The puzzle may be found at http://media.ft.com/cms/98819eac-0439-11e3-8aab-00144feab7de.pdf.
A rather gentle puzzle, I think. In view of this, I have given more detail in the explanations than I might otherwise have done.
| Across | |||
| 9. | I don’t care about editorial process (9) | ||
| REDACTION | An anagram (‘about’) of ‘I dont care’. | ||
| 10. | Among Muslims see destroyer (5) | ||
| SHIVA | An envelope (‘among’) of V (vide, ‘see’) in SHIA (‘Muslims’, one of the major branches of the faith), for the Destroyer in another faith, Hinduism. | ||
| 11. | One to resist change as Hera did somehow (7) | ||
| DIEHARD | An anagram (‘somehow’) of ‘Hera did’. | ||
| 12. | Old man collects shiner, the contemptible scaredy-cat (7) | ||
| DASTARD | An envelope (‘collects’) of STAR (‘shiner’) in DAD (‘old man’). | ||
| 13. | Born to have endless desire (3) | ||
| NEE | A subtraction, NEE[d] (‘desire’) without its last letter (‘endless’). | ||
| 14. | Uncensored character in Ulysses is most vigorous (2,4,5) | ||
| IN FULL BLOOM | A charade of IN FULL (‘uncensored’) plus BLOOM (Leopold, ‘Ulysses character’, in James Joyce’s book). | ||
| 17. | Language, almost dead, all the rage (5) | ||
| LATIN | A charade of LAT[e] (‘dead’) without its last letter (‘almost’) plus IN (‘all the rage’). | ||
| 18. | Article’s start with this paper towards the back (3) | ||
| AFT | A charade of A (indefinite ‘article’) plus FT (‘this paper’) | ||
| 19. | Time for both sides to grab beer (5) | ||
| LAGER | An envelope (‘to grab’) of AGE (‘time’) in RL (right and left, ‘both sides’). | ||
| 21. | Pennies making hardly any difference! (5,6) | ||
| SMALL CHANGE | Double definition. Before seeing the enumeration, I came up with S MATTERING. | ||
| 23. | Promise to store wheel in German car (3) | ||
| VOW | An envelope (‘to store’) of O (‘wheel’) in VW (‘German car’). | ||
| 25. | Aristotle so thought to contain kingdom (7) | ||
| LESOTHO | A hidden answer (‘to contain’) in ‘AristotLE SO THOught’. | ||
| 27. | Logs support from daughters in a new club (7) | ||
| ANDIRON | An envelope (‘in’) of D (‘daughters’) in ‘a’ plus N (‘new’) plus IRON (golf ‘club’). | ||
| 28. | Comprehend meaning (5) | ||
| SENSE | Double definition. | ||
| 29. | Scientist makes NHS boiler explode (5,4) | ||
| NIELS BOHR | An anagram (‘explode’) of ‘NHS boiler’. | ||
| … Down |
|||
| 1. | Amphitryon was his shrewd and keen study (6) | ||
| DRYDEN | A charade of DRY (‘shrewd and keen’) plus DEN (‘study’). Amphitryon is a play by John Dryden. | ||
| 2. | Follower died, in this case throttled by worker (8) | ||
| ADHERENT | An envelope (‘throttled by’) of D (‘died’) plus HERE (‘in this case’) in ANT (‘worker’). | ||
| 3. | Rare as a table can be! (10) | ||
| OCCASIONAL | Double definition. | ||
| 4. | It’s time for Charlie Parker! (4) | ||
| BIRD | Double definition: prison ‘time’ and Charlie Parker’s nickname. | ||
| 5. | Writer in old Tenby given kicking (4,6) | ||
| ENID BLYTON | An anagram (‘given kicking’) of ‘in old Tenby’. | ||
| 6. | Firsts endlessly given for the academic stream? (4) | ||
| ISIS | IS[t] IS[t] (‘firsts endlessly’), for the stretch of the Thames flowing through Oxford (‘the academic stream’). | ||
| 7. | Five nationalist militants flee noisy woman (6) | ||
| VIRAGO | A charade of V (Roman numeral ‘five’) plus IRA (Irish Republican Army, ‘nationalist militants’) plus GO (‘flee’). | ||
| 8. | Mass, seething emerald, brings seasickness (3,2,3) | ||
| MAL DE MER | A charade of M (‘mass’, physical unit) plus ALDEMER, an anagram (‘seething’) of ’emerald’. | ||
| 15. | Vulgar element to an argument in the critical moment (5,5) | ||
| FLASH POINT | A charade of FLASH (‘vulgar’) plus POINT (‘element to an argument’). | ||
| 16. | Norse god to frustrate stupid talk (10) | ||
| BALDERDASH | A charade of BALDER (‘Norse god’) plus DASH (‘frustrate’). | ||
| 17. | Sluggish time kept by Marseillaise composer and small son (8) | ||
| LISTLESS | An envelope of T (‘time’) in LISLE (Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, ‘Marseillaise composer’) plus S (‘small’) plus S (‘son’). | ||
| 20. | Education secretary on right (and not the chief magistrate) (8) | ||
| GOVERNOR | A charade of GOVE (‘Michael Gove, ‘Education Secretary’) plus R (‘right’) plus NOR (‘and not’). | ||
| 22. | Inattentive seaman has nets in tangle (6) | ||
| ABSENT | A charade of AB (able bodied ‘sailor’) plus SENT< an anagram (‘in tangle’) of ‘nets’. | ||
| 24. | Gain points in rugger – but it’s freezing! (6) | ||
| WINTRY | A charade of WIN (‘gain’) plus TRY (‘points in rugger’). | ||
| 26. | Older actor edges away from Meryl (4) | ||
| TREE | A subtraction, [s]TREE[p] (‘Meryl’) with both end removed (‘edges away’). Quite a bit ‘older’ |
||
| 27. | Poet leaves university for foreign climes (4) | ||
| ADEN | A subtraction, A[u]DEN (W H Auden, ‘poet’) without the U (‘university’). Reverse Polish notation? | ||
Nice and gentle indeed but still very enjoyable. The ANDIRON and Mr Bohr appear elsewhere too today.
Thanks to Neo for the crossword and PeterO for the blog.
Very easy from Neo, Tees will have to have a word! Enjoyable but over too soon alas. Thanks Peter fine blog.
Thanks PeterO & Neo. I imagine Neo gave himself (and his editor) a smile with 9a. I’m guessing the appearance of STET in the bottom row of uncrossed letters was pure serendipity.
When I saw seven I expected the theme to be that way involved. Perhaps it was and Neo has redacted lots of stuff to avoid the attention of the NSA which of course he now has… 🙂
I mean 9a. Stet if intentional a very nice touch.
Too easy, eh? You should most definitely NOT say that to a fiend like me.
Buenos Aires to Peter O for a fine blog (just one thing: the A in AFT is a first-letter indication) and everyone else for chipping one in.
Cheers!