Solving time, 18 mins. Excellent, as ever, from Dac.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 HO SEA(of Galilee) Prophet from the Bible
4 WADES INTO ad = notice in (townies)*
9 GR EGORIAN a in (region)* The calendar we use now
10 MI CRA arc< Good surface
11 FLAT TOP Definition: crew cut US aircraft carrier = flattop (one word)
12 David HOCK N(E)Y NY = New York E = opening (first letter) of exhibition
13/14 VEGETARIAN FOOD (good native fare)* V appropriate anagram “fodder”
17 SLAP ON THE WRIST (Welsh star in top)* Good misdirection in surface
22 MORNING greeting = “mourning”, I think
23 N (ON-US) ER(o) Roman Emperor
24 CON GO
25 AUTHOR IS facE
26 WIS(e) CONS IN
27 GREET Hidden Definition: to use HIGH FIVES
DOWN
1 HIGH (euphoric) FIVES (game)
2 SHE (CA hit in the 1970s) BANG (a big hit) Definition: issue = affair, matter etc
3 APO STATE (o pa)< governor = pa
4 WHISPERING GRASS 1970s hit pun on sing = grass = inform
5 DINAH (“diner”) WASHINGTON Singer from 1940s to 1960s nmsindy remembers well (from the later period…)
6 SUMACH (a chum’s)*
7 NO CAN DO Suspected this was the answer straightaway from definition and enumeration. Don’t understand the wordplay, though. ‘do’ may mean ‘work’. “What would make Co-op work? Impossible” Thanks, Gaufrid, for explaining this at comment 2 below.
8 O RACY
15 DE (TERRE) NT terre = country in French, ie according to S. Euphemism for nuclear weapon.
16 SWAN S ON Grand swan, a literary word for a poet on = taking the stage
18 A1 RINGS
20 INSPIRE (ie prison)* less o. My favourite clue with cleverly misleading use of ‘stir’
21 K (I’M) O NO (little number)
22 MAC AW
Just spent a very enjoyable half hour with this over my lunchbreak, and came within three of completing it. I think that 7ac may be a play on ‘no can do’ meaning a party with no cans allowed, a clue I’ve seen at least once before. Can’t quite get it to work, though.
Hi NMS
7d ‘Co-op’ with NO C AND O leaves ‘op’ (work)
Brilliant! Thanks for the explantion, Gaufrid.
Now that’s more like it. Good tidy clues that make you think but are accessible and that don’t raise questions once you’ve solved them. But I suppose it’s a matter of what level one is at.
Great puzzle. 7dn is a wonderful clue. It took me a while to work out the explanation. (I think it deserves an &lit, judging by a Co-op in Dulverton, Somerset which despite having its ethical heart in the right place, must be one of the world’s worst shops I have been into).
This puzzle was reproduced as i1125 today . I had to do some digging for 7d – very good !
To my shame I had ONANY for 8d !!
Nice blog to find .