It’s a bright, springlike morning, and this – for me, anyway – was a bright, springlike puzzle, dispensed with before the coffee was cold but no less enjoyable for that. The art and football references were the icing on the bun.
ACROSS
1. ROYAL ACADEMY Cryptic definition: the Royal Academy, where paintings are hung. I have to admit the ‘parade’ part is a little lost on me, but I suppose it’s to do with the Academy’s location – perhaps an art-loving Londoner can help me out? Thanks to Scchua for setting me right: RA [Royal Academy] is in the middle of paRAde
10. AVERAGE A + a within verge(r) [church official]
11. TWO-INCH Two [couple] + in + CH [China]
12. EDIFY E [English] + F [fellow] within DIY [Do It Yourself, household chores]
13. SCREWTOP Crew [man (vb.)] within stop [standstill]
15. DOG BISCUIT Anagram of big cod is (o)ut; the Dane is presumably Great
16. VEIN Sounds like vain (with different crossing letters it could have been pore; with another letter it could have been waist)
18. SASH S [second] + ash [tree]
20. CARAVAGGIO Carava(n) [mobile home] + GI [soldier] within go [activity] to give the artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
22. ORATORIO A + tor [high point] within Orio(n) [stellar group]
24. LAUGH LA [Los Angeles, US city] + ugh [repugnant sound]
26. ITALIAN I [one, 1] + reversal of ail [trouble] within tan [sun]
27. CLOSE-UP Lose [miss] within cup [competition]
28. SIR ALF RAMSEY Anagram of a firms layers to give the noted football manager
DOWN
2. OPENING Op [opus, work] + reversal of nine [number] + g(ood)
3. ANALYSIS An + al(l)y [associate] + sis [sister, relative]
4. AREA A + rea(d) [study]
5. ANTICLIMAX Anagram of claim in tax
6. EVOKE OK [magazine] within Eve [woman’s name]
7. YANGTSE Cryptic definition for the longest river in Asia
8. KALEIDOSCOPIC Anagram of ideal pics cook
9. WHIP INTO SHAPE Whip [party official] + anagram of neat hop is
14. OCCASIONAL Reversal of ac [account, bill] + co [company] + anagram of loans I
17. BALLROOM All + r [right] within boom [piece of equipment for filming]
19. SEA BASS Se(e) [witness] + AB [Able Bodied (Seaman), sailor] + a + SS [ship]
21. GRUYERE R [recipe] within guy [man] + ere [before] to give the Swiss cheese
23. OSIER Cosier [more intimate] minus C [clubs]
25. SCAR S [sun] + car [saloon]
Thanks PeeDee and Sleuth.
Re 1A the RA (abbreviated) is to be found in the middle of “paRAde”. Nice one!
Sorry Ringo, got the wrong name. Terribly sorry!
Thanks, Ringo. A couple of minor things:
You’ve written YANGTSE at 7d. So did I at first, but it’s YANGTZE.
5d is an anagram, not a reversal.
I didn’t get 16a. Sometimes it’s the little ones that defeat you…
“…also spelled Yangtse…” I’m an idiot.
Thanks Miche – have corrected that slip-up now.
Thanks Sleuth for an enjoyable crossword and Ringo for the blog. My favourite clue was 17dn: somehow the pieces just fit together nicely.
7dn: I wrote YANGTSE. Thanks To Miche@3,4 for pointing out that there are alternative spellings. Given that the alternative spellings differ in an unchecked letter, I feel that the answer requires a full cryptic clue with wordplay that removes the ambiguity.
28ac: Here we have exactly what was needed in 7dn. The use of an anagram prevents (or, at least, should prevent) anyone from mis-spelling Sir Alf’s surname as RAMSAY.
‘Get zany’, or ‘gets any’, depending on which version, could give you a start. Unless you go for YANGZI, also a variant.
I’ve recently been pulled up on a CD for TRIUMVIRI, which could – as I now realise – just as easily be TRIUMVIRS, especially with the last letter unched. ‘Long distance runner in the East’ I suspect might also be criticised as there are other long Asian rivers: Yangtze is the longest, however.
I agree with Pelham’s point about alternative spellings in unchecked letters.
I enjoy doing crosswords from newspaper archives.
In a January 1935 crossword from The Scotsman newspaper, the answer
to an ambiguous clue could have been INDOLENT or INSOLENT.
Next day, D/S was neatly squeezed into the third square of the solution!
Come on FT, for YANGTZE, give us S/Z in the sixth square tomorrow!