Time: 50 minutes. Not the easiest of Tuesday puzzles be everything was gettable and most of the clues were varied and interesting.
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 Caret 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 | Straight entertainers with stuffing knocked out by a funny show (2,2,5) |
| AS IT COMES – A, SITCOM (funny show), E{ntertainer}S [with stuffing knocked out]. Liquor may be taken straight / as it comes / with nothing added. | |
| 6 | Split blades (5) |
| GRASS – Two meanings, the first as ‘inform on’ | |
| 9 | Percussion ensemble with something to play, short track (7) |
| GAMELAN – GAME (something to play), LAN{e} (track – path) [short]. ODE: gamelan – a traditional instrumental ensemble in Java and Bali, including many bronze percussion instruments. | |
| 10 | Parallel eating habits originally related to nutrition (7) |
| TROPHIC – TROP⁁IC (parallel) containing [eating] H{abits} [originally]. Tropic – the parallel of latitude 23°26ʹ north (tropic of Cancer) or south (tropic of Capricorn) of the equator. Trophic – relating to feeding and nutrition – I don’t recall meeting this before. | |
| 11 | Beat time, having raised orchestral baton first of all (5) |
| THROB – T{ime} + H{aving} + R{aised} + O{rchestral} + B {aton} [first of all] | |
| 12 | I go in nest, after flying about, for feeding (9) |
| INGESTION – Anagram [after flying about] of I GO IN NEST | |
| 14 | Sweet or savoury dish, mixed type (3) |
| PIE – Two meanings. I thought the second was to do with piebald horses or magpies being of two colours, but Chambers has simply: pie – confusedly mixed type (printing). | |
| 15 | Heavenly body gave interns breaks (7,4) |
| EVENING STAR – Anagram [breaks] of GAVE INTERNS | |
| 17 | One drink, Australian opening port, nothing special (1,4,1,5) |
| A DIME A DOZEN – I (one) + MEAD (drink) + OZ (Australian) contained by [opening] AD⁁EN (port) | |
| 19 | Only a handful I’m relieved to hear? (3) |
| FEW – Aural wordplay [to hear]: “phew” (I’m relieved) | |
| 20 | Drink separately in fun (9) |
| TEASINGLY – TEA (drink), SINGLY (separately) | |
| 22 | Camel leaving river with antelope (5) |
| ELAND – {Cam}EL (leaving river – R. Cam), AND (with) | |
| 24 | Queen rejected by girl, possibly put out again? (7) |
| REISSUE – ER (Queen) reversed [rejected], ISSUE (girl, possibly – offspring generally) | |
| 26 | Demanding individual, one no longer taking a part? (7) |
| EXACTOR – EX-ACTOR (one no longer taking a part) | |
| 27 | Raised mark on back of hand resided (5) |
| DWELT – {han}D [back of…], WELT (raised mark) | |
| 28 | High jinks in Equus, perhaps (9) |
| HORSEPLAY – HORSE PLAY (Equus, perhaps). Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer, about a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses. | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Answer that’s not filled in, understood in secret language (5) |
| ARGOT – A{nswe}R [that’s not filled in], GOT (understood) | |
| 2 | Dip very short tongue? (7) |
| IMMERSE – 1 MM (very short – 1 millimetre), ERSE (tongue) | |
| 3 | Suit hosting party concerned with vegetarian food (9) |
| CALABRESE – CA⁁SE (law suit) containing [hosting] LAB (political party) + RE (concerned with) | |
| 4 | Newsworthy story best friend chewed over here? (3,5,3) |
| MAN BITES DOG -A cryptic hint referring to the adage that a man’s best friend is his dog. The definition refers to the idea that ‘dog bites man’ is no news whereas ‘man bites dog’ would be newsworthy. | |
| 5 | Sponge cakes go flat in the end (3) |
| SOT – {cake}S + {g}O + {fla}T [in the end]. Both are terms for a heavy drinker. | |
| 6 | I’m disgusted by 24 six-packs? (5) |
| GROSS – Two meanings. 24 x 6 = 144 (a gross). | |
| 7 | Infidel witnessing robbery? (7) |
| ATHEIST – AT HEIST (witnessing robbery) | |
| 8 | Part of scrum down, score after collapse (6,3) |
| SECOND ROW – Anagram [after collapse] of DOWN SCORE | |
| 13 | Beastly thing and gruesome display for the audience (7,4) |
| GRIZZLY BEAR – Aural wordplay [for the audience]: GRIZZLY / “grisly”(gruesome) + BEAR / “bare” (display – expose). Edited. | |
| 14 | Lit up — as ceilings, perhaps? (9) |
| PLASTERED – Two meanings | |
| 16 | Drink large rum and energy drink (6,3) |
| GINGER ALE – GIN (drink), anagram [rum] of LARGE, then E (energy) | |
| 18 | Picture this writer and soldier in shock (7) |
| IMAGINE – I (this writer), then GI (soldier) contained by [in] MA⁁NE (shock – hair) |
|
| 19 | Complex pattern generated by craft adrift on American lake (7) |
| FRACTAL – Anagram [adrift] of CRAFT, then A (American), L (lake). Collins: In geometry, a fractal is a shape made up of parts that are the same shape as itself and are of smaller and smaller sizes. Not a word I knew. It has made two previous appearances here, 15 and 16 years ago when I also didn’t know it. | |
| 21 | Introduce class who are popular? (5) |
| INSET – IN (popular), SET (class) | |
| 23 | Hat raised, lifted with courtesy, ultimately (5) |
| DERBY – BRED (raised) reversed [lifted], {courtes}Y [ultimately]. American for a bowler hat. | |
| 25 | Old letter delivered in time, thankfully (3) |
| ETH – Hidden [delivered in] {tim}E TH{ankfully}. A character in the runic alphabet aka ‘edh’. | |
I’m glad i started cheating on this one. I was sure I had gamelin right after nho of trophic or calabrese. Also nho sponge = drunk; so although I had that, it was pretty tentative. The NW was a pig for me. The cryptic for immerse was ungettable.