Another rather off-beat but enjoyable puzzle, I thought, of typical 'midweek' medium difficulty, with no central theme but a good sprinkling of tasty foodie bits and some words to relish. I took me about 25 minutes to finish and sort out the reasons why; getting both long down clues at the sides made it much easier to fill in the gaps. There is nothing I had to look up, except to check my idea for the parsing of 3d was correct, at the end. No chemistry lessons, antelopes, plants or birds today.
| Across |
| 1 Pole in American airspace (5) |
| SINUS - S (south pole), IN US. Nice definition. |
| 4 Oxford grammarian and publisher offering course (5,4) |
| ONION SOUP - C.T.Onions, chap who edited the 4th edition of the OED; OUP = Oxford University Press. |
| 9Swimmer embarrassed by hairstyle (3,6) |
| RED MULLET - RED = embarrassed, MULLET = silly hairstyle. |
| 10Actress in Georgia with black men (5) |
| GABOR - GA = Georgia, B(lack), OR = men. Zsa Zsa Gabor, glamorous pre-war Hollywood actress from Hungary who had no less than 9 husbands. |
| 11Old Egyptian at that point holding sailor back (6) |
| THEBAN - THEN (at that point) holds BA = AB reversed. Chap from Thebes, Egypt. If you thought Thebes was in Greece, you were right, there are two of them. |
12Somewhat petty complaint rejected in break (8)
|
| SMALLISH - ILL reversed inside SMASH. |
| 14Risky vehicle departs after diversion on boundary (5,4) |
| HEDGE FUND - HEDGE = boundary (well it could be EDGE but that doesn't account for the H; a hedge can be like a fence). FUN = diversion, D(eparts). If you haven't been watching BILLIONS on Sky Atlantic, get the DVD set, it's brilliant. I'd give AXE Capital all my dosh to mind. |
16 Stove cool for second time (5)
|
| AGAIN - AGA = stove, IN = cool, with-it. |
17Country run by prominent Russian banker? (5)
|
| RURAL - R(un), URAL = Russian river. |
| 19 We go ninth after switch in wide position (2,3,4) |
| ON THE WING - (WE GO NINTH)*. |
| 21 Delay allowed returning books about small snail (8) |
| ESCARGOT - GRACE = time allowed; reverse it, insert S = ESCARG: add OT for books. |
22Writer who’s posh leaving Bedfordshire town on M1 (6)
|
| MILTON - MI = M1; LUTON = Bedfordshire town loses U = posh. We once had a long wait in transit at Luton Airport and we made the error of going into the town to shop; don't do it. Posh, it ain't. |
| 25Magistrate contributing to bizarre evening (5) |
| REEVE - Hidden word in BIZAR(RE EVE)NING. |
| 26Series from suicidal novel blocked by Universal (1,8) |
| I CLAUDIUS - (SUICIDAL)* (anagrind 'novel') with U inserted. |
27 Salesman still has time to collar people for rebate (9)
|
| REPAYMENT - REP (saleman) AY (still), T(ime), insert MEN = people. |
| 28 English army getting back to front shows spirit (5) |
| ETHOS - E (English), HOST = army, bring the T to the front. |
| Down |
1One picking up litter from field (9-6)
|
| STRETCHER-BEARER - Cryptic definition. |
2 New Critic losing head gets push (5)
|
| NUDGE - N(ew), Critic = JUDGE, loses head J. |
3Wurst from Brownshirts convention? (7)
|
| SAUSAGE - I did know this was the German for sausage. The Brownshirts, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, were called in German 'Sturmableitung' usually abbreviated to SA. And then, USAGE = convention. |
4Exclusively working with vergers in Ledbury (4)
|
| ONLY - ON = working, LY = 'vergers' or outside letters of Ledbury. |
5 Linda occasionally gets in close to cow (10)
|
| INTIMIDATE - LINDA occasionally, i.e. alternate leters of LINDA, = I D. Insert into INTIMATE = close. |
| 6 Endlessly making claims about woman (7) |
| NIGELLA - Making claims = ALLEGING, delete the end letter G then reverse. Does she actually cook, I wonder? Here's one I (or my Home Economist) made earlier. |
7 Get bag and boil it to prepare parts required (9)
|
| OBBLIGATI - (BAG BOIL IT)*. Italian musical term for instrumental bits which mustn't be omitted. |
| 8Reproduction Stonehenge assembled in capital (15) |
| PARTHENOGENESIS - Insert (STONEHENGE)* into PARIS, a capital city. |
13Transport gold to Alabamian settlement (10)
|
| AUTOMOBILE - AU (Au, gold symbol), TO, MOBILE (port city in Alabama). I was surprised, on checking that Alabamian is the more usual adjective, preferred to Alabaman. I don't know why I was surprised, really. |
15Involving muck but little brass? (4-5)
|
| DIRT-CHEAP - Cryptic definition. |
18 Clear criminal linked to New York theft (7)
|
| LARCENY - (CLEAR)*, anagrind 'criminal', NY. |
| 20 Irrational, copper being brought in before hedonist (7) |
| EPICURE - ERE = before; insert PI (pi, irrational number) and CU (Cu, copper). I think I am an epicure, but I don't think I am a Hedonist. Perhaps I just need more practice. |
23Member's part in Parliament ultimately wasted? (5)
|
| THIGH - It took me annoyingly long to see this and 28a, my last 2 in. T = Parliament ultimately; HIGH = wasted, e.g. on drugs. |
| 24Map course in vessel circling lake (4) |
| PLOT - POT around L. |