Times 26708 - "I'm a substitute....

Solving time: 32 minutes

Music: Art Bears: Hopes and Fears






I got through this one fairly quickly until the very end, and then became thoroughly stuck. The three that did me in were the 'attache'/'coati'/'naked eye' crossing. Of course, 'naked eye' was the last one in, as I trawled through the alphabet with minimal success. The number of English words that will fit in '_ A _ E _' is very large indeed, although most of them are clearly unsuitable.

For tonight's music, I offer the solution to yesterday's unposed question. Of course, Art Bears are not exactly antbears, but the 'n' was unchecked, and we did have 'French art' elsewhere in the puzzle.

Across
1	PURCHASER, PUR(CHASE)R, my FOI, an easy starter clue
6	REBEL, RE(B)EL.
9	TIBER, RE BIT backwards, as in 'Labour's criticism of the PM is starting to bite'.
10	ENTANGLES, anagram of AS GENTLE N, where N indicates a knight in chess notation.
11	NUCLEON, NU(CLEO[patra])N. Here, 'briefly' does not just mean 'take off a letter', but rather a slangish shortening of the royal name.
12	IMPASTO, I'M PASTO[r]. I was beating my brains trying to see how 'I'M PAST 0' meant 'leading the congregation', and then I saw it.
13	LET THEM EAT CAKE, LET THE MEAT CAKE.
17	INTELLIGENTSIA, anagram of ELITIST LEANING, a brilliant &lit anagram.
21	ERASMUS, SUMS ARE backwards, giving an entirely different Darwin than the one you expected. The grandfather of Charles, he was a fascinating character and anticipated some his famous grandson's ideas.
23	ATTACHE, A + T(CAT backwards)HE. A very clever and difficult clue.
25	STIR FRIED. Anagram of FIRST + R(I)ED.
26	BRACE, BRA(C)E, a word commonly found in 17th and 18th century poetry but not much used since.
27	ARENA, A + RENA[l].
28	GRAPEVINE, GRAPE + VIN + E.
Down
1	PATENTLY, PAT[i]ENTLY.
2	REBEC, the first letters of R[estaurant] E[xpenses], B[eing] E[xtremely] C[areful]. If you are not familiar with pre-modern instruments, you're going to have to trust the cryptic here.
3	HORSESHOE, HORSE + S + HOE. For once, heroin is not just 'H', which may throw some solvers off.
4	STERNUM, STERN + UM.
5	RETSINA, RET(S)INA. Sulphur, eh? I wouldn't be a bit surprised...
6	RUN UP, R.U. + PUN upside-down.
7	BILL SIKES, B(ILL S)IKES.
8	LISBON, backwards hidden in [s]NOBS, IL[l-mannered].
14	TENTATIVE, TENT + [n]ATIVE. If you thought 'local' would be bar, inn, or pub, you probably weren't alone.
15	CONSTABLE, CO (N) STABLE, two 'firms' in entirely different senses, as is often the case in these sorts of clues.
16	NAKED EYE, a very difficult cryptic definition. If you don't see it instantly, you may be stuck for a while.
18	LASTING, LAST IN G. Probably he is not very good if he is batting last; that would certainly be the case in baseball.
19	GRANDMA, GRAND + MA[d].
20	RED SEA, anagram of EAR containing ED'S. As often, 'small boy' indicates a shortened male name.
22	MAFIA, M[ake] A FIA[t]. Sounds like a possible punishment for the mafiosi - a life term in the Fiat plant.
24	COATI, COAT + I. The trick here is to make the solver think Hopi or Illini or something along those lines, No, it's that South American raccoon again