A quick solve, but none the less enjoyable, with some delightful surfaces which raised a few smiles. The two straightforward long central across clues were a great way in. There were a couple of unfamiliar solutions, but the clear wordplay made them perfectly gettable.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Cosmopolitan theme’s about right for London? (3,5) | ||
| THE SMOKE | *THEMES, anagrind “cosmopolitan” (!), around OK | ||
| 5. | Russian composer‘s associate in Georgia (6) | ||
| GLINKA | LINK = “associate”, in GA, state code for Georgia | ||
| 9. | Squeal about duck theft (8) | ||
| STEALING | SING, = “squeal”, eg. to the police, round TEAL |
||
| 10. | Old Dutch coin I have found in street close to pier (6) | ||
| STIVER | ST + I’VE + (pie)R. On first reading, I thought I’d need something to do with “wife” 🙂 |
||
| 11. | Sore about club excluding bishop, retired (5) | ||
| ULCER | <RE + CLU(b) | ||
| 13. | Holes caused by rust a peer repaired (9) | ||
| APERTURES | *RUST A PEER | ||
| 15. | Beastly ailment discovered in meadow – cases I’d treated (3,3,7) | ||
| MAD COW DISEASE | *MEADOW CASED I’D. The definition is both literal and figurative. | ||
| 17. | Hide pass on tube (2,11) | ||
| GO UNDERGROUND | GO = “pass” (vb.) + UNDERGROUND | ||
| 21. | Mysterious giant mice, all over the place (9) | ||
| ENIGMATIC | *GIANT MICE – Lovely surface, what an image! | ||
| 22. | Pay for another to negotiate (5) | ||
| TREAT | Double definition | ||
| 23. | Phlox – a list contains this plant (6) | ||
| OXALIS | Hidden in “(phl)OX A LIS(t) |
||
| 24. | Way out of compound (8) | ||
| SOLUTION | Double definition | ||
| 26. | What babies do with article on peg (6) | ||
| TEETHE | THE after (“on”) TEE | ||
| 27. | X shot unwittingly (2,6) | ||
| BY CHANCE | BY = “x”, ie. ‘times’ – mathematical symbol, + CHANCE = “shot” | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Concern after conclusion of government paper (6) | ||
| TISSUE | ISSUE after (governmen)T | ||
| 2. | Central spot in the Yemen (3) | ||
| EYE | Hidden in “(th)E YE(men)” | ||
| 3. | Girl, gentle touching daughter (7) | ||
| MILDRED | MILD + RE + D | ||
| 4. | Rodent in D.H. Lawrence novel has sailor keeling over (8,3) | ||
| KANGAROO RAT | KANGAROO + <TAR  |
||
| 6. | Young child enthralled by stories? That’s an understatement (7) | ||
| LITOTES | TOT in LIES | ||
| 7. | Little Neville on easy ride, possibly an Epsom Derby winner (5,3,3) | ||
| NEVER SAY DIE | NEV + *EASY RIDE
|
||
| 8. | Stopped and captured (8) | ||
| ARRESTED | Double definition, rather obvious. | ||
| 12. | Have dealings with one spiteful woman in kibbutz (11) | ||
| COMMUNICATE | 1 + CAT in COMMUNE | ||
| 14. | Former partner and board member, last of many not listed (2-9) | ||
| EX-DIRECTORY | EX + DIRECTOR + (man)Y | ||
| 16. | Gent more relaxed in a Cumbrian market town (8) | ||
| EGREMONT | *GENT MORE. I guessed this one once I had ?g?e?o??, though Id never heard of the place. | ||
| 18. | Somewhat wet, a politician tucking into meal (7) | ||
| DAMPISH | A + MP in DISH | ||
| 19. | Lie unhurt, surprisingly, describing onset of tsunami (7) | ||
| UNTRUTH | *UNHURT round T(sunami) | ||
| 20. | Immediately make amends, bagging century (2,4) | ||
| AT ONCE | C in ATONE | ||
| 25. | Fashionable new bar (3) | ||
| INN | IN + N | ||
Thanks, Stella.
Just one question (re 24a): in what context does “compound” mean “solution”?
Thanks, Stella.
I needed your parsing of 27a but I think that “shot” for “chance” is a bit far-fetched. Wouldn’t “go” have been nearer the meaning or am I missing something?
Miche @1 – in chemistry.
Thanks Stella. As you say, some delightful surfaces this week. MAD COW DISEASE was my favourite clue today.
I’ve always spelled the Dutch coin STUIVER, but I see STIVER is in Collins. If I remember well, the Dutch still use the word today to refer to the 5 cent Euro coin.
Like Miche, I raised an eyebrow at 24ac and SOLUTION, which chemically is not the same as a compound. Sodium chloride, NaCl or common salt, is a compound of the two elements sodium and chlorine. Water, or H2O, is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. If you dissolve the former in the latter, you’ve got a homogenous blend of the two – a solution.
Many thanks to Everyman as always.
Found this the hardest for a while and couldn’t get a lot of the top. It didn’t help that I’d never heard of Glinka or Stiver.
What has 4d got to do with D H Lawrence , please?
Hi Bamberger, if you look at the first illustration at 4d, you’ll see it’s the cover of an opuscule by Mr. Lawrence entitled “Kangaroo” – I didn’t know it either, and it took me a while to find a “copy”.
Re 24ac, I’m no chemist, but I too was a little doubtful. Still, the answer was obvious enough, so I didn’t bother myself too much 🙂
Good crossword, as ever, with a few unknowns, like STIVER and DHL’s KANGAROO. I just about dragged GLINKA out of my memory banks.
Thanks, Stella; obviously a solution and compound are not the same chemically. However, the two are listed as synonyms in my Chambers Xword dic., and in the Oxford Thesaurus, it gives under ‘a solution of ammonia in water’ the word ‘compound,’ so perhaps it is an old usage. Little criticism, therefore, of the setter.