I found this very hard in places. I took 1 hour but used aids for my last one in and later found an error at 1dn.
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 now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Be on mobile phone with old person preferring old-style landline? (8) |
| NEOPHOBE – Anagram [mobile] of PHONE O (old), then BE | |
| 5 | Nick mostly outside playing piece of music (6) |
| SONATA – S~ATA{n} (Nick – the devil) [mostly] containing [outside] ON (playing) | |
| 9 | Upright character enthralled by visits to nymph (8) |
| CALLISTO – I (upright character) contained [enthralled] by CALL~S (visits), TO | |
| 10 | Tried hard with slow movement, but one’s dropped out (3,1,2) |
| HAD A GO – H (hard), ADAG{i}O (slow movement) [one’s dropped out] | |
| 12 | Drunken wager in hotel bar? (8,4) |
| WATERING HOLE – Anagram [drunken] of WAGER IN HOTEL. One of many British euphemisms for a pub – a little more elegant than boozer! |
|
| 15 | Old star, no good in Oxford college (5) |
| ORIEL – O (old), RI{g}EL (star) [no good] | |
| 16 | Plan a chemist worked out for carbon capture (9) |
| SCHEMATIC – Anagram [worked out) of A CHEMIST containing [for…capture] C (carbon). I checked that although ‘schematic’ is more usually an adjective it can also be a noun. | |
| 18 | Walk round area with power to get vote (5,4) |
| STRAW POLL – STR~OLL (walk) containing [round] A (area) + W (with) + P (power). | |
| 19 | The Parisian fellow is deceived (3,2) |
| LED ON – LE (‘the’ Parisian), DON (fellow) | |
| 20 | A dear cat isn’t to be disturbed in garden plant (12) |
| TRADESCANTIA – Anagram [ to be disturbed] of A DEAR CAT ISN’T. I waited for all the checkers and then added the remaining anagrist to make something plausible. This has come up here on a couple of previous occasions but I can’t say I remembered it. | |
| 24 | Each baked item has excellent crust (6) |
| APIECE – PIE (baked item) contained by [has…crust] A~CE (excellent) | |
| 25 | Three characters in succession ’arass traitor? (8) |
| DEFECTOR – D E F (three characters in succession), {h}ECTOR (‘arass) | |
| 26 | Socialist sets on opponents at the table (6) |
| ENGELS – E N (opponents at the table – East and North at bridge), GELS (sets) | |
| 27 | Funny show inadequate, now sadly a disappointment (8) |
| COMEDOWN – COMED{y} (funny show) [inadequate], anagram [sadly] of NOW | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Something groovy — a hit on the radio (4) |
| NOCK – Aural wordplay [on the radio]: “knock” (hit). I had NICK. I wasn’t happy with my answer but it was all I could find to fit the checkers that satisfied at least part of the clue. Collins defines NOCK as: 1. a notch on an arrow that fits on the bowstring, 2. either of the grooves at each end of a bow that hold the bowstring. If I ever knew this I had forgotten it. | |
| 2 | City workers’ industrial action has no limits (4) |
| OSLO – {g}O SLO{w} (workers’ industrial action) [has no limits] | |
| 3 | One due to inherit fantastic wealth including a lot of land (4-2-3) |
| HEIR-AT-LAW – Anagram [fantastic] of WEALTH containing [including] IRA{n} (land) [a lot of…]. This rang a faint bell. | |
| 4 | First sign of bitterness, say, with strong drink’s flavouring (12) |
| BUTTERSCOTCH – B{itterness} [first sign of…], UTTER (say), SCOTCH (strong drink). My AI assistant advises: The flavour originated in Doncaster, England, in the early 19th century. The most widely accepted history traces it back to Samuel Parkinson, a confectioner who began selling “Doncaster Butterscotch” in 1817. It became so popular that it eventually received a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria in 1851. | |
| 6 | Mammal round mountains endlessly (5) |
| ORANG – O (round), RANG{e} (mountains) [endlessly] | |
| 7 | Like a diet of alien, with a pungent spice (10) |
| ASAFOETIDA – AS (like), anagram [alien] of A DIET OF, then A. This would have been my last one in but I knew I wouldn’t know the word so I cut my losses and reached for the Word Wizard. It has appeared before in a Sunday Times puzzle and 3 Jumbos, most recently in 2024, but I didn’t recognise it. |
|
| 8 | Teenager maybe soaring, having received financial help (10) |
| ADOLESCENT – A~SCENT (soaring) containing [having received] DOLE (financial help) | |
| 11 | Artist, male, one facing challenge rendered circle (12) |
| MICHELANGELO – M (male), I (one), anagram [rendered] of CHALLENGE, then O (circle) | |
| 13 | Put artist into mob to negotiate effectively (5-5) |
| HORSE-TRADE – SET (put) + RA (artist) contained by [into] HOR~DE (mob) | |
| 14 | Left one quiet Berkshire town getting message silently (3-7) |
| LIP-READING – L (left), I (one), P (quiet), READING (Berkshire town) | |
| 17 | Little creature struggled to walk, beginning to meander off in distance (9) |
| MILLIPEDE – LI{m}PED (struggled to walk) [beginning to meander off] contained by [in] MIL~E (distance) | |
| 21 | Old learner heard to get top grades? (5) |
| EXCEL – Aural wordplay [heard]: “Ex” (old), “L” (learner) | |
| 22 | Emperor, someone very funny cycling around (4) |
| OTHO – HO/OT (someone very funny} cycling around becomes the Roman Emperor OTHO | |
| 23 | Measure of certain fish caught and smuggled (4) |
| CRAN – C (caught), RAN (smuggled). Collins: a unit of capacity used for measuring fresh herring, equal to 37.5 gallons. A word I learnt from crosswords many decades ago. | |
Amazing, I solved this correctly without aids. I did a fair amount of biffing, including asafoetida, although I really couldn’t tell you what it is. The vowel placement in tradescantia was easy enough, but the T and the D could easily have been wrong. Nock? Not a clue, but the cryptic was clear. I did have a bit of trouble with Oslo, but having considered slowdown, go-slow was not too far away.
Time: 21:36
DNF
like Jack, I put in NICK faute de mieux, although looking at the definitions now, I think I vaguely knew NOCK; not that I’d ever have thought of it. I also put in NERO (one-r cycled), which of course put paid to DEFECTOR. Biffed TRADESCANTIA (knew the person, dnk the eponymous plant) and ASAFOETIDA (thought it was a herb).
I had NERO at first too (cycling “oner”). DEFECTOR betrayed my error.
17:03. Thank goodness we’ve moved on from obscurities like WATUSI to familiar everyday words like ASAFOETIDA and TRADESCENTIA! Think I’ll celebrate with a CRAN of herring.
Good challenge today, liked OSLO. Thanks setter and Jack.
I had never heard of NOCK, my POI—before I worked out the NHO TRADESCANTIA. Two plants clued by anagrams, damn!—but I knew the other one. CRAN as a measure of herring was a NHO too; Collins says the origin is unknown, but there is a French word spelled the same that seems related to “measure,” via “notch.”
Serious question: Is there some Cryptic Tournament of Champions coming up soon over there across the pond? I’m not used to seeing this much gobbledygook on Monday and Tuesday until September.