Usual rich smorgasbord
ACROSS
1 Opinion dismissing love as sin VICE V[o]ICE
4 Disentangle second hint about condition SIMPLIFY
IF condition in S IMPLY hint
9 Old creature touchy with hairs being disturbed ICHTHYOSAUR
(TOUCHY HAIRS)*
11 Farm buildings not once having external electrical units HENNERIES
not (obsolete) NE in HENRIES
12 Arrives without neckwear, being more Bohemian ARTIER
TIE in ARR
13 Melancholy old judge out of temper ADUST melancholy (old)
temper ADJUST minus J judge
15 Instrumental tunes recalled by man’s choral song STROPHE Greek song
Gaelic tunes PORTS< man HE
17 Playwright’s tale brought in call for encore MOLIERE
tale LIE in MORE
21 Rubbing out the years of course ERASURE
years ERA of course SURE
22 Item of armour one used in current attack? Not half CUIRASS breastplate
one I in current (this month) CUR ASS[ail]
24 Sound system freed of first bug ANNOY [t]ANNOY
25 River: mostly a word describing water transportation system URETER
URE river TER[m] word mostly
26 This local vocabulary, nothing less, would give you one form of diction
IDIOTICON local vocab (DICTION O I)*
27 Regarding engine freshly tuned? Involves Renault’s initiation – good for them!
UNDERBONNET R [enault] French good BONNE all in (TUNED)*
28 Medical assessment American repeatedly established AMES TEST
American AM EST EST
29 I backed English decorative feature OGEE EGO< E
DOWN
1 Six linked to a crime after distribution of tainted blood VIRAEMIC
6 VI (A CRIME)*
2 French lord to discuss French article in context of German one
CHATELAIN discuss CHAT LA in EIN
3 System of rules, European, mostly stupid ETHIC E THIC[k]
4 Covered outbuilding around summer in Menton SHEETED covered
summer in French ETE in SHED
5 Large religious establishment cut down, releasing one MONSTER large
MONASTER[y] minus A
6 Some bacon in lumps dished up around end of supper LARDON bacon
[suppe]R in NODAL<
7 Making passes, an easy game? O|ne’ll score 5
FRESH BREEZE force 5 on Beaufort Scale FRESH BREEZE easy game
8 Old fungus still smothering section YEST old fungus S in YET still
10 Vehicle bound to crash with rum or other hard stuff CARBORUNDUM
CAR (BOUND RUM)*
14 University positive over some golf and lodging in St Andrews
UP-PUTTING Scottish lodging U P PUTTING
16 Denounce money paid to senior officials? EXECRATE denounce
EXEC[utive] RATE
18 Breathe, always suppressing tears on rebound RESPIRE breathe
(RIPS in EER)<
19 Blast around April doing for big underground feature TAPROOT
APR[ril] in TOOT blast
20 Families liking Scottish policeman BROODS families
Scottish liking BROO DS policeman
23 Something of a gamble about new special cheese KEN-NO special cheese prepared in secret for the gossips at a Scottish birth N in KENO gambling game
24 Relief over a cotton fabric AIDA fabric AID A
( )* = anagram < = reverse [ ] = omit
Thanks for that. I couldn’t parse 18d. Obvious, really, but I was hung up on Exes for expenses.
Also seemed to miss 23d. All a word search revealed was TENNO, another name for the emperor of Japan, but KEN-NO is there when I do the search now. Did I just fail to see it or have they updated Chambers Word Search?
Can’t speak about Chambers Word Search but, if you feel you need to search, the site (OneLook) whose address is below is indeed worth a look and would have found KEN-NO from a quick look now.
http://www.onelook.com
Well, that’s the thing. When I enter ?ENNO into Chambers now, KEN-NO does come up, but I didn’t spot in on Sunday, and as it’s one of only two words returned, I can’t see how I missed it.
Curiously, entering ?ENNO into OneLook returns several more words, but not KEN-NO when I try it. It does return KENNO, but it doesn’t give the cheese definition for it.
Thanks, Jed. I mostly did OK on this, but needed your help on 7dn and 23dn to finish things off.