A tough struggle for me, this one; no-one likes to be faced with Aztec charades and 19-letter anagrams first thing in a morning. But I got there in the end. Some very nice clueing, and a few challenging words. A notch harder than the usual Thursday grid, I thought, although I’m sure others will feel differently.
ACROSS
1. PARODISTS ODIs [One-day Internationals] within parts [sides]
6. TUBER Tube [underground (train)] + r(eserve) – the whole provides the definition
9. TULIP Li(fe) within tup [sheep]
10. ROARINGLY Anagram (‘relocates’ – see 2dn) of girl or any
11. PICTORIALS Not entirely sure about this: a cryptic description of photographs?
12, 14. AMYL NITRATE Amy [girl] + nit [dope] + r(ecreational) within late [dead] – a rather macabre surface
15, 17. WHOOPEE CUSHION Cryptic definition
19, 20. NEUTRON STAR Anagram of sun not rare t(emperature), with ‘sun’ doing double duty
22. SHORTCRUST Shor(n) [cut] + C [cocaine] within trust [cartel]
25, 26. AUTOGRAPH ALBUM Anagram of hog puma a brutal
27. YAHOO Yah [posh version of ‘yes’, ‘certainly’] + O O [zeroes, loves]
28. LARGENESS R [right] + gene [part of (genetic) makeup] within lass [girl]
DOWN
1. PUT UP ‘Rejected to no effect’ indicates the palindrome
2. RELOCATES Reversal of set [prepare] + a + cole [cabbage] + r [recipe]
3, 4. DIPLOMATIC SERVICE Lovely anagram of a clever MPs idiotic
5, 6. SWALLOWTAIL Wall [surround] + reversal of two [couple] within sail [canvas]
7. BY GUM Spoonerised version of guy [fellow] + bum [behind]
8. ROYAL FERN Reversal of flay [remove skin from] + O [zero, duck] within Nr [near] + E [English] + R [river]
13, 14. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY Anagram of a penny cash resources
16. PURSUABLE Anagram of a pub rules
18. NAHUATL A [indefinite article] within hut [cabin] within NL [Netherlands]
19. NORTHER Hidden in yukoN OR THE Rockies
21. AITCH A + itch [long]
23. TIMES T [junction] + reversal of semi [semi-articulated lorry]
24. AGIO A + g [good] + I [one] + O [zero, love – again…]
A second dose of Anax / Loroso today then. Got there but it was hard work to break into especially the long anagrams with deceptive definitions.
Thanks DM & Ringo
This was my first puzzle of the day and a relatively tough one
The bottom half came up very quickly. The impossible NAHUATL was one of my first entries, purely from construction.
As always, Loroso excels in original anagrams that make sense within their surfaces: 25/26ac, 3/4d, 13/14d.
It took me some time to parse 8d (ROYAL FERN) and 1ac (PARODISTS), the latter mainly because I do not know anything about cricket (therefore not knowing what ODI meant).
Many thanks Ringo for your blog.
To me PICTORIALS (11ac) is a homophone (‘heard’) of PICKED (which can mean ‘opened’ (of a lock, for example)) + ORIELS (windows).
Clever stuff.
Au contraire, I haven’t tackled a Loroso for some time, but liked the look of this one, even more so when ‘Whoopee cushion’ and ‘Autograph album’ went in straight away – ‘No purchase necessary’ followed from the word lengths alone, and from there on it was relatively plain sailing. ‘Times’ was my last one. As an occasional Thursday setter I’d say it was on the more difficult side, but very enjoyable, thanks Loroso, and Ringo for the blog.
I always thought Loroso was friendly Anax but not today. They were both equally difficult, or is it that my cryptic grey matter is on its holidays?
Thanks Ringo and Loroso. I just about got there but found this considerably tougher than the Anax in another place – needed more word finder help with this one. Both really good challenges.
Very well done with the blog Ringo. I took this to the pub with me this evening as I had no time to look at it earlier in the day.
If you think 19 letter anagrams & Aztec charades are a challenge in the morning, I can assure you that they are too challenging to be an entertaining way to relax at the end of the day!
Not for the first time I have been thrown by a single two-letter word for the definition as in ‘by’ for 23D.
Thanks for the blog, Ringo. Your efforts are appreciated.
In 18D there are two A’s in the answer. You have inadvertently omitted one in your narrative – a h(a)ut inside NL.