Sunday Times 4738 by David McLean - irreverence tempered by competence

17:08. I made slightly heavy weather of this one, putting GO OFF ON A TANGENT at 8dn and then not reconsidering it for far too long. This made 17ac difficult. I eventually sorted that out but never noticed – even when checking my answers – that I had typed TENGENT, so I won’t be winning a fancy pen this week.

I thought this was a smashing puzzle though, full of wit. 22ac is delightfully naughty, for instance, as are 27ac and 6dn. 28ac is neat, and topical. Clue of the day to 8dn though, for its cheeky reference to the world’s most terrifying orange man. You have to laugh, or you’d cry.

Credit to Harry also for what I think is probably the first appearance of RT/retweet. Good to see the Sunday Times crossword reflecting the development of the language.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*.

Across
1	Name in sets of clothing and some woollies?
	KNITWEAR - K(N)IT, WEAR.
5	Daring to go out dressed like a queen
	IN DRAG - (DARING)*.
10	All aboard on rail at Barking central today?
	TRAINLOAD - (ON RAIL AT)*, toDay.
11	Dismiss time-consuming Danish construction firm?
	LET GO - LE(T)GO.
12	What’s this torture … love?
	HELLO - HELL, O. In the policeman – ‘allo ‘allo ‘allo, what have we here, let’s be ‘avin’ you – sense.
13	Fifteen go mad driving on course
	TEEING OFF - (FIFTEEN GO)*.
14	Information such as O is circular?
	NEWSLETTER - NEWS (information), LETTER (such as O).
17	Hurried to eat seconds, sign of liking one’s food?
	FAST - FA(S)T. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking that this was going to be a word meaning ‘hurried’ containing S to give a word meaning ‘liking one’s food’. But it isn’t.
19	Retweet for an audience into theatrical stuff
	ARTY - sounds like ‘RT’, which is short for ‘retweet’ on Twitter. Somewhat to my surprise it’s in both Collins and ODO. Chambers is holding out.
20	Company bringing gas into Europe, perhaps
	CONTINGENT - CONTIN(G)ENT. I was a bit surprised by G for ‘gas’: I don’t remember seeing it before. It’s in ODO though.
22	Extremely drunk bishop caught in palace in pants
	INCAPABLE - (PALACE IN)* containing B (bishop), with PANTS as the anagrind.
24	Pub entertainment said to raise a smile?
	IN FUN - sounds like ‘inn fun’. Because if you say something ‘in fun’ you are saying it to raise a smile.
26	Best put down roofing material around back of house
	ELITE - reversal of TILE, housE. ‘Put down’ is just filler, I think: an instruction to ‘put down’ the elements of the wordplay. Nothing wrong with that, I hasten to add.
27	Party with old judge on ecstasy — tell me more!
	ELABORATE - E (ecstasy), LAB (still a party at the time of going to press), O, RATE.
28	Not so happy the hard left U-turned over bill
	SADDER - reversal of REDS containing AD.
29	Never ever enter houses showing great respect
	REVERENT - contained in ‘never ever enter’.

Down
1	Advisory groups upset I can’t be in sketch
	KITCHEN CABINETS - (I CAN’T BE IN SKETCH)*. I struggled with this clue: eventually I had to get up from the computer and find a piece of paper to write the letters out on.
2	Altogether naked when everything’s said and done?
	IN ALL - ‘naked’ here is an instruction to remove the outside (the clothing, as it were) of fINALLy.
3	Just following desire? In a way that’s immoral
	WANTONLY - WANT (desire), ONLY (just).
4	Roughlyround
	AROUNDBOUT - DD.
6	Farron’s low point? Cable supporters going topless in tights
	NYLONS - farroN, pYLONS. The last letter of ‘Farron’ is its ‘low point’ because this is a down clue.
7	A hundred bottles I put by river — beer logic?
	RATIONALE - R, A T(I)ON, ALE.
8	Suddenly change course and sternly reprimand Trump?
	GO OFF AT A TANGENT - or a TAN GENT. The colour is a bit off and the word GENT is questionable but the clue is still a cracker.
9	One supporting new tree and hedges close to ash
	ADHERENT - (TREE AND)* containing asH.
15	Big-bellied husband? Awfully wild itch to hug him!
	WITH CHILD - (WILD ITCH)* containing H.
16	Russia’s ready to occupy Telford’s outskirts — worried?
	TROUBLED - ROUBLE (Russia’s ready) contained in TelforD.
18	One against school taking English? Quite the opposite!
	ANTIPODE - ANTI, POD (school, see also GAM), E.
21	A round figure? That girl must tuck into supper regularly
	SPHERE - SuPpEr (supper regularly) containing HER.
23	What ends séance after hours to raise spirits
	ELATE - seancE, LATE.
25	Spoil brought up in iron support structure
	FRAME - MAR (spoil) reversed inside FE (iron).