All very good as usual. I enjoyed the four long entries around the perimeter, the solving of each one in turn greatly helping to fill another quarter of the grid.
My one slip was entering ISLET for 9ac, thinking SET must be a fishing term I hadn’t heard. Obviously I should have looked at that once more as the real answer is more straightforward!
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1/6 | CLASSICAL LATIN – CLASS I CALL + A + TIN. |
| 9 | INLET – I + (L in NET). |
| 10 | READY MEAL – READY (money) + MEAL (flour). |
| 11 | FAN FICTION – (N + F1) in FACTION. |
| 12 | BALA – (A LAB)<. |
| 14 | COHEIRS – (HE + I) in CORS. |
| 15 | FAN CLUB – [gir]L in (FAN + CUB). |
| 17 | NOMINEE – MINE in NOE*. |
| 19 | SPOONER – (P in SO) + ONER? Not sure here. |
| 20 | TUBA – TUB + [festiv]A[l]. |
| 22 | CENSORSHIP – C[ardiff] + (PRISON HE’S)*. |
| 25 | BRECHTIAN – (ECHT + I) in BRAN. |
| 26 | APNEA – N in A PEA. |
| 27/28 | ELDER STATESMAN – (SMEARS TALENTED)*. |
| Down | |
| 1/14 | CHIEF CONSTABLE – (I in CHEF) + CONSTABLE. |
| 2 | ALLINGHAM – ALL IN + G + HAM. |
| 3 | ST TRINIANS – (STAR ISN’T IN)*. |
| 4 | CURATES – RAT in CUES. |
| 5 | LEAD OFF – LEA + DOFF. |
| 6 | LAYS – [p]LAYS. |
| 7 | THETA – T in (THE + A). |
| 8/23 | NULLARBOR PLAIN – (RURAL + NO PINBALL)*. This was my last one in, through not being familiar with the place, but eventually getting there from the anagram. |
| 13 | IN-YOUR-FACE – dd. |
| 16 | LANTHANUM – [crimina]L + (A MANHUNT)*. |
| 18 | ENEMIES – (MEN< + I) in SEE<. |
| 19 | SUSANNA – USA in ANNA’S<. |
| 21 | BREAD – R in (BE + AD). |
| 24 | THOR – THOR[n]. |
Thanks, Simon.
I’d wondered if there was something going on with “fan” being used twice, but I can’t see anything…
19ac. is, I think, just P inside “sooner” (as in “I’d sooner” = “I’d rather”).
You’ve added a superfluous A to the anagrist for 8,23. Area is needed in the definition.
Thank you, Simon.
Goldilocks puzzle today – just right. We’ve had some great stuff this week in the Indy.
Thanks for the blog Simon.
The two across 14 letter clues for me made the Nullarbor Plain straightforward, especially as I have had the good fortune to travel through it on the Sydney – Perth Indian Pacific railway.
Solid clueing throughout – a characteristic of Phi.
Thanks for the post, Simon. This was very enjoyable, as ever from Phi. I was just slightly frustrated to be left with N_L_A_B_R PLAIN, and guessed the wrong arrangement of the first word… (I hadn’t heard of the Nullarbor Plain, and was wondering if it might be some region of the moon’s surface.)
Haven’t been to Oz, sadly, but I think Nullarbor Plain is reasonably enough well known to be in a daily puzzle. Its name I think comes from a bastardisation of Latin – null = no/nothing; arbor = tree. So a treeless plain, which Ian, having travelled there, could no doubt confirm.
Enjoyable puzzle, favourites READY MEAL, SP0ONER, THOR.