Mostly quite manageable I think, my one stumbling block here was 1ac, which defeated me event with all the checking letters in place. Given what day it is, I had a brief look for a theme or Nina but I don’t see one. I’m sure readers will correct me if there is something.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LUCUBRATE – L + U + CUB RATE. |
| 6 | SHOP – dd. |
| 10 | ADIEU – [cl]UE I’D A[lready]<. |
| 11 | MEDIAEVAL – MEDIA + VALE*. |
| 12 | BOTTEGA – B + (GET TO)< + A. |
| 13 | SUHARTO – (TOUR HAS)*. Suharto was the President of Indonesia until 1998. |
| 14 | DANIEL DERONDA – (ODD ADRENALINE)*. |
| 17 | MISCHIEF MAKER – (FISH + MICE)*. Reverse cryptic. |
| 21 | CARAMEL – (AM in CARE) + L. |
| 22 | INCLINE – INC + LINE. |
| 24 | INCENTIVE – I + N + CENT + I’VE. |
| 25 | INNER – [s]INNER. |
| 26 | YALE – (A in ELY)<. |
| 27 | GATHERING – GAT[e] + HER + IN + G. |
| Down | |
| 1 | LEAFBUDS – FBU in LEADS. |
| 2 | CLINT – CLI[e]NT. Eastwood, of course. |
| 3 | BOULEVERSEMENT – (TUMBLE OVER SEEN)*. |
| 4 | ARMBAND – RM in A BAND. |
| 5 | END USER – NUDE* + SER. |
| 7 | HAVERSACK – AVERS in HACK*. |
| 8 | PALLOR – (ROLL + AP)<. |
| 9 | BATHING MACHINE – THING in (MAIN BEACH)*. One of these things, or perhaps Sir would prefer the executive model. |
| 15 | NUMERICAL – (N + I’M A CLUE + [write]R)*. |
| 16 | TREE FROG – (R in TEE) + (R in FOG). |
| 18 | HOLDING – HOLD IN + G. I think this is what’s done when they have a queue of aircraft waiting to land. |
| 19 | EMINENT – MINE in [k]ENT. |
| 20 | ACUITY – (I in A CUT) + Y. |
| 23 | I-AND-I – INDIA*. |
Very enjoyable, which I found quite a bit harder than Phi usually is, perhaps chosen as such for the holiday. Favourite clue SHOP, I agree with you about HOLDING tho it took me a while to see it. LUCUBRATE was my last answer and is a new word to me tho I got it eventually from the wordplay once I’d all the crossing letters.
Thanks, Simon. Yes, a bit tougher than usual, but hey ho, it’s a holiday. A puzzle of two halves, the bottom coming fairly quickly but the top half proving problematical. Generally very well clued. I failed on a number of answers, including BOTTEGA, which isn’t in my Collins (yes, I know I should buy a Chambers) – BODEGA is what I knew. And I-AND-I is a completely new one to me, as was LUCUBRATE, which I had to do a word check for.
To ask my first stupid question of the decade, could someone explain what a reverse cryptic is and how it works in 17ac, please?
I think it means usually the anagram is in the clue – here it’s reversed as the answer itself suggests it.
Thank you, nms, that makes a bit more sense now.