This was an enjoyable puzzle from Orlando, with some fine misdirections. Thanks to Orlando. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 Dad’s Army cast retaining English illusions (9)
DAYDREAMS : Anagram of(cast) DAD’S ARMY containing(retaining) E(abbrev. for “English”).
6 Lawgiver needs a drink (4)
SODA : SOD(from Sod’s Law – “bad fortune will be tailored to the individual” and “anything that can go wrong, will”, akin but broader than Murphy’s Law) plus(needs) A.
8 Ready to take part, young fellows at first interrupting course (5,3)
ENTRY FEE : First letters, respectively, of(at first) “young fellows ” contained in(interrupting) ENTRE(a course in a meal – in the UK, that before the main course, but in the US, the main course itself).
Answer: Ready(short for ready money) paid in order to take part in/at an event.
9 Cantankerous driver keeps right (6)
CRABBY : CABBY(an informal term for a taxi/cab driver) containing(keeps) R(abbrev. for “right”).
10 Nancy’s first person with second person’s servant (6)
JEEVES : JE(the first person pronoun in French, as spoken in Nancy, a city in France) plus(with) EVE(the biblical second person after Adam) ‘S.
Answer: Reginald, valet/servant (and more) to Bertie Wooster, in P.G. Wodehouse’s novels.
11 What Orlando did in dining room? Starters do this (8)
INITIATE : IN IT(in the dining room, that is) I(self-referential pronoun for Orlando, the setter) ATE(what you’d normally do in the dining room).
12 Show off in Venice (6)
EVINCE : Anagram of(off) VENICE.
15 Jolly good luck initially stops betrayal (8)
RATTLING : First letter of(initially) “luck” contained in(stops) RATTING(informing on someone;an act of betrayal).
Answer: Exceptionally good.
16 Dotty, Sue, Pearl, Joy (8)
PLEASURE : Anagram of(Dotty) SUE, PEARL.
19 Musical item that’s less sensitive (6)
NUMBER : Comparative for “numb”(not sensitive to).
21 Stable provides unsatisfactory cover for weapon (8)
BALANCED : BAD(unsatisfactory;of poor quality) containing(cover for) LANCE(an olden weapon),
22 After much delay Titan rocket’s closer (2,4)
AT LAST : ATLAS(the mythological Titan who, as a punishment, was forced to hold up the celestial sphere) + last letter of(…’s closer) “rocket“.
24 The rest of the hussies take part (6)
SIESTA : Hidden in(… part) “hussies take “.
Answer: A mid-day or afternoon rest break.
25 Watch parrot? (8)
REPEATER : Double defn: 1st: A timepiece that will chime the hour (and, for some, the minutes) on demand; and 2nd: Figuratively, one who repeats or imitates the words or actions of another without understanding, from the bird which is wont to repeat what you say.
26 Girl seen dropping odd papers (4)
ENID : “seen ” minus the first and third letters(dropping odd) ID(short for identity papers).
27 Tea’s ready in mess for movable feast (6,3)
EASTER DAY : Anagram of(in mess) “TEA’S READY “.
Answer: The Sunday on which Easter is celebrated, the date being movable, year to year.
Down
1 Central heating installed by European poet (5)
DANTE : The middle letter of(Central) “heating ” contained in(installed by) DANE(a European national).
2 Back from journey before transport appears in capital (7)
YEREVAN : Last letter of(Back from) “journey ” + ERE(before, poetically) + VAN(a transport vehicle).
Answer: Capital city of Armenia.
3 Up the street wood splits (5)
RIFTS : Reversal of(Up) [ ST(abbrev. for “street”) + FIR(wood from a coniferous tree) ].
4 Real tie breaker for studio (7)
ATELIER : Anagram of(breaker) “REAL TIE “.
5 Church worker heads for chapel and really is taken by devil (9)
SACRISTAN : [ First letters, respectively, of “chapel” and “really ” + IS] contained in(taken by) SATAN(the devil).
Answer: Worker who has charge of a church’s contents, especially the sacred vessels, vestments, etc.
6 Pitch invaded by a new dog (7)
SPANIEL : SPIEL(a marketing pitch;sales talk) containing(invaded by) [A + N(abbrev. for “new”) ].
7 1 down holding container up for young socialite (9)
DEBUTANTE : DANTE(answer to 1 down) containing(holding) reversal of(up, in a down clue) TUBE(a container, of paint, say).
13 Philistine victory over European first off (9)
VULGARIAN : V(abbrev. for “victory”) placed above(over) “Bulgarian”(a European national) minus
its first letter (first off).
Answer: One with vulgar tastes, especially one who is rich or has pretensions to good taste.
14 Composing a nice tune, say? (9)
ENUNCIATE : Anagram of(Composing) A NICE TUNE.
Answer: To say;to utter, especially clearly and distinctly.
17 A transmitter, we hear, that’s collected (7)
AMASSED : A + homophone of(we hear) “mast”(a structure used for transmitting radio signals).
18 Missing leader censured dancing bears (7)
ENDURES : Anagram of(dancing) “censured” minus its first letter(Missing leader).
20 Mussels and lychees for starters at The Fat Duck? (7)
MALLARD : First letters, respectively, of(… for starters) “Mussels and lychees ” plus(at) LARD(rendered fat from a pig). The surface reference is to this restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, serving this kind of cuisine (yes, that’s an iPod as a side dish, but no, not to taste of course, but to listen to). No mussels and lychees as starters on the menu (not yet?) but there’s bacon and egg ice cream for dessert.
22 First drops in wood more than adequate (5)
AMPLE : First letter moved one position down(First drops, in a down clue) in “maple”(wood from the maple tree).
23 Run-down spot on the outskirts of Derby (5)
SEEDY : SEE(to spot;to notice) placed above(on, in a down clue) the 2 outermost letters of(outskirts of) “Derby“.
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For answers to pic 3 please click here or watch here; for pic 4 here
Thanks, scchua.
Very easy for Orlando but still a fine exposition of the art of the crossword clue.
Funny seeing BA(LANCE)D after yesterday’s Brendan!
Thanks scchua and Orlando
A very enjoyable puzzle with some very good cluing as usual from this setter.
Penultimate answer was Yerevan which I sadly searched out rather than following the fairly straightforward instructions. This then led to Jeeves, my last in, as I remembered we’ve had mademoiselle Nancy before.
As has often been noted, Orlando has a very pleasing light touch, and I was smiling much of the way with clues like 1a, 6a. 1d, 6d, and 17d plus 10a when I at last saw it.
re 10a, is the signpost picture Kipling’s ‘six honest serving men’?
Thanks scchua and Orlando. JEEVES was my favourite.
[[Pic 6 is the MALLARD. Pic 1 probably isn’t a band called The ENID]]
Thanks Orlando and scchua.
Typically smooth from Orlando, and enough meat to keep me going for a while into my journey to Salisbury this morning. Was held up longest by the misdirection at 2: with the ‘y’ in place I took ‘capital’ to mean ‘currency’ so was looking for something to fit inside ‘yen’ meaning ‘back’. This lead to the brilliant JEEVES being last in, immediately after I finally twigged YEREVAN. I also failed to parse DANTE properly, although I feel like a klutz for not doing so now.
Thought AT LAST and ENDURES were particularly neat.
Snap tupu!
Thanks, scchua.
Pleasant puzzle from Orlando. Not my favourite from this setter, as there seemed to be a lot of single letters being either taken off, or taken from, words in the clues. Nevertheless, the clueing is as well crafted as ever.
I liked ‘lawgiver’ as SOD and ‘Ready to take part’ as the definition in 8a.
Good old Nancy pops up again. We don’t seem to see the French region, Lorraine, of which this city is the former capital, used as often in this way.
Thanks to scchua for the blog. You explained several cases where I had the right answer without understanding the reason. e.g. in 6 I was thinking of an ancient Greek lawgiver named Solon but could not fit him in at all then you show me “Sod’s law” 🙁
Small typo in 15: you omitted the word luck.
[[I decided that pic 6 was the Mallard – which has already been reported.]]
Thanks, scchua and Orlando.
[[I was briefly tempted by the thought that no. 5 looked a bit like Jose Ferrer, who I see was in “Anything Can Happen,” which I strained to link with SOD’S LAW, but I soon realised that it looked more like Rex Harrison and that “The Reluctant DEBUTANTE” was a more likely reference.]]
Delightful puzzle – thanks Orlando.
Thanks scchua; I particularly liked JEEVES, INITIATE, PLEASURE and MAPLE.
[[#1 is The Lovin’ Spoonful with DAYDREAM
#2 is Kay Kendall who was in DREAMing, among others
#3 is The Secret Policeman’s Ball ??
#4 is a signpost with lots of words on it!
#5 is Rex Harrison who was in the Reluctant DEBUTANTE
#6 MALLARD, as above]]
[[Ah, well, if it’s Kay Kendall, then it’s another reference to “The Reluctant DEBUTANTE”. 3 and 4 remain a mystery.]]
[[PARROT sketch in The Secret Policeman’s Balls]]
[[Is the signpost to Kipling’s ‘I Keep Six Honest Serving Men?’ ………….
‘I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.’]]
Very nice puzzle, with ENID and JEEVES among favourites. Clever surfaces too, with 1a a fine illustration.
VULGARIAN last in, which is what happens when you start running through European countries from the west.
Thanks Orlando and scchua
Nice puzzle and finished like a couple of others with YEREVAN and JEEVES (last).
Missed the ready = cash reference this time – thinking that if you’d paid the ENTRY FEE you’d be ‘ready to take part’!
Many thanks Scchua & Orlando.
This was a joy with SOD’S LAW, ENID & JEEVES making me chuckle.
Are Orlando and Rufus the same person ? “Joy, Sue, Pearl, Dotty” appeared in DT puzzle 26961, September 3rd, 2012, by Rufus.
Otherwise I really enjoyed this puzzle . Thanks to all concerned.
A nice puzzle to solve, which went in very quickly and left me with JEEVES, until the penny finally dropped!
Thanks to Orlando, and scchua.
[[Hi Muffyword, chas, Ian SW3, Robi, and tupu/mitz? I’ll add links to the answers to pics 3 and 4 at the end of the day. In the meantime well done for: The Loving Spoonful with DAYDREAM (that reveals my vintage); Kay Kendall and Rex Harrison in The Reluctant DEBUTANTE (my vintage again …); and MALLARD (… and again). The Secret Policeman’s Ball is part of the answer to pic 3.]]
Thanks chas@7, omission corrected.
I must have been on Orlando’s wavelength because I found this one comparatively easy, or maybe it just seemed easy in comparison to today’s offerings in the Times and, especially, the Indy.
VULGARIAN took me longer than it should have done with all the checkers in place, and it took me a while to see the wordplay for ENTRY FEE. My LOI was RIFTS.
All three seemed pretty good to me!
[[I reckon no. 4 must be a reference to the picture quiz itself! Come on, put us out of our misery.]]
No, grimalkin @16, Rufus and Orlando are certainly not one and the same. Given the fact that they probably know each other’s work rather well, I am indeed a bit surprised by the duplication in the otherwise very nice 16ac.
This was not the hardest of Orlando’s crosswords but I am happy that he made an appearance again. All the more since he didn’t produce any crosswords for the FT recently (under the name Cincinnus) which worried me because he was a major setter for the Saturday prize spot.
This puzzle made once more clear how good Orlando’s surfaces are.
Everything seems to be so effortless.
Highly respected setters like Tramp, Picaroon or Philistine show also great care for the surface but one feels that, in general, it is for them a lot more laborous – but, that said, the labour of love ! 🙂
There is a lot to admire in this crossword but I particularly liked 18d (ENDURES) and 14d (ENUNCIATE) for clues that contain clever misdirections.
A warm welcome back, Michael!
[and, of course, thank you scchua]
[[Hi Ian SW3, I’ve pasted the links – sorry, it was later than the end of the day.]]
This was an enjoyable puzzle by Orlando. I liked 5d, 10a, 19a, 23d, 20d & 24a, and my favourites were 11a INITIATE, 16a PLEASURE & 6a SODA.
New words for me were YEREVAN & ‘Sod’s Law’.
Thanks for the blog, scchua. I needed your help to parse 1d.
[[Hmmn … is the picture in 4 actually associated with Ask.com in some way? It seems a bit of a stretch to clue Jeeves with a random picture of some questions and expect us to associate it with a search engine formerly called “Ask Jeeves.”
Number 3 seemed a bit remote, too. The picture was, I believe, from a poster for the Secret Policeman’s Ball, one of a series of charity performances that also included the less well known “Pleasure at Her Majesty’s” three years earlier?
I only quibble because I usually like your picture quizzes so much. Keep up the good work, but give us half a chance.]]
[[Well, what can one say – “you can’t win them all”? Like the obscure word in a crossword, there’ll be a toughie, occasionally. If one googles “questions answers” (on the signpost), “ask.com”, a question-answer search engine pops up. If one googles “the secret policeman’s ball”, the wikipedia article gives “pleasure at her majesty’s” as the film version of the progenitor of the benefit series for Amnesty International.]]
coincidences about two clues have been cleared up , to my satisfaction.I am looking forward to Orlando’s next crossword