Solving time :32 mins 59 secs. Thank goodness this wasn’t one of Cinephile’s really difficult ones. As always with Cinephile, one or two clues that stretch a pedantic Ximenean, but nevertheless lots of good ones.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | P OPU(LOU(D))S | |
| 5 | BAR SAC(K). Is sack sherry? | |
| 10 | BRASSIE(RE) | |
| 12 | I(DIO)T. “Dio” is presumably “god” in Italian | |
| 13 | HE ARTLESS. Simple but very nice | |
| 14 etc | UNACCUSTOMED A SIAM TOP (CLUB IS)* PEAKING. Fortunately I got this straight away from the definition, for otherwise it would have been quite an effort to work out | |
| 18 | A conjunction is a PART OF SPEECH | |
| 21 | Whenever it’s “current measures” you know that amps will be there somehow. I think it’s AM(IDS HIP)PS | |
| 23 | I NEPT(UNE). I suppose that “inept” means “out of place” Just. | |
| 24 | INFER NO | |
| 26 | G(OLD)EN | |
| 27 | EDEN TATE | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | PLA(C)ID | |
| 3 | LAST TANGO, what seems a rather vague reference to the film “Last Tango in Paris” | |
| 4 | Presumably this is U (THESE)* CUSP I’D OR, which gives an expression that I have never heard and which Chambers doesn’t seem to recognise. Anyone ever heard it? | |
| 7 | SU(NB EA)MS | |
| 9 | TRE(A SURE (SAIL)*)ND. Is an adventure story an adventure? | |
| 15 | “TACK TITIAN” | |
| 17 | TURF< round I, FU(E)L | |
| 19 | Presumably HERMIA, but I don’t understand why HERMIA is “little more than” HERNIA | |
| 22 | Hidden, as indicated by “Be of use to”. Mmm… | |
4D is not a phrase I’ve come across either but it is apparently a reference to comical alternative lyrics to Bizet’s Toreador song in Carmen.
“Toreador, don’t spit on the floor: Use the cuspidor, that’s what it’s for”
Sack is definitely sherry, but I don’t understand the Hermia clue either. I have heard the lyrics before, I’m almost ashamed to say, though with ‘what do you think it’s for?’ for the last bit.