A neat little puzzle from Dogberry (‘Do not forget to specify, when time and place shall serve, that I am an ass’ – Much Ado, Act V Scene I). I felt it could have done with a little more variation, but it’s a sunny morning, so who’s complaining?
ACROSS
1. GLANDERS Ganders [birds, male geese] incorporating l(eft) to give a disease of livestock (a word I only know thanks to PG Wodehouse’s school sausages that were ‘made not from contented pigs but from pigs which had expired, regretted by all, of glanders, the botts and tuberculosis’)
5. OPPOSE Op [opus, work] + pose [sit (for a portrait)]
10. LARVA La [note] incorporating a + RV [Revised Version (of the Bible)] to give an insect’s early form
11. CANTONESE Cane [rod] incorporating tones [inflections] to give a Chinese language
12. ALLIGATOR All [totally] + Igor [Russian man’s name] incorporating T(urk)
13. OFTEN Of ten [decimal] – smart little clue
14. SORREL Delicious herb hidden in klingSOR RELuctantly
15. PARAPET Part [character] incorporating ape [impersonator]
18. SELFISH Sh [as in shhh!, be silent] incorporating anagram of flies
20. DEPUTY Duty [obligation] incorporating reversal of PE [Physical Education, games]
22. RETCH (W)retch [low-lifer]
24. LEVIATHAN Anagram of heat anvil to give the Biblical beast
25. STAIRHEAD St(reet) [way] + airhead [bimbo]
26. BRUNT B [second-rate, as in B-team or B-list] + runt [weakling]
27. ORNATE Orate [talk] incorporating n(ame)
28. FRUMPISH Fish [drinker – as in, one who drinks like a fish] incorporating rump [bum]
DOWN.
1. GALWAY Gal [lass] + way [trail] to give the Irish flautist Sir James Galway
2. APRIL FOOL A + pool [game] incorporating reveral of flir(t) [coquette]
3. DJANGO REINHARDT Anagram of O the grand jardin to give the great digitally-challenged jazz guitarist (perfect for a sunny September day)
4. RECITAL Real [authentic] incorporating reversal of tic [twitch]
6. PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM Anagram of borough map plath
7. OVERT Reversal of Trevo(r) [boy’s name]
8. ETERNITY (D)eity [God] incorporating tern [bird]
9. ENTRAP Reversal of partne(r) [sidekick]
16. PATCHOULI Patch [territory] + oui [‘yes’ in French’] incorporating L(uxembourg) to give the hippie-friendly perfume
17. ESPRESSO Esso [oilmen] incorporating pres(s) [(news)papers]
19. HOLLER (C)holer [anger] incorporating L [learner, student]
20. DIVIDER Diver [submariner] incorporating id [primordial urges, in Freudian psychology]
21. SNATCH S(mack) + natch [of course – ‘naturally’ in yuppie-speak]
23. TWAIN Double definition to give the pen-name of Samuel Clemens
Many thanks for the blog, Ringo.
The DOWN clues seemed to hold me back a bit today. When solving, I was rather surprised
to meet three Subtraction Clues in a row: 7dn TREVO(R), 8dn D(E…ITY) and 9dn PARTNE(R).
Then I noticed another three: 2dn AP(RIL F)OOL, 17dn ES(PRES)SO and 19dn C(HO…LER).
22ac W(RETCH) is another one. So, if I’ve counted correctly, you had to rack your brains
(at least) seven times for a “longer-than-necessary” word in today’s puzzle!
Ringo, in 12ac, A+T(urk) is incorporated.
Thanks Ringo and Dogberry.
Don’t see much of this setter, but this was enjoyable. Liked 21D SNATCH, 12A ALLIGATOR, and 3D DJANGO REINHARDT, one of my favourites, for which thanks for the link – remarkable what just 2 fingers can do!
Pedant’s corner: regardless what the linked website says, Cantonese, strictly, is a dialect along with the other Chinese dialects like Hokkien and Shanghainese. As it says in the website itself, Cantonese is an “oral language” which to me means a dialect rather than a language.
Thanks for the blog, Ringo, and Dogberry for the puzzle.
I’ve nothing to add, except for the observation that I made on my blog on the Guardian [Orlando] thread that there’s a rather remarkable coincidence between 21dn here and 19dn there – in very similar positions in the grid.
It’s late enough now, I think, to spell it out.
Dogberry [or Shed, as I know you – even though I did ‘Much Ado’ for A Level – and you seem a little more gentle over this side]: ‘Kidnap smackhead, of course’
Orlando: ‘Melodic fragment is small, of course’
Interesting that the definitions were so different but the wordplay so similar.
As I said earlier, ‘both very good clues, of course’. 😉