This turned out easier than I thought at first. Thanks to Crucible. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Artist William’s crazy giving up whiskey (7)
MILLAIS : Anagram of(… crazy) “William’s” minus(giving up) “w”(letter represented by “whiskey” in the phonetic alphabet).
Answer: John Everett, English painter.
5 Greek poet’s energy about to inspire one of her letters (7)
SAPPHIC : [ SAP(energy;vigour) + C(abbrev. for “circa”;about, in relation to dates and periods) ] containing(to inspire) PHI(a letter in the Greek alphabet).
Answer: Relating to;of;…’s Sappho, Archaic Greek poetess from the island
of Lesbos.
10 See 27
11 Suffering disease, charge 1’s applicator (10)
PAINTBRUSH : PAIN(suffering) + TB(abbrev. for “tuberculosis”, a bacterial disease, affecting the lungs especially) + RUSH(to charge at;to dash at in an attempt to attack or capture).
Defn: Applicator (of paint) that would be used by Millais;answer to 1 across.
12 A turn in northern waters? (6)
NAUSEA : [A + U(-turn;an about-face) ] contained in(in) [ N(abbrev. for “northern”) + SEA(the waters;the area of water around a particular area, as in “the Scottish waters”) ].
Defn: The feeling you’d get if you were seasick.
13 Rice stirred with milk, a speciality of 22 10 (8)
LIMERICK : Anagram of(… stirred …) [RICE plus(with) MILK].
Defn: A poetic form popularised by Edward Lear;anwers to 22 down and 10 across, an example of which is:
There was a man from Nantucket … you know the rest!
14 1’s supporter savages parasite (9)
MAULSTICK : MAULS(savages;scratches and tears) + TICK(a blood-sucking parasite).
Defn: What Millais;answer to 1 across might use to support his painting arm.
16 German agent turned Yankee traveller (5)
GYPSY : G(abbrev. for “German”) + reversal of(… turned) SPY(a secret agent) + Y(letter denoted by “Yankee” in the phonetic alphabet).
17 Left in dilemma, as was Gloucester in 27 10 (5)
BLIND : L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(in) BIND(a dilemma;a difficult situation).
Defn: …, that is, the Earl of Gloucester in Shakespeare’s King Lear;answers to 27 and 10 across, who had his eyes gouged out.
19 Conservative US campus backed dead judge (9)
CALCULATE : C(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party) + reversal of(… backed) UCLA(abbrev. for the University of California, Los Angeles, a US university) + LATE(dead;deceased).
23 He’s temporarily transferred function on river (8)
SECONDEE : SEC(abbrev. for “secant”, a trigonometrical function in mathematics) + ON + DEE(any of the rivers in the UK and Australia with the same name).
Defn: …, from, say, one department in an organisation to another.
24 Rejected 22 10 for one prize (6)
REWARD : Reversal of(Rejected) DRAWER(an example of which;for one was Edward Lear;answers to 22 down and 10 across, who in addition to writing was also an illustrator).
26 Beatles (two) see boss (4,4,2)
JOHN PAUL II : JOHN, PAUL(Lennon and McCartney respectively, 2 of the Beatles) + II(Roman numeral for “two”).
Defn: …, that is, the head of the Holy See in Rome, responsible for the governance of all Catholics.
27, 10 Disliking learning about play (4,4)
KING LEAR : Hidden in(… about) “Disliking learning“.
28 Disrupt current London theatre offensive (7)
INTRUDE : I(symbol for electrical current in physics) + NT(abbrev. for the Royal National Theatre, based in London) + RUDE(offensive).
29 Target revolutionary in service in 27 10’s state (7)
MADNESS : Reversal of(… revolutionary) END(a target;an objective) contained in(in) MASS(a Christian religious service).
Defn: The mental state of King Lear;answers to 27 and 10 across.
Down
2 Oriental artwork embargo in furniture shop (7)
IKEBANA : BAN(an embargo;an official ban on trade and other commercial activity with a particular state) contained in(in) IKEA(the Swedish-founded ready-to-assemble furniture shop).
3 Good singers have large chests (5)
LARKS : L(abbrev. for “large”) + ARKS(chests -ask Indiana Jones).
Defn: … that fly.
And, as the clue says:
4 Start of major scheme in Italy needs graft (7)
IMPLANT : 1st letter of(Start of) “major” + PLAN(a scheme;a design to achieve an objective) ] contained in(in) IT(abbrev. for Italy).
6 A tortuous maths problem involving tubes (6)
ASTHMA : A + anagram of(tortuous) MATHS.
Defn: … of your respiratory system.
7 Picture beam blocking entrance (9)
PORTRAYAL : RAY(a beam, of light, say) contained in(blocking) PORTAL(an entrance;a doorway).
8 Vets less quiet bugs (7)
INSECTS : “inspects”(vets;screens) minus(less) “p”(abbrev. for “piano”, musical direction to play quietly).
9 Fit guy, about 40, with a fashion magazine in city (3-2-8)
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE : [ AI(A1;in excellent condition;fit, with the Roman numeral substitution) + CHAP(a guy;a male) ] containing(about) [ XL(Roman numeral for 40) plus(with) A] + ELLE(a worldwide fashion magazine of French origin).
Defn: The French name for the German city of Aachen.
15 Laird‘s way to acquire county with river (9)
LANDOWNER : [ LANE(a way;a narrow road) containing(to acquire) DOWN(a Northern Ireland county) ] plus(with) R(abbrev. for “river”).
18 Told story about restricting wife’s rest (3-4)
LIE-DOWN : LIED(told story;told an untruth) + ON(about, as in “the talk was about politics”) containing(restricting) W(abbrev. for “wife”).
Defn: … by, well, lying down on a bed, sofa, etc.
20 First of clues (1 across) nearly upset island (7)
CORSICA : Anagram of(… upset) [ 1st letter of(First of) “clues” + I(Roma numeral for 1) + “across” minus its last letter(nearly) ].
21 Shades cover personnel facilities (7)
THRONES : TONES(shades differentiating how bright or deep colours are) containing(cover) HR(abbrev. for “human resources”;personnel – what used to be called the Personnel Dept. is now the HR Dept., which is refered to by its detractors as the Dept. of Human Remains – apologies to anyone in that field).
Defn: … in the toilet, informally.
22 27 initially engendered conflict between daughters (6)
EDWARD : 1st letter of(initially) “engendered” + [ WAR(conflict) contained in(between) D,D(abbrev. for “daughter” x2;”daughters”) ].
Defn: King;answer to 27 across. Would this be King Edward IV of England who was a leading participant in the Wars of the Roses. Or could there be a typo, with “10” being the definition instead – I don’t know; I’m only guessing.
25 Come round with a Scotsman (5)
WAKEN : W(abbrev. for “with”) + A + KEN(a male name of Scottish origin).
Defn: … after being unconscious) .
sschua – not easier for me than I thought! It was a write-in in most of the NW corner, then I slowed down, having the odd idea that 9d must be AIX-LA-ROCHELLE for some reason. Eventually got over that and was pleased to finish with GYPSY. Favourites were SAPPHIC, NAUSEA and IKEBANA. Many thanks to C & s.
Thanks Crucible and scchua
There’s a minor error in the blog: 21 is TONES round HR (Human Remains / personnel) rather than the more common OR.
Thanks for the blog. 21d is TONES over HR (Human Resources = personnel). Didn’t know sap=energy, so couldn’t parse sapphic, although that was clearly the answer …
Simon @2 – sorry, crossed.
Thanks Simon S and andysmith. Had made a mental note while solving, but when it came to blogging, promptly forgot it. Blog amended.
Re 21: TONES yes, but HR, not OR to fill in??
Martin@6: sorry, too late!
Simon S @2 – thanks for macabre image conjured by your ‘HR (Human Remains / personnel)’!
…which I now see from scchua’s edited blog is ‘a thing’, of which I was not hitherto aware.
Thanks Crucible and scchua
I got off to a flyer with MILLAIS, LIMERICK and hence the LEAR ones write-ins, but the rest proved harder. I didn’t parse SAPPHIC, REWARD (which I though was some sort of replacement anagram of “edward”), or WAKEN.
Favourites were PAINTBRUSH and ASTHMA.
Fun puzzle with lots of art/lit. The bottom half slower than the top, thrones LOI as I dnk Lear as illustrator and biffed reward. I’d thought HR as personnel earlier then forgot it, as thrints doesn’t exist! Also dnk that Ken was Scottish (Kenneth..knoweth, German origin?). Speaking of which, thanks Scchua for the great pics; is that Wagner’s Freya? And who is the singer with that chest?
Thanks again Scchua, and Crucible.
I liked the mini-theme of KING LEAR/EDWARD LEAR. 14a MAULSTICK was unfamiliar. I knew of 9d AIX LA CHAPELLE from history rather than geography. 26a JOHN PAUL II was my COTD, but I agree with drofle@1 in mentioning 2d IKEBANA as a favourite.
Thanks to Crucible and to scchua: I always appreciate your pictorial additions when you blog, schuaa.
[We crossed on the pictures comment, grantinfreo@11]
Thank you Crucible for a very enjoyable puzzle and scchua for the illustrated blog!
I failed to parse REWARD (like muffin I thought it was some sort of replacement anagram of Edward).
Is 12a an &lit. clue, the whole clue being the definition?
Thank you Crucible and scchua. A very enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked the intertwining of KING / EDWARD / LEAR.
Another favourite was NAUSEA. I suppose the definition could just be “a turn” as you suggest, scchua, but I read it as an &lit.
Sorry Cookie, we crossed.
Possible theme? Millais, paintbrush, maulstick, portrayal. He did paint several Shakespearean scenes, including King Lear.
Thanks both,
I think 5a is a better clue than it first appears as phi is one of the letters in the Greek spelling of Sappho – ?????. (Cripped from Wikipedia apols if the Greek characters don’t appear on all browsers.)
My favourite aspect of crossword-solving is working out an unknown word purely from the clue and then looking it up in the dictionary (often more in hope than expectation, at least in my case). There were two of those for me today: MAULSTICK and IKEBANA. I managed to complete this without too much trouble, so many thanks to Crucible and scchua.
Me@18. The Greek characters didn’t appear when I posted. The link is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho. And it should be ‘cribbed’ not ‘cripped’.
22D – scchua – Edward is the first name of Mr Lear as shown in clue number 10.
Or am I being too simplistic? Great crossword though
Thanks to Crucuible and scchua. Well I got there in the end but I did not find it that easy. True a lot went in quite readily, but the last half a dozen or so took an age. My last to were sapphic and thrones (largely because I got a bit obsessed with tints). I recognised maulstick from a previous crossword (prize I think) but there it was spelt mahlstick. My favourite clue was nausea. A good week all round I thought and thanks again to Crucuible and scchua.
Thanks for parsing of Paintbrush
No help from the missis today but, nonetheless, steady progress ending in success. Don’t know why, but thrones was my LOI and, looking at it now, it should have been my FOI! Thanks to everyone.
Started at the end with KING LEAR, so the links gave way pretty quickly, though it took me a while to see what was going on with the 1 links. Another fine crossword to end a very good week.
Thanks to Crucible and scchua
It’s all been said. Lots of fun. it all went in quickly until the SE corner. The blog was really helpful for a couple of the parsings.
Thanks to Crucible and scchua
Another fine crossword in a good week (as beery says).
I liked the theme and the way it interconnected in the clues and answers. I also liked SAPPHIC (noting the phi in the name, as another commenter also noted), LIMERICK (referring to the ‘other’ Lear), MAULSTICK, BLIND (which was in part a guess because I don’t know King Lear well enough), CALCULATE (because we hardly ever see UCLA in crosswords), JOHN PAUL II (‘see’ doesn’t usually fool me, but it did today) and IKEBANA. Deserving equal mention were AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (whose other name Aachen was a Thing I Learned Today, thanks to scchua) and CORSICA, in which ‘1 across’ had to have some significance because to refer to that clue or answer ‘1’ would have sufficed, as it did in other clues like 11a and 14a.
Many thanks to Crucible, and to scchua for the blog and pictures.
[Alan B @27
Aachen is well worth a visit. The “chapelle” was ordered by Charlemagne as a copy of San Vitale in Ravenna (similar but not accurate; San Vitale is better, and the mosaics are fantastic), which he had seen and coveted. It now forms the central section of the cathedral.]
Didn’t get 14a, 16a. But pretty enjoyable. Couldn’t pass (and didn’t enjoy) “sapphic”. Thanks C & s.
Perhaps the esoteric / masonic messaging going on in the nina serves to unite some of the mini-themes??
[muffin @28
Thanks for the tip. I do like to visit European cities, and tip-offs are the best way to pick new places.]
I finished this earlier today and then got cajoled into cutting hedges so I forgot to come here. Anyway,I enjoyed this very much.
MILLAIS was FOI and then the LEAR ones. I had to look up MAULSTICK and SECONDEE took a while but the rest went in fine. Last two were WAKEN and THRONES.
Good fun.
Thanks Crucible.
Here’s my own attempt to reflect the current World Cup fever…
Cooking something comic after a lost century for England’s hopeful refrain (3, 6, 4)
OK I won’t give up the day job just yet! 🙂
Thanks to Crucible and scchua. Enjoyable. Not much to add. I took a while getting MAULSTIC K and IKEBANA and HR-Human Relations was new to me for THRONES.
ACD @33
I did first come across “HR” for “personnel” in Dilbert, so it must be in use in the US!
Muffin @ 34: HR for Personnel is endemic in large corporations in the UK too. We don’t have people anymore; we have resources. Cells in spreadsheets.
Normally ‘Italy’ = I, unlike (as in 4d) IT – which usually means ‘Italian’.
However, Collins (but only Collins!) gives us ‘It.’ = Italy, and as it is also the Internet domain name for this country, everything’s completely fine.
Yet, I’d expected someone to complain ….. Alas.
Many thanks to sschua & Redshank (for a great puzzle).
[muffin, Keyser,
I’m old enough to remember when the head of HR was the Staff Manager. Then it became Personnel Manager (or Director) and then HR Director. Being retired, and not having to refer to the Staff Manager any more, I don’t know where we are now in the UK. I think it’s still HR.]
Isn’t 22d also a reference to the first act of King Lear, where he divides up his kingdom between his daughters according to which will flatter him the most?
Wow, this was a hard one for me. It took me all day, coming back to it every so-often in mini-breaks throughout the workday, and even then I needed online assistance in order to complete it. Specifically, I had to look up (with a bit of trial and error in each case) MAULSTICK and SECONDEE, both of which were unknown to me previously, and I guessed but had to Google-confirm the painter MILLAIS. But I still enjoyed it very much, with its LEAR (x2) and painting mini-themes and a number of clever clues and satisfying PDMs. My favorite today was CORSICA, with nods also to NAUSEA, THRONES, and JOHN PAUL II.
martin o @32 — Ha ha! Best of luck tomorrow! [Inspired by your proposed clue, I just found, and listened to, “Three Lions” (and in doing so noted I’m not alone — over 9.8 million views on YouTube)!]
caprimulgus @29 — I also noticed MASON (and also AHA), but I did not see how to connect them to anything, so I assumed they were random and did not signify anything.
Many thanks to Crucible and scchua and the other commenters. As others have noted above, this has been a good week of puzzles. A happy weekend to all.
Me @39 – How could I have failed to mention the appearance of one of the Three Most Important Rivers in Crosswordland, in 23ac??
Managed to finish this in less than 24 hours….. Given that we didn’t start to 1700 on Friday….helps to get going when KIng Lear is your A-level set text. Thanks Scchua for parsing 24a – we couldn’t work it out even though we knew Lear drew as well as wrote. So finished two crosswords today – last week’s Vlad took all week.
Anyway, football calls…..enjoy the game (as the chair always says at the end of his programme articles in our club’s programme).