Not much to say about this puzzle, with its multiple use of charades (A + B type clues). It was so straightforward that my time of 18:41 may not see me safely Snitchified. Nonetheless, I thought it was a pleasant little puzzle, and just what the doctor ordered after Friday's tricky one and Sunday's Deano Special.
Some people may be familiar with Walt Whitman's poem 'When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd', others again with the better known works of Gustav Holst (The Planets Suite and 'I vow to thee my country' - that's a joke, before the fly-by posters level their sights on me). But many, I think, will be in the position that I was in until a month ago, before I started rehearsing a choral piece called 'Ode to death'. After the Great War, Holst took the the last section of Whitman's poem, which operated at one level as an elegy to those who died in the American Civil War, as well as to Abraham Lincoln, and set it to hauntingly beautiful music to mourn friends who were killed in that senseless conflict.
I hope I may be forgiven this indulgence...
ACROSS
1 Indignant sons joined forces (7,2)
STEAMED UP - S + TEAMED UP
6 Current breaking up fish grounds (5)
BASIS - I in BASS
9 Soul singer needing backing for a title (7)
BARONET - BA + TENOR reversed; BA is the soul in Egyptian mythology, represented as a bird with a human head
10 A seven days period of conflict with daughter being difficult (7)
AWKWARD - A + WK + WAR + D
11 Old magistrate always backed imprisoning English (5)
REEVE - E in EVER reversed for the Praetor Cruciverbalis
12 Control what teacher does in time off work (9)
RESTRAINT - TRAIN in REST
14 Flirts regularly — that’s socially acceptable (3)
FIT - F[l]I[r]T[s]
15 Instrument Vince plays with three learners and old, old, Oscar (11)
VIOLONCELLO - anagram* of VINCE + LLL + OOO; The spelling with one more O than you might expect is because the French word for 'violin' is adopted
17 Repent a plot involving corrupt team member (6,5)
ROTTEN APPLE - REPENT A PLOT*
19 Short cut to get fuel (3)
GAS - GAS[h]
20 Advocate of support unit not being left empty (9)
PROPONENT - PROP + ONE + N[o]T
22 Bent half of a German sausage (5)
KNACK - KNACK[wurst], being a type of German sausage. They have many, often curried
24 Rich not working after Spring? (4-3)
WELL-OFF - WELL + OFF
26 First piece of writing, one I found in Latin needing going over (7)
INITIAL - I ('one') + I ('I') in LATIN reversed
27 Frost, perhaps, recited poem (5)
RHYME - sounds like 'rime', of which there has been plenty in the UK recently
28 Most appropriate deposit just south of the Thames in London? (5-4)
RIGHT-BANK - RIGHT + BANK; 'most appropriate', as in 'she was the right man for the job'
DOWN
1 One who cries half-heartedly without having a drink (5)
SOBER - SOB[b]ER
2 Serious musical ability — something birds build up (7)
EARNEST - EAR + NEST
3 Crew works to get in position (9)
MANOEUVRE - MAN (as a verb) + OEUVRE
4 Decline to discourage start of Irish pontificate (11)
DETERIORATE - DETER + I + ORATE
5 A lot of fruit and some veg (3)
PEA - PEA[r]
6 Able follower once— one generating turnover, perhaps (5)
BAKER - Before the English International Phonetic Alphabet was adopted in 1955, there were a number of pretenders, including the US Navy Radio Alphabet, which commenced Able Baker. Why is it that M&S no sooner introduce their wonderful fresh cream apple turnovers to Hong Kong than they never appear on the shelves again?
7 Sales pitch about a new breed of dog (7)
SPANIEL - A + N in SPIEL
8 Revolutionary is outside fomenting unrest (9)
SEDITIOUS - IS OUTSIDE*; Hong Kongers are so given to this apparently that the CCP claim they have no option but to introduce an anti-sedition law gagging journalists, controlling teachers and curtailing freedom of speech
13 In the event, photo needs something done on greens (4-7)
SHOT-PUTTING - SHOT + PUTTING
14 A lot of artillery being used to sack country (9)
FIREPOWER - FIRE + POWER; the charades just keep on coming...
16 Reminder of reported nickname of Prague piano virtuoso? (9)
CHECKLIST - sounds like Czech Liszt
18 Old city contains lines with key mode of transport (7)
TROLLEY - LL + E in TROY
19 Thickened water ice using egg in a mixture of agar (7)
GRANITA - NIT (a louse, or louse egg) in AGAR*; tricky if, like me, you're only vaguely familiar with the beverage
21 Australia has a certain invigorating air (5)
OZONE - OZ + ONE
23 Cut cabbage the nation over for rich peasant (5)
KULAK - KAL[e] + UK reversed
25 Reduced cost of travel over large distances (3)
FAR - FAR[e]
Some people may be familiar with Walt Whitman's poem 'When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd', others again with the better known works of Gustav Holst (The Planets Suite and 'I vow to thee my country' - that's a joke, before the fly-by posters level their sights on me). But many, I think, will be in the position that I was in until a month ago, before I started rehearsing a choral piece called 'Ode to death'. After the Great War, Holst took the the last section of Whitman's poem, which operated at one level as an elegy to those who died in the American Civil War, as well as to Abraham Lincoln, and set it to hauntingly beautiful music to mourn friends who were killed in that senseless conflict.
I hope I may be forgiven this indulgence...
ACROSS
1 Indignant sons joined forces (7,2)
STEAMED UP - S + TEAMED UP
6 Current breaking up fish grounds (5)
BASIS - I in BASS
9 Soul singer needing backing for a title (7)
BARONET - BA + TENOR reversed; BA is the soul in Egyptian mythology, represented as a bird with a human head
10 A seven days period of conflict with daughter being difficult (7)
AWKWARD - A + WK + WAR + D
11 Old magistrate always backed imprisoning English (5)
REEVE - E in EVER reversed for the Praetor Cruciverbalis
12 Control what teacher does in time off work (9)
RESTRAINT - TRAIN in REST
14 Flirts regularly — that’s socially acceptable (3)
FIT - F[l]I[r]T[s]
15 Instrument Vince plays with three learners and old, old, Oscar (11)
VIOLONCELLO - anagram* of VINCE + LLL + OOO; The spelling with one more O than you might expect is because the French word for 'violin' is adopted
17 Repent a plot involving corrupt team member (6,5)
ROTTEN APPLE - REPENT A PLOT*
19 Short cut to get fuel (3)
GAS - GAS[h]
20 Advocate of support unit not being left empty (9)
PROPONENT - PROP + ONE + N[o]T
22 Bent half of a German sausage (5)
KNACK - KNACK[wurst], being a type of German sausage. They have many, often curried
24 Rich not working after Spring? (4-3)
WELL-OFF - WELL + OFF
26 First piece of writing, one I found in Latin needing going over (7)
INITIAL - I ('one') + I ('I') in LATIN reversed
27 Frost, perhaps, recited poem (5)
RHYME - sounds like 'rime', of which there has been plenty in the UK recently
28 Most appropriate deposit just south of the Thames in London? (5-4)
RIGHT-BANK - RIGHT + BANK; 'most appropriate', as in 'she was the right man for the job'
DOWN
1 One who cries half-heartedly without having a drink (5)
SOBER - SOB[b]ER
2 Serious musical ability — something birds build up (7)
EARNEST - EAR + NEST
3 Crew works to get in position (9)
MANOEUVRE - MAN (as a verb) + OEUVRE
4 Decline to discourage start of Irish pontificate (11)
DETERIORATE - DETER + I + ORATE
5 A lot of fruit and some veg (3)
PEA - PEA[r]
6 Able follower once— one generating turnover, perhaps (5)
BAKER - Before the English International Phonetic Alphabet was adopted in 1955, there were a number of pretenders, including the US Navy Radio Alphabet, which commenced Able Baker. Why is it that M&S no sooner introduce their wonderful fresh cream apple turnovers to Hong Kong than they never appear on the shelves again?
7 Sales pitch about a new breed of dog (7)
SPANIEL - A + N in SPIEL
8 Revolutionary is outside fomenting unrest (9)
SEDITIOUS - IS OUTSIDE*; Hong Kongers are so given to this apparently that the CCP claim they have no option but to introduce an anti-sedition law gagging journalists, controlling teachers and curtailing freedom of speech
13 In the event, photo needs something done on greens (4-7)
SHOT-PUTTING - SHOT + PUTTING
14 A lot of artillery being used to sack country (9)
FIREPOWER - FIRE + POWER; the charades just keep on coming...
16 Reminder of reported nickname of Prague piano virtuoso? (9)
CHECKLIST - sounds like Czech Liszt
18 Old city contains lines with key mode of transport (7)
TROLLEY - LL + E in TROY
19 Thickened water ice using egg in a mixture of agar (7)
GRANITA - NIT (a louse, or louse egg) in AGAR*; tricky if, like me, you're only vaguely familiar with the beverage
21 Australia has a certain invigorating air (5)
OZONE - OZ + ONE
23 Cut cabbage the nation over for rich peasant (5)
KULAK - KAL[e] + UK reversed
25 Reduced cost of travel over large distances (3)
FAR - FAR[e]