Quite a fun grid from Orense to round off the working week .. some straightforward clues helped me get started and the tougher ones gradually became easy with more cross-refs in.
While not being particularly taxing, I thought 12ac made for a good surface. Other than that, 10ac and 5d were a nice touch to a friendly grid. Thanks Orense.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SCRUBBED | Cancelled teaching degree given to Bush (8) |
| BED (teaching degree – B.Ed, Bachelor of Education) given to SCRUB (Bush) | ||
| 6 | APPEAR | Turn up for a quiet look, say (6) |
| A P (quiet) PEAR (homophone of PEER – look) | ||
| 9 | MAIDEN | First people to accept assistance (6) |
| MEN (people) taking in AID (accept assistance) | ||
| 10 | YOSEMITE | Old house, first of three in the old park (8) |
| O (Old) SEMI (house) T (first of three) in YE (‘the’ in Old English) | ||
| 11 | STIR | Wake up cooler (4) |
| Double definition – cooler here refers to Prison. | ||
| 12 | FAIRGROUND | Where one plays just good golf, for example? (10) |
| FAIR (just) G (good) ROUND (golf) | ||
| 14 | ELDRITCH | Weird tea, say, eaten by most of poor children (8) |
| Anagram of T (tea, say) and CHILDREn (most of) | ||
| 16 | IMAM | Proclaim a moratorium, arresting a leader of prayers (4) |
| Hidden in proclaIM A Moratorium | ||
| 18 | DART | Key skill in quarrel (4) |
| D (Key) ART (skill) – quarrel as in crossbow arrow |
||
| 19 | RESPECTS | Observes what may be paid by callers (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 21 | CHARITABLE | Propose to chase a rich criminal, being generous (10) |
| Charade of CHARI ( anagram of A RICH) TABLE (propose) | ||
| 22 | RIFT | Break right foot crossing one (4) |
| R (right) FT (foot) crossing I (One) | ||
| 24 | TROMBONE | Good French needed in Metro in order to play this (8) |
| BON (Good in French) in anagram of METRO (anagrind – in order) – Cryptic definition, referring to the instrument | ||
| 26 | IGNORE | Independent Nationalist covered in blood is cut (6) |
| I (Independent) N (Nationalist) in GORE (blood) | ||
| 27 | ODIOUS | Nasty words regularly precede proof of debts (6) |
| OD (wOrDs regularly) IOUS (proof of debts) | ||
| 28 | YOKOHAMA | City lad loses protection after playing hooky in the morning (8) |
| Anagram of HOOKY (anagraind – playing) + AM (morning) + A ( [l]A[d] loses protection) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | COAST | Run out of gear? (5) |
| Cryptic definition – Coasting in a car is when the gear is not engaged and the movement forward is by sheer momentum | ||
| 3 | UNDERWRITER | Indemnity provided by one subscriber (11) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 4 | BENEFITS | Exist on finest free handouts from the state (8) |
| BE (Exist) on anagram of FINEST | ||
| 5 | DAYLIGHT ROBBERY | What might eclipse the extortioner’s trade? (8,7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | ASSIGN | Heartless Americans trace delegate (6) |
| AS (heartless A[merican]S) SIGN (trace – as in small amounts) | ||
| 7 | POM | Head of government holds nothing for an expat Englishman (3) |
| PM (Prime Minister – Head of Government) holds O (nothing) | ||
| 8 | ATTENDANT | Accompanying worker after a race to finish (9) |
| ANT (worker) after A TT (a race) END (to finish) – Am a bit uneasy about the verb form in the clue. | ||
| 13 | OLIVE BRANCH | Peace offering from Green Wing? (5,6) |
| OLIVE (Green) BRANCH (Wing) | ||
| 15 | LEATHERED | The dealer badly beaten? (9) |
| Anagram of THE DEALER | ||
| 17 | ASTERISK | Seat reserved – take a chance on star (8) |
| RISK (take a chance) after anagram of SEAT | ||
| 20 | STOOLS | Ship carrying item for repairing seats (6) |
| SS (Ship) carrying TOOL (item for repairing) | ||
| 23 | FORUM | A place for discussing class outside university (5) |
| FORM (class) outside U (university) | ||
| 25 | MOO | Low mass on the outskirts of Ontario (3) |
| M (mass) on OO (outskirts of OntariO) | ||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog Turbolegs.. I believe Orense is using ATTENDANT in its adjectival, rather than verbal, form for which Chambers gives “accompanying”. A very pleasant puzzle for my commute. Thank you Orense.
Thanks Orense for a pleasant puzzle and Turbolegs for the blog. I agree with jmac@1 re 8dn.
14ac: Strictly I think this has to be T contained within an anagram of CHILDREn, to account for the words “eaten by” in the clue.
Thanks Jmac / Pelham. I wasnt aware of the meaning of Attendant as just Accompanying. Its time I got Chambers downloaded to my laptop I think.
Thank you Orense: great fun. I got Yosemite purely because it was a park, and am grateful to Turbolegs for explaining how it arose.
Wonderful puzzle, thanks Orense ! I laughed out loud at 25d and 7d.Thanks Turbolegs for the explanations.
I forgot to say that I have seen 26a clued in many ways, but I really like this one.