I needed a minute or two over an hour for this but I'm not sure why as there are no obscure words or references. As mentioned in my Quickie blog yesterday, I am indebted to mohn2 for a new method of producing the blog that saves a lot of time and I think he plans to make it available to other bloggers in due course if they are interested.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [indicators in square ones]
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Odd parts of theme, sacred, strangely, and profane (9) |
| DESECRATE - Anagram [strangely] of T{h}E{m}E [odd parts] and SACRED. "Profane" is usually encountered as an adjective but in this case it needs to be a verb for the definition to work. | |
| 6 | Large portion of church in decline (5) |
| LAPSE - L (large), APSE (portion of church) | |
| 9 | Report of West's agent producing a reaction (7) |
| OXIDANT - Sounds like [report of] "Occident" (West) | |
| 10 | Harmful liquid from Roman well sort of Buddhist swallowed (7) |
| BENZENE - BENE (well - Italian) containing [swallowed] ZEN (sort of Buddhist). I'm not entirely sure why this is defined as "harmful" though Collins mentions its use in insecticides which may be what the setter had in mind. | |
| 11 | Apostle's yard, Spooner says, where freight may be collected? (4,2,4) |
| PORT OF CALL - "Court" (yard) "of Paul" (apostle's) as Spooner might say. Yawn. | |
| 12 | Plane riven by small crack (4) |
| JEST - JET (plane) contains [riven by] S (small) | |
| 14 | Marine creature in fine fettle, flipping all but head (5) |
| HYDRA - HARDY (in fine fettle) with all but its first letter reversed [flipping all but head]. Again I'm not sure that being "in fine fettle" and "hardy" are one and the same though I suppose if one is the former one may also be the latter. | |
| 15 | Sheep's cheese (9) |
| LEICESTER - Two definitions. The "sheep" one was news to me. | |
| 16 | Lightersporting event likely to produce yawns? (4,5) |
| SLOW MATCH - A straight definition and a cryptic. I didn't know the straight one. | |
| 18 | Carnivore's length added to value (5) |
| RATEL - RATE (value), L (length). Also known as the honey badger. | |
| 20 | How to introduce agent's least talented opera singer? (4) |
| ALTO - First letters of [how to introduce] A{gent's} L{east} T{alented} O{pera} | |
| 21 | Grass outside grotto no good for foraging (10) |
| SCAVENGING - SING (grass -inform on) contains [outside] CAVE (grotto) + NG (no good) | |
| 25 | Drawing assistance from the East, a very small amount (7) |
| DIAGRAM - AID (assistance) reversed [from the East], GRAM (very small amount) | |
| 26 | More vocal fivesome put off by cramming in recess (7) |
| NOISIER - RE{v}ISION (cramming) [fivesome - v - put off] reversed [in recess]. I biffed this and took ages after completing the grid to spot the wordplay. | |
| 27 | Territory that’s visible on borders of this country (5) |
| YUKON - YON (visible) contains [on borders of] UK (this country). Part of the definition of "yon" is that the object being referred to is "within view". On edit, as suggested by keriothe below, it's probably YON (that) contains [visible on the borders of] UK (this country). | |
| 28 | Home I'd found amid exotic scenery (9) |
| RESIDENCY - I'D inside [found amid] anagram [exotic] of SCENERY | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Feeble Democrat raised flag (5) |
| DROOP - D (Democrat), POOR (feeble) reversed [raised] | |
| 2 | Came round in an agitated state (7) |
| STIRRED - Two definitions | |
| 3 | Something social climber might like to adapt for a mascot? (4,2,4) |
| COAT OF ARMS - Anagram [adapt] of FOR A MASCOT | |
| 4 | One means of conveying news feature the French banned (5) |
| ARTIC - ARTIC{le} (news feature) [the French - le - banned] | |
| 5 | European doctor, awfully bad, heading off to dress up (9) |
| EMBELLISH - E (European), MB (doctor), {h}ELLISH (awfully bad) [heading off] | |
| 6 | Series of personnel in office providing protection for board (4) |
| LINO - Hidden in [series of] {personne}L IN O{ffice} | |
| 7 | Chance for officials to get through to public bar? (7) |
| PREVENT - A cryptic definition of PR EVENT, and a straight one of the answer | |
| 8 | Voter's mark denied to distraught 15dn, Liberal (9) |
| ELECTORAL - Anagram [distraught] of LATECO{m}ER (15dn) [mark - m - denied], L (liberal). The apostrophe S indicating the possessive is essential to the definition. | |
| 13 | Consider what Milne had, presumably, when writing (4,2,4) |
| BEAR IN MIND - A straight definition and a cryptic one | |
| 14 | Farming partner given your backing (9) |
| HUSBANDRY - HUSBAND (partner), YR (your) reversed [backing] | |
| 15 | Three notes, the last penned by my entrant after deadline (9) |
| LATECOMER - LA (note 1), TE (note 2), then ME (note 3) inside [penned by] COR (my!) | |
| 17 | Stand above's unavailable — smelling foul (7) |
| OUTRANK - OUT (unavailable), RANK (smelling foul) | |
| 19 | Sixth sense that's lacking in education (7) |
| TUITION - {in}TUITION (sixth sense) [lacking in] | |
| 22 | Goddess of certain vessels, you could say (5) |
| VENUS - Sounds like [you could say] "veinous" (of certain vessels - blood). On edit: It has come to my attention (thanks, Malc) that there is another word "venous" which simply means relating to "veins" and that's the required homophone as it's pronounced like VENUS whereas the other word is said as "vane-ous". | |
| 23 | Effeminate guy has one tough game for United (5) |
| GIRLY - The U (United) in G{u}Y changes to I (one) + RL (tough game - Rugby League) | |
| 24 | Serving woman's resistance during latest uprising (4) |
| WREN - R (resistance) is contained by [during] NEW (latest) reversed [uprising] | |