More of a stroll through the woods than a machete-wielding jungle expedition. But at least we took the scenic route, and it was fun while it lasted.
Across
1 EASY MEAT – (May tease)*.
5 ADONIS – a DON + IS (income support).
10 SCOWL – scow + L[eft].
11/12 HAS A LOT ON ONE’S PLATE – metaphorical/punning cryptic double def’n.
13 ABYSS – by in ass.
14 DEPART – d{isreputabl}e + part (‘character’).
15 TADPOLE – (Old tape)*. The use of toad rather than frog within the def’n makes me wonder whether the initial idea was to try to use that as partial anagram fodder.
18 OFFBEAT – of + F[emale] + beat.
20 DEPUTY – EP (Extended Play) in duty.
22 BOYNE – boy + {o}ne. A river probably better known as a battle-site.
24 CANTONESE – (on Net, case)*. Can’t make up my mind whether or not I like this clue. It’s a nifty idea, but maybe the anagram fodder is a tad too clunkily obvious.
25 EBULLIENT – (bull + i.e.) in ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat). ‘Centre’ in the toxophilitic sense.
26 ATONE – at one…as Leonard Parkin’s News once was.
27 PAGODA – (a god) in PA (Pennsylvania).
28 VERY WELL – erm…very + well.
Down
1 EUSTON – sue< + to + N[orth]. The preferred London terminus of setters everywhere.
2 STONE-DEAF – S[on] + tone deaf.
3 MY LIPS ARE SEALED – p{ower-sharing} in (Emerald Isle, say)*.
6 DOLLAR DIPLOMACY – cryptic pun on the noun/verb promiscuity of the word ‘buck’. It raised a smile in these quarters.
7 NUTTY – {m}utt in NY.
8 SINISTER – (retsin{a} + is)<.
9 ASPECT – P[ressure] in (a sect).
16 ON THE NOSE – (Honest one)*. Punters placing a wager “on the nose” are staking a win-only, rather than each-way, bet.
17 DOUBLE UP – double (‘twin’) + up (‘at University’).
19 TACKED – homophone of “tact”.
20 DINETTE – {mi}dinette. Midinette (‘Parisian salesgirl’) is one of those words that I’ve only ever encountered in the context of crosswords.
21 REVEAL – a in revel. This clue, along with the equally succinct and tidy 9D, put me more in mind of Armonie’s trademark style.
23/4 YOUNG AT HEART – young (‘early’) + at heart (‘in reality’).
This is the last occasion we will see smiffy’s cheerful avatar, at least for the time being. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the blogs he has written during the past four years (almost). I haven’t counted them all but the archives indicate that smiffy covered the first weekday non-prize puzzle that was blogged on 15² back in July 2007 (12,507 by Satori) so he deserves a rest.
Many thanks Smiffy for this and all your previous analyses over recent years. I am very sorry to see you go.
Today’s puzzle was very enjoyable, ao thanks Falcon – although I should point out that ‘Young at Heart’ co-starred Doris Day who also used to warble the title song and happily she is still with us.
Au revoir, Smiffy. I’ve enjoyed your analyses and hope to see you back blogging soon.
Thanks smiffy for all you invaluable efforts at fifteensquared.
You say “… at least we took the scenic route, and it was fun while it lasted”.
Hope you made some photographs to dip into every now and then. 🙂
Good luck for whatever will be next!
Thanks Smiffy. Always enjoy your analyses.