist’s view? (6,7) |
| FUTURE PERFECT | |
| A cryptic hint supports the literal | |
| 17 | What fraud investigators aim to do for proceedings in court (6,7) |
| SQUASH RACKETS | |
| Ditto, but this time the cryptic element is stronger | |
| 21 | African natives fight unruly Goths (8) |
| WARTHOGS | |
| WAR (fight), anagram [unruly] of GOTHS | |
| 23 | Draw lots, briefly, to follow leader in Denmark (6) |
| DOODLE | |
| D{enmark} [leader in…], OODLE{s} (lots) [briefly] | |
| 25 | Charm bird removing clothing (3) |
| OBI | |
| {r}OBI{n} (bird) [removing clothing]. Nothing to do with the sash worn with a Japanese kimono, but an alternative spelling of ‘obeah’, a charm or amulet used in a kind of witchcraft that originated in Africa and is practised by some people in the Caribbean. A traditional ‘top-and-tail’ clue this time. | |
| 26 | Lad snooping around toxic chemical storage facility (6,5) |
| POISON GLAND | |
| Anagram [around] of LAD SNOOPING. A gland in some fish and amphibians that secretes venomous material. I didn’t know the term. | |
| 27 | Soon, entrepreneur on vacation will meet presidential adviser, once head of government (7) |
| ERELONG | |
| E{ntrepreneu}R [on vacation], ELON (presidential adviser, once – Musk), G{overnment} [head of…]. Our second living person today. | |
| 28 | He puts people out with article on kinky sex (7) |
| SANDMAN | |
| S AND M (kinky sex}, AN (indefinite article). In Germanic and Scandinavian folklore the Sandman brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling sand or dust in people’s eyes. I heard him mentioned in American songs in my childhood, so the legends must have travelled. | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | More sensitive, overturned Duke’s compensation (6) |
| REWARD | |
| RAW-ER (more sensitive) reversed [overturned], D (duke) | |
| 2 | Mother supported by arthritic dog (7) |
| MASTIFF | |
| MA (mother), STIFF (arthritic) | |
| 3 | Suggests friendless Billy drinks at home (9) |
| NOMINATES | |
| NO MATES (friendless Billy) contains [drinks] IN (at home). ‘Billy no mates’ is British slang for a person with no friends. There’s no Billy as such; it’s just a generic name. | |
| 4 | Outbreak in London borough announced locally (4) |
| ACNE | |
| Aural wordplay [announced locally]: “{H}ackney” (London Borough). Hackney is in East London where they drop their haitches don’t-yer-know, and ‘locally’ indicates that’s what’s going on here. As some of you may be eating breakfast I won’t expand on how acne = outbreak. | |
| 5 | Go faster than stalling bikers when half-cut in far-off place (5,5) |
| OUTER SPACE | |
| OUTPACE (go faster than) containing [stalling] {bik}ERS [half-cut]. A deep slice off one end this time. | |
| 6 | Centre of Great Lake is scary (5) |
| EERIE | |
| {gr}E{at} [centre of…], ERIE (lake) | |
| 7 | Wonderful gallery is overhead (7) |
| ACETATE | |
| ACE (wonderful), TATE (gallery). Acetates and overheads are both terms for the pictures or images placed on the plates of overhead projectors. | |
| 8 | Judge ties up partner (8) |
| ESTIMATE | |
| Anagram [up] of TIES, then MATE (partner) | |
| 13 | Discontinuing accomplished mischief-making? (10) |
| PROROGUING | |
| PRO (accomplished – professional), ROGUING (mischief-making). A term heard most commonly here when Parliament is prorogued, i.e. the parliamentary session is cut short. It differs from dissolution in that MPs retain their seats and it does not automatically lead to a general election. | |
| 15 | Republican drops in on President for collection of pipes? (4,5) |
| REED ORGAN | |
| Bearing in mind that this is a Down clue: In RE (on) + ERDOĞAN (President of Turkey), R (Republican) drops to make RE + EDORGAN. I was able to biff this once a few checkers were in place, which was fortunate as I’ve not heard of the Turkish leader so I could never have constructed the answer from wordplay alone. It didn’t help that President Reagan was so nearly there! This is the third living person reference in today’s puzzle, two of whom I’ve never heard of and one I wish I hadn’t. [Edit for late-comers and for the archive: It has been pointed out correctly in the comments below that a REED-ORGAN, as its name implies, uses reeds to produce sound and doesn’t contain any pipes.] | |
| 16 | In general, answer was recalled with difficulty (2,1,5) |
| AS A WHOLE | |
| A (answer), then WAS reversed [recalled], HOLE (difficulty). I’d have thought ‘on the whole’ was ‘in general’ and AS A WHOLE something a little different, but perhaps that’s just me. | |
| 18 | Universal acclaim for lift (7) |
| UPRAISE | |
| U (universal), PRAISE (acclaim) | |
| 19 | Weapon is flipping expensive on 5th of November (7) |
| SIDEARM | |
| IS reversed [flipping], DEAR (expensive), {Nove}M{ber} [5th of…] | |
| 20 | Lean on body part (6) |
| TENDON | |
| TEND (lean – be inclined), ON | |
| 22 | Large animal in river (5) |
| HIPPO | |
| HIP (in – fashionable), PO (river) | |
| 24 | Manager is stud (4) |
| BOSS | |
| Two meanings, e.g. a stud on the centre of a shield is called a boss | |
ğ in Turkish (g with an upside-down hat) is generally silent — as in ‘değil’ meaning ‘not’. There is a separate letter ‘g’, but that is not in Erdoğan. I knew my Turkish degree, under the guidance of the splendid Professor Geoffrey Lewis, would come in handy one day. (Watch out also for the letter ‘c’ which is pronounced ‘j’.) A pedant might argue that the clue at 15 d is faulty because the president’s name does not actually contain a letter ‘g’, as in ORGAN. I think the rest of us would tell the pedant to shut up. 18’05”.
Well, don’t ever tell me that wavelength isn’t a thing! After LindsayO mentioned in the Quickie blog that the 15×15 was quite approachable, I thought I was in for a relatively easy time, only to find it’s a stinker! Yet everyone here disagrees, so I can only put it down to a completely different mindset to all of you. (No other female comments yet apparently – is that of any significance?) Having finished, laboriously, after a second session, with the totally unparseable ACETATE, I had recourse to a dictionary to explain the link to overhead. I did parse everything else, including ERELONG and REED ORGAN, though it still took me too long, put off by the incorrect reference to pipes. TREE FARM, SQUASH RACKETS, DOODLE, OUTER SPACE and even WESTMINSTER held me up for ages, despite none of them being terribly difficult. Oh well, tomorrow’s another day…
My best effort for a long while, but had to look up SQUASH RACKETS, as I didn’t connect the QU as is usual! ( Also running out of time – lots of other life to be lived). Enjoyed the freshness of some of the cluing ( the idea of professional roguing being a bit strange, and I knew the word but not its meaning. No excuse really.). HIPPO very neat, but BOSS a bit QC. And for some reason I couldn’t recall Hackney for the outbreak ( even though my school was in Hackney Wick – but then we certainly didn’t drop our aitches!). COD POISON GLAND. But a lot of other fun stuff.