The puzzle was uploaded later than usual and just about that time there was power failure in my flat. Hence the delay in posting the blog.
29dn gave a quick foothold onto the grid. I have not solved three clues as yet. Anyone may post the answers (all of them are short and in top left corner). I have not been able to explain the answer for 18dn fully.
Across
1 WINDOW DRESSING – Cryptic def.
10 Not solved
11 RETENTIVE – charade with a deletion – R.E., tent(-at)tive
13 EULOGIA – anag. of ‘agile O U’
14 Not solved
16 ROWAN TREE – anag. of ‘roar E went’
19 RACKETEER – Cryptic def.
20 SHIFT – Two def.
25 MACHETE – I worked out the wordplay only now – container/contained with an anagram – ‘het ‘(anag. of ‘the’) in ‘mace’ ([a]club)
27 REMBRANDT – Rem(brand)t* – ‘brand’ in ‘remt’ (anag. of ‘term’, ‘school’ being the anagrind.)
28 INVOICE – Two def.? One is complete def and another is def. by ellipsis (‘invoice’ being ‘account’)
Down
2 ISOMETRIC – anag. with a deletion – anag. of ‘I’m costier’ after deleting l (line) from ‘I’m costlier’
4 WORK FORCE – charade work (fix), force (drive, v.)
5 RETIE – charade with tail off – re, tie(-r)
6 SUNBLINDS – Two def? One straight, another interpretation of the answer word after dividing it as ‘sun blinds’
7 ICING – I don’t see why baker’s should be italicised.
8 GRENADE – anag. of ‘E garden’
9 Not solved
15 STEAM IRON – no charade but an anag. of ‘master on I’ (one)
17 WORKMATES – Non-cryptic def. – 4 here is the answer to Clue 4D
18 RHINE WINE – got from crossings and the word ‘tipple’ – The ‘poet’ part eludes me.
19 ROSTRUM – charade with an anagram – rost (anag. of ‘sort’), rum
21 TEETER – anag. with a deletion – anag. of ‘t(-h)e tree’
24 RANCH – deletion – (-b)ranch
26 COVER – two def.
If my memory serves me right, I read somewhere recently that ‘icing’ also means ‘bald head’. Is there any glance at this meaning in Clue 7dn?
19dn: could it be that Rhine rhymes with wine?
Sorry – meant 18dn!
Hi Rishi
Your missing answers are: 10ac CROWN (go on river = row inside c & n – cape north head(s)); 14ac LORDS (another nice cricketing reference); 9dn SCROLL (double definition).
I wasn’t sure about 7dn either, although the answer fell in place easily enough. Can find no reference to baldness in my Collins & OED! Perhaps its just that icing is found on top of a cake and (in meteorological terms) on the ground (i.e. bottom).
There is a short note about the late Eric Burge (Quark) by the printed crossword. A few more puzzles remain in the pipeline.
7D ICING is seen on the top side of a cake in the baker’s, but not on topside in the butcher’s.
12A appears to be ONESELF, but why ‘fit as normal’?
‘To be oneself’ is ‘to be in one’s normal condition of mind and body (after an illness, emotional stress, etc.)’ Or perhaps to feel comfortable without having to put on an affected pose. The not-so-cryptic clue seems to glance at the idiomatic expression.
As for the word “baker’s” in italics in the other clue, the point I was trying to make was that the emphasis was not really necessary. It can be solved even without the word in italics.