A pleasing challenge from Aardvark today with some nicely misleading clues and a few interesting indicators, for example ‘aperitifs’ and ‘evolution’. 6d had me looking for an anagram of ‘at her holiday inn’ for a while until the penny dropped and I rather liked 3d even though the answer was obvious.
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Across
1 WHIMBREL WHIM (fancy) BR (British) EL (the, in Spanish) – a species of small curlew
5 SHUT UP HUT (shed) U (uniform) in SP (special)
10 AD-LIB A[my’s] D[inner] LIB (party)
11 IONIAN SEA hidden in ‘seclusION IANS EAsily’
12 SIMULATOR LA (US city) in *(TOURISM)
13 TIARA AI (high-class) in ART (technique) reversed
14 ABLAZE A[nkle] B (black) LAZE (sit around)
15 EURASIA A [f]I[e]S[t]A RUE (French way) reversed
18 ADDED UP [p]ADDED UP (prepared to bat without opener)
20 CRAGGY C (colt) A GG (a horse) in RY (tracks)
22 BAR-B-Q BARB (a taunting) Q (question)
24 DIAPHRAGM H (hospital) in *(RAPID) AGM (meeting)
25 IN THE PINK dd
26 TAUNT TAUNT[on] (somewhere in Somerset, not working)
27 EUREKA K[os] in E (electronic) UREA (waste)
28 DROLLERY ROLL (rumble) E[dinburgh] in DRY (deadpan)
Down
1 WRASSE W[ate]R ASS (carrier) [accommodat]E
2 ISLAMABAD MAL (bad, in French) reversed in ISA (investment) BAD (poor)
3 BUBBLE AND SQUEAK dd
4 EPISTLE *(P[a]LESTI[n]E)
6 HEARTBREAK HOTEL *(AT HER) BREAK (holiday) HOTEL (inn)
7 TOSCA hidden reversal in ‘isaAC SO Talented’
8 PLAY AWAY dd
9 ENTREE EN (nurse) TREE (bay)
16 SIGNATURE *(GIANT) in SURE (certain)
17 BARBWIRE BAR (pub) B (second-rate) WIRE (telegraph)
19 PIDGIN DIP (lower) reversed GIN (booze)
20 CRACKER RACK (cut of meat) in REC (recipe) reversed
21 SMITHY MIT (with, in German) in SHY (embarrassed)
23 ROTOR cd
Gaufrid, thanks. Like you, I spent some time trying to anagram “holiday inn”! 14ac had a great surface and was nicely misleading.
I think you want “urea” and “eureka” in 27ac.
Hi Agentzero
Thanks for pointing out my error. I had the answer correct in the grid but must have had a senior moment whilst writing the blog.