Slightly trickier than usual offering from Phi, with an appropriate mini-theme.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | S,WIPED |
| 5/10 | THE FIRST NO,EL |
| 9 | N in DISCO,TENT |
| 12 | B,I,RE,ME – new to me but I’d come across TRIREME and the wordplay is straightfoward enough. |
| 15 | (BREAD)*,ARE |
| 23 | A,N<, SC(i)ENCE – tricky clue to parse and reasonably tricky word too. |
| 25 | BAS(i)S |
| 26 | TREAT, T ROPY< – surface reading seemed a bit strained here, “Handle tense poor backsliding…” |
| 27 | “sin”, (MY SON)* |
| 28 | hidden reversed in In ItalY LIRE Eventually |
| Down | |
| 4 | DUN,BAR – I spent some time trying to put INN in a three-letter Scottish town to get a word for “dingy”. |
| 6 | TABLE in EAS(y) |
| 8 | (MAIN STORE)* – clue reads very smoothly. |
| 14 | AR in (VERY SAD)* – timely clue, given the soon-to-be-released Rocky movie. |
| 16 | STEM in (PRIDE)* |
| 20 | SETS in T,E |
| 22 | P(r)ESTO |