Time: 59:09
I had all of the bottom half solved (and not a single answer in the top) as 23 minutes ticked by, until 9ac and 4dn led to an eventual breakthrough. Proper Friday stuff, but of the sort that leaves you feeling accomplished rather than frustrated.
The two excellent &lits were the standout. I also quite like the deviousness of an un-signposted ‘which’ in the parsing (always gets a Ha! from me, but I may be in the minority).
Is my attempt at 10ac what was meant?
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Report on small issue of litter engulfing green (7) |
| RECOUNT – RUNT (small issue of litter) containing (engulfing) ECO (green). | |
| 5 | Sweet and sour chops left by sink (7) |
| GUMDROP – GlUM (sour) after deleting (chops) ‘l’ (left) then DROP (sink). | |
| 9 | Smitten orc left exposed in shower of pitch (5,4) |
| TENOR CLEF – hidden in (exposed) smitTEN ORC LEFt. | |
| 10 | Cut small outgrowth of nuts (5) |
| SHORN – S (small) + HORN (outgrowth of nuts). At least I think so – total guess for me. The water caltrop (an edible nut) has horn-like outgrowths that resemble outstretched bat wings or horns. AA has it: outgrowths from one’s head (nut). | |
| 11 | Cast divide revolutionary new parts (5) |
| FLUNG – GULF (divide) reversed (revolutionary) parted by N (new). | |
| 12 | Family let out a boy serving sandwiches (9) |
| PARENTAGE – PAGE (boy serving) contains (sandwiches), all of RENT (let out) + A. | |
| 13 | Mobile reception bar on TV rose for biographical show (13) |
| RETROSPECTIVE – anagram of (mobile) RECEPTIon (minus (bar) ‘on’) + TV + ROSE. | |
| 17 | Eg, I help to sort snakes (13) |
| HERPETOLOGIST – anagram of (snakes) EG I HELP TO SORT. &lit, my FOI, and favourite of the day. | |
| 21 | Well bores set up on windy bluff (9) |
| OUTSPOKEN – OK (well) contained by (bores) an anagram of (windy) SET UP ON. | |
| 24 | Amateur guards respecting women-only space (5) |
| HAREM – HAM (amateur) containing (guards) RE (respecting). | |
| 25 | English dons returned, unopened, a Marx work (5) |
| OPERA – E (English) contained by (dons) the reversal of (returned) hARPO (a Marx brother) missing its first letter (unopened). | |
| 26 | Console dull, love-filled husband unhappy on retirement (9) |
| DASHBOARD – reversal of (on retirement) the whole lot: DRAB (dull) containing O (love-filled) + H (husband) + SAD (unhappy). | |
| 27 | Half undressed, shy about large exercise clothes (7) |
| TOPLESS – TOSS (shy) containing (about), L (large) which PE (exercise) contains (clothes). | |
| 28 | Exhausted state cops remaining in expression of defiance (2,5) |
| SO THERE – outermost letters from (exhausted) StatE containing (cops) OTHER (remaining). Not my first thought for ‘remaining’, but all’s fair. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sanction absent leader of government, please (6) |
| RATIFY – gRATIFY (please) missing (absent) the first (leader) of ‘government’. | |
| 2 | Brief doubt quelled by racket gold winner (9) |
| CONQUEROR – all-but-the-last of (brief) QUERy (doubt) containd (quelled) by CON (racket) with OR (gold). Annoyingly, I guessed this from ‘gold’ and ‘question’/’query’, but thought I was looking for a noise rather than a trick, and left it blank until much later. | |
| 3 | Just winning tackle before start of half time (7) |
| UPRIGHT – UP (winning) + RIG (tackle) before HT (half time). | |
| 4 | Zoom call having to suppress extremes of noise (9) |
| TELEPHOTO – TELEPHOne (call) with TO, after deleting (suppress) the first and last from (extremes of) NoisE. | |
| 5 | Flourish of whirling cloth skirts (2,3) |
| GO FAR – OF which the reversal of (whirling) RAG (cloth) surrounds (skirts). | |
| 6 | Old lady bearing sound of fraternity (7) |
| MASONIC – MA (old lady) + SONIC (bearing sound). | |
| 7 | Red Mexican river bird passing over tip of Yucatán (5) |
| RIOJA – RIO (river, in Spanish/Mexican) + JAy (bird) deleting (passing over) the first (tip) of Yucatán. | |
| 8 | Church and religion brought up after raising of shot glasses (5-3) |
| PINCE-NEZ – CE (Church of England) + reversal of (brought up ) ZEN (religion), all after a reversal of (raising) NIP (shot). Spectacles that grip your nose rather than hang from your ears. | |
| 14 | Expert projections about conclusion of suffering? (9) |
| PROGNOSES – PRO (expert) and NOSES (projections) containing (about) last (conclusion) of sufferinG. Another excellent &lit. | |
| 15 | Common boundary is in fact strewn with trees cut on either side (9) |
| INTERFACE – anagram of (strewn) IN FACT with tREEs excluding the outer letters (cut on either side). | |
| 16 | Drive away with traffic tickets and string of penalties (5-3) |
| SHOOT-OUT – SHOO (drive away) + TOUT (traffic tickets). | |
| 18 | Pay for current foreign-based stocks with euros (7) |
| EXPIATE – I (current) which EXPAT (foreign-based) contains (stocks) + E (euros). Pay, or make amends, for past misdeeds. | |
| 19 | Settle hours before long cases (7) |
| INHABIT – H (hours) which IN A BIT (before long) contains (cases). | |
| 20 | Muck carried by spades for one turning over soil (6) |
| SMUDGE – S (spades) and the reversal of (turning) EG (for one), all containing (over) MUD (soil). | |
| 22 | Drain last of ale from hammered pewter mug (5) |
| TWERP – deleting (drain) the ‘e’ (last letter of ale) from an anagram of (hammered) PeWTER. | |
| 23 | Acclaim bit of land this country’s given up (5) |
| KUDOS – SOD (bit of land) + UK (this country), all reversed (given up). | |
This took me a few minutes over the hour. As others have said, it was the right sort of difficult, not the wrong sort. I never managed to parse OPERA and wondered if it was a reference to ‘A Night at the Opera’
COD: INHABIT
I think the definition for 20D is [to] SOIL?
Muck is MUD carried by S and GE. Mud has an equivalence with muck which soil does not have, so it has to be parsed that way.