Across
1 Eleanor admits yen for a dangerous 4 (5)
BYRON – Eleanor BRON (English actress, b. 1938) admits Y [yen]. The poet Lord Byron was of course “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. Ashamed to say I only really know Eleanor Bron from her two Doctor Who appearances.
4 He’ll produce villanelles initially, whenever that’s right, without signs of hesitation (9)
VERSIFIER – V{illanelles}, IF I.E. R [whenever | that’s | right], without ERS [signs of hesitation]; semi-&lit
9 Switched on, start to play “Taxman” (9)
ACTIVATED – ACT I [start to play] + V.A.T. ED [tax | man]
10 Article in alternative setting, like H P Lovecraft’s gods (5)
OTHER – THE [article] in OR [alternative] setting. I’d have thought the Lovecraftian deities were typically more OUTER than OTHER, but looking it up I see he did write a short story called “The Other Gods”…
11 Scene of assassination of King followed by Oliver (5)
KNOLL – K [king] followed by NOLL [a nickname for Oliver]. The grassy knoll from which JFK was (maybe) shot.
12 How mean one little conservative’s counterpart is, according to Private Willis (9)
ILLIBERAL – “one little conservative’s counterpart” is I L LIBERAL [one | little | liberal]: in Iolanthe, Private Willis sings:
Nature always does contrive – Fal lal la!
That every boy and every gal
That’s born into the world alive
Is either a little Liberal
Or else a little Conservative!
13 Surpassed unfashionable 4, we hear (7)
OUTDONE – OUT [unfashionable] + homophone of DONNE.
15 In one of which Olivia found love (7)
SCHOOLS – Not sure if this is a reference to Olivia Manning’s novel “School for Love”? I’m afraid to say I bunged this in after ruling out SHADOWS, assuming it was a Twelfth Night reference… but if it is, it’s gone over my head!
18 Mar true representation? It might (7)
ERRATUM – (MAR TRUE*) [“representation”], semi-&lit
20 One with a particular advantage over Meursault? (7)
INSIDER – Meursault being Camus’s Outsider.
21 What Hatter had on top of table, consuming seconds about start of hour (3,6)
TEA THINGS – T{able} + EATING S [consuming | seconds] about H{our}
23 Where generals might be having a term of imprisonment (5)
OFLAG – a not-very-cryptic cryptic definition? Or perhaps “of imprisonment” is cluing OF LAG? Reader, I biffed it.
25 Nine to one on “King of the Lapiths” (5)
IXION – IX [nine] to I ON [one | on]. Better known for being bound to a fiery wheel for eternity than for being any kind of wise and just monarch to the Lapiths.
26 Are insolent possibly, cracking up at these (3-6)
ONE-LINERS – reverse anagram, since if you “crack up” AT ONE LINERS, you get ARE INSOLENT.
27 One who might depict Tristan almost mad with agitation? (9)
DRAMATIST – (TRISTA{n} MAD*) [“with agitation”], &lit, though I’m not sure if it refers to any play in particular, perhaps an Arthurian film or TV show?
28 A little assassin in Japan (5)
NINJA – hidden &littishly in {assassi}N IN JA{pan}, and becoming something of a chestnut!
Down
1 He described an Exmoor romance as dark and something else besides (9)
BLACKMORE – BLACK [dark] + MORE [something else besides]. Richard Doddridge Blackmore, author of Lorna Doone, which I remember well from the bookshelves of my youth but doesn’t seem to be around much any more.
2 “… passion acts upon the human mind in a — compounded of the acuteness of sense and constitutional heat” (Tobias Smollett) (5)
RATIO
3 It’s blooming Weller at last, valet now getting replaced (9)
NAVELWORT – ({welle}R + VALET NOW*) [“getting replaced”]. Sam Weller was Mr Pickwick’s valet in the eponymous novel, of course.
4 Invite caller finally round to see “The Glass Menagerie” here (7)
VITRINE – (INVITE {calle}R*) [“round”]. A vitrine is a glass display case, in which you might well keep a glass menagerie a la the one in the Tennessee Williams play.
5 Thrashes Copperfield’s friend, taking one’s time (7)
RADDLES – David Copperfield’s best friend Tommy TRADDLES – take away his T.
6 To put a girdle round about the earth in quatrain or ballad (5)
INORB – hidden in {quatra}IN OR B{allad}; a poetic clue to describe a poetic word.
7 “Cameraman” is to go courting in lady’s department (9)
ISHERWOOD – IS + WOO [to go courting] in HER D [lady’s | department]. “I Am A Camera” is a play based on Isherwood’s “Goodbye to Berlin”?
8 Capek’s play set on a lake in the country (5)
RURAL – R.U.R. [Capek’s play] set on A L. R.U.R. is very well known to all sci-fi nerds as being the literary work which introduced the word “robot” to the world.
14 Triplets found in an inferno (5,4)
TERZA RIMA – cryptic def. The rhyme scheme of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno.
16 Such as Ban Zhao is to start to record what’s current in her dynasty (9)
HISTORIAN – IS TO R{ecord} + I [current] in HAN [Ban Zhao’s dynasty]. The first known Chinese female historian, in the first century.
17 Home perhaps of Prince of Aragon, a fool or a stupid leader turning up to retain silver (9)
SARAGOSSA – ASS [fool] OR A S{tupid} “turning up”, and “retaining” AG [silver]
19 Chap, Italian, with unknown number of novels originally included (7)
MANZONI MAN I [chap | Italian], including Z [unknown] + O{f} N{overs}, &lit. Great Italian writer of the early 19th century.
20 Look into the case? Morse has no alternative (7)
INSPECT – INSPECTOR, losing its OR [alternative].
21 Fielding may be a bit deep for this man (5)
THIRD – I think this is a sports-related cryptic definition, something to do with cricket. In the TLS? Heavens to Betsy! Pretty good Henry Fielding mislead though, either way.
22 Dye used by Montgomery’s laid-back girl on part of hair (5)
HENNA – reversed ANNE on H{air}. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables”, that is.
24 “They regularly retire every year at proper intervals to — of the spleen” (Oliver Goldsmith) (3,2)
LIE IN
My memory of Eleanor Bron in TW3 turns out to be mistaken, but she was in “Not so Much a Programme, More a Way of Life”, and allegedly inspired Eleanor Rigby.
Edited at 2017-04-22 02:18 pm (UTC)