Wurm in a gentler mood than he sometimes is. That and a friendly grid made this a relatively rapid solve for me at 06:36, though as always your mileage may vary.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Pastry in cafe frump ordered (5,4) |
| CREAM PUFF – anagram [ordered] of “cafe frump”. | |
| 6 | Faculty notice about New Society (5) |
| SENSE – SEE [notice] going round [about] N [New] and S [Society]. | |
| 8 | Debauched and dissolute tribe entering queue (9) |
| LIBERTINE – anagram [dissolute] of “tribe” going inside [entering] LINE [queue]. I didn’t know that LIBERTINE could be an adjective as well as a noun, but it’s in the usual sources. | |
| 9 | Big animal Argentino keeps (5) |
| LARGE – hidden. | |
| 10 | Minding one’s business? (9) |
| BODYGUARD – a “minder” is a BODYGUARD, as popularised by the long-running ITV show, and I suppose that therefore if one is a bodyguard then minding is one’s business … I liked that, COD from me. | |
| 12 | Majestic month (6) |
| AUGUST – Ye Olde Double Definition. | |
| 13 | Spoil that short woman (6) |
| MARTHA – MAR [spoil] + THA{t} [that short] = random female name. | |
| 16 | Rebel in south demanding immediate action (9) |
| INSURGENT – IN [in] + S [south] + URGENT [demanding immediate action]. | |
| 18 | Island MP the Spanish urge forward (5) |
| IMPEL – I [island] + MP [err, MP] + EL [the Spanish]. | |
| 19 | Old Italians punished recusants (9) |
| ETRUSCANS – anagram [punished] of “recusants”. | |
| 21 | Adult model recalled Greek fabulist (5) |
| AESOP – A [adult] + reversal of POSE [model recalled]. | |
| 22 | Intoxicated Estonian’s feeling (9) |
| SENSATION – anagram [intoxicated] of “Estonian’s”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | English among stars in Sulawesi once (7) |
| CELEBES – E [English] inside [among] CELEBS [stars]. An Indonesian island (which some sources, eg Britannica, say is actually still called CELEBES, so the “once” is questionable). NHO and pretty jolly obscure, I thought, but fortunately the grid meant I only had to find one letter. | |
| 2 | War reporters: their bosses accepting award? (6) |
| EMBEDS – EDS, short for “editors”, are the “bosses” of “reporters”. Insert MBE [accepting award]. I’ve never encountered this noun, but reporters being “embedded” with troops was a familiar idea and the word play was clear enough. | |
| 3 | Millions love to tease Scottish girl (5) |
| MORAG – M [millions] + O [love] + RAG [tease]. | |
| 4 | Burn oil periodically in college (3) |
| UNI – every other letter [periodically] of “burn oil”. | |
| 5 | Pru finalised changes, revealing error (8,4) |
| FREUDIAN SLIP – anagram [changes] of “Pru finalised”. | |
| 6 | Upset as it is loner’s condition? (12) |
| SOLITARINESS – anagram [upset] of “as it is loner’s”. Feels a bit odd to have “loner” both as part of the anagram fodder and part of the definition, but I can’t see how to avoid that because “condition?” on its own doesn’t seem to me to be enough of a definition. [On edit – I may be wrong about this, having read the comments from BR and others.] I wondered if it was an &Lit, but I can’t see how “upset” could be part of the definition. Looking forward to the Clue Police turning up. Anyway, a very good if slightly sad clue. Chin up, Wurm. | |
| 7 | Bottle good as weapon (5,3) |
| NERVE GAS – NERVE [bottle, as in courage] + G [good] + AS [as]. | |
| 11 | Tries bait regularly with lures (8) |
| ATTEMPTS – AT [bait regularly] + TEMPTS [lures]. | |
| 14 | Little Arthur is an expert worker (7) |
| ARTISAN – ART [little Arthur] + IS + AN. | |
| 15 | Asian writer sent up boxer (6) |
| NEPALI – NEP [reversal of “pen”, writer sent up] + ALI [boxer]. | |
| 17 | God with saint and a believer (5) |
| RASTA – RA [ancient Egyptian sun god] + ST [saint] + A [and a]. Rastafarianism began in the 1930s and has a distinctive belief system. | |
| 20 | Manage to escape (3) |
| RUN – double definition. | |
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