Friends, I regret to inform you that you're going to have to end the essentially wise and benevolent reign of the tyrant Magoo yourselves tomorrow: after the York binge last weekend and a similarly raucous wedding in Wales this Wednesday, I'm all at sixes and sevens, a condition that's almost as fatal for being able to solve crosswords as Sudokus. So not for the first time this week I kept grinding to a halt on a difficult but not unfair puzzle; rallying enough to take down the top half, but then sputtering to an aporetic halt in the bottom.
Okay, 21dn might be a *little* unfair, I don't see why anyone should know their NHS advisory bodies if they don't work in or near the NHS, they're not culturally essential Greek heroes or books of the Bible for goodness' sake. Additionally 20ac with its sneaky construction baffled me for the longest time, I had the SINGLE but couldn't get past COMMERCE for the second word, which was at least better than CHINESCE, which was all my poor overwrought brain could make from "from Asia" for a good long time, the idea that I could be looking for an Asian food never occurring to me. But I have no excuse for staring blankly at 23ac and 19dn as long as I did. What a time for my internal thesaurus to desert me!
I really liked the topical (on both sides of the pond) clues at 11ac and 22dn, and there was some very very neat cluing elsewhere much of which I only untangled post-submit: 12ac, 2dn, 3dn, 8dn, 9dn. A really good puzzle, in other words, too good for the likes of me *sob*. I wasn't quite sure about 5dn if I haven't missed something is just a cryptic definition, but I guess it's sufficiently misleading either way. What did you like, and how are competitors feeling about tomorrow? More 14ac then me I hope... look forward to seeing you there!
ACROSS
1 Pick up wood with odd bits of bark in desolation (10)
HEARTBREAK - HEAR TEAK [pick up | wood], with B{a}R{k} in
6 Something instrumental in rejection of neo-bourgeoisie (4)
OBOE - hidden reversed in {n}EO-BO{urgeousie}. Easy FOI.
10 Satisfied about pattern of stress (5)
METRE - MET RE [satisfied | about]
11 Fake news's ending with one smear having recently come in (9)
SIMULATED - {new}S with I MUD [one | smear], having LATE [recently] come in
12 Notes certain company in card game providing stressful situation (8,6)
PRESSURE COOKER - RES SURE CO [notes | certain | company] in POKER [card game]
14 Confident when Communist tours Soviet Union's capitals (7)
ASSURED - AS RED [when | communist] "tours" S{oviet} U{nion}
15 Links support with leaders of nation after general election, probably in minority? (7)
TEENAGE - TEE [links support] with N{ation} A{fter} G{eneral} E{lection}. Only the oldest teenagers are in their majority, at least around here.
17 Drum out tosser, roughly at first (7)
CASHIER - SHIER [tosser], CA [roughly] at first
19 Ring dispatcher to tangle with endless love (7)
MATADOR - MAT [to tangle] with ADOR{e} ["endless" love]. A matador dispatches beasts in a (bull)ring.
20 Multinational payment arrangement enclosed in one-way fare from Asia (6,8)
SINGLE CURRENCY - ENC [enclosed] in SINGLE CURRY [one-way | fare from Asia]. Cruel that the "single" looked to be defined by "one-way fare".
23 Make compatible drug, concentrated in nettle (9)
RECONCILE - E CONC [drug | concentrated] in RILE [nettle]
24 Three-line form reported power grab at top level? (5)
HAIKU - homophone of HIGH COUP ["reported" power grab at top level]. The haiku poetry form always has three lines, obviously.
25 Sparsely separates these characters — victims (4)
PREY - four separated characters in {s}P{a}R{s}E{l}Y
26 No upright member of holy Eastern church backing its symbol? (10)
CROSSPIECE - PI E CE [holy | Eastern | church] backing CROSS [symbol of aforementioned]
DOWN
1 Strike to get time off for depression (4)
HUMP - {t}HUMP [strike, "to get T (for time) off"]
2 Marks for special attention inefficiency, with cut leading to dangers (9)
ASTERISKS - {w}ASTE [inefficiency, "W (for with) cut"] leading to RISKS [dangers]
3 Book from finance departments, that is coming up light (8,6)
TREASURE ISLAND - TREASUR{ie->EI}S [finance departments, "IE (that is) coming up"] + LAND [light]
4 Echo and start to spread in turn? (7)
RESOUND - E [echo] and S{pread} in ROUND [turn], &lit
5 Support for upper body member in seat (7)
ARMREST - simply a cryptic definition... I think?
7 Riband's middle strip over patterned cloth (5)
BATIK - {ri}BA{nd} + KIT reversed [strip "over"]
8 Past packs go bad under more mature fruit (10)
ELDERBERRY - BY [past] "packs" ERR [go bad] under ELDER [more mature]
9 Disorderly house interrupting finished actor (3,4,3,4)
ALL OVER THE SHOP -- HO [house] "interrupting" ALL OVER THESP [finished | actor]
13 Eyeball components swivelling, which holds face in place? (10)
WATCHSTRAP - WATCH [eyeball] + PARTS reversed [components "swivelling"]. Face as in the watch-face that tells you the time.
16 What food enhancer containing Charlie might be? (9)
ADDICTIVE - ADDITIVE [food enhancer] "containing" C [Charlie], semi-&lit
18 More like Stoneswith a heavier beat? (7)
ROCKIER - double def
19 More than one mouthful of mushrooms, gobbling seconds (7)
MORSELS - MORELS [mushrooms], "gobbling" S [seconds]
21 Suitable position hospital's got in NHS advisory body (5)
NICHE - H [hospital] has got in NICE [the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, apparently]
22 Project Fear's secondary element for unwelcome arrival in Britain? (4)
JUTE - JUT [project] + {f}E{ar}. The rascally Jutes were much involved in invading Britain circa the 4th century, stealing jobs from the locals and pushing up hut prices, when are they and all their descendants going to be packed back off to Denmark, that's what I want to know.
Okay, 21dn might be a *little* unfair, I don't see why anyone should know their NHS advisory bodies if they don't work in or near the NHS, they're not culturally essential Greek heroes or books of the Bible for goodness' sake. Additionally 20ac with its sneaky construction baffled me for the longest time, I had the SINGLE but couldn't get past COMMERCE for the second word, which was at least better than CHINESCE, which was all my poor overwrought brain could make from "from Asia" for a good long time, the idea that I could be looking for an Asian food never occurring to me. But I have no excuse for staring blankly at 23ac and 19dn as long as I did. What a time for my internal thesaurus to desert me!
I really liked the topical (on both sides of the pond) clues at 11ac and 22dn, and there was some very very neat cluing elsewhere much of which I only untangled post-submit: 12ac, 2dn, 3dn, 8dn, 9dn. A really good puzzle, in other words, too good for the likes of me *sob*. I wasn't quite sure about 5dn if I haven't missed something is just a cryptic definition, but I guess it's sufficiently misleading either way. What did you like, and how are competitors feeling about tomorrow? More 14ac then me I hope... look forward to seeing you there!
ACROSS
1 Pick up wood with odd bits of bark in desolation (10)
HEARTBREAK - HEAR TEAK [pick up | wood], with B{a}R{k} in
6 Something instrumental in rejection of neo-bourgeoisie (4)
OBOE - hidden reversed in {n}EO-BO{urgeousie}. Easy FOI.
10 Satisfied about pattern of stress (5)
METRE - MET RE [satisfied | about]
11 Fake news's ending with one smear having recently come in (9)
SIMULATED - {new}S with I MUD [one | smear], having LATE [recently] come in
12 Notes certain company in card game providing stressful situation (8,6)
PRESSURE COOKER - RES SURE CO [notes | certain | company] in POKER [card game]
14 Confident when Communist tours Soviet Union's capitals (7)
ASSURED - AS RED [when | communist] "tours" S{oviet} U{nion}
15 Links support with leaders of nation after general election, probably in minority? (7)
TEENAGE - TEE [links support] with N{ation} A{fter} G{eneral} E{lection}. Only the oldest teenagers are in their majority, at least around here.
17 Drum out tosser, roughly at first (7)
CASHIER - SHIER [tosser], CA [roughly] at first
19 Ring dispatcher to tangle with endless love (7)
MATADOR - MAT [to tangle] with ADOR{e} ["endless" love]. A matador dispatches beasts in a (bull)ring.
20 Multinational payment arrangement enclosed in one-way fare from Asia (6,8)
SINGLE CURRENCY - ENC [enclosed] in SINGLE CURRY [one-way | fare from Asia]. Cruel that the "single" looked to be defined by "one-way fare".
23 Make compatible drug, concentrated in nettle (9)
RECONCILE - E CONC [drug | concentrated] in RILE [nettle]
24 Three-line form reported power grab at top level? (5)
HAIKU - homophone of HIGH COUP ["reported" power grab at top level]. The haiku poetry form always has three lines, obviously.
25 Sparsely separates these characters — victims (4)
PREY - four separated characters in {s}P{a}R{s}E{l}Y
26 No upright member of holy Eastern church backing its symbol? (10)
CROSSPIECE - PI E CE [holy | Eastern | church] backing CROSS [symbol of aforementioned]
DOWN
1 Strike to get time off for depression (4)
HUMP - {t}HUMP [strike, "to get T (for time) off"]
2 Marks for special attention inefficiency, with cut leading to dangers (9)
ASTERISKS - {w}ASTE [inefficiency, "W (for with) cut"] leading to RISKS [dangers]
3 Book from finance departments, that is coming up light (8,6)
TREASURE ISLAND - TREASUR{ie->EI}S [finance departments, "IE (that is) coming up"] + LAND [light]
4 Echo and start to spread in turn? (7)
RESOUND - E [echo] and S{pread} in ROUND [turn], &lit
5 Support for upper body member in seat (7)
ARMREST - simply a cryptic definition... I think?
7 Riband's middle strip over patterned cloth (5)
BATIK - {ri}BA{nd} + KIT reversed [strip "over"]
8 Past packs go bad under more mature fruit (10)
ELDERBERRY - BY [past] "packs" ERR [go bad] under ELDER [more mature]
9 Disorderly house interrupting finished actor (3,4,3,4)
ALL OVER THE SHOP -- HO [house] "interrupting" ALL OVER THESP [finished | actor]
13 Eyeball components swivelling, which holds face in place? (10)
WATCHSTRAP - WATCH [eyeball] + PARTS reversed [components "swivelling"]. Face as in the watch-face that tells you the time.
16 What food enhancer containing Charlie might be? (9)
ADDICTIVE - ADDITIVE [food enhancer] "containing" C [Charlie], semi-&lit
18 More like Stoneswith a heavier beat? (7)
ROCKIER - double def
19 More than one mouthful of mushrooms, gobbling seconds (7)
MORSELS - MORELS [mushrooms], "gobbling" S [seconds]
21 Suitable position hospital's got in NHS advisory body (5)
NICHE - H [hospital] has got in NICE [the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, apparently]
22 Project Fear's secondary element for unwelcome arrival in Britain? (4)
JUTE - JUT [project] + {f}E{ar}. The rascally Jutes were much involved in invading Britain circa the 4th century, stealing jobs from the locals and pushing up hut prices, when are they and all their descendants going to be packed back off to Denmark, that's what I want to know.