In fact while I was solving this puzzle it felt so much like Christmas that, as soon as I saw that the helpers for 2dn were C-R-S—, I wrote in CHRISTMAS without further ado. Too bad that had no relation to the clue!
FOI was 1ac, with a wry smile. LOI was 20ac, probably my clue of the day. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.
Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Deletions are in [square brackets]. The blog is in Times New Roman font.
Happy New Year to you all.
| Across | |
| 1 | Friar’s dance to which the children flock? (4,4) |
| TUCK SHOP – Friar Tuck’s hop. | |
| 5 | What one might do in second Chamonix winter? (6) |
| SHIVER – S (second), HIVER (French for ‘winter’, since Chamonix is in France). Chamonix is also a ski resort, so one might well shiver. The whole clue is definition, but only the last three words are wordplay, so it’s not an &lit. as I understand it. | |
| 10 | One reluctant to be seen thinking lover is untrue (9,6) |
| SHRINKING VIOLET – (THINKING LOVER IS*), ‘untrue’. | |
| 11 | Increase in power welcomed by American press (7) |
| UPSURGE – P for power, welcomed by U.S., then URGE (press). | |
| 12 | Nothing found in scrawny Cockney’s coat (4,3) |
| THIN AIR – THIN (scrawny), ’AIR (hair, with the aitch dropped). | |
| 13 | Escape from head, keeping right away (5,3) |
| BREAK OUT – BEAK (head), keeping R (right), OUT (away). I thought the beak was the magistrate a Bertie Wooster type fronted on the morning after the Boat Race after knocking the helmet off a police constable the night before. Apparently, it can also be a schoolteacher. | |
| 15 | The upright type that Horace was? (5) |
| ROMAN – double definition, the first relating to typesetting, the second to the Roman poet. | |
| 18 | Cow must be put down (5) |
| LOWER – another double definition, the first a bit playful (and perhaps a bit chestnutty). | |
| 20 | Reactionary old lefty one occasionally sees, bit of a plodder? (8) |
|
TORTOISE – reverse O (old) TROT (lefty) to give TORTO, thin I (one), S |
|
| 23 | Prison, one introducing new punishment (7) |
| PENANCE – PEN (prison), ACE (one) ‘introducing’ N (new). | |
| 25 | Charlie leaving secretly, desperate to work again (7) |
| RESTYLE – (SE-RETLY*). ‘desperate’. C for Charlie is left out of the anagram letters. | |
| 26 | Recognition of intelligence soldiers displayed in operation (15) |
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENT – KNOWLEDGE (intelligence), MEN (soldiers), all in ACT (operation). | |
| 27 | Yielding after loss of leader: the final scene? (6) |
| ENDING – drop the first letter from [b]ENDING. | |
| 28 | Strangely, no sniper actually present (2,6) |
| IN PERSON – (NO SNIPER*), ‘strangely’. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Alcoholic returning to drink? It’s a risk (4-2) |
| TOSS-UP – SOT returning, then SUP. | |
| 2 | What got you into the red? (9) |
| CORKSCREW – cryptic definition, predating the introduction of screw-tops on wine bottles. Yes, that sort of red … not your bank statement. | |
| 3 | Performed song from the south that goes down well in Spain? (7) |
| SANGRIA – SANG (performed), AIR (song, ‘from the south’, meaning backwards since this is a down clue.) | |
| 4 | Make position clear — like Dolly perhaps, quietly pushing Victor out (5) |
| OPINE – Dolly the sheep was OVINE. Change V for Victor to P for quietly. | |
| 6 | Husband getting more nonchalant — and more dangerous (7) |
| HAIRIER – H (husband), AIRIER (more nonchalant). | |
| 7 | Miscreant, but not in the House (5) |
| VILLA – VILLA[in], minus IN. | |
| 8 | Private leaving the field hurt? (8) |
| RETIRING – double definition: firstly in the sense of shy, secondly what an injured batsman does. | |
| 9 | Got at IRA suspect, a troublemaker (8) |
| AGITATOR – (GOT AT IRA*), ‘suspect’. | |
| 14 | Sneakily manipulating New York hostel (2,3,3) |
| ON THE SLY – (N.Y. HOSTEL*), ‘manipulating’. | |
| 16 | Face Yankee exercising, when bringing food (5,4) |
MUSHY PEAS – MUSH (face), Y for Yankee. There was a discussion in last week’s blog about whether there could be a drink made from mushy peas. I thought  kevingregg nailed it: It would be odd if they had, as they haven’t yet made a food from them.
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| 17 | Petticoat on bride’s attendant — not quite making it? (8) |
| SLIPPAGE – SLIP (petticoat), PAGE (attendant). | |
| 19 | Criticise superior in service? That takes neck! (3,4) |
| RUN DOWN – U (superior) in R.N, then DOWN (neck). | |
| 21 | Filthy river reporter’s identified (7) |
| OBSCENE – OB (a river in Western Siberia), SCENE (sounds like ‘seen’ to our reporter) | |
| 22 | Old revolutionary spoke at length (4,2) |
| WENT ON – NOT NEW (old, ‘revolutionary’). | |
| 24 | Clergymen finally grew hot, wanting bishop exposed (5) |
| NAKED – N (clergyman, ‘finally’), [b]AKED. | |
| 25 | Creator of works endlessly crumbling away (5) |
| RODIN – [e]RODIN[g], ‘endlessly’. | |
At 20ac remembering the Roald Dahl story ‘Esio Trot’ speeded up the solving of TORTOISE partially clued by ‘reactionary old lefty’.
‘Neck’ meaning ‘cheek’ in the surface reading at 19dn but cluing ‘down’ in the sense of ‘having a drink’ was handy after recent discussions here.
My COD TO CORKSCREW with a chuckle in the direction of vinyl1 for his take on it.
Edited at 2019-12-28 09:43 pm (UTC)
52 minutes all told. Enjoyed 2d once I’d finally figured it out. FOI 1a TUCKSHOP—which was an amusingly archaic word even back when I was at school—LOI 13a BREAK OUT.
My last two were THIN AIR and RETIRING which took me ages.
COD to WENT ON. I liked that very much -along with mushy peas, now universally served (in my experience) in posh pubs with fish and chips.
David
Edited at 2019-12-28 10:53 am (UTC)
COD: CORKSCREW.
FOI TUCK SHOP
LOI MUSHY PEAS
COD OPINE
TIME 7:49