The Crossword Club solvers, included your blogger, posted some fast times with this puzzle (Dave Howell did it in 8.6 and I managed 20.45) so the references or the construction of the clues must have been unusually accessible, with the exception of 3D which caused some head-scratching. Some very naughty boys and a couple of bunnies plus some very neat misdirection gave this quite a flavour and it could be solved (but not blogged – at least not by me) without recourse to Google. One DNK and one unknown quotation but both easy to guess. Definitions in italics underlined. Answers in bold caps.
Across
1. Starting point for translating Welsh novel (13)
TRAINSPOTTING. The 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh (who is Scottish) was adapted into a 1996 film that was a popular and critical hit. I haven’t read the book because I’m not keen on reading a lot of dialect whether it’s by Walter Scott or Welsh, and I didn’t see the movie either because I have a hair-trigger gag reflex…. Quite a few bad boys in this. P.S. Just read in the NY Times that a sequel is about to be released.
9. Copperfield’s boss is mostly exhausted and down (7)
SPENLOW. He is the lawyer who is David’s employer and the father of Dora, his first wife. SPEN[t]=mostly exhausted. LOW=down.
10. Soldiers mass in support for Urquhart’s position? (7)
PREMIER. R[oyal] E[ngineers]=soldiers with M=mass contained in PIER=suppoer. Francis Urquhart, played by Ian Richardson, is the scheming PM in the 1990s tv series House Of Cards.
11. Moral story that doesn’t start well enough? (4)
ABLE. Remove the F from the beginning of FABLE=moral story (doesn’t start).
12. Bust weight enthrals The Queen’s biographer (amongst other things) (10)
CHESTERTON. G.K. CHEST=bust and TON=weight containing (enthrals) ER=the Queen. I think of him mostly as the author of the Father Brown books but he was prolific and wrote biographies of G.B. Shaw, Dickens and others.
14. “I can’t stand a naked _ _, anymore than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action ” (Tennessee Williams) (5,4)
LIGHT BULB. From A Streetcar Named Desire and spoken by Blanche Dubois.
16. Publicity about champion horse bred for its gait (5)
PACER. PR=publicity surrounding (about) ACE=champion.
18. Sort of literary type to get on with books (5)
AGENT. AGE= get on. NT=books.
19. US deals do badly, work of a Russian? (4,5)
DEAD SOULS. Anagram (badly) of US DEALS DO. 19th Century novel by Nikolai Gogol.
21. Dyke gets angry with so-so TV writer (10)
DOSTOEVSKY. Anagram (gets angry) of DYKE (a rather controversial word in the US) and SO SO TV. Feodor, author of 6D among other famous works. I was glad of the anagram because there are a number of variants on the spelling and I get confused.
24. Lead the FBI’s Clarice half dismissed (4)
STAR. Clarice Starling is the GWoman in the Thomas Harris novel (and the movie adapted from it) Silence Of The Lambs. Remove (dismiss) LING – half of her name.
26. Yarn that’s a part of Chasing Rainbows (7)
INGRAIN. This was my DNK. Hidden clue contained in [Chas]ING RAIN[bows]. Apparently when a noun it’s a carpeting term.
27. Play 45 minutes then change ends for Northern FA (3,4)
OUR TOWN. 45 minutes=3/4 of an [h]OUR with NOWT=nothing in the Northern UK=F[anny] A[dams] switching ends. 1930s play by American Thornton Wilder. Seeing that this puzzle had a Talos by-line and knowing that he is a football aficionado the FA was an effective ruse and gave me (happily temporarily) a sinking feeling.
28. Rabbit, badger and nag weathered bad storm (5,8)
HARRY ANGSTROM. Principal character in John Updike’s “Rabbit” novels. HARRY=badger, with anagrams (weathered and bad) of NAG and STORM.
Down
1. Hegel put off tackling a philosopher’s novel (3,6)
THE PLAGUE. Anagram (off) of HEGEL PUT with (tackling) A. Work by Jean Paul Sartre. Ahem non! C’est Albert Camus. Merci Kevin.
2. Ms. Bowles hasn’t the head to collaborate (4)
ALLY. Sally Bowles is the protagonist in Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye To Berlin stories (and in the movie adaptation Cabaret), removing her head.
3. Drunk hens down about posh Bridget’s job (10)
NEWSHOUND. Anagram (drunk) of HENS DOWN with U=posh. This was the one that caused confusion. Some of us assumed this referred to Bridget Jones of “diary” fame. Her fictional job was in PR for a publishing company. Her creator, Helen Fielding, was indeed a “newshound” of a sort as a columnist for The Independent where the character originated. But she wasn’t a reporter which is what the word usually means. Perhaps we could get an authoritative word on this?
4. Logger in high spirits by hollowed out yews (5)
PEPYS. Samuel. Not a lumberjack but the 17th Century diarist who was rather more consequential than Bridget. PEP=high spirits, with Y[ew]S (hollowed out).
5. Play about politician’s set teeth on edge! (3,7)
THE TEMPEST. Anagram (about) of SET TEETH surrounding (on edge) MP=politician.
6. Paper and books opened by one Prince Myshkin? (5)
IDIOT. ID=papers. OT=books containing (opened by) I=one. By 21A
7. Doctor’s up in anger about chap who continued Fleming’s work (7)
GARDNER. John. DR=doctor reversed (up) in anagram (about) of ANGER. He extended the Bond franchise for Fleming Publications.
8. Vacuous imbeciles back king and country (6)
ISRAEL. I[mbecile]S (vacuous) with LEAR=king reversed (back).
13. Still something found in a writer’s bureau, I’m told? (10)
STATIONARY. Homophone (I’m told) of “stationery”.
15. McEwan’s novel bet on greyhounds brings in pound (5,4)
BLACKDOGS. BACK=bet, DOGS=greyhounds, containing (brings in) L=pound. 1992 novel by Ian McEwan.
17. Type of drama to see upcoming Othello? (9)
COURTROOM. COURT=see, as in “woo” or “date”. ROOM=moor (Othello) reversed (upcoming). Witness For The Prosecution, for example.
18. A Liberal Democrat and wealthy bad boy author? (7)
ALDRICH. Thomas Bailey, American author. A L=Liberal D=Democrat with RICH=wealthy. The Bad Boy is his 1870 novel.
20. They’ll have one on the rocks with their Lilt (6)
SIRENS. Double definition. It took a while to parse this because I’d never heard of the drink (Lilt). Apparently the Coca Cola Company doesn’t sell it in the US. Good one.
22. “If there are no spots on a — cube then I’ve just put dice in my tea” (Robert Rankin) (5)
SUGAR. I didn’t know this quotation but it was a cinch to guess. From his comic 1991 novel The Antipope (which has a couple more bad boys in it).
23. French wine overwhelms edith Nesbit initially – it’s toxic stuff (5)
VENIN. VIN=French wine containing (overwhelms) E[dith] N[esbit] (initially).
25. Name for rabbit about to be potted by British queen (4)
BRER. RE=about contained in B=British and R=queen. Clever bunny from the Uncle Remus tales from African American folklore as written by Joel Chandler Harris.
3D: I also didn’t know that BJ spent some of her time as a TV newshound (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vQPmO3i7Y). Maybe not enough of her time for this clue to be used in a harder puzzle, now that I know others struggled too.
24 reminded me how weird I always found it to hear Anthony Hopkins pronouncing Clarice the American way instead of like my auntie’s name. Incidentally, just happened across the QI claim that Hannibal Lecter’s infamous liver, fava beans and chianti quote is a clever medical joke.
Thanks for the blog, Olivia.
I particularly appreciated the wordplay for both bits of OUR TOWN, with its football diversion.
PEPYS as a logger took a while to sink in
Fine blog Olivia, looking forward to your name check in a couple of weeks time. And getting the answer to 5ac past the censors in next week’s blog.