Themed puzzle, based on 6 across, solving time 23 mins. A few words unfamiliar to me that I was able to work out from the clear and fair wordplay.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 BACK GARDEN Definition: local plot BLACKGUARD less L and U END diminished ie lacking final letter
6 B ONE Easy clue given for the thematic item
10 ALMANAC MAN in ALACK less K ie ‘sadly incomplete’ – this was nicely misleading as it looked as if it could be an anagram of the first 7 letters of calendar
11 KNUCKLE (ELK ChUNK)< h = hope initially
12 TRAPEZIUM (tamper Uzi)* Did not know this was a bone (in the wrist)
13 DONUT lose’s (one’s) head = do (one’s) nut My favourite clue
14 THUMB TB around HUM
15 BASTINADO BAT IN ADO around S (special)
17 OPALESCES (scope)* around ALES Definition: shows cloudy light
20 ANKLE RANKLE less R (Queen)
21 HYOID YOU less U in HID New to me – bone in the tongue
23 MARKET-LED (LET)* in MARKED (clear)
25 ICE-FALL I CALL around E (energy) F (fine)
25 CRANIUM CI around RAN UM This confirmed the theme for me
27 KNEE KEEN with N brought forward
28 SYNOPSISED (PONY’S)< (SIDES)* pony = £25
DOWN
1 BLAST B LAST
2 CAMPANULA (UP ALMANAC)* 10 across is ALMANAC
3 GINGERBREAD MAN GIN and GERMAN around BREAD (money)
4 RECLIMB REC (playground) LIMB (impish child)
5 ESKIMOS E OS (mappers = Ordnance Survey) around SKIM
7 OAKEN O TAKEN less T
8 ELECTRODE ELECT RODE
9 QUADRILATERALS (ALL SQUARED ART, I)* The ? is there, I think, as not all quadrilaterals are squares. Quadrilateral is any figure with four sides – in a square, all the sides are the same length and all the angles are right angles
14 TOOTHPICK P in TOO THICK
16 ALKALOIDS (AD IS ALL OK)*
18 CAMELRY CAME L RY
19 SIROCCO SO around I ROC C (caught) Excellent surface
22 OBESE OBE’S lead to (Excellence) Another very good clue with great surface
24 DOMED DO MED !
Tongue-bone’s a new one on me too. Surely it’s more of an anchoring support for the tongue!
I liked DONUT too. But why does ‘clear’ = MARKED? Also, I think of thumbing through a book as being reading it superficially, rather than intensively.
I think it’s in the sense ‘obvious, evident, noticeable’ which is the first definition for MARKED in Collins.
Don’t know much about bones at all, just took a little from the dict in relation to the ones I’d never heard of!
NICE!
Arrgh got caught by local plot and assumed it was beer garden for 1ac and thought the word play was too clever for me, made the flowers i’d never heard of impossible even though I’d reasoned the anagram and dismissed it.