As others have regularly said on a Wednesday, it is difficult to find something new to say about a puzzle set by Dac and today is no exception. The usual quality cluing with nothing to quibble about.
I wasn’t familiar with the Spanish inn, nor the Nottinghamshire town, but these were easy to determine from the wordplay.
Across
1 Inn in Granada, so popular in retrospect (6)
POSADA – hidden reversal in ‘granADA SO Popular’ – semi-&lit
4 Follows article on modern technology in edition of Times (8)
IMITATES – IT (modern technology) A (article) in anagram of (edition of) TIMES
9 Word of appreciation initially unusual in Athenian’s letter (3)
TAU – TA (word of appreciation) U[nusual] (initially unusual)
10 Shows jobs no longer available? (11)
EXPOSITIONS – def. & cryptic indicator – EX-POSITIONS (jobs no longer available)
12 Sorry, imprisoning a maiden in a hut (7)
ASHAMED – A SHED (a hut) around (imprisoning) A M (a maiden)
13 Man’s name and address shortly taken by hotel (7)
HORATIO – H (hotel) ORATIO[n] (address shorly)
14 Closely follow untrustworthy type (4)
HEEL – double def.
15 To Nigella, a false claim (10)
ALLEGATION – anagram (false) of TO NIGELLA A
18 Like clones, nevertheless (3,3,4)
ALL THE SAME – double def.
19 Theatre seats, neither front nor back available? Unbelievable (4)
TALL – [s]TALL[s] (theatre seats, neither front nor back available)
22 Premiership champions given cut (7)
TOPSIDE – cryptic indicator & def. – TOP SIDE (Premiership champions)
24 Wise sovereign today is invested (7)
KNOWING – NOW (today) in (is invested) KING (sovereign)
25 Work next weekend? (11)
MIDDLEMARCH – def. & cryptic indicator – MIDDLE MARCH (next weekend)
26 Fitting carpets evenly (3)
APT – [c]A[r]P[e]T[s] (carpets evenly)
27 Sheep-farm workers, quiet breeders not registered to start with (8)
SHEARERS – SH (quiet) [r]EARERS (breeders not registered to start with)
28 You run after brother on a donkey? (6)
BRAYER – BR (brother) A YE (you) R (run)
Down
1 Tennis player once putting some butter on bread (3,4)
PAT CASH – PAT (some butter) CASH (bread {money})
2 Hospital close to square in smart Notts town (9)
SOUTHWELL – OUT (square) H (hospital) in SWELL (smart)
3 Unrealistic criminal ready to pinch millions (6)
DREAMY – anagram (criminal) of READY around (to pinch) M (millions)
5 Holding head in arms, Mike worked out source of trouble (8-5)
MISCHIEF-MAKER – anagram (worked out) of ARMS MIKE around (holding) CHIEF (head)
6 In French, you will get zero in test – will this help? (8)
TUTORIAL – TU (in French you) O (zero) in TRIAL (test)
7 Olympic cyclist‘s brisk speed mentioned by commentator (5)
TROTT – homophone (mentioned by commentator) of ‘trot’ (brisk speed)
8 WWI poet joining army division shortly (7)
SASSOON – SAS (army division) SOON (shortly)
11 Goes off with crew aboard a boat (6,7)
PADDLE STEAMER – ADDLES (goes off) TEAM (crew) in (aboard) PER (a)
16 One contrary female accepts a drink? Can’t be true (9)
IMAGINARY – I (one) MARY (contrary female) around (accepts) A GIN (a drink)
17 Not so well after first parts of this horrifically riveting tale of suspense (8)
THRILLER – T[his] H[orrifically] R[iveting] ILLER (not so well)
18 Current in stream dispatched hunter (7)
ARTEMIS – I (current) in anagram (dispatched) of STREAM
20 Irritating fellow first to leave barge (7)
LIGHTER – [b]LIGHTER (irritating fellow first to leave)
21 Little woman’s a female 5 (6)
JOSHER – JO’S (little woman’s) HER (a female)
23 Chubby person, say, keeling over after dessert (5)
PUDGE – PUD (dessert) EG (say) reversed (keeling over)
As Gaufrid has said, the usual enjoyable fare from Dac. I also got the Notts town from the wordplay rather than any knowledge of the place, and it took me a while at the end to see JOSHER because I thought the “‘s” in the clue was only there for the surface reading until the penny dropped.
Couldn’t get 21D – should have Googled “Little Women”. In 2D is the wordplay supposed to convey that “H” is close to “OUT” in that it immediately succeeds it? No wonder I couldn’t quite parse it, though familiar with the (name of) the town.
Overall, enjoyable as usual, liked PADDLE STEAMER, thanks to Dac and Gaufrid.
Thanks, Gaufrid. It is indeed tricky to find something new to say about Dac’s puzzles. But that’s a compliment to him – a fine Wednesday crossword, week in and week out (the week out being the last Wednesday of the month …)
I too liked PADDLE STEAMER, and SOUTHWELL is not too obscure for us Midlanders. MIDDLEMARCH won’t date well, so the editor might have to be careful if he recycles this one in the i in five years’ time.
Thanks Gaufrid & Dac mostly easy but josher held me up for quite a while, likewise KsD about 25, knowing publication date in advance certainly helped Dac there.
The usual Dac high standard, but one or two rather unusual words, at least words that were to me unusual: pudge, brayer, josher, Southwell. And Chambers says nothing about Artemis’s connection with hunting, so I wondered if Dac had made a mistake until I checked elsewhere.
We’re a bit late to the party but we have not been able to access 225 for a few days as we are in a rather remote area!
Firstly, thanks to Gaufrid for standing in for us on Wednesday. Our last one in was JOSHER which we didn’t particularly like but maybe that was partly because it was our LOI!
We knew Southwell very well. Not only is it nearby from where we live but Joyce gardens for the NT there and if you meet a pauper named Lizzie at the Workhouse there it may well be Joyce in a cunning disguise! Neither of us recognise Joyce in her pauper’s gear but if you do see her and mention 225, she’ll give you a wink and a potato!
Thanks Dac for the memories of home when we are far away and the usual excellent puzzle – sorry we didn’t appreciate 21d!